X : INXS : Review : Rolling Stone

Boasting a singer who drips charisma and featuring musicians of notable skill, INXS has sold tons of records. Over thirteen years, however, the band has never clinched a firm identity. Lacking the trademark sound of classic bands like the Stones or the Doors, or the high-relief political and aesthetic sensibilities of big cult heroes like R.E.M. or Midnight Oil, the members of INXS have seemed victims – albeit willing ones – of their own stylistic versatility. Gliding from rock to funk to ballads, they've been more crafty than original, less distinctive than simply good. With X, their best and most cohesive album, they focus their strengths, coming up not only with tough, state-of-the-art pop but with the casual confidence of a mature collective personality.

At its most apparent, that personality is Michael Hutchence. Hot, yearning and smart, the singer-lyricist was aptly cast as poet Percy Bysshe Shelley in Roger Corman's upcoming film Frankenstein Unbound – and on X, he updates the role of storm-tossed yet high-flown romantic. Panting after femmes fatales – the smoky beauty of "Suicide Blonde" whose price is "love devastation" or the teasing vamp of "Know the Difference" ("In your big car ... Sweet perfume trails behind") – Hutchence pursues a vague utopia: the caring-fest of "Faith in Each Other" or the transcendence of "Hear That Sound" ("Use your imagination And start a fire").

What makes Hutchence singularly hip is his gift for catchy sound-bite lyrics so free of reference to any particular time, place or object that, aside from provoking a generalized emotion, they could hold any number of meanings. It's a postmodern move: championing feeling in a vacuum – feeling for sheer feeling's sake. When Hutchence sings lines like "In the dark of night Those small hours" ("By My Side") or "Shake make it forever Curling from your lips" ("On My Way"), he rekindles the vernacular poetry of a thousand previous songs yet also fractures it; he mixes and matches pop-song themes in a way that's both novel and familiar.

Kevboardist-guitarist Andrew Farriss is Hutchence's perfect accomplice. On X, he leads his two brothers – guitarist Tim Farriss and drummer Jon Farriss – and INXS's two other players – guitarist-saxophonist Kirk Pengilly and bassist Garry Gary Beers – on a tour of radio-tasty riffs and filigrees. Seamlessly, the record blends R&B and rock as INXS always has done – but this time the grooves are more solid, the energy and moods less disparate. Blues great Charlie Mussel-white blows harp on two cuts, the raw freedom in his playing offsetting the band's crack, almost martial, precision.

Among X's standouts are "By My Side," a hard, brooding waltz that recalls the dark elegance of "Never Tear Us Apart" (from 1987's quadruple-platinum Kick) and shows off Hutchence's deeper, Jim Morrison-like singing; the crunchy "Lately," with its air of discovery and anticipation; and "Disappear," a slow, whirling number that celebrates the solace and oblivion of love ("All the fears And the world seem to disappear").

But more so than any previous INXS album, X is greater than the sum of its parts. It defines the band and clarifies the fullness of its appeal. Cosmopolitan and canny – the group's professionalism still in service to soulfulness – X is big-audience rock & roll that feels right for our times. Garage bands and multi-hyphenated experimentalists push the edges of rock & roll, and such musicians are essential to the progress of the form. But there's room, as well, in the mainstream for intelligence, verve and ingenuity. "The passion lives to keep your faith," Hutchence sings, on "The Stairs." With X and its sharp mix of passion and expertise, INXS is a band keeping faith with its long history – and finding its own ripe time.