Kick

Was there ever a band that had more funk in their rock? Maybe. Was there one who managed to sound like a mix of The Rolling Stones meeting Prince and a soft version of AC/DC without the innuendo? Maybe not! INXS is the band in question and "Kick" was without doubt the album that cemented their place in rock history. The album was a huge critical and commercial success, despite the fact that their record company in the USA, Atlantic Records, offered them "$1 million dollars to go back to Australia and make another record", according to their manager Chris Murphy, "They said there was no way they could get this music on rock radio". Shows us how in touch most record companies are with their product, their acts and their fan base. The RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) certified the album as 6x Platinum, selling 6 million copies, in 1987. I bet Atlantic didn't complain about the money they made from it.

Opening up with an anthemic like chant of the anti-war protest song "Guns In The Sky", the album is a joy to listen to all the way to the final close-out track "Tiny Daggers". The latter track, along with "Wild Life" & title track "Kick" could easily have made decent singles on most others bands' albums, but such was the standard of songs in this selection, here they weren't in the frame. It was that happy coincidence of everything the band attempted coming off. Great writing, excellent musicianship and good production all came together to produce a near perfect rock-pop masterpiece, as shown by the string of hit singles that were released from it.

Side One

1 Guns in the Sky  2:21

2 New Sensation  3:39

3 Devil Inside  5:14

4 Need You Tonight  3:01

5 Mediate  2:36

6 The Loved One  3:37

Side Two

1 Wild Life  3:10

2 Never Tear Us Apart  3:05

3 Mystify  3:17

4 Kick  3:14

5 Calling All Nations  3:02

6 Tiny Daggers  3:29

First out of the blocks was "Need You Tonight". Riding on the back of a great riff and a breakbeat this would be the band's only Number 1 single in the USA. Next up was "Devil Inside", my personal favourite on the album, driven by an insistent throbbing guitar and drum combination with Michael Hutchence's voice purring and growling all over it. The third single was "New Sensation" with it's slinky, swirling guitar - a funky rock-dance track. If you have ever seen the Director's Cut of "Donnie Darko" then you will have heard the fourth single in the film's opening scenes. Director Richard Kelly had originally used Echo & The Bunnymen's "The Killing Moon" but moved that to a different point in the film and replaced it with "Never Tear Us Apart", a touching, dramatic ballad with a good sax solo that has become more poignant since the death of Michael Hutchence in 1997. The last single to be taken off the album was "Mystify", a swaggering piece of blue-eyed soul, propelled by a superb piano riff, finger clicking, and Tim Fariss's harder riffs, punched over the top, as a counter balance to the soul swing of the song. All in all one of the best rock-pop albums of the 1980's.

Need You Tonight

Devil Inside

New Sensation

Never Tear Us Apart

Mystify