INXS Album: “Kick [Remaster]”

INXS took a major shift in their approach to the sound of their best album. Instead of the often smothering layers of sound that were the calling card of most of their prior albums, the band stripped the sound down to its bare bones. "Guns In The Sky" detonates with lead singer Michael Hutchence grunting over the crash of Jon Farris' drumbeat. A power riff worthy of fellow Aussies AC/DC begins cutting in and the band then tears into a plaint on the Star Wars global arm race.

Things just got better from there. "Kick" was INXS's crowning achievement in the studio, showing off a funkier, more confident band. The American breakout hit, "Need You Tonight," was beat driven enough to find a home on the dance floors (along with it's Dylanesque coda, "Mediate"), while the Stonesy howl of "Devil Inside" put some heavy duty spark on 1987/88 rock radio. This was a radio watershed album, with "I Need You Tonight," "New Sensation" "Devil Inside" and the soul-blues of "Never Tear Us Apart" becoming inescapable party songs and great videos before MTV abandoned music. There isn't a wasted song on "Kick." The remastered sound makes it even more punchy than the original CD.

But the re-issue suffers from real drag bonus cuts. The song "Jesus Was A Man" is an out take and SOUNDS it. The demo of "Mystify" is somewhat interesting, but the remaining tracks were unreleased for a reason. Better to just remaster the disc in its perfection than smear it with these leftover chunks of sonic vegetable matter. Michael Hutchence deserves better.

In 1984 when INXS released 'The Swing' it was hard to believe there was still a huge depth of talent to come. "KICK" is truly a remarkable album. The songwriting talents of Andrew Farriss and Michael Hutchence once again stand out but with this album the band has an everlasting legacy in rock music. Need You Tonight, New Sensation, Devil Inside and Never Tears us Apart. A collection of four singles that are indeed classics. The range from Rock anthem, guitar riff Devil Inside through to the ballad of Never Tear Us Apart which was fittingly played at Michael's funeral. These tracks are supported by the rejuvenated Australian classic "The Loved One", first heard on INXS'S INXSIVE back in 1981. If the album needs any further qualities try and get a video of its film clips especially New Sensation and Never Tear Us Apart shot in beautiful Prague. Everyone who enjoys INXS to any degree must have this CD in their collection

This was one of my very favorite albums of the 1980's, and now that I've got in on a digitally remastered CD, I'm remembering why.

Kick is vigorous power pop, start to finish, an album complete with rhytmic hooks, melodic choruses, and superstar sound and production. With this release, INXS was a band at the pinnacle of fame, playing for sold-out crowds in arenas all over the world. I had the privilege of seeing Michael and the guys when they came to my hometown, and they put on an excellent show. Demonstrating genuine talent, this band was better live than recorded.

INXS wasn't able to sustain the commercial success of Kick (if they had, the band would have been on par with many of the greatest rock bands of all time), but you will still find some stellar tracks on subsequent releases. Michael Hutchence's suicide at age 37 brought a tragic close to the life of a man who always had something interesting to express through his music.

Please Note: This review pertains to the audio quality of the CD and not the music itself. Musically speaking Kick is a 4-5 star release and deserves better attention than this shameless re-release.

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Don't let the over-used "re-master" tag fool you. What you get here is a sonically challenged disc-- highly compressed to the point that all the punch and dynamics have been bled dry. All you have to do is compare the snappy snare drum hits of the original release with this debacle. Sure, there's increased bass and I know what the audio engineers were getting at-- they wanted to take out some of the brightness that categorized records of this period and make it sound more "contemporary". Unfortunately, everything else suffers-- cymbals decay rapidly, the bass guitar is muddled and at times clipped (listen to "New Sensation" on a good pair of headphones and you'll see what I'm talking about), the afore-mentioned snare hits have lost it's snap.

So the bottom line is stay clear from this Rhino re-master. The original release may have its flaws; however, compared to this re-release, it's pure gold. I for one am keeping my original version of this CD.

Firstly, I rebought this album when the deluxe, 2 cd version came out [also available on this site]. The deluxe edition isn't really a must buy, and I think you can do with the original release unless you are a die-hard fan [I didn't have a copy of the original when I bought the deluxe version, and the deluxe version was dirt cheap too].

I think this album is worth 5 stars because it has such a strong line up of songs-very few albums can match it, song for song. As an Australian, I think that often the Australian songs that chart in the US by great bands aren't necessarily their best ones. That goes here too. My favourite songs on this album are Guns In The Sky, and Never Tear Us Apart. The former features the grunting of the lead singer, and kicking drums and a dirty, classic guitar riff. Powerful stuff. The latter is a gorgeous ballad, featuring an orchestra or something-definitly violins in there, and a cool bass riff. These two songs are up there with INXS' best.

The songs that Americans most probably like the best, like Need You Tonight and New Sensation, are not as good, in my opinion, but they are of a standard which makes this album a 5 star album...i.e. they may not be great, but they are much more than filler.

This album also includes a cover of the classic Australian song "The loved one". INXS do a good cover of this. It must be said, though, that the original is still the definitive version [by The Loved Ones]. Haven't heard The Easybeats' version of "Good Times", but I'm pretty sure that INXS and Jimmy Barnes did THE definitive version of that song, in their duet.

The other songs which are more than filler and just plain good are:

Mediate

Mystify

Kick

The first has some cool drumming, which references the drums in Need You Tonight. It has a cool vibe to it, and is a bit poetic. Sort of like reading poetry to a cool drum beat.

The second is a piano and finger clicking song-a bit swingy and slow.

Perhaps the song Kick is the best song on this album apart from Guns and Never Tear Us Apart. Features a fine sax sound and a big beat.

Back to why this album gets five stars from me-the first six songs on this album are all of a good standard. In Australia, any of those six songs have gotten airplay here, or still do. Now, if the seventh song is a disappointent, in not being as good as the first six, the eighth song just raises the bar even higher for this album-Never Tear Us Apart would have to be one of my favourite INXS songs ever.

From memory, the last song features a melody in the introduction, perhaps, very similar to Rod Stewart's classic song Young Turks.

Having had this album and Listen Like Thieves on cassette at one time, and having read the track listings for Listen Like Thieves recently, I'm leaning on saying that Kick is INXS SECOND best album, with Listen Like Thieves being their best. I do plan on re-buying that album some time soon and letting you know whether I still think that is the case.

Basically, if you are into pop/rock, with killer guitar riffs, great drum beats and something a little bit different [i.e. sax sounds, violins etc], then Kick is a can't go wrong album. I don't think even The Beatles ever released an album as strong as this [and yes, I have heard Sgt Pepper...that's over-rated, in my view...Magical Mystery Tour is my favourite Beatles album].

*** Other Australian cds I've reviewed at this site:

INXS: "Listen like thieves" and "Anthology"

Skyhooks: The collection

Midnight Oil: "10,...,1" and "Diesel and dust" and others

John Farnham: The great Australian songbook

Johnny O'Keefe: Birth of Australian rock'n'roll

Alex Lloyd: Amazing-The best of

The Saints: Know your product-the best of

Rogue Traders: Here comes the drums