INXS “Kick” (1987)
For the past week or two I’ve had songs from INXS’s 1987 LP Kick stuck in my head. Not continuously, but off and on… little snippets of “New Sensation,” “Need You Tonight,” “Devil Inside,” and “Never Tear Us Apart.” Despite not having heard them in ages, I can still conjure up the chord progressions and the funky driving grooves of each of them. I can still close my eyes and hear that twangy guitar break in “Never Tear Us Apart.” These songs are still great fun to listen to, and the album has aged extremely well. It still sounds fresh, urgent, yet timeless.
Am I the only one who thinks Michael Hutchence sings and enunciates like a younger Mick Jagger? Can anyone else hear an echo of the Doors’ “Love Street” in “Mystify”? Do you hear the Motown influence in tracks like “Tiny Daggers”?
Those songs are just so strong that you tend to forget how good the rest of the album is, which is insane, because the rest of it is equally strong. “Mystify,” “The Loved One,” “Kick,” and “Mediate” are all prime examples of just how strong this album is from top to bottom. The weakest song, “Calling All Nations,” isn’t even that bad, but where it would be fantastic on another album, it comes across as merely noisy in the midst of this collection.
When I first started building my record collection a few years ago, I was lucky enough to find a decent copy of this album for about $9 at the local used record shop. I decided to take a chance, brought it home, cleaned it up, and played it through some decent headphones.
It was the first time I had actually sat through the whole album, and I was blown away. That’s one of the advantages of vinyl: it’s too much of a pain in the ass to skip tracks. It’s a feature, not a bug! I used to have this album on CD, but one of the main problems with CDs is the convenience, don’t you think? Even though I owned the CD, I’d never actually taken the time to listen to all the songs. I’d played the singles a few times, but any track that didn’t grab me within the first ten seconds of “preview mode” got skipped. Owning the vinyl made listening to the full album from start to finish a whole other experience.
There is a cohesiveness of sound that runs through the whole collection, despite the fact that each track is unique and has its own vibe. They don’t all sound the same, but they really do all sound like they belong together. I’m not sure whether that comes down to Bob Clearmountain’s mixing, Chris Thomas’ production, or the band themselves, but the end result is superb. There is a satisfaction that comes from hearing the final note of the last track on Side B, like a sigh that slips past your lips and releases all the tension of the day, or swallowing that first sip on a hot day. That’s not something that can be said of many albums.
I was really glad I picked up that used copy, scratches, pops, and all.
But then … I was out shopping in Taipei one day when I stumbled across a brand new copy of the MFSL (Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab) 2011 Silver Label reissue. I’ve found their Silver Label reissues to be a bit hit and miss: my B-52’s LPs all sound much better than the original pressings, but my Sisters of Mercy First and Last and Always was clicky as hell and unlistenable. Despite my uncertainty, I decided to buy it, because I knew it was a win-win purchase: if it sounded good, it was a keeper, and if it didn’t, I could flip it for a little more than I paid for it on the strength of the MFSL brand name. I don’t often buy second copies of albums I already own in decent condition, but this was one that I felt deserved an upgrade. So, fingers crossed, I brought it home.
I am so happy that I did. It is a super quiet pressing and the soundstage is wide open and full frequency. The MFSL remastering pushed the album to a whole other level. My original copy sounded good, but this one sounded amazing. I’ve just spent the evening listening to it again as I write this, and it was time well spent.
I know that fans will say INXS has lots of great material, and they probably do, but this is really the only album of theirs I have ever had the pleasure of listening to from start to finish, and it is stunning. It deserves a lot more love than it seems to get, and should be on quite a few “best of” lists if it isn’t already.
Now … I think I have to check out some of their other albums. But honestly, can anything top Kick, or am I setting myself up for disappointment?
#MusicBoxTW
