Album #56 : INXS - The Swing

INXS

The Swing (1984)

The recent TV-led resurgence in interest in INXS is both a good and a bad thing for music fans. It's a good thing in that it allows people who experienced it the first time to relive their youth, and also allows those who missed it the first time around to discover, and hopefully get into, the work of a seminal Australian New Wave/rock band. 

It's a bad thing in that it might tempt the band back into reforming for more legacy-destroying tours, and I'm sorry, but I still have horrendous memories of the band being fronted by bloody Terence Trent D'Arby and watching him "oooh baby ooooh ooooooooooh live oooooooooooh baby live ooooooooooooohhhh" his way through New Sensation. 

And let us not even get started on that prat JQYDXYWE$%@# Fortune or whoever he was (past tense being the most appropriate choice).

Nevertheless, those legacy-tarnishing moments (I MEAN TERENCE TRENT D'ARBY? SIGN YOUR NAME ACROSS MY HEART TERENCE TRENT D'ARBY? YEAH GREAT CHOICE, NEXT UP - RICK ASTLEY TO REPLACE ROBERT PLANT) can be eradicated by listening to an album that captures the band approaching their heights - 1984's The Swing. Contained within are one of the band's most famous singles....and one of my favourite INXS tracks.

Let's get into......the swing of things.

The Album

The Swing is fairly representative of the early to mid 80s INXS sound. There's synths a-go-go, monstrous reverb on the drums and the obligatory sax solos, courtesy of Kirk 'I Can't Believe There's A Rock Star Called Kirk' Pengilly. Guitars are there, but are generally relegated to the role of support instrument. Then, of course, there's the undisputed star of the show, vocalist Michael Hutchence. Even on the album's weaker tunes, Hutchence is the highlight. He displays such a range of vocal conveyances - there's swagger, there's power, there's the raw sex-appeal heavy rock vocal, there's more restrained, sweeter sections. It's all here and it's all good.

Original Sin, the album opener, is that very well-known track mentioned earlier. It's synths aplenty (I reckon even the guitar is guitar synthesiser) and a corking vocal from Hutchence, singing what even today would be considered a confronting lyric to racist douchebags. It also contains a few big name guest involvements - firstly, Daryl Hall of Hall and Oates sings with Hutchence in the choruses, and secondly, it's produced by musical god Nile Rodgers. Dancing On The Jetty is much the same in terms of synth and funky bass grooves, creating a real dance vibe to the track; however there's a really shuddering, and effective, change into the choruses. Hutchence becomes smoother, there's a plaintive melodic synthesiser line, and the song takes a brief breather. Burn For You is close to my favourite INXS song. It's full of great hooks (especially that repeated synth motif), Hutchence belts out the verses with real gusto and is supported by some truly outstanding backing vocals on the choruses, and there's plenty of little changes to keep the listener interested (aka Songwriting 101.) There's even a BIG DRUM ENDING.

There are a couple of other cool tracks. Firstly, there's the title track, which is the closest thing to a guitar rocker on this album. There's a drum solo at the start before the guitars kick in, and they drive this song. It's got an infectious groove and another great vocal. Face The Change echoes Blondie, with its steady tempo funk/New Wave groove that's created by drums, bass and guitar working in concert. Even the vocal occasionally strays into that Debbie Harry sing/talk combination used so effectively on tracks like Rapture. Album closer All The Voices is essentially Hutchence swapping vocals with himself, only multitracked. It sounds suspiciously like the band's attempt to write some grand, album-closing anthem, but it does come up a little short, because it's basically a four minute song stretched out to six. It's worth the listen for Hutchence alone.

The other tracks, though? Well they go from uninteresting and unengaging (Johnson's Aeroplane and Love Is (What I Say), although the latter is smashed out of the park vocally) to dated and fatigued (the drenched-in-80s-production-of-reverbarama-and-staccato-synth Melting In The Sun and the funky synth-dance of I Send A Message). I feel bad including I Send A Message in there, because I actually dig the song a great deal - it's easy to picture it being spun in dance clubs in the 80s because of its funky grooves. That does not, however, mean the song isn't horribly dated.

Which, to be fair, could be levelled at the whole album; but in my view, what separates I Send A Message from the highlights of the album is that those highlight tracks contain enough about them to still be somewhat relevant and timeless, whether it be a lyric or vocal performance, or even varied instrumentation and clever songwriting. Just an opinion, I know, but I find tracks like Original Sin and Burn For You to have aged far better than others on The Swing.

The Verdict

It's good, but not great - it's one of those albums that you'd probably only get if you were a completist, because the best tracks would have found their way to a hits compilation. There are a couple of tracks that you'd miss out on if you didn't have the album, but there's a few that are probably best left forgotten.

Still, it is probably the best example of INXS's established New Wave sound; a sound that, beginning with their next album, would begin to evolve and change, seeing guitars take precedence over synthesisers. History records that this period is where the group really began to take off, and ascend to greatness, and we should be thankful for that.

Even if it means also being scarred with that memory.

My rating: ***

Standout Tracks

Burn For You

Dancing On The Jetty

Original Sin

Tomorrow, as it's the 26th of the month, another Australian album. It's another classic release of the 80s.......