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| Witchdoctor |
 Happily, before I invested in the group’s entire output, The Very Best Of turned up in my review pile. Unhappily, the idea I had chewed on for several decades – that the group’s canny melding of New York funk grooves and strident cock rock would yield copious nuggets of pop genius – was completely, utterly wrong. There are precisely two great songs and one interesting oddity and a whole lot of very average Aussie plod rock on this 20-song collection. It opens with one of them, ‘Need You Tonight’, a peak moment that captures all that was great about the group: those coruscating guitars and Chic-style grooves slickly stage-managed to fit an Aussie pub rock group with huge ambition. Speaking of Chic, the other great song is the Nile Rogers-produced ‘Original Sin’. From ’87 and ’84 respectively, these slices of minor genius show what the group could have been, had it plugged-up its rockist roots. The third song of interest is ‘Just Keep Walking’ from way back in 1980, and it sounds just like Mi-sex, that hilarious and stupid but really quite great in their own way “futuristic” Kiwi band whose songs about alienation and computers weren’t exactly Kraftwerk, if you know what I mean. The rest of the album, with the exception of a few other vaguely entertaining numbers (‘Suicide Blonde’, ‘Devil Inside’) is simply dire. There’s little to distinguish their Aussie rules rock with any number of other touring pub bands of the time, except for Michael Hutchence’s oddly, predictively sleazy lyrics. I’m amazed he never got around to eulogising auto-erotic asphyxiation. The mastering job is pretty damn good. I don’t have the original recordings to compare these to, but they’re chunky, wide-screen, pack a decent punch and don’t have that horribly thin sound that wastes so much product from the ‘ 80s....full text |
| Popmatters |
| Of all the ways we’d prefer to shuffle off this ‘ere mortal coil – selflessly diving in front of a bus hijacked by a crackhead and perilously speeding towards a dozing octagenarian or just heroically scaling a towering inferno to save a fluffy little puppy called ‘Cuddles’ – few of us would choose to skip into that great light like poor Michael ‘The Hutch’ Hutchence did. One of the last great Rock n’ Roll stars run out of Dodge by an incensed torch-carrying mob, lonely n’ lost before collapsing beaten up ‘n’ broken down under a deluge of depression and self-destruction. Oh, and grim whisperings of erm, ‘horse’ riding and umm, ‘extreme relief’. People of Pop, this was no happy ending, the legacy of Michael Hutchence and the five blood brothers called ‘INXS’ deserved a much, much better send off… They came from a magical land far away called “Down Under”. Six party pirates raised on punk n’ new wave, they cut their teeth (literally) in rowdy, brawling “Did you look at MY Beer?” Aussie boozers. Their trademarks - funky dance rock, wooing Sheilas and fast getaways. The Gods of Rock had blessed them, not only with arguably the best rhythm section of their generation but a cashcow core songwriting superduo of Andrew Farriss (one of three brothers) and ‘Lizard King’-reborn Hutchence. Together, their blend of soul brother grooves and chiselled stadium rock took them so far up the toppermost of the poppermost that as the ‘80s tipped into the ‘90s even Bono was trading his Stetson for wraparounds and shiny, tight trousers. This non-sequential compilation pretty much focuses on the enormo hits, virtually cold shouldering the first four albums, stripping only the twitchy, Devo-esque “Just Keep Walking” and the still Funky McFunky club banger “Original Sin”. With its rib-rattlin’ drum intro, slick Kung-fu synth riff, jagged axe chops and a sleek production courtesy of the soon-to-be “go-to-guy” Nile Rodgers, “Original Sin” was the sound of a band whose time had come. MTV rolled out the red carpet and sandwiches. The latter half of the ‘80s was there for the taking. The monster jams from Listen Like Thieves and Kick are all present and still deserve their front row seats in Rock ‘n’ Roll Legend. What’s most pleasing is how fresh and, damn Ma’am, how frisky they sound nearly three decades later. “What You Need” and “Devil Inside” still sound exquisitely filthy, and during “Need You Tonight”, when Hutch drawls, “There’s something about you girl / That makes me / [important pause] / sweat” suddenly Rihanna sounds about as randy as Cliff Richard. INXS could also dish-up daytime pop with ease. “New Sensation” is surely the most life-affirming song about surviving suicide whilst the ‘lighters in the air (but yo don’t burn my hair)’ blubfest “Never Tear Us Apart” still has the power to make a field of grown geezers sob like they were attending the 10th Annual Big Girl’s Blouse International Crybaby Convention....full text |
| Petrolelectric |
| The INXS 'The Very Best' standard edition is a classic collectors edition that includes remixes, a mash up featuring Gwen Stefani & live tracks from amazing shows at Brixton & Edingburgh Playhouse....full text |
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