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The last album by INXS’ unique line-up, 1997’s Elegantly Wasted, has by no means actually been afforded its due. The long-awaited follow-up to 1993’s Full Moon, Dirty Hearts, the file was the enduring rockers’ first for his or her new label, PolyGram/Mercury Records, and it might certainly have signaled the beginning of a daring new chapter for the band had been it not overtaken by occasions.
In reality, in relation to reappraisals of INXS’ wider oeuvre, Elegantly Wasted is commonly neglected, primarily as a result of it arrived solely months earlier than the demise of the band’s frontman, Michael Hutchence: a tragic occasion that has sadly eclipsed the album’s inventive advantage ever since.
Listen to Elegantly Wasted on Apple Music and Spotify.
Divorced from the instances, nonetheless, it’s loads simpler to understand Elegantly Wasted for what it really was: a vibrant and purposeful return from a band who desperately wanted to get off the treadmill after producing 9 albums in simply 13 years and touring relentlessly around the globe.
“We really wanted to get off the old carousel”
“We really wanted to get off the old carousel for a while,” Hutchence informed Australia’s The Album Network journal in March 1997. “We have recorded an album every 12 to 18 months over the last five or six years… With the completion of [Full Moon, Dirty Hearts], we also fulfilled our contract with Atlantic Records. It just seemed like the logical time to take a break.”
Despite this, the band remained busy within the interim. Hutchence connected with producer/Gang Of Four guitarist Andy Gill to begin work on his lone solo album throughout 1995, whereas Andrew and Tim Farriss received concerned in manufacturing. Also, as Hutchence added in The Album Network interview, “Andrew, Garry [Beers] and I have all had children.”
Nonetheless, after some essential downtime, INXS regrouped in London to begin rehearsing for his or her Mercury debut through the spring of 1996. They later moved on to Canada after which to Spain to nail Elegantly Wasted with producer Bruce Fairbairn. An in-demand studio guru whose CV included work with Bon Jovi, Aerosmith, AC/DC, Poison, and Scorpions, Fairbairn proved a very good match for INXS as each events had been eager to make a file that captured the pure vitality of the band.
“The horizons are once again widening!”
The band “wanted a record that was a commercial success,” Fairbairn informed Sound On Sound, including, “but they also wanted to go with energy and performance, concentrating on the material.” It additionally helped that “Michael had a great voice – he could make a little clip-on mic on your jacket sound like a million bucks.”
To their credit score, INXS additionally stored their ear to the bottom when it got here to adapting to altering developments in a post-Britpop world. As Hutchence informed The Album Network, “A lot of [our contemporaries] like U2, The Cure and Massive Attack seem to be cross-pollinating genres of music – this is definitely a good time to be recording music as the horizons are once again widening!”
INXS duly relished introducing some new flavors on Elegantly Wasted, discreetly embroidering “She Is Rising” and the soulful “Searching” with loops and electronica, and soaking the sparse “Building Bridges” in a filmic environment redolent of Portishead’s Dummy. Uptempo numbers equivalent to “Girl On Fire” and the compelling “Everything,” nonetheless, revealed that Hutchence and firm nonetheless led the pack when it got here to penning rousing, radio-friendly rockers, whereas “Don’t Lose Your Head” and the sinewy, Kick-esque title observe reassured those that had been fearful the band may need jettisoned their inherent funkiness of their want to replace their sound.
Released on April 4, 1997, Elegantly Wasted emerged as a classy, assured return that revered INXS’ heritage, however which additionally noticed the Australian stalwarts seeking to the longer term. It went on to carry out strongly on the charts, returning the band to the Top 20 in quite a few territories and touchdown simply outdoors the Top 40 of the US Billboard 200.
Through no fault of its personal, the album now stands as the unique line-up’s epitaph, but it surely has barely aged a day. Despite the tragic occasions which unfolded after its launch, we’re doing it a grave disservice if we proceed to miss its achievements.
Elegantly Wasted might be purchased right here.
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