Talking about INXS means talking about yet another pop star that, as scripted, shone in the eighties thanks to an album perfect for breaking into the charts worldwide ("Kick", but also "Listen Like Thieves" is not to be forgotten), only to live off its legacy and soon be forgotten by the public. Certainly, the release of this album during the height of grunge hysteria did not help the sales, which were definitely lower than the potential of a work with many merits and few weaknesses (only "Wishing Well" and "Back On Line" aren't quite convincing).
The premature death of singer Michael Hutchence in 1997 undoubtedly engraved the word 'end' on the group's tombstone, but this work remains one of the best pieces they have produced. While staying attached to the shores of chart-topping pop rock with strong dance hues and full of synthetic effects to embellish the melodies, the desire of the six guys to surprise the listener is still evident, perhaps having fun as well, experimenting with sound solutions different from the winning formula of the past.
In this sense, the oriental bagpipes of "Questions" astonish us at the opening, along with existential questions posed as if to say "hey, besides dance rhythms and pop, we also think." The sexy atmosphere spiced up by funky rhythms and a voice that takes you through the rooms of pleasure in "Taste It" reveal to us the talent of these Australians, which is repeated in the tribal pop of "Strange Desire" exalted by a female voice intertwining with the male one in the chorus and being taken under the arm by a melancholic sax that in the end fades slowly like a mirage in the desert.
They would have liked to be U2, and "Heaven Sent" clearly shows this. Guitars borrowed from The Edge, a voice filtered as if coming from the next room, an instant chorus, and the first single is served. The recipe repeats with "All Around" but especially with "Baby Don't Cry", the apotheosis of vocal repetitiveness and the incitement to musical addiction to a track, where the title is repeated almost a hundred times. This too, however, is a piece of the mosaic of a record that celebrates pop with honor and risks everything until the end, closing with a touching and difficult track like "Men And Women": eighty members of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra accompany the stentorian lament of the singer. You remain still, eyes open, without words to add.
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
01 Questions (02:08)
How do you know when it's time for you to go
How can you stop when you don't know how to start
How can you go back when you don't know why you're here
How can you see when you eyes begin to fade
How will you hear when you've heard it all before
How do you do all the things you want to do
How much can you take when you've taken all you can
How can you act when you've never seen the script
How can you choose when you don't know which is right
How far can you go if you've been there before
How can you shine if you've never seen the sun
How does a child become a man without a child
How can you heal someone who doesn't want to heal
02 Heaven Sent (03:16)
Your eyes are like deep wells of desire
Once in your arms I'm on fire
You were sent girl so perfectly true
Changing my life
Now I'm a survivor
Heaven sent
That's what I call you
Heaven sent
That's what I call you
Late at night when the evening fire has died
There's a look in your eye
Seductive images fly
Heaven sent
That's what I call you
Heaven sent
That's what I call you
One day you'll see what angels can see
Dressed in black if she comes back
I think I'll lose my mind
Tuesday she works
In the library uptown
Some useful knowledge
Can always be found
Don't burn the library
Till you've read all the books
Sometimes in life
You get a second look
Heaven sent
That's what I call you
Heaven sent
That's what I call you
Heaven sent
That's what I call you
Heaven sent
That's what I call you
Heaven sent
Heaven sent
Heaven sent
Heaven sent
Heaven sent
04 Taste It (03:21)
Yes it's me
I am the one
To make you see
Where we belong
I was shaking
Like a leaf
All wrapped up
In my dirty sheets
If I agree to what comes next
I would be faking
With the best of them
It seems a crime
I would commit
Without the difference
Of all the world's gifts
Sweet sweet sweet
Could you taste it
Never never never
Never never never
(Taste it)
To dream
All the time
Without a scream
In the dead of night
All those faces
Come back to me
I'll be begging
To swim that sea
Yea I made
A picture story
Make you cry
In all your glory
A need to quench
The thirst of many
To justify
And make ready
Sweet sweet sweet
Could you taste it
Never never never
(Taste it)
Never never never
(Taste it)
Never never never
(Taste it)
Never never never
(Taste it)
This realization
Owes us strength to show
If you're uncertain
You're invited to believe
These are the words I speak
These are the words I speak
A dislocation
From where we once came from
Give sons and daughters
Because we want to go on
These are the words she speaks
These are the words she speaks
Sweet sweet sweet
Could you taste it
Never never never
(Taste it)
Never never never
(Taste it)
Never never never
(Taste it)
Never never never
(Taste it)
Never never never
Never never never
06 All Around (03:18)
I see the rising sun
I feel the warming one
We've come a circle
To the way we once begun
No one's really sure
How to make it up
Or give a name to the way
We've been acting lately
All around
All around
All around
All around
A man he buys a gun
He is his father's son
But one day he takes the gun
And takes the lives of one and many
Looking out one day
A message comes to me
I saw a woman tell the truth with pride
And end up behind bars
All around
All around
All around
All around
All around
All around
I walked an empty street
Proud to spill a tear
Then came my shame
My fear to blame
The one and only
See the rising sun
I feel the warming one
We've come a circle
To the way we once begun
All around
All around
All around
All around
All around
All around
All around
All around
All around
All around
All around
All around
All around
All around
All around
All around
Submitted by Michael Hack
07 Baby Don't Cry (04:45)
Baby don't cry
Baby don't cry
Baby don't cry
Baby don't cry
Baby don't cry
Baby don't cry
When you're down and confused
Nothing seems right
And it's you who decides
Who's going to make it right
Baby don't cry
Baby don't cry
Baby don't cry
Baby don't cry
Well life ain't no joke
But it's good when you smile
Do you know where you are?
Steal everything
But you won't get far
Baby don't cry
Baby don't cry
Baby don't cry
Baby don't cry
Sometimes you will fall
What cha gonna do?
Give your friend a call
Baby don't cry
Baby don't cry
Baby don't cry
Baby don't cry
Baby don't cry
Baby don't cry
We know that you can smile
Even though it takes a while
To lose your fears and say
Gonna lose your fears and say
Baby don't cry
Baby don't cry
Baby don't cry
Baby don't cry
Do you know who you are
And where you're going to
Don't you know that love
Gonna pull you
Gonna pull you through now baby
Baby don't cry
Baby don't cry
Baby don't cry
Baby don't cry
Baby don't cry
Baby don't cry
Baby don't cry, Baby don't cry
Baby don't cry, Baby don't cry
Baby don't cry, Baby don't cry
Baby don't cry. Baby don't cry
Face to face
Anything is possible
Not political, or analytical
Never givin up on the wrong
You got a choice
Why don't you use it
Change, is an attitude
Guaranteed to take hold of you
So welcome, to the turnstile
Take a turn with a new vow
Hey, I know what you know
All the sympathy
Made a mess of me
Respect the sacrifice
Before the number one
Now it has begun
Baby don't cry
Baby don't cry
Baby don't cry
Baby don't cry
Submitted by Michael Hack
08 Beautiful Girl (03:27)
Nicky's in the corner
With a black coat on
Running from a bad home
With some cat inside
Now where did you find her
Among the neon lights
That haunt the streets outside, she says
Stay with me
Beautiful girl
(Stay with me)
Beautiful girl
(Stay with me)
She wants to go home
From door way to door way
Street corner to corner
With neon ghosts in the city
And she sings
Stay with me
Stay with me
Stay with me
Stay with me
She's so scared
So very frightened
Anything could happen
Right here tonight
Beautiful girl
(Stay with me)
Beautiful girl
(Stay with me)
She wants to go home
Stay with me
(Beautiful girl)
Stay with me
(Beautiful girl)
Stay with me
(Beautiful girl)
Stay with me
Beautiful girl
09 Wishing Well (03:25)
If you ever want to taste it
Go down to the wishing well
Poison in the well won't make it
Keep yourself as strong as can be
All men I'll take you
Take you down and and tell you why
I said woman gonna take you
Take you down a well that's wide
If you ever want to taste it
Go down to the wishing well
Poison in the well won't make it
Keep yourself as strong as can be
Take it to the river
Take it to the well
I say loving heart
Gonna show the way
Gonna show the way
Gonna show the way
Gonna show the way
Gonna show the way
If you ever want to make it
Go down to the wishing well
Poison in the well won't make it
Keep yourself as strong as can be
All men
Watch ya seeing
Living it all for the life
Say all men what you seeing
Gonna change your ways
Gonna change your ways
Gonna change your mind
If you ever wanna taste it
Go down to the wishing well
Poison in the well won't make it
Keep yourself
As strong as can be
I you ever gonna taste it
Never look right or left look ahead
I'm the healer
You're believing
Gonna carry ya to the end
Gonna carry ya to the end
If you ever wanna taste it
Go down to the wishing well
Poison in the well
Won't make it
Gotta keep yourself
As strong as can be
I'm a healer
I'm a healer
10 Back on Line (03:12)
Maybe there's something in me
Trying to hitch another ride
Have you ever felt this moment
When you're looking out of control
All the ways I could have taken
Just add up to indecision
I'm gonna get this back on line
To me there's no reason why
All my troubles soon be leaving
Wash away the pain of mine
Get me to the place I'm standing
There's a reason down below
Maybe there is something in me
Trying to take another ride
Have you ever felt this moment
When you're losing all control
I'm gonna get this back on line
To me there's no reason why
All my troubles soon be leaving
Wash away the pain of mine
(Mine)
(Mine)
All my troubles soon be leaving
(Mine)
All my troubles soon be leaving
(Mine)
All my troubles soon be leaving
(Mine)
(Mine)
(Mine)
(Mine)
(Mine)
(Mine)
(Mine)
11 Strange Desire (04:08)
My strange desire
Is waiting here
To be my light
My shadow my storm
This is all and
This is you
Turning into
Another dream
Please don't be
Another dream
Do you really think you're cared for
Do we really know we're loved
Look at all my resolutions
Promises to break your heart
Why do we make it hot to handle
Why do we lose our control
Strange desire take me over
Offer me to the all above
This is all and this is you
Do you really think you're care for
Do we really know we're loved
Look at all my resolutions
Promises to break your heart
Why do we make it hot to handle
Why do we lose our control
Strange desire take me over
Offer me to the all above
Meet again touch again
Must have wanted
Some paradise
Long ago
That's unwise so unwise
Look again I said
Touch again
Believe your fate
That's alright that's alright
Do you really think you're care for
Do we really know we're loved
Look at all my resolutions
Promises to break your heart
Why do we make it hot to handle
Why do we lose our control
Strange desire take me over
Offer me to the all above
Do you really think you're care for
Do we really know we're loved
Look at all my resolutions
Promises to break your heart
Why do we make it hot to handle
Why do we lose our control
Strange desire take me over
Offer me to the all above
Do you really think you're care for
Do we really know we're loved
Look at all my resolutions
Promises to break your heart
Why do we make it hot to handle
Why do we lose our control
Strange desire take me over
Offer me to the all above
Loading comments slowly