Searching is one of INXS' most soulful ballads. Contrary to the previous track, the atmosphere presented in the intro prepares us for what's to come. The slow tempo & light instrumentation, including the wah-wah pedal guitar riffs, bass lines, keyboard melody lines, backing vocals & Michael's lead vocal delivery, all compliment each other nicely. Despite its greatness, I still think there's something missing from this particular recording, as it seems like it doesn't breathe as well as it could've. And consequently, I much prefer the live versions from the EW tour, or even the world premiere from the 1996 ARIA awards (which I remember listening to online from one of INXS' sites, shortly after it aired). Regardless, Searching is an excellent song. I almost prefer the Leadstation Main mix to the original and feel the horn parts are a welcome addition and help to make the track even more soulful. This mix was actually used for Searching's music video. The Alex Reece Bass & Drum, Linslee Campbell R&B, Leadstation's Funk Workout & Bosch mixes, all present some new & unique ideas. But unfortunately, all fail to enhance the song's enjoyment.
Searching: We slip into this laid back, soulful ballad and at first I couldn't get into it. It was a grower after a few listens of the album. I do love the arrangement and Micheal's voice is soulful in its delivery. It's a great track hands down. Like the majority here, I too prefer the Leadstation mix. It has a better rendition that suits the song and not only that, it really moves me emotionally. It definitely was the rightful choice to close out the Shine Like it Does comp with that version.
I'm Just A Man I really like the opening here. Look I don't personally buy into the whole U2 comparison that has floated through this thread, but this song starts off like a long lost U2 song.... and they wear this well here. The atmosphere that the guitar creates here is really excellent. As the cymbal swells the guitar plays an arpeggio and then moves into what sounds lie a suspended 4th and then back to the major. I'm just a man My will is so strong When I've got plans I close my eyes to the pain My mother ran My father left town But we still have what's necessary to go on Flesh and blood Flesh and blood I'm part of you Your part of me There's nothing said That cannot be undone My brother's sane His heart is so strong He's killed some pain To himself nearly did the same It washed away Into the cruel sea Like everything that's built upon the sand Flesh and blood Flesh and blood Sweet sister T She loved so long and hard Kept to herself Until that right man came along Some men they lie Some men they cheat But now she's found Someone to be as strong I'm just a man My will is so strong When I've got plans I close my eyes to the pain My father ran (flesh and blood) My mother left town But we still have (flesh and blood) What's necessary to go on I'm part of you Your part of me Songwriters: Andrew Charles Farriss / Michael Hutchence I’m Just a Man lyrics © Chardonnay Investments Ltd This is a very human song, and I think this is one of the more straight forward and poignant lyrics in the catalog. We look at a family dynamic, and really that family could very easily be spread to be seen as the whole of people in general. This may be the best lyric the band has put out, that I know. The building of this song is very compelling, and the atmosphere builds with the observations in the lyrics. The drums and bass here are solid but nothing fancy, the colour in the song comes from the atmospheric guitars and the vocals. Around the 1:30 point in the song we get a really nice change, and then crash into the next verse (My Brother...) At this point we get a nice aggressive, but not to aggressive tremolo guitar that is really very effective. We also start getting a few little bits and pieces from the drums here that really add some special sauce. We get a reprise of the first verse that has Hutchence really punching it out, and it is really very effective... From what I am hearing on this album, there is no way that I don't think Hutchence was fully invested in this album, and its songs. I have listened to this song a couple of times, as I said at the start, I hadn't heard this album enough when we started, and this morning feels like the first time I have really heard this song, and this is a top class track. I am enjoying this album, and this may be my favourite track so far. Even the way the song gentle falls away at the end works pretty well, like a reflective sigh.
Reference guide 1980 -1992 1992 Documentary 1993 Get Out Of The House EP Nov 1993 Full Moon Dirty Hearts Days Of Rust The Gift - video - ext. - bonus beat Make Your Peace Time - video - live I'm Only Looking - remix - video -Morales Please... - edit - club - dub - downtown - instr. - Letterman Full Moon, Dirty Hearts Freedom Deep - video -extended - live Kill The Pain - video Cut Your Roses Down - Sure Is Pure mix The Messenger Viking Juice - Butcher Mix Born To Be Wild alt tracklisting Promo tour clips MTV Asia interview Live in 1993 Oct 1994 The Greatest Hits The Strangest Party - live - remix Deliver Me - demo Sing Something (bside) Nov 1994 The Great Video Experience Keep The Peace 1995 Original Sin remixes Michael Soundtrack songs 95/96 Under My Thumb Baby Lets Play House The Passenger Spill the Wine Red Hill The Heads - The King Is Gone Apr 1997 Elegantly Wasted Show Me Elegantly Wasted - radio edit - Shagsonic - dub - Gforce - Aspen Everything - video - May 97 - Aspen - Jaxx club - Jaxx dub Don't Lose Your Head - Leadstation - Radio Edit - Tonight Show Searching - Arias - Leadstation main - Leadstation Radio - Reece - Campbell - Leadstation Funk I'm Just A Man - live Let It Ride Never Tear Us Apart acoustic Need You Tonight Aspen Live 1997
I'm Just A Man: 5/5. From the opening notes, one knows this song will be killer. The lyrics are obviously about this family, and who Michael is -- Just A Man. Pretty obvious what was going on around him influenced the lyrics. On reflection, one really feels for him. Not in a good place at all mentally. The guitar weaving is perfect. Entry of great INXS keys. Couldn't ask for better of a song. The construction and the building of the song is poetic. Emotion at 100 percent. Rock bands should study this song as how to "do it". One of my favorite songs from them, and by anybody. I put this song against The Stones, Who, the greats, even the mighty Beatles as a rock classic. Yes, it is what rock was meant to be.
I watched this earlier in the week, and if you keep listening after the song ends you can hear the tape still recording and capturing various bits of studio banter. Anyways, this excellent version of the song was released on this CD: https://www.discogs.com/Various-2-Meter-Sessies-Volume-7/release/1890302
I’m Just A Man Bluesy intro guitar, giving way into a cymbal wash that starts the beat up. At 4:48 this is practically epic length for INXS, and it builds intensity as the song continues, so I can tell thats the intent here: be epic. Truly heartfelt lyrics. @mark winstanley and @Bluepicasso you guys described it perfectly this morning. This is one helluva A+ song. Maybe the best song on the album, but definitely the best song that wasn’t a single. So that makes it one of the best “deep cuts” in the INXS catalog.
I'm Just a Man Probably the most personal and introspective lyrics ever penned by Hutchence. I love the bluesy opening with what sounds like a cigarette being lit in the background. The song builds beautifully until it reaches a climactic outpouring of emotion. Musically it has always reminded me slightly of Texas's "Halo". Overall this is a brilliant song that is as good as anything else they ever recorded.
It took a couple of listens but I’ve come to really enjoy I’m Just a Man. The lyrics are wonderful, and Michael sings them perfectly. The rhythm is a bit too repetitive but there are enough little musical flourishes to keep things interesting. This song is a grower. This is exactly what I'm talking about when I say I'm hoping to discover things in threads like this.
That's why I specifically love doing these kinds of threads. I can have heard an album many times, but never really listened, and then, as with these last few albums, I just never got around to them.... Really having to listen, so I don't come off as too much of an idiot, reading everyone's thoughts and getting inside the band/artist and the songs, just reveals so much
Nothing about the song itself to add that hasn’t already been said. It’s a brilliant deep cut. This is one of the tracks I’ve “rediscovered” in recent listening thanks to this thread, and I’m really glad I did. Can’t believe it’s been off my radar for so long… this really is a classic.
I'm Just A Man: Michael's vocal is really great, but I find the song a little too repetitive, without the changes & thrills of a similar "mood" tune like The Stairs.
I forgot to mention this earlier, but in the comments to this video on YouTube is a note from Christina Hutchence (aka “Tina”) herself: “He handed me a tape of this song and left for Europe - I called him in the UK to complement him and thank him for writing it as it wouldn’t be easy for our parents to hear it. He began to weep.”
I'm Just A Man intros with a semi-country music feel, and this soundscape carries us through the entire track. The sheer momentum built by the time with get to the 2nd half is extremely uplifting. Instrumentally, the acoustic guitar rhythms mainly propel the track. But the backing vocals, electric guitar parts (including the delay & reverb effects) and especially Kirk's climaxing saxophone lines, catapults the song's emotionality into the stratosphere. Lyrically, the subject matter is so incredibly poignant and personal, that I perfectly understand why INXS never played this again live after MH died. IJAM contains just the right amount of arrangement accompaniments and nuances to make it a classic. This song definitely should've been a single...
Just a Man: It's a definitely a real highlight on the album. Everything here is great: the personal lyrics, the groovetastic rhythm and Micheal's vocal delivery which really sell the lyrics. It's a great deep track that feels like a potential single and with that in mind, the song really deserved a place on their anthology sets.
Girl On Fire Nice ringing guitar riff/arpeggio leads us in here, with an urgent feeling drum beat coming in. As the vocals come in we get the pulsing bass joining the party. I just landed Girl on fire I felt the heat From Sydney to London Well she shut my mouth With her repartee I opened her's With the rest of me Girl on fire Baby burn burn burn Girl on fire Baby burn burn burn Out of the shadows Comes a dirty song The same old faces Try to keep you in line I saw you laughing At the very first show You lit up the city From the twenty-sixth floor Girl on fire Baby burn burn burn Girl on fire What's saving her Baby burn burn burn Baby burn burn burn Baby burn burn burn I just landed Girl on fire I felt the heat From New York to London Well she shut my mouth With a repartee I opened her's With the things that I say Girl on fire That's the heat that burns Girl on fire How the flames make you yearn Girl on fire Girl on fire Girl on fire Girl on fire on Flames are rising Flames are rising Flames are rising Flames are rising Songwriters: Michael Kelland Hutchence / Andrew Charles Farriss Girl on Fire lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc Interesting lyric that seems to speak of passion. The verses roll along with the guitar riff and as we hit the chorus we get chord change, with the opening riff playing against it mixed fairly low, and it works really quite well. Also the backing vocal arrangement in the chorus comes off really well. In the middle of the song we get a really well done change, that uses a horn section sound to beef it up.... almost giving it a soul music twist in the middle. Anyway this really releases the tension that the repeated verse riff created well. This rolls back into another verse and chorus. I think this track works really well, and the sort of freeform jamming free for all at the end also adds well to it.
Girl on Fire Easily my least favourite track on the album. It's catchy and has a solid vocal but for me it comes off as a bit bland. The lyrics sound like they might be about Paula Yates. As someone else previously mentioned there is a touch of exile era stones in the horn breaks here which is a nice touch.
Girl on Fire: 3.5/5. The lyrics are kinda basic tbh. As a result, the music is kinda tailored to it. Who knows the music could have been done first. Anyway, it's a track that keeps the punch growing. It's tight, but not a track I would define as being a top one from the album.
Girl On Fire Definitely a bit generic, but I like the spirit. The horn section that first appears from 1:50-2:15 elevates the song. It reappears a bit more throughout the remainder, and without it this song would be a notch lower in my estimation. It seems like they looked at the album so far and thought to themselves, “ok - side one is good, but now we need to start off side two with a rocker. What do we have that for that....?” I mentally group this song with “Biting Bullets” from Listen Like Thieves, as both are just “ok” songwise but their function on the album is to keep the energy level up.
Girl on Fire seems like a song of lust, but it’s a bit of a mess. Again we get a relentlessly unchanging beat, and while there’s some variety in the rest of the song, it’s not enough to save it. The lyrics range from generic to awful. “I opened her's with the rest of me” - really? It feels thrown together rather than lovingly assembled and is not one of the band’s best.
