INXS
Kick

THE REVIEW

1987. Kick is released, an album that definitively consecrates INXS into the Olympus of the best rock bands of the '80s.

The album immediately presents some novelties compared to the previous ones, especially with the excellent Listen Like Thieves and the decent The Swing, where new wave and pop/dance dominated. Now, the ruling themes are funk, pop, and rock melodies.

Right from the opener "Guns In The Sky", one starts to breathe a different and more mature air, which becomes substantial with "New Sensation", whose video is made with the intro of Carmina Burana, with "Devil Inside", a rock/dance track, leading to "Need You Tonight", a song that becomes the emblem of the band and one of the timeless pieces of the '80s. It's characterized by its sensual rhythm accompanied by Michael Hutchence's seductive voice, then moves to "Mediate" enriched by Kirk Pengilly's soprano sax, and continues with "The Loved One", with decisive yet melodic riffs.

"Wild Life", a cheerful and carefree piece, is followed by the melancholic "Never Tears Us Apart", a track in the purest melodic AOR style with band choruses and Kirk's sax adding to it all. Another hit follows with "Mystify", characterized by a beginning with only piano and finger snaps, then unleashing into a rock ending, and it continues with the ballad "Kick", one of my favorites, where Pengilly masterfully merges rock and alto sax, executed excellently in the video Live Baby Live at Wembley Stadium '91 (too bad it wasn't also present in the album of the same name).

"Calling All Nations" is a piece that connects well with the whole ensemble, then ends with the beautiful and rhythmic "Tiny Daggers".

The album was created without many ambitions but, on the contrary, brought incredible success to the six members of the rock band, who climbed the charts worldwide, releasing one single after another, thanks to the excellent implementation of each track. With the numerous tours that followed, the title as the best live band of the '80s also came. 

The frontman Michael Hutchence became even more in control of his role and the charismatic leader of the group, prophet and interpreter of the songs that Andrew Farris crafted for him, bringing INXS to global success.