INXS - The Album thread

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by mark winstanley, Nov 19, 2020.

  1. Melllvar

    Melllvar No Matter Where You Go, There You Are!

    Location:
    Anchorage, Alaska
    Kill the Pain:

    This is a well laid out deep track on the album. We have some great instrumentation, vocals and the poignant lyrics all come together which makes me appreciate the simplicity of this song.
     
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  2. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Cut Your Roses Down

    This opens up sounding very seventies ... sort of funk. A solid beat and a very cool bassline. Actually the drum pattern is very cool too, with some really nice rhythm work in there.

    And it comes down to this
    When you take a look
    Got to find a reason
    Find it out
    What the **** it's about

    All you lovers
    Take a look around
    Before they cut your roses down
    All they've got is bones and blood
    Don't they know that love is around

    Make your way through the pain
    You've got no one to blame
    No one
    Put a rope around
    Rush into the ground
    All in the name of love

    All you lovers
    Take a look around
    Before they cut your roses down
    All they've got is bones and blood
    Don't they know that love is around

    You meet the devil within
    And that's a name not a friend
    Comes around knocking down doors
    And when you let him in
    Gonna burn again

    All you lovers
    Take a look around
    Before they cut your roses down
    All they've got is bones and blood
    Don't they know that love is around

    All you lovers
    Take a look around
    Before they cut your roses down
    All they've got is bones and blood
    Don't they know that love is not around

    Songwriters: Michael Hutchence / Andrew Farriss
    Cut Your Roses Down lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc, Universal Music Publishing Group

    Interesting lyric that seems to point to fidelity, because there are lots of influences that will try and undo the good things.

    For me the groove here is what really pushes the song along.
    We get a nice stab of horns (or keyboard horns) punctuating through the song nicely.
    During the chorus we get our Inxs rhythm guitar.
    As we go through the song the guitar starts to get used for accents in the verse.
    We also get some nice piano in here.

    We get a short instrumental break that has some really well arranged piano and guitar, and they really work well together. Mainly in a rhythmic way, but a few nice little licks inb there as well.
    We get another chorus, and move into a nice smooth instrumental outro.

    Although this track starts off reminding me of some seventies grooves, we end up being very much in the nineties...
    The thing that sells me this though is the groove, and another really well arranged track.
    This song works really well for me also... really solid track.

     
  3. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    Cut Your Roses Down (Sure Is Pure mix)

    We open up with a somewhat stripped back track, and the vocals come in a little bit earlier.
    This version of the song still grooves, but where the original the bass and drums have that relentless groove, here we have the bass being used less in its full work up. In several spots it is being used for accents.
    The rest of the instrumentation seems to be more constant through the song.
    This is pretty cool, and is a sort of altered groove, in the over all picture of the song.
    We get a nice sort of groove with added percussion later in the song, and that seems more in line with the dance floor kind of arrangement.
    Yea, this is pretty cool, it doesn't completely deconstruct the song, it is more of a change of emphasis.

     
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  4. Bluepicasso

    Bluepicasso Android Confused

    Location:
    Arlington, Va
    Cut Your Roses Down. 5/5. This one could have been on Welcome. Third great song in a row. When people slag this album, I play these tracks. Most never got this far and are surprised. The video is lovely! The drums are fantastic! Thanks Jon!
     
  5. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    AsI have gotten to know this album better, I find it so odd that it is seen as a lesser album .... It seems like a solid album to me, and it has some great individual songs too.
     
  6. Interpolantics

    Interpolantics Forum Resident

    Location:
    Ireland
    Cut Your Roses Down

    This song bounces along nicely. As funky as anything they ever did with a great driving bass riff and fantastic drums. It has nice little sax/guitar flourishes throughout and the keyboards towards the end are very reminiscent of something off of WTWYA.

    A song like this should really have gotten airplay. Strange little video that accompanies it too.
     
  7. twicks

    twicks Forum Resident

    Location:
    Detroit
    "Roses" has that house-style piano that elevates it big-time. Nothing remotely grunge about this one.
     
  8. dirkster

    dirkster Senior Member

    Location:
    McKinney, TX, USA
    This remix lands the song somewhere between Deee-Lite and Stone Roses. I like it very much.
     
  9. Al Gator

    Al Gator You can call me Al

    Cut Your Roses Down is almost a throwback, with the drums and bass locked tightly into a powerful rhythm. This one seems to be about self-destruction (and avoiding it) - the devil within, gonna burn again. This isn’t a sensual Devil Inside, but the music and message make for a really good track. It’s becoming clear to me that the heart of this album is a bunch of first-rate songs that start a few tracks in.
     
  10. dirkster

    dirkster Senior Member

    Location:
    McKinney, TX, USA
    Cut Your Roses Down

    As we go forward through the albums it has been cool to hear INXS incorporate elements of hip hop and house music into some of their tracks each time out. This is a great track, buried near the end of the album after three slower songs in a row. It is obvious to me they intended this to be a single, so they’ve got remixes that were done for it that didn’t get used on their own dedicated single but instead appeared on other releases. If this album had a potential hit dance single, then it would have been this one. It would have fit right in on the radio play I was hearing at the time. Not “rock” radio, but top 40 with a bit of dance elements.

    Best moment: at 2:50+ when the outro begins and we have that piano + string combo hitting some smooth notes. I wish this lasted longer, I want to hear this part of the groove for minutes at a time. But as almost always is the case with INXS the song is done by the 3 1/2 minute mark. I want to give these guys credit: they never fell into the bad habit of regularly bloating out the songs to 5+ minutes. They have the occasional song that goes long, but not very often, and I rarely get “tired” of a song from them before it ends - with the final minute of Make Your Peace being an exception.
     
  11. David Jakubowski

    David Jakubowski Forum Resident

    I'm not as bullish on "Cut Your Roses Down" as others, but it's still a good track. The groove is definitely great – so much so that for the longest time, I thought the lyric in the first verse was "Find it out / What the FUNK is about." Made perfect sense to me.
     
  12. twicks

    twicks Forum Resident

    Location:
    Detroit
    Just revisited the Barker Hangar live version, which Michael intros as being "about 'down with fascism'" FWIW.
     
  13. DanP

    DanP Forum Resident

    Location:
    Sydney, Australia
    That's almost certainly a nice drum sample accompanying the groove. One of the first times I remember hearing that "lo-fi drum sample along with hi-res live drums" effect which then became ubiquitous. A definite fave on the LP. And I too thought "what the funk is about". Great, great song, and the video was beautiful.
     
  14. Moggio_4K_Ultra_HD

    Moggio_4K_Ultra_HD Forum Resident

    Location:
    Vancouver, BC
    The primary drum beat & bass line, along with the wah-wah & envelope filter guitar effects / riffs, anchor Cut Your Roses Down and provide the necessary stylistic ingredients, creating a partial hip hop infused instant soul / funk rock classic. And the addition of light horn arrangements and backing vocals help to elevate the soulfulness. I love how the extended outro shifts INXS into instrumental mode and provides unique variations on the main rhythms / beats, carrying the song to its fade out. It's too bad they cut this section out when they played it live. Excellent track.

    The Sure Is Pure mix is also a partial rearrangement and is far more hip hop & bass oriented than the original. I find these additions enhance its enjoyability greatly.
     
  15. AndrewK

    AndrewK Forum Resident

    Location:
    Cleveland, Ohio
    yeah I think it's about Kylie
    good funky tune
     
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  16. Melllvar

    Melllvar No Matter Where You Go, There You Are!

    Location:
    Anchorage, Alaska
    Cut Your Roses Down:

    I love it when the band does tracks like this. They suddenly drop a funk bomb on me. Love the arrangement of the hip hop beats, the funk of the guitar and horns. Micheal's voice once again delivers the lyrics with gusto. It's crazy fun and outright catchy track.
     
  17. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product Thread Starter

    The Messenger

    A guitar with a nice tone crunches out a chord with a little riff a couple of times. The the band punches in hard and changes the accent of the chord progression, making it seem like a key change.

    Look around
    Give your eyes a new adventure
    What you see
    Is a mix of past and future

    Your moment
    Is coming now
    Hold on / Hold on

    How you gonna be when tell the story
    Everything we took
    Was it from each other

    Hold on, come on

    It's too late to get around it
    Say goodbye to how we found it
    This is what we least expected
    Don't you put the blame on the messenger

    It's too late to get around it
    Say goodbye to how we found it
    This is what we least expected
    Don't you put the blame on the messenger

    Hold on, hold on

    I've seen the flames
    That lick at survival
    Check your dreams
    Into the justice hotel

    Your moment, is coming
    Hold on, hold on

    How you gonna be when tell the story
    Everything we took
    Was it from each other

    Hold on, hold on

    It's too late to get around it
    Say goodbye to how we found it
    This is what we least expected
    Don't you put the blame on the messenger

    It's too late to get around it
    Say goodbye to how we found it
    This is what we least expected
    Don't you put the blame on the messenger

    Hold on, hold on

    How you gonna be when tell the story
    Everything we took
    Was it from each other

    It's too late to get around it
    Say goodbye to how we found it
    This is what we least expected
    Don't you put the blame on the messenger

    Songwriters: Michael Hutchence / Andrew Farriss
    The Messenger lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc, Universal Music Publishing Group

    This seems like a variation on the break up song, or the lead in to a break up. Again we get the somewhat indirect, somewhat cryptic Hutchence lyrics.

    This is a bouncing rock song, and probably my favourite part of the track is the run on vocal in the pre-chorus.
    This is a pretty good track, but not a favourite. A solid album track.


     
  18. twicks

    twicks Forum Resident

    Location:
    Detroit
    Always loved The Messenger. Big, lumbering and glammy; in many ways the opposite of their trademark tight & funky style. Love Michael's delivery on "They lick...at survival!" A highlight for me.
     
  19. Bluepicasso

    Bluepicasso Android Confused

    Location:
    Arlington, Va
    The Messenger 3.5/5. Studio jam really to me with Michael doing polished vocals. Should one continue with listening to the album with this? It's like the party is over and most are just having a few drinks departing.
     
  20. Interpolantics

    Interpolantics Forum Resident

    Location:
    Ireland
    The Messenger

    A rollicking ride. The band sounds like they are having fun on this and that is reflected in the amusing video.

    I Ike the song. It doesn't outlive its welcome. The only negative from me is the clunky "justice hotel" line.
     
  21. twicks

    twicks Forum Resident

    Location:
    Detroit
    I will admit that it needs a proper bridge.
     
  22. dirkster

    dirkster Senior Member

    Location:
    McKinney, TX, USA
    The Messenger

    I like the rapping style of the lyrics, and the overall energy. But what does this song bring to the mix that Make Your Peace doesn’t? It feels like pretty much the same message and same energy level. Musically, I prefer the sound of Make Your Peace and the nice harmonica bit. Lyrically, I prefer The Messenger a little more because I like the delivery from Hutchence better here.

    Part of my problem with trying to a better, more coherent tracklist out of this album that flows as well as WTWYA is that there’s a couple of tracks that seem redundant, and this is one of those cases.
     
  23. Al Gator

    Al Gator You can call me Al

    There’s nothing new in The Messenger, but it succeeds even if it’s treading familiar ground. Killer rhythm and a memorable melody keep this one going.
     
  24. twicks

    twicks Forum Resident

    Location:
    Detroit
    It also needs to be said that the band did not cut bait on this record. According to Setlist.fm when I saw them on the "Dirty Honeymoon" arena tour they played 9 songs from it.
     
  25. David Jakubowski

    David Jakubowski Forum Resident

    This plays right into what I was going to say about “The Messenger” but I’m going to come at it from the other side of the coin: I totally agree that there are a few tracks on Full Moon that feel redundant, BUT, for me, “The Messenger” is the better of them. Personally, I’ll take this track over “Make Your Peace”, which feels closer to ground they’ve already covered as opposed to the “studio jam” quality of “The Messenger”, which feels fresher and more at home on this album. I guess I just gravitate to the spirit of this song and it’s lyrics… it’s a hidden gem for me. YMMV.
     

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