Listen to INXS' new album

[natasha]

Hey Guys,

Just letting you know that if you go to this address you can listen to the full INXS album before it comes out.

www.vh1.com/artists/az/inxs/1153858/album.jhtml?popThis=playIt()

I havent had time to listen to it all yet. But so far it sounds pretty good.

[RayneDove]

I attempted to but they're just not my cup of tea anymore. I'm a total hammerhead

[kellysgirl]

I listened to it on VH1. I think "Hot Girl" could be the biggest hit of all. I liked most of the songs and I think JD sounded really good. Some of the tracks reminded me of MH, tho. I guess INXS and especially Andrew wrote songs with MH in mind, a very hard habit to break. INXS does have a unique sound. I really hope it does well.

[radioclash]

I think it sounded pretty good. It started off slow for me and also ended without a bang, but in the middle there's some good stuff. I can't relate to the lyrics that well so....

Loved hearing Suzie on there. I am wondering is she'll be touring as a back-up/guest vocalist?

I can also see Hot Girls as being the one with the biggest potential - as far as charts, etc. especially if they do the video right.

I personally liked tracks 7,6,4
and thought JD's vocals sounded best on tracks 8, 11.
Track 9 is very "Beck" - ish.

[Tooks]

Is it terrible that I'm totally lovin' Hot Girls? - It almost make me attracted to JD...almost ;D

Edite to add that while I'm sorta diggin' the new INXS CD (I'm pretty easy to please musically) I'm even more thankful that Marty didn't win...I'm fairly certain his friends and fellow Lovehammers would feel obligated to beat the snot out him if he sang these pop-y songs and they're so not his style at all, but they seem to fit JD very well (this last bit is actually said as a compliment to JD).

[Ayesa86]

tookskye said:

Edite to add that while I'm sorta diggin' the new INXS CD (I'm pretty easy to please musically) I'm even more thankful that Marty didn't win...I'm fairly certain his friends and fellow Lovehammers would feel obligated to beat the snot out him if he sang these pop-y songs and they're so not his style at all, but they seem to fit JD very well (this last bit is actually said as a compliment to JD).

I totally agree, but frankly I'm a big fan of their old stuff, so it made me a little nostalgic.

[hammerfanatic]

I have listened to all of the tracks and pre-ordered the cd. My favorite songs so far besides "Pretty Vegas" are "Hungry" and "Afterglow". BEAUTIFUL songs!! And J.D. is PERFECT!! I like "HOT GIRLS" also and "DEVILS'S PARTY" also. It's making me look so much more forward to INXS's part of the concert, and not JUST the LOVEHAMMERS!! Guess that is okay since I am paying for both acts!! But I am always a HAMMERHEAD first!!

[DG]

I haven't been able to listen to any one track all the way through. I don't know, it doesn't move me. I feel like I've heard it all before. What song was Suzie on? I don't want to miss that one.

[DG]

Never mind, just got to it. "God's top ten" right. She sounds awesome!

[hammerfanatic]

God's Top Ten is a BEAUTIFUL song!! Suzie gave me goose bumps!!

[natasha]

I'm listening to the songs right now.. so far I like Perfect Strangers and Remember Who's Your Man..

[radioclash]

I thought I heard Suzie briefly on "Hot Girls" (?).

I was also wondering if they used the songs they gave Marty, Mig & JD during that last reality show clinic where they wrote with Andrew Farris. Anyone notice?

[xsiveone]

hammerfanatic said:

God's Top Ten is a BEAUTIFUL song!! Suzie gave me goose bumps!!

Same here! Suzie always gives me goosebumps though. Her intro in the song was hauntingly beautiful. What a great tribute song to MH.

INXS missed the boat big time by not going with Suzie IMO. She sang some of the INXS songs even better than MH IMO. Songs like Never Tear Us Apart, Mystify and Bitter Tears.

It's funny. I have broken down INXS into the pre-Kick and post-Kick album era. I thought that the band totally changed with the album Kick and went in a much more commercial/pop direction. What's ironic about it is that this is when the band's popularity took off. I think that's when they lost me as a die-hard fan.

I think that Suzie is fantastic for the post-Kick album era of songs. Picking her would've made the band different enough from what it was, but they could've still gone down the same road. Did you hear her do the song "Us" on the show? She blew me away. JD's version on the album isn't even close. INXS should've sold that song to Suzie and let her record it.

Marty... Thank God INXS didn't pick him. I can't see him singing this material at all. Marty definitely got the best deal there with the exposure and record deal for the LH.

[xsiveone]

The music in "Hot Girls" sounds like a Garbage rip off to me.

Did you notice that "Devil's Party" is the song that Andrew and JD started collaborating on during the songwriting clinic towards the finale' of the show? I recognized the lyrics that they were working on.

[Ayesa86]

radioclash said:

Track 9 is very "Beck" - ish.

Yeah, but personally, that's a good thing, being a Beck fan & all^^ (at least until my little brother hid my copy of Guero )

[radioclash]

ayesa86 said:

radioclash said:

Track 9 is very "Beck" - ish.

Yeah, but personally, that's a good thing, being a Beck fan & all^^ (at least until my little brother hid my copy of Guero )

I totally love a lot of Beck's songs, too. It certainly is not intended to be an insult.

[Ayesa86]

I didn't think it was an insult, I was just noticing that & couldn't help but comment

[xsiveone]

I see some definite influences from other bands on this album.

I can definitely hear the Beck influence on "Like It Or Not".

Like Marty said on RS: INXS, PV sounds a lot like "The Strangest Party". Not an influence from another band, but I'm sure that MH had something to do with the song.

Hot Girls has definite influence from Garbage, especially the guitars when they go into the chorus.

The intro to Perfect Strangers totally reminds me of modern Cure.

Hungry sounds like modern Bowie to me.

I listed to the album several times now. It's all right. I'm in the middle of the road with it. MOMM simply blows it out of the water though.

[Remus]

xsiveone said:

hammerfanatic said:

God's Top Ten is a BEAUTIFUL song!! Suzie gave me goose bumps!!

Same here! Suzie always gives me goosebumps though. Her intro in the song was hauntingly beautiful. What a great tribute song to MH.

INXS missed the boat big time by not going with Suzie IMO. She sang some of the INXS songs even better than MH IMO. Songs like Never Tear Us Apart, Mystify and Bitter Tears.

It's funny. I have broken down INXS into the pre-Kick and post-Kick album era. I thought that the band totally changed with the album Kick and went in a much more commercial/pop direction. What's ironic about it is that this is when the band's popularity took off. I think that's when they lost me as a die-hard fan.

I think that Suzie is fantastic for the post-Kick album era of songs. Picking her would've made the band different enough from what it was, but they could've still gone down the same road. Did you hear her do the song "Us" on the show? She blew me away. JD's version on the album isn't even close. INXS should've sold that song to Suzie and let her record it.

Marty... Thank God INXS didn't pick him. I can't see him singing this material at all. Marty definitely got the best deal there with the exposure and record deal for the LH.

I believe Afterglow is the tribute to MH while God's Top Ten was written for his daughter Heavenly Hiraani Tiger Lily Hutchence.

One of the reasons INXS likely didn't go with Suzie was that fans consistently rejected the female contestants in favour of the male ones on RS:INXS.

[lesley]

I just googled the INXS album to see what the reviews are like. These are the first five reviews that popped up. It seems like they're mostly luke warm, at best, at this point.

This one is from the Sydney Morning Herald (Australian paper):

www.smh.com.au/news/music/inxs-switch/2005/11/24/1132703305721.html

INXS: Switch

November 26, 2005

When you've got your own sound, and have honed that sound for a couple of decades, you have your identity in a market where most people still want to sound like whatever or whomever is big this week. But that identity can sometimes become a musical straitjacket. After all, it is easier and commercially safer to be instantly recognisable when the alternative, bringing something fresh, can startle the horses. It's just that it can also restrict your thinking.

It's hardly a new circumstance - the Rolling Stones, AC/DC and Status Quo wrote the book on it - and even the greatest of bands can succumb. U2, for example, made All That You Can't Leave Behind sound fresh, even as they were sounding like "old" U2, because the songs were so good. However, on last year's How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, with too many songs lacking the killer blow, they ended up sounding like a band working hard to sound like U2.

For INXS, resurrection with a new singer could have provided an opportunity to freshen a band whose previous release, 1997's Elegantly Wasted, had continued a slide in quality and sales. They've chosen not to.

It's not just that the new singer, J.D. Fortune, tries his darnedest to sound like Michael Hutchence - so much so that it is almost eerie at times - but that the songs themselves are like identikit pictures of earlier INXS songs.

Devil's Party replicates the vampy keyboard stamp from Original Sin. Pretty Vegas resurrects the guitar riff from Devil Inside. Perfect Strangers could easily have come from 1987's Kick album and Never Let You Go harks back even earlier, to 1984's The Swing, while you can hear 1985's Listen Like Thieves all through several songs, in particular Like It or Not.

Of course the songs aren't terrible. Andrew Farriss (who has written the bulk of the album, with contributions from each band member and a few corporate songwriters) didn't suddenly stop being a good songwriter. Equally though, Farriss didn't suddenly turn into a great songwriter. This is pretty much what you would have expected to hear from INXS in 1998, or 1988 for that matter.

So, is Switch re-creating their best moments or repeating their only ideas? Well, this album is such a good facsimile of INXS it could possibly be the best INXS cover band around.

I am not certain this is necessarily something to boast too much about, though, if you still call yourself INXS rather than, say, the Australian/Canadian INXS Show.

-----------------------

This one is quite unkind. It's from "24 Hours Vancouver":

vancouver.24hrs.ca/Entertainment/2005/11/29/1328802-sun.html

Switch is an album bankrupt of ideas and bereft of spark

By MIKE BELL

INXS
Switch
2.5 out of 5 stars

A mental sorbet is required before even setting down with the new INXS* album (yes, the asterisk is mandatory).

It does, after all, take a great deal to get past the somewhat tawdry fact the band replaced its late lead singer with a Wonka-like golden ticket winner chosen by Dave Navarro and those band members left stranded by the death of their meal ticket.

Even moreso to forgive the new album's appearance on record store shelves a week removed from the eighth anniversary of Michael Hutchence's death.

So, as a palate cleanser - or an S.O.S. pad to the gray matter - maybe it's necessary to remember even with their dynamic frontman, it has been almost two decades since they've released an album of note.

And as such, INXS* is already sufficiently removed from being a relevant or good band to take Switch at face value - as the explosively forgettable rock record it is.

From the lame, electro rock opener "Devil's Party," which hints almost desperately at past glory "Original Sin," and the equally as desperate U2-esque ballad "Afterglow," Switch is an album bankrupt of ideas and bereft of spark.

As for new vocalist, Canadian J.D. Fortune, he'd do best to tone down his Michael Hutchence impersonation. All it does is remind you he's no Michael Hutchence, which then reminds you of how he got the job in the first place before reminding you that INXS*, the real INXS*, died long before their frontman did.

MELISSA O'NEIL

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This one from the Washington Times likes JD's voice, but generally dislikes most everything else:

washingtontimes.com/entertainment/20051128-092733-6537r.htm

Hutchence Sound without the Lyrics

The just-released "Switch" is the twist of a knife already in flesh. "Switch" sounds exactly like you'd imagine an album that was recorded hurriedly under the tutelage of a slick U.K. producer such as Guy Chambers, and on the heels of a worldwide hype machine, would sound: almost entirely substance-free, with a cherry on top.

The track selection for "Switch" was impeccably democratic, with each member, even the newbie Mr. Fortune, having a hand in the songwriting. Outside contributors such as Desmond Child and the Matrix also were brought in to spice up the offerings of a band that has been on blocks since the Clinton era.

I liked a few of the stabs at classic INXS from keyboardist Andrew Farriss, who doubles on six-string (his brothers, Tim and Jon, play guitar and drums respectively).

"Devil's Party," a horn-laden dance groove, goes down easily enough once you're over the spook of Mr. Fortune's mimetic vocal performance. "Pretty Vegas" is the kind of Stonesy, new-wave cross-fertilization that made INXS such a potent commodity in the '80s. Even the silly "Hot Girls" -- it's about a guy who stares seductively at a girl who's munching on a peach -- is likable on some mindless level.

The up-tempo electronic rocker "Perfect Stranger" briefly conjures the buzz of "Kick"-era INXS, especially when Kirk Pengilly blows a sax solo. Then you realize it's a groin-gazing paean to one-night stands: "Let's just keep this simple/In the a.m., it's goodbye."

In general, "Switch's" stupendously bad lyrics make it a cringey listen. "Afterglow," a Middle Eastern-styled ballad co-penned by Mr. Child, loses its luster with lines such as "My mind drifts away/We only have today/Touch me and I will follow."

"Hungry," with its driving beat and surging chorus, is tripped up by sentiments such as "You need to find the gift of love that comes from deep inside." "Like It or Not" and "Us" are little more than hedonistic drivel masquerading as commentary on all the trouble in the world (Mr. Hutchence famously accomplished the latter far more economically when he sang, "Every single one of us, the devil inside.")

Mr. Fortune doesn't deserve the blame for the bummer of "Switch"; in fact, he's far from a bad singer. (The soulful high register he finds on "Remember Who's Your Man" is particularly nice.) The ultimate problem comes in INXS' attempt to make him the engineer of an already-steaming train that was well-prepared to leave the station without him.

If you're wondering who belongs to the female voice that opens "God's Top Ten," the album-closing tribute to Mr. Hutchence, it's "Rock Star" runner-up Suzie McNeil (another Canadian, coincidentally).

INXS, unfortunately, is no longer a rock band. It's a circus.

----------------

Less dismissive, but still not entirely welcoming is this track-by-track review from Jam! Music:

jam.canoe.ca/Music/Artists/I/INXS/AlbumReviews/2005/11/25/1323689-sun.html

SWITCH

Never tear us apart

By JANE STEVENSON -- Toronto Sun

Switch, the first INXS studio album in eight years, raises as many questions as it answers.

In stores Tuesday, the 11-track collection sounds more or less stuck in the '80s, when the Aussie band previously ruled the charts -- yet that's where most dance-rock music is currently at. The disc also features new lead singer J.D. Fortune, who pales in comparison to original frontman Michael Hutchence, but there's a kind of odd Canadian pride associated with the Nova Scotia native's involvement.

And then there is the most questionable aspect of all: How Fortune was chosen over 15 finalists during the reality series Rock Star: INXS, cheapening the band's legacy in the eyes of many fans.

Still, INXS knew what they were doing given the anticipation for this album and its North American tour, which has sold out all over the place, including Toronto on Feb. 6 and 7 at Massey Hall.

After all is said and done, this record could have turned out a lot worse. Songwriter and keyboardist/guitarist Andrew Farriss did well in hooking up with producer-songwriter Guy Chambers (Queen, Robbie Williams) and seasoned songwriters like Desmond Child. Fortune also co-writes three songs.

The result is a slicker, more polished INXS with a mix of party-hearty anthems, sleazy rockers, melancholy ballads and contemplative love songs. But the biggest surprise is the inclusion of Rock Star: INXS contestant and Toronto native Suzie McNeil, who sings backing vocals along with fellow finalist Deanna Johnston.

Here's a track-by-track look at Switch:

Devil's Party 3:25

A swampy, sexy, funky rocker with plenty of Memphis horns. Fortune, weighing in on his first song as co-writer, recalls a more clean-cut-sounding Hutchence. Sometimes you just can't shake your inner Elvis impersonator -- Fortune's former job.

Pretty Vegas 3:27

The first single, famously co-written by Fortune on the reality show, is hooky, guitar-driven and full of attitude. While it sounds like classic INXS -- particularly Devil Inside -- it's still no New Sensation. "It ain't pretty, after the show, it ain't pretty when the pretty leaves you, with no place to go," goes the now familiar chorus.

Afterglow 4:08

The biggest departure on the album is also the first standout track. This dreamy pop ballad with pretty guitar builds in intensity as it comes to a dramatic conclusion, with plenty of strings, synths, and McNeil's meaty backing vocals. Meanwhile, the subject matter is Hutchence.

"Touch me, and I will follow, in your afterglow," sings a gentler-sounding Fortune. "Heal me from all this sorrow, as I let you go."

Hot Girls 3:30

A rock ode to strippers.

Apparently, there were plenty of peeler bars near the band's Santa Monica studios.

In addition to some female spoken-word Japanese, McNeil weighs in with big-sounding backing vocals. You can already see the women working the poles to this one.

Perfect Strangers 4:12

The best funk rock song on the record, which recalls the INXS classic The Strangest Party, is also about anonymous one-night stands. Oh, well, so much for clean living. It still rocks with a nice sax solo from Kirk Pengilly. "Don't tell me your name, just use that pretty mouth," sings Fortune, at his most Hutchence yet. "Let's just keep this simple, in the a.m. it's goodbye." Cold!

Remember Who's Your Man 3:28

A more low-key, acoustic, mid-tempo love ballad and the first sign that someone actually has a heart here. "Driving downtown to your house, your lights are never on/ You got me hooked, I want to drown, without your hand, I'm going down," sings Fortune, who also shows off his falsetto.

Hungry 4:47

Another album standout, this Bowie-esque New Wave number gathers strength from '80s-sounding synths and a relentless pace that takes a dramatic pause about midway through.

Never Let You Go 4:18

The third song co-written by Fortune has a ska beat, a nice sax solo and some unfortunate lyrics: "If someday I find me the answer, I'll move down south and marry a dancer." Ouch.

Like It Or Not 3:44

Another ska-influenced song with a sax solo, but way more rocking. Unfortunately, it's also pretty forgettable. "Sex is sex and love is love, mix it up, that's the stuff," Fortune sings. "Like it or not, love is the God."

Us 4:07

The most Robbie Williams-like track on the disc -- not coincidentally co-written by Chambers -- is also the one with the biggest social conscience as INXS makes a plea for the haves to start looking after the have-nots in this messed-up world. Way too earnest and yet catchy at the same time with McNeil wailing away in the background again. "Hungry babies on television, can you feel the shame, you've got to keep on giving to one another, 'cause it's all going to happen again," Fortune sings.

God's Top Ten 4:54

A pretty piano hook kicks off this soulful, strings-laden tribute to Hutchence, his late partner Paula Yates and their daughter Tiger Lily, with McNeil and Fortune trading verses and singing together. "Baby's got mama's eyes, she was always beautiful, when you hear his voice, feel his arms around you, you remember mama smiling, Daddy's little girl, bad weather, cold media storm," they both sing.

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Here's the Toronto Star's slightly more positive take:

tinyurl.com/9p784

A catchy album, not excessively so
Nov. 29, 2005. 01:00 AM

INXS

Switch (Epic/Sony/BMG)

Spankin' new lead singer J.D. Fortune is one of the best things that the first INXS album since Michael Hutchence's 1987 swan song, Elegantly Wasted, has going for it.

He's a natural fit for the nearly 30-year-old band's tilt towards the adult-contemporary market on Switch, turning in a strong, if somewhat nondescript vocal performance that flits from a Hutchence-esque snarl on typical INXS tunes like "Devil's Party" or "Perfect Strangers" to a low Scott Weiland growl on "Hot Girls" and Bono-worthy melodramatics on "Hungry" and the ballad "God's Top Ten" (dedicated to Hutchence and his daughter Tiger Lily).

To their credit, Fortune's new bandmates haven't demanded that he imitate Hutchence, nor have they bothered trying to recreate past glories with the music. Instead, they've simply gunned for a reclamation of their lapsed world domination and enlisted proven songwriters like Desmond Child and former Avril Lavigne wranglers the Matrix to ensure that it happens.

There are some dismayingly catchy songs in here: first single "Pretty Vegas" is nagging faux-gritty fluff co-written by Fortune, while the U2-ish "Afterglow" (featuring fellow Rock Star contestant and Toronto resident Suzie McNeil) is a born arena ballad, and the brassy "Love is the God" skips sleekly along rather like the INXS of yore. The many ladies who've embraced Fortune as rock's heartthrob du jour will also, one suspects, find him working the macho/sensitive dynamic to fine effect here. Destined to sell well, but not the finest entry in the INXS canon by any means.

Ben Rayner