INXS: The Swing : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

Though INXS has usually seemed like a group of competent though not extremely distinctive dance-rockers, there have been clues that they had the potential to be more ambitious, a bit eccentric. The flip side of their MTV hit "The One Thing," for instance, was a deliciously mad studio collage called "Phantim of the Opera." And my estimation of INXS tripled recently, when they released a twelve-inch remix of their new single, "Original Sin (Dream On)," one of the hottest tracks of the year. Produced by Nile Rodgers, it recycles some snazzy tricks from his coproduction of David Bowie's "Let's Dance." But what makes the song really intoxicating is its combination of John Farriss' outstanding drum-bashing, heaps of nasty horns and an unusually haunting lyric about mixing races.

Unfortunately, the album version of "Original Sin" is quite disappointing – the propellent horn line is taken by acoustic guitar, and the horns are mixed far down until the wonderfully wild last minute of the song. It's also the only cut that Nile Rodgers produced, and my hope that his funkiness might rub off on the band has not been fully satisfied. Most of The Swing features fairly exciting if bloodless tunes similar to "The One Thing," though some funky dub vibes creep into "Dancing on the Jetty" and "Melting in the Sun." INXS is a talented, intelligent band, but "Original Sin" clearly shows that a healthy dose of soul can turn their earnestness into incandescence.