With their third album, and the first to be released worldwide, INXS knocked the flinty edge off of their hard rock sound, added a dance beat and stepped off the big island and onto the world stage. In the process they created a blueprint for the rest of their career.
The album begins with "The One Thing," a strutting number that gives Michael Hutchence a real chance to shine as a singer; strong and commanding, while the combined synth/guitar/sax hook that drives the song is instantly memorable.
But if "The One Thing" is grand, "Don't Change" is just flat out fantastic, one of the best album closers ever dreamed up. Soaring in on a just dreamy enough synth line from Andrew Farriss and then a quick guitar burst, the rest of the band then explodes into action -- it's some of the best rock-without-apology-or-quotes sound anyone could ever hear, crisp, fierce, and clean.
Hutchence takes charge of that action like the vaunted frontman he was, delivering one of the more cryptic but still just right romance lyrics from that time with aplomb and fire. The chorus is simply killer, while the concluding, extended calls of the title phrase over the song's last notes make up the icing on the cake.
Material: Michael Ruby via amazon.com & Ned Raggett via All Music Guide
