INXS

I like the very concept of INXS the way they began. Just a bunch of normal, music-loving dudes wanting to write and play songs of their own. Young, strong, intelligent, not afraid of grizzling tons of hard work in seedy Australian bars. Not caring much for experimentation of any sorts, although keeping their eyes open to new influences so as not to sound like yer average mid-Seventies barrom rockers, or, God forbid, Foreigner. It’s a nice, clean, healthy, and even potentially fun concept.

And to be fair, on their debut album they manage to nearly pull it off, no doubt due to having most of the songs polished and rehearsed before they ever had a chance to arrive at a recording studio. Besides, this isn’t just some new starry-eyed (or drunken-eyed, whichever you prefer) ragamuffian outfit blindly copying New Wave stereotypes and glossing them with radio-friendly varnish. From the very beginning, there is a purpose and a conviction to Michael Hutchence’s voice that makes you want to pay attention – even if those purposes and convictions might either dwindle or get modified with time. He’s got a pretty unique voice for his time… meaning there’s absolutely nothing about it that would make it special, and that’s exactly what makes it special. In an age populated by brawny scruffy Joe Strummers, effeminate whiny Stings, hiccupy paranoid David Byrnes, and jerky eccentric Andy Partridges, Hutchence certainly stands apart from the crowd.

As for the music, it’s yer basic pop-rock, just with an exaggerated ska influence. Ska, not reggae, meaning there’s very little ground for improvisation or “stretching out” of any sort – no, these boys are working fulltime in the three-minute pop song department. Don’t think I’m complaining about the musicianship, though. The band rolls along as tightly jelled as possible (well, after all, there’s, like, three brothers in it, so what else could you expect?). Guitars and keyboards do sound occasionally dated – particularly keyboards, with the thin wimpy Farfisa tones immediately giving away the Cars’ influence – but that’s “dated” in a decent way of speaking.

Lyrically, Hutchence and the boys are usually vague and ambivalent, occasionally embracing the most basic boy meets girl themes, but more often going off on various social-related tangents, none of which really make me jump up and shout “there goes a new branch of popular philosophy!”. In fact, on some of the songs they almost seem to be catering to the Midnight Oil crowds, except they could never even try to reach the heights of “politicalisation” achieved by the former. But then again, who needs two socially conscious human-rights promoting bands on Australian territory? So Hutchence is playing a much more individualistic emploi than Peter Garrett; certainly there’s a lot more “I” in his lyrics than “we“. Of course, Peter Garrett never committed suicide either, so remember that too much “I” in your lyrics can be dangerous, little boys and girls.

The exact same approach applies to my favourite song on here. Maybe you could measure these guys’ songwriting talents with a table spoon, but not based on the evidence of this song. The introductory sax riff (just as minimalistic as the guitar riff in ‘On A Bus’) is unforgettable, the main melody is menacing hard rock, and thenthe chorus goes ska, and it’s all over in a two-and-a-half-minute flash and the lyrics are again confused and ambiguous and you’re sort of “eh? what was that all about?” but the sax riff, man, I wish I could have written that one. Sometimes I quietly dream the very instrument must have been invited for that sort of things, except every time I do that, Miles Davis comes up and whops me on the head with the thing.

People who claim to be in love with INXS because of the deepest depths of the soul of Michael Hutchence usually like to single out ‘Learn To Smile’ as a major highlight. My guess is it’s because it’s the closest thing to a ballad on an album which otherwise lacks the tender balladry aspect altogether – in true New Wave fashion, of course. Well, I wouldn’t go as far as to red-circle it, but it is quite assuredly a notable song as well. But they have extended it by means of a generic keyboard solo and… well, formally speaking, five minutes is too long, especially on an album whose best stretches are generally short, compact and straight up to the point.

If anything, sometimes they’re too straight up to the point. If you thought ‘Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da’ was the weak link on the White Album, you’ll probably be annoyed a-plenty with all the ska choruses. Especially those that act like they do not belong in the song at all but want to steal the spotlight anyway. ‘Jumping’, for instance, begins like this stealthily creeping jungle predator, with ominous sax growls and threatening distorted guitar rhythms and brawny, intimidating vocals, and then all of a sudden you get the same kind of chucka-chucka-chucka-chucka and a ‘jumping jumping all night long jumping jumping it’s up to you’ chorus which might be useful if you’re playing hide-and-seek but otherwise might feel totally out of place. ‘Roller Skating’ begins all hot and funky (yes, this is the song featuring immortal lines like ‘I see a girl/She’s roller skating/I don’t know her/But she makes me feel like roller skating’ – for a long long time, the only thing I remembered about this band), but then it’s ska time all over again.

On the other hand, if you thought ‘Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da’ was the White Album‘s high point, all these ska choruses will be perfectly nice and catchy. The only really really stupid ska ditty on here, I think, is the aptly titled ‘Body Language’, a song released two years before the Queen composition but every bit as obnoxious in a class of its own. Fortunately, it’s only two minutes. And it’s still catchy in a way, just sort of dumb, even by this record’s standards.

Not that this record’s standards are that low. Nobody knows it exists because who the heck cares about non-hit Australian-only albums when you can restrict yourself to caring about commercially successful worldwide smashes. The boundless wisdom of the All-Music Guide only awarded it two stars out of five, and that’s a pretty unencouraging incentive to let it go back into print. But I gotsta tell you, my limited experience says it’s one of this band’s best releases, and a fine 1980 pop album in its own rights.

Reckoning

R.E.M make no great leap forwards for their second long player, rather edge forwards from the place they’d reached with ‘Murmer’. Now, this would be all fine and dandy if ‘Reckoning’ was as strong a set of songs as ‘Murmer’ had been, but sadly it isn’t. The ‘edging forwards’ I speak of manifests itself in a slightly clearer sound, slightly more confident performing and slightly more discernable Michael Stipe lyrics, although that last one is up for debate. It’s still pretty damn tricky to make out much of what he’s singing here! Maybe I’m wrong, maybe we simply have a case of a follow-up not being quite as good as the album it’s following. It happens all the time, and it’s certainly nothing to get too worked up about, especially when what’s here is still pretty fine on the whole. ‘Harborcoat’ sets the tone for the entire record. Is this phase two of ‘Radio Free Europe’? The same slightly anxious sounding rhythm propels this song forwards. Not much of a song until the chorus is reached, but when the chorus IS reached, this suddenly becomes a decent song. ‘Seven Chinese Brothers’ sounds like it’s been beamed straight across from ‘Murmer’ although it’s still initially difficult to get hold of. Repeated listening pays off, that little repeating guitar figure added to mysterious Stipe lyrics holds the song together. ‘So Central Rain’ opens with a ringing, distinctive guitar pattern after which Michael says sorry rather a lot. Still, a fine song this, especially the instrumental breaks where the drums start to beat out loud and clear, and rather funky they sound too. ‘Pretty Persuasion’ sounds astonishingly clear, an echo or ambience on the instrumentation, particularly the vocals which sound wonderful here. ‘Time After Time’ is a little weird with an eastern flavour, but it’s not unattractive or anything. More interesting drum work here, incidentally.

‘Second Guessing’ is a ROCK song, fast and with a steady beat you can dance to! It’s rather fun, you know? ‘Letter Never Sent’ is sub-standard ‘Murmer’, Michael mumbles a lot perhaps because the lyrics aren’t terribly interesting. The tune isn’t either, come to think of it. ‘Camera’ is very slow and dreary, ‘Don’t Go Back To Rockville’ a little country tune with swoon-some, life affirming harmonies and joyous melodies. Best song on the album, for me. ‘Little America’ closes the whole ‘Reckoning’ show with fast, anxious rhythms and a vocal where if you concentrate you can actually make out most of what the words are! It sounds strange coming after ‘Rockville’, almost like a different band, but it’s an ok song if judged by itself. Maybe that’s it? ‘Reckoning’ lacks the cohesion and overall atmosphere of ‘Murmer’. Maybe I’m labouring the point, because ‘Reckoning’ is still a fine album, with a bunch of hugely enjoyable songs on it.

Strangeways Here We Come

There is something difficult about this album. Perhaps it’s the fact it was released after Johnny Marr had officially quit the band? That shouldn’t really affect anything, given that the recording of the album had all taken place before he’d left. Perhaps it just left a nasty taste in the mouth, especially arriving after the superlative ‘Queen Is Dead’ album. Could The Smiths make music of the gods, force everybody to bow down before them, and conquer the world? Uh, no. ‘Strangeways’ is a step back from ‘The Queen Is Dead’ overall, although this is possibly just because of the sheer tension within Smiths ranks at the time. Still, there’s enough fine, great, super fabulous groovy songs here. Quite enough for any sane person. ‘A Rush And A Push And The Land Is Ours’ may not be as dramatic an album opener as ‘The Queen Is Dead’ was, but this is a fine, swoonsome song with lovely Mozza vocals, very playful and a weird Piano type sound, odd percussion all amidst glorious melodies! So, that’s alright then, isn’t it? Johnny gets into gear with ‘I Started Something I Couldn’t Finish’, lots of guitar, here there and everywhere. Again, the vocals of Stephen Patrick Morrissey are crystal clear, playful with lots of clever wordplay lyrically. Handclaps? We’ve got’em. The often much maligned ‘Death Of A Disco Dancer’ appearing as song three, when the truly emotionally brilliant ‘I Know It’s Over’ had appeared in the same place on ‘Queen Is Dead’ may have contributed to this being one of the most overlooked pieces of Smiths brilliance. Yes, ‘Death Of A Disco Dancer’ and brilliance in the same sentence! Glorious vocal ‘moaning’ from Morrissey, Piano played by Morrissey himself! Ok, so he’s no musician as such, and just tinkles around, but added to the rest of this spooky, and quite frankly frightening song, it all works out just dandy. Sigh. The two songs that follow ‘Death Of A Disco Dancer’ on side one up the ‘ante’ yet further. ‘Girlfriend In A Coma’? Smiths by numbers, or Smiths just fabulous, groovy, outtasight! Sorry, I apologise. I don’t know why i’ve come over all Sixties through this review. Maybe because i’ve put off and put off writing this review literally for months without a single clue as to how to approach it. Still, ‘Girlfriend In A Coma’ is ultra lovely and romantic ( yeah…. ) and ‘Stop Me If You Think You’ve Heard This One Before’ is a damn fine tune to boot, one of the very best Smiths songs.

‘Last Night I Dreamnt That Somebody Loved Me’, oooh! What can I say? This one song, THIS song, is just…… arghhhh! So lovely and sad and romantic – how many times have any of us dreamnt that somebody loved us? So, Morrissey and The Smiths, with a perfect match between lyrics evoking the feeling of being alone and wishing for romance and music sounding suitably grand and desolate. A winner in my house, certainly. The rest of this ‘Strangeways Here We Come’ album goes a little odd, but just about holds its head above water. ‘Unhappy Birthday’ benefits from great production, it sounds clear and special to this day. The song itself isn’t ambitious, just this little jaunty thing with bittersweet and funny lyrics. May the lines hang heavy and deep tonight, indeed! ‘Paint A Vulgar Picture’ sees Johnny rescue a rather ugly Morrissey lyric with haunting guitar tones. ‘Death At Ones Elbow’ is just this little rockabilly song. It would have sounded pretty strange if it’d had been placed on ‘Queen Is Dead’ but it no doubt sounded grand played live. ‘I Won’t Share You’ given the imminent split of The Smiths, and the listener knowing they had split, takes on an extra special resonance all of it’s own. A truly beautiful song, a beautifully imperfect album. Oh, before I sign off. I really *love* the vocals all through ‘I Won’t Share You’. A special moment, indeed.

Meat is Murder

Already voices were loudly proclaiming The Smiths as a one trick pony, even with ‘How Soon Is Now’ being quite patently different from anything else they’d done. Johnny set about creating a whole load of new guitar sounds and styles and really expanded his playing here. He is the star of the show. The record lacks great production values again, surprisingly sounding worse than parts of the half studio/half sessions ‘Hatful Of Hollow’. Still. We do have ‘Headmaster Ritual’. It rolls along. Morrisseys voice with added echo sounds chilling in support of the lyrics. ‘Spineless, bastards all’. And, my favourite of the lot ‘please excuse me from gym, i’ve got a terrible cold coming on’. Now, these are lyrics 🙂 ‘Rusholme Ruffians’ musically is a sheer rockabilly delight! Rockabilly! Didn’t I tell you Johnny was expanding and experimenting with his playing? I did, yes! The lyrics aren’t fantastic this time, so just listen to the music. Its enough. Its fantastic stuff. And! We have ‘I Want The One I Can’t Have’. Look, this album has a brilliant opening, what can I say?

Hmmm. But, what’s this? Signs that The Smiths were human after all? ‘What She Said’ would be fine if it were not for the production which pretty much obliterates Johnnys guitar lines. You’ve got to really focus on them, straining your ears to make them out at all. ‘Barbarism Begins At Home’ does have a funky groove ( funky! yes! ) but also, it really is far too long at just under seven minutes going round and round and round. The closing ‘Meat Is Murder’ is self explanatory. Morrissey makes his point over a six minute long track that sounds beautifully haunting in places but once again, its too long. It repeats itself uneccessarily from a musical point of view. The vocal may make you cry though. ‘Nowhere Fast’ is carried by its opening lyric. ‘That Joke Isn’t Funny Anymore’ sounds great, far better production wise than anything else here but didn’t make a great single. Those opening guitar lines are so damn beautiful though. I have of course saved the best til last. ‘Well I Wonder’ is just…..makes me cry, makes me smile, sends a chill all up and down my spine. The guitar and bass are both great. Morrissey sounds in fine, affecting voice. A hugely underrated Smiths gem. Its the highlight of the album for me. Given the lesser moments, its just as well ‘Well I Wonder’ is here at all. That, together with the opening three songs make the core of this for me, and ensure a strong album despite its few weak moments.

Waiting for the Sun

A change of pace for this, the third studio album by The Doors. Gone is the dark brooding of old, gone is the rock blues jazz mix. Well, everything gone for the most part, but all of these aspects do reappear in places. They’d used up their backlog of songs of course and a couple of tracks here do sound like definite filler. Open your eyes and ears however, go through with repeated listening and ‘Summers Almost Gone’ almost becomes your whole universe. The difference between this and previous Doors recordings is emphasized simply by the feel of this song. Imagine a sunset, sitting alone looking out of a window as the world flows by. Summers almost gone, and where will you be? What have you done? Jim sounds in fine voice and the music is dreamily relaxed. The musical mix is enhanced by piano, especially during the middle of the song. Didn’t I tell you The Doors always do great breaks in songs? Ha! This is no exception. This is still The Doors we know and love! This isn’t exactly Rock n Roll and not too many people out there appear to love this song in preferance to say ‘You’re Lost Little Girl’ but really, this is just beautiful and haunting. The opening ‘pop’ ‘Hello I Love You’ borrows its melody from The Kinks ‘All Day And All Of The Night’ and really isn’t too great. It sounds tired, sounds under pressure to provide a commercial moment on demand. They were under strain and pressure to produce this set of songs as they largely had nothing prepared. ‘Love Street’ is funny! Again, like ‘Summers Almost Gone’ this is an evocative song musically and Jim once again sounds in fine voice. Another relaxed and mellow song full of hooks. The hooks are there!

Jim wanted a 12 minute plus song called ‘Celebration Of The Lizard’ to be included on the record. None of the other Doors did so instead they took out a section from that song and turned it into ‘Not To Touch The Earth’. Now, the old Doors sound fully returns – the pounding organ swirls, Jim sounding demonic and mystical as the track winds itself up and up further and further as it progressives. It ends up sounding dark as hell and very enjoyable! As the piece finishes Jim claims the title of ‘Lizard King’ and off we go into ‘Summers Almost Gone’. Fabulous stuff! Not everything is fabulous of course. I’d already hinted at that earlier hadn’t I? Yes! And? Well ‘Wintertime Love’ is lightweight for sure but again, its just so very entertaining. You can’t exactly take this short silly thing seriously but it does raise a smile when you realise this is The Doors doing this! This happy, jaunty little thing! ‘The Unknown Soldier’ I certainly don’t care for. I don’t like the tone of the lyrics and the music seems uninspired and repeating previous themes. ‘My Wild Love’ is hard to describe or explain. Some sort of chanting appears to be going on. Really, I just don’t understand what’s going on! It is actually unsettling though which may have been the point but all that’s really acheived is a desire in the listener to skip to the next track.

The album carries on through an unusual path. ‘We Could Be So Good Together’ again appears to be a lightweight composition by past Doors standards but it does sport decent melodies throughout. ‘Yes, The River Knows’ is the closest we come to Doors as easy listening here, something previously unimaginable. Yes, whilst the likes of ‘Summers Almost Gone’ created an atmosphere with a marriage of lyrics and appropriate music here the lyrics don’t entirely appear suited to the music at all. Nice piano though. And! After all of that we have some old style Doors music done very well with ‘Five To One’. The keyboard and bass pounds, the guitar is dramatic and Jim sounds on the edge. A good way to close something that remains an inconsistant listen, certainly when compared to the first two Doors records – but does have enough moments sprinkled throughout to ensure an enjoyable listen. The very fact that some songs here are so different sounding to previous Doors material is actually a good thing. The lack of a ‘Light My Fire’ or a ‘When The Musics Over’ is of course noticeable but if taken on its own terms, then yeah, this is certainly a good album.

Strange Days

The vast majority of these songs had already been written and arranged prior to the recording of the debut. Many of the songs hail from the same song writing sessions that produced their first long player. Since they largely already had a bunch of material ready this album appeared only six months after its predecessor. They sound more assured this time round, perhaps due to greater experience in the studio. The keyboard bass was replaced by a sessioneer on regular bass guitar for part of this record. It sounds slicker than previous recordings. We open with the title song. The keyboards swirl in madness, Morrison’s voice booms out loud and clear and it’s a fine song. A good start to the record all round as ‘You’re Lost Little Girl’ and ‘Love Me Two Times’ follow. The lyrics to ‘You’re Lost Little Girl’ and the tone of Jims voice gets to me every time. ‘Love Me Two Times’ is just stupendous! Especially arriving on the heels of the previous track. ‘Love Me Two Times’ works as a great rock song with a groovy rhythm! The Doors once again prove themselves adept at middle section breaks when great piano comes in guaranteed to raise a smile! A superb song all round.

‘Unhappy Girl’ despite the lyrical tone is lighter musically but extremely melodic with it. The music contrasts the lyrical content and helps you focus on the words, actually. Fine words they are too. ‘Horse Latitudes’ is very hard to take seriously. Musical effects bordering on the humorous despite their admittedly unsettling nature accompany Jim in preacher voice, reading out his spoken word poetry. Thankfully its short. It does serve a purpose breaking up the record sonically. In a sense its there to provide variety. One of the Doors earliest songs gets a recorded appearance next. ‘Moonlight Drive’ is another fine song on an album full of them. Very little faulting this record, actually. ‘People Are Strange’ has been covered a number of times and with good reason. Another fabulous set of intriguing lyrics and music full of hooks but without neglecting depth. ‘My Eyes Have Seen You’ is a great phrase to build a lyric around and the music is up-tempo and features plenty of Ray attacking his instrument with vigour! ‘I Can’t See Your Face In My Mind’ slows things down, sounds unusual but perfectly natural at the same time. Some exotic sounding guitar playing in particular a highlight of this track. Another great piece of cover art, incidentally, cementing The Doors position as a band that were indeed different from the norm.

The epic eleven minutes plus ‘When The Music’s Over’ closes the record. Strange Days indeed? It features Rays keyboard bass, is wonderful throughout and drags the album up a notch all by itself. Very intense and full of passion. Great playing from Ray, Robbie and John. We do have ‘Horse Latitudes’ however. We also have admittedly ‘Love Me Two Times’, ‘People Are Strange’ and ‘When The Music’s Over’. But, these apart, the record lacks obvious standouts of such a quantity as their debut. All the songs are still pretty great though and overall this is another fine and frequently exhilarating ride, no doubt about it!