Wednesday, November 21, 2012

CD Odyssey Disc 460: INXS


It’s been a wacky week so far.  On Sunday we lost our power and I had to help rescue a neighbour from the elevator who was trapped as a result.  After a couple fumbling efforts with a screwdriver I did what any red-blooded man would do; I called the fire department.  They had him out in about five minutes. 

Then it was three days of frantic work, so I could take Thursday and Friday off and enjoy a long weekend with friends.  I just finished the final redraft in my football pool, and now a torrent of social engagements now awaits, but first  – more music reviews!

My last review was of an album from 1980 that was firmly grounded musically in the 1970s.  Now I’ve rolled an album that is from 1990 but firmly grounded musically in the 1980s.

Disc 460 is… X
Artist: INXS

Year of Release: 1990

What’s up with the Cover?  A giant INXS logo, with a tiny bit of Michael Hutchence’s hair in one corner.  If you fold out this cover it is a very lame poster of the band which no doubt many a teenage girl put up on the walls of her room.  Mine shall remain safely in its jewel case.

How I Came To Know It:  I bought this album when it came out, at a time when I owned very few CDs (I only started buying CDs in 1989).  At that time I had limited money (i.e. I was broke) and I had to like at least three songs before I would consider buying an album.  “X” qualified.

How It Stacks Up:  In my last INXS review back at Disc 362 I only had three INXS albums, but I have since purchased a fourth (thanks to our friends Gord and Dawn, who were liquidating their collection).  Of the four, “X” is probably third best, just behind “Listen Like Thieves” which I reviewed back at Disc 292.

Rating:  3 stars

It isn’t a good sign when after listening to an album for three straight days you find you have less to say about it then when you started, but such is my plight approaching the review of INXS’ “X”.

Coming into the review of an album I’ve known for so long is strange.  I don’t remember buying it; like a very old chair it just seems to have always been in my house.  I think I purchased this album at a difficult time in my life and maybe I’ve blocked a lot of my early listening experience out as a result.  I definitely remember it having more emotional resonance back then.

Now I see it more clearly, which is as another solid entry into INXS’ unique style of eighties pop; although as I noted in the teaser, just slightly removed from the eighties.

The sound is definitely of its time, with heavy drum machine sounds, and proto-electronic bass licks.  The guitar is set back in the mix but that is just as well, since the star of INXS is and always will be Michael Hutchence.  He is the perfect eighties pop voice and he sings every song with gusto, making some pretty basic lyrics sound slightly more important just through force of will.

Case in point is “Faith in Each Other” which may have a groovy bass line, but is also a hot mess of saxophone, drum machine and what I think might be an ill-placed triangle.  Still, when Hutchence tells us to “have faith in each other”, he manages to shine more than a little meaning into the song through the thick glaze of unfortunate production.

Much better is the ballad, “By My Side,” one of my favourite INXS songs.  This is a song about longing, and how you can be surrounded by strangers and still just be thinking of the one person that isn’t there.  When Michael Hutchence sings about the small hours in the dark of night, he transports us there, even as he pines for someone else to join him.  This song is a fitting bookend to the more famous “Never Tear Us Apart” from the preceding album, “Kick.”  “Never Tear Us Apart” is a defiant song about cleaving together despite pressures to the contrary.  “By My Side” is a song featuring a much more intimate closeness, shrouded in night’s cloak, and held together by the tension of longing for connection, without ever quite achieving it.

The two big hits were the upbeat “Suicide Blonde” and “Disappear,” both great pop songs that were fun to dance to but without a lot to say about them beyond that.  I slightly prefer “Disappear”, mostly for the “doo du doo doo du doo doo” background vocals, matched with Hutchence in fine form singing just south of falsetto.  It’s kind of like Fine Young Cannibals, except enjoyable.

The last song worth mentioning is “Know the Difference” which I do remember being an important song when I was younger.  The lyric:

“What you do and what you say?
Do you know the difference anyway?”

Has always appealed to me.  Strangely, I always thought this was a song about the importance of honesty, but closer examination of the lyrics this time around shows it is really about pining for a girl that the singer can’t have, and resorting to belittling her reputation around town.  I guess I never really listened that carefully before.  Now it rings more like sour grapes and jealousy than an insight into hypocrisy.   

Because of a busy work schedule I’ve listened to this album many times over in the past three days, and I can definitively state it is good, but not great.  The songs are easy to listen to, but it isn’t challenging, and I was admittedly a little bored at times.  I’m in the mood for more of an active engagement to the music in my life, either through the music or the lyrics.  “X” just doesn’t have a lot to say, even though it says it very well.

Best tracks:  Suicide Blonde, Disappear, By My Side, Know the Difference

No comments: