INXS - The Album thread

We do also have this remnant from the OZ For Africa show, that was linked into the 1985 Live Aid telecast.
During the Live Aid telecast, we had several cut aways to different places in the world where there were artists playing that couldn't be at the two main venues. I ended up watching, and video taping the whole thing, it was a pretty big deal at the time.
I remember there was a cut away to BB King, and Prince had a video of For The Tears In Their Eyes put into the mix as well.

Anyway this is the show from Oz For Africa

 

For anyone interested, this is the whole Oz For Africa

MENTAL AS ANYTHING
2:15 - "Live It Up"
6:34 - "If You Leave Me, Can I Come Too?"
9:49 - "You're So Strong"
MACHINATIONS
14:09 - "Pressure Sway"
20:13 - "My Heart's On Fire"
25:32 - "No Say In It"
I'M TALKING
31:54 - "Lead The Way"
MODELS
37:25 - "Big On Love"
41:50 - "I Hear Motion"
47:32 - "Stormy Tonight"
51:17 - "Out Of Mind, Out Of Sight"
DO.RE.MI
55:06 - "Man Overboard"
59:27 - "Warnings Moving Clockwise"
1:04:13 - "1,000 Mouths"
ELECTRIC PANDAS
1:08:01 - "Missing Me"
1:11:55 - "Let's Gamble"
DRAGON
1:15:12 - "Speak No Evil"
1:19:36 - "Rain"
1:25:39 - "Are You Old Enough?"
MEN AT WORK
1:33:37 - "Maria"
1:38:47 - "Overkill"
1:43:00 - "The Longest Night"
AUSTRALIAN CRAWL
1:47:27 - "Reckless"
1:53:15 - "Two Can Play"
1:57:10 - "The Boys Light Up"
PARTY GIRLS
2:02:38 - "Isolation"
UNCANNY X-MEN
2:06:52 - "Work"
2:10:25 - "50 Years"
GOANNA
2:15:06 - "Common Ground"
2:20:26 - "Song For Africa"
2:25:20 - "Solid Rock"
LITTLE RIVER BAND
2:34:17 - "Don't Blame Me"
2:37:50 - "Full Circle"
2:39:45 - "Night Owls"
2:44:40 - "Playing To Win"
MONDO ROCK
2:47:55 - "Cool World"
2:52:41 - "The Moment"
2:55:18 - "Modern Bop"
2:58:35 - "Come Said The Boy"
ANGEL CITY (The Angels)
3:03:45 - "Small Price"
3:09:10 - "Eat City"
3:15:00 - "Underground"
3:22:12 - "Take A Long Line"
RENEE GEYER
3:28:39 - "Put A Little Love In Your Heart"
3:30:55 - "All My Love"
3:36:10 - "Telling It Like It Is"
INXS
3:41:09 - "Original Sin"
3:46:57 - "Listen Like Thieves"
3:51:43 - "Kiss The Dirt (Falling Down The Mountain)"
3:55:35 - "What You Need"
3:59:20 - "Don't Change"

 

So Listen Like Thieves is a very good album. For me it fades somewhat after the first three mega tracks, but on the whole it is a solid album.
I probably lean towards Shabooh Shoobah and the Swing as better albums, but I also understand that Thieves is probably a more popular album amongst most people.
No matter what I think of the album though, it is probably the album that really set up the success that came with our next release, so its significance is quite big in the story of Inxs.

 

Red Red Sun

Dischordant and loud. Lots of guitar going on in different directions here. Does it all hang together as a song? Just as I’m wondering where it’s going, it really takes off with the “one sun apart/one heart within” sections. It seems like it doesn’t really conclude so much as fade out because they couldn’t figure out how else to wind down the track. I want to like this more than I actually do, but it’s a decent album closer.

Listen Like Thieves is a great album, but it is more inconsistent than the albums before it or after it. Shabooh Shoobah has nary a weak track, and The Swing is strong from top to bottom as well, even if I think side one is slightly weaker than side two. But LLT is front-loaded with the big singles and then meanders a bit toward the end. I listened to the back half of Kick yesterday and I remembered just how strong that was. It seems that on LLT the band may have given a couple good tracks to Crocodile Dundee and Pretty In Pink but then had to include a couple lesser tracks on the album. Maybe it does all come down to sharing songwriting credits and internal band politics making sure everyone gets represented in the royalties, as some here have suggested.

INXS has been among my favorites for a very long time, so it’s ironic that the album that got me into them is turning out to have a slightly lower rating from me than the others in this time frame.

I’ve never really dug in and tried listening to any live INXS, so I am starting to wonder if that’s what I need to do to appreciate a few of these songs better. I’ll give it a try, thanks to all the suggestions here.

 

Red Red Sun -3.5/5. A rocker that closes the album. Sounds more like Midnight Oil than INXS. Seems like they wanted to prove they could rock, rather than rock.

Overall, Listen Like Thieves is a grand album. Compare it with their peers at this time, who were following others and not being innovative. That, in itself, makes this album worthy. In the sort of albums, I rank it in the middle between the prior two and the first two. It has great songs, but the lesser songs bring it down a few notches. Being a fan from around 1982, this album showed they desired success, which they got really with this album and became mega with Kick. Still wish they had retained more of the innovation sound for the next two, but came back with Welcome.

 

"Red Red Sun": I dig these frantic, anything-goes album closers from the '80s that feel like the album is hurtling off the rails. Here was another good one:

 

Red Red Sun is relentless and an interesting way to end the album. They yet again come up with a memorable melody in the chorus, and it works well as a closer.

I think Listen Like Thieves was an intentional attempt to appeal to the international market. And there’s nothing wrong with that - the band has put together a lot of really good songs here. Most bands couldn’t make that appeal no matter how hard they tried. But on the next album they take it to a completely different level...

 

Red Red Sun is probably the best album-closer in INXS' entire catalogue. I love the double time / up-tempo-driven vibe that the song exudes. Especially since it emphasizes how rhythmic / beat centric INXS could get and how amazing they were at it. As with a few other tracks, it again shows us how good of a drummer Jon really is. In fact, he's the superstar here.

Living INXS and Oz For Africa clearly prove just how exceptional of a live band INXS were. In fact, these clips might be THE best examples. After all, Musician Magazine praising INXS as, "The World's Best Live Band", in 1986, was, as far as I'm concerned, correct. And hopefully, once the catalogue receives its much-anticipated expanded edition releases, these performances will be included on a DVD/BR disc (for the first time) to represent the LLT era.


INXS grew more as songwriters & performers during the Listen Like Thieves era than compared to any other early part of their career...and it shows. And I'm also very thankful that with the help of Chris Thomas, INXS were finally concentrating on their live sound, as well as their more rock oriented sound. This greatly helped propel them to Platinum status in several countries. And as a result, LLT is one of the best albums they ever wrote. But this was only a precursor of what was to come...


Here are my song ratings for LLT:


Listen Like Thieves ~ 4.45/5


What You Need ~ 5/5
Listen Like Thieves ~ 5/5
Kiss The Dirt ~ 4.5/5
Shine Like It Does ~ 4/5
Good + Bad Times ~ 4.5/5
Biting Bullets ~ 4/5
This Time ~ 4.5/5
Three Sisters ~ 4/5
Same Direction ~ 4.5/5
One X One ~ 4.5/5
Red Red Sun ~ 4.5/5

 

Interesting. I’d pick Don't Change and Tiny Daggers. I might even prefer All The Voices.

 

All the Voices and Don't Change for me, but I'm less familiar with later albums, so it'll be interesting to see where we end up there.

 

I admit that I snuck a quick glance at the album-enders for every album and I couldn’t confidently remember my opinion on several of them.

Not specific to INXS, but I feel that in the LP era it was very common to end an album with a bang. A big epic song, or a great single. In the CD era I feel like a lot albums got bloated and the track listings got more frontloaded with the radio hits while the prime spot at the end got diluted by having to listen to 70 minutes of other tracks just to get there. It no longer made sense to put one of your best songs at the end of the album because people might not even make it that far in a casual listen.

 

This is very sad, but mostly true.
The furphy that more is better...

 

DC would be the obvious choice. But in some ways, despite being an amazing song, DC doesn't necessarily fit SS for me. Whereas, I feel RRS has a stronger sense of urgency and tops DC as an album-closer because of that and since it emphasizes the overall sound of the album much better...

 

One X One:

This one I do remember quite well as a kid, as my brother had this song on his go to mixtape. As for me, I do recall rediscovering the song when I got the Live Baby Live album and it simply became a favorite.

So it wasn't me who heard called it the same. You think that's wacky? Not to get ahead, but I've listened to the Live Baby Live version as my go to prior to getting the ...Thieves album. To this day I expect to hear the little interlude before the song starts....

Red Red Sun:

It's a great deep track and a fine rocker that's perfect to close the album out.

 

Before we move on to the next releases, i think we need to take a look at

Australian Made

Australian Made was a festival concert series held during 1986–1987 in the six state capitals of Australia and featured local rock acts Mental as Anything, I'm Talking, The Triffids, The Saints, Divinyls, Models, Jimmy Barnes and INXS.[1][2] The series started in Hobart on 26 December 1986 and concluded in Sydney on 26 January 1987. Rock journalist Jeff Jenkins rated it as one of his 50 most significant events in Australian music history, "It wasn't a huge success, but it showed that an all-Australian festival could work."[3] Australian Made was conceived to counter tours of international acts, like Dire Straits' 1985–1986 world tour, which were drying up funds for Australian groups.[1][4] As from October 2010, the following artists have been inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame: INXS and The Saints (both in 2001), Barnes (as a member of Cold Chisel in 1995 and solo in 2005), Divinyls (2006), The Triffids (2008), Mental As Anything (2009), and Models (2010).[5]

To promote the tour, INXS and Barnes recorded a cover of The Easybeats song "Good Times" which was released in December 1986 as a single and used as the theme song.[1] "Good Times" peaked at No. 2 on the Australian charts.[6] The single peaked at No. 47 in the United States Billboard Hot 100 on 1 August 1987.[7][8]

At the Sydney concert, Peter Trotter, playing saxophone for Mental As Anything, collapsed on stage and died a week later.[2][4][9] The tour had a budget of $3.25 million,[4] and was announced with claims of Australian mateship and cooperation; however arguments ensued between various band managers over the proposed concert series film.[2][4][10] The tour ended in acrimony with two managers, Chris Murphy (for INXS) and Jeremy Fabinyi (for Mental As Anything), arguing backstage in Sydney and coming to blows.[2][4][9][10] A film of the tour, Australian Made: The Movie, directed by Richard Lowenstein, was released in July 1987,[11] but contained no footage of Mental As Anything performing.[4][10] Rock historian Glenn A. Baker and Bob King wrote Australian Made, Gonna Have a Good Time Tonight : The Authorised Documentary of the Event in 1987 with detailed notations by Baker and photographs by King.[2] According to rock music historian, Ian McFarlane, "the tour drew record crowds across the country. It was the first travelling festival tour to feature exclusively Australian bands".[12]

1. King George V Oval, Hobart – 26 December 1986
2. Thebarton Oval, Adelaide – 1 January 1987
3. Olympic Park, Melbourne – scheduled for 3 January, delayed due to weather – 4 January
4. Subiaco Oval, Perth – 10 January
5. Chandler Velodrome, Brisbane – 17 January
6. Endeavour Field, Sydney – 26 January

• Mental As Anything – Peter O'Doherty, Reg Mombassa, Martin Plaza, Greedy Smith, David Twohill.
• I'm Talking – Zan Abeyratne, Kate Ceberano, Stephen Charlesworth, Ian Cox, Robert Goodge, Barbara Hogarth, Warren McLean, Kevin Wiltshire.
• The Triffids – Jill Birt, Martyn Casey, Graham Lee, Alsy MacDonald, David McComb, Robert McComb.
• The Saints – Chris Bailey, Richard Burgman, Ivor Hay, Arturo Larizza.
• Divinyls – Chrissie Amphlett, Rick Grossman, Richard Harvey, Mark McEntee, Bjarne Ohlin.
• Models – James Freud, Sean Kelly, Roger Mason, Barton Price, James Valentine. Included Mary Azzapardi, Karen Bodington, Wendy Matthews on backing vocals.
• Jimmy Barnes – Jimmy Barnes, Peter Kekel.
• INXS – Garry Gary Beers, Andrew Farriss, Jon Farriss, Tim Farriss, Michael Hutchence, Kirk Pengilly.

Australian Made: The Movie

1988 VHS cover
Directed by Richard Lowenstein
Produced by John McLean
Ian Gow
Starring INXS
Divinyls
Models
The Triffids
The Saints
I'm Talking
Jimmy Barnes
Narrated by Troy Davies
Music by Mark Opitz
Cinematography Andrew de Groot
Edited by Jill Bilcock
Richard Lowenstein (add)
Peter Carrodus (add)
Christina de Podolinsky (add)
Jill Holt (add)
Robert Howard (add)
Distributed by Village Roadshow, Hoyts
Release date2 July 1987
(Australia)
Running time
90 minutes
Country Australia
Language English
Box office A$43,479 (Australia)[1]

Australian Made: The Movie

1. Various artists / INXS – "Intro" / "Melting the Sun" (5:58)
2. Jimmy Barnes – "Ride the Night Away" (5:31)
3. The Triffids – "Wide Open Road" (5:46)
4. I'm Talking – "Lead the Way" (6:25)
5. The Saints – "Ghost Ships" (6:00)
6. Divinyls – "Only Lonely" (3:47)
7. Divinyls – "Temperamental" (3:59)
8. Models – "Let's Kiss" (5:44)
9. Models – "Out of Mind, Out of Sight" (4:44)
10. INXS – "Burn for You" (4:12)
11. Jimmy Barnes – "Lessons in Love" (5:44)
12. INXS – "What You Need" (6:04)
13. INXS – "The Loved One" (5:18)
14. Jimmy Barnes – "Working Class Man" (4:01)
15. INXS, Jimmy Barnes & a few friends – "Good Times" (4:28)
16. INXS – "Good Times" (instrumental) / "End titles" (2:38)

Australian Made: Featuring INXS Live DVD version

1. "Intro" – (2:56)
2. INXS – "Melting the Sun" (3:26)
3. I'm Talking – "Lead the Way" (4:20)
4. The Saints – "Ghostships" (3:51)
5. Models – "Let's Kiss" (3:31)
6. Models – "Out of Mind, Out of Sight" (3:50)
7. Divinyls – "Only Lonely" (2:59)
8. Divinyls – "Temperamental" (3:55)
9. INXS – "Burn for You" (4:00)
10. INXS – "Mystify" (3:11)
11. INXS – "What You Need" (4:36)
12. INXS – "The Loved One" (4:58)
13. INXS – "Don't Change" (6:49)

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Yes I went to Australian Made. From my perspective it was a great line up of bands, and with Jimmy Barnes and Inxs heading the bill it was an essential concert of 1987. I went to the January 10th show at Subiaco oval in Perth Western Australia.

I can't actually find a complete and correct setlist, but what I can tell you from memory, Inxs played a set that included a lot of songs from the upcoming Kick album .... Now this isn't going to win me any friends here, but I was a little disappointed at the time, because the band really did play a whole bunch of new stuff, and I had never seen them before, so I was looking forward to hearing some of my favourite songs by the band, and instead we got a whole new band, in a sense.

One song that did stand out from the very first time I heard it was Mystify.... when they played that track, it got my attention and I really loved its whole vibe. It worked extremely well in the live setting and was such a fresh sounding track, that I think everyone took notice.

The whole idea of the show was that Inxs and Jimmy Barnes were Australian superstars. I know many folks overseas probably don't know Jimmy Barnes, but he is an Aussie legend, with twelve number one albums solo, and the legacy of being the lead singer in one of Australia's biggest, and most popular rock bands Cold Chisel. so when Inxs and Jimmy got together to record a single, and then we launched into the Australian Made tour, it was a pretty big deal.

It says that the shows weren't that successful, but Subiaco Oval was packed, so I am not sure on what basis that is said.

Anyway, I was 18 at the time, and I thought it was very cool having some great Aussie bands have a show just for them.

Australian Made

 

Good Times - Barnesy and Inxs at Australian Made

This song was pretty big in Australia, and it seems that many folks overseas seem to be aware of it too.

 

INXS & Jimmy Barnes

Good Times

Australians INXS and Jimmy Barnes released a version in December 1986, which was engineered by Al Wright and appeared in the Joel Schumacher film The Lost Boys. This version reached number one in New Zealand and number two in Australia, as well as obtaining chart positions in both the US (where it peaked at number 47) and UK (where it peaked at number 18 in 1991). A video clip was produced featuring INXS and Jimmy Barnes performing the song, with scenes intercut from The Lost Boys. This version was also used to promote the national Australian Made series of concerts that took place between Boxing Day 1986 and Australia Day 1987.

Barnes later said, "We spent a day and a half in the studio. Michael Hutchence and myself didn't sleep the whole time we were there. It was a booze- and drug-fuelled couple of days."[2]

the song reached number 2 on the Aussie charts, number 1 in New Zealand and number three in the US ... so yea, I guess folks overseas were aware of it.

This song was chosen because it is by Aussie legends the Easybeats (Friday On My Mind, She's So Fine etc) and it sort of summed up the Australian rock experience pretty well. The Easybeats were a sixties band with Harry Vanda and George Young, who famously went on to produce Acdc (George being Angus and Malcolm's older brother) and they also had pretty good success as Flash And The Pan.

This was like the song of the summer in the 86/87 summer.

 

Watching the Divinyls set from that film on YouTube really hooked me. Peace to the memory of Chrissie Amphlett.

 

Good Times (INXS with Jimmy Barnes)

Definitely a great “summer single” if there ever was one. I bought the 7” with the Bside “Laying Down The Law”. Both were on the Lost Boys movie soundtrack but the 7” was a great buy if all you wanted was the INXS songs. It is one of the best singles I ever bought in terms of sound quality: thick vinyl and recorded LOUD. Man, the opening of the song with the guitar strumming and then Hutchence and Barnes coming in trading vocals with “everybody shake, everybody groove” - it brings back great memories. This is a pretty basic song, but it showed INXS could rock the funk hard on something like What You Need, then just turn around and ROCK HARD on a song like this, and then go ahead and play something totally slinky like “Need You Tonight”. Lotta versatility.

I saw Jimmy Barnes live when he opened for ZZ Top on the Afterburner tour in Illinois. His single at the time was “Working Class Man” and he had a good set, well received. ZZ Top’s stage setup had a giant pharoah’s head above them and the stage was covered in a huge black cloth. When it came time for their set to start they entered the stage under the black cloth (you could see there was movement underneath) and then a giant sucking “whoosh!” sound started, the entire black cloth got sucked up into the pharoah’s nostril, and ZZ Top began their first song before you even realized what just happened. Coolest way to open a show I’ve ever seen.

 

Good Times 5/5. Updated sound that shows the future direction. Great vocals that visually vibrate!

 

Directly after the LLT tour finished, INXS wasted no time whatsoever and were already writing for Kick before and in the midst of the Australian Made tour. And as shown above, they premiered Mystify at these shows. Good Times (as well as Different World), up until this point, consolidated much of the classic stylistic elements that made INXS great. And primarily because of that, it's one of the absolute best pop rock songs of all time. GT also showed us the new direction that INXS were now headed in...

 

Good Times:

Given my brother's love of The Lost Boys, I'm pretty sure he had the soundtrack. However, I don't remember hearing this song during my youth. The first time that I do remember hearing it was on the Shine Like It Does comp and man it's a great party song. It's infectious, making you want to get out of your seat and dance. It's that good.

 

The Stones put out Dirty Work around this time but “Good Times” out-Stoned them in spades. Great rocker!

 

I remember Good Times coming out as a single and it was absolutely HUGE in Sydney. And every covers band in Australia put it in their set from thereon in. Where it remains!

Not nearly as lucky as Mark to have seen Australian Made. Picked up the blu ray a while ago though and it looks beautiful. Shot on film, it just looks amazing. If overseas fans are able to access it somehow, get amongst. Well recommended. I saw Models around that time. They'd gone 'pop' but still very cool. I was never a huge Cold Chisel fan (growing up in the Western Suburbs of Sydney they were *everywhere* and were seen by me and my "intellectual" friends as a bit of a bogan band - I like them much more now in hindsight) and at this stage I thought Jimmy Barnes had gone a bit L.A, overproduced freeway rock). The Triffids are underrepresented in the film I thought. Any non-Australians on here that only know Divinyls through "I Touch Myself"- check their album 'Desperate'. Great songs, formidable frontwoman. A great, great band.

But INXS smash it in that film. All class.

Really enjoying this thread, everyone. Home after a super intense week at work, have cracked a couple of beers, and straightaway reached for Dekadance. Really enjoying hearing everyone's thoughts on INXS and revisiting the songs. Cheers!

 

Sidenote: now listening to Full Moon Dirty Hearts. I don't want to jump ahead, but if you lost your way with INXS in the 90s, give this one a few spins and jump in with your thoughts when the thread gets to it. It's a cracker.