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INXS followed their hugely
successful "Kick" with "Suicide Blonde." This six man Australian
band featuring singer Michael Hutchence, the three Farris brothers
(Tim, Jon and Andrew), bassist Gary Beers and Kirk Pengilly on sax/guitar
experienced some drop off in popularity. That's to be expected.
It's not everyday you can run out and sell six million CDs. But
"Welcome To Wherever You Are" was going to change that. Re-establish
INXS as a premier Rock band. It was also their first recording with
producer Mark Opitz. The album was mixed by audio legend Bob Clearmountain.
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The CD opens with the mid-east sounding "Questions." Hutchence's heavily
echoed hypnotic vocals almost sound like a chant. The song abruptly
segues into "Heaven Sent." It's the most hard-edged Rock song on the
CD. That automatically makes it the best. "Heaven Sent" has a dense
production filled with guitars and keyboards with Hutchence's vocal
buried in the mix but you can still hear him sing "Don't burn the
library 'til you've read all the books."
In between the tracks there are various radio broadcasts to give a
global impression fitting the CDs title. These broadcasts are an integral
part of "Communication." They are used in place of an instrumental
solo. It turns out to be an ear catching idea. "Taste It" has a bass
riff opening and the sax drives the chorus. "Not Enough Time" features
Hutchence's seductive, breathy vocals. "Make time stop." The keyboards
are perfect support. Also, Deni Hines provides biting backing vocals
on this and "Strange Desire." "All Around" is another guitar driven
Rocker. Great riff with Hutchence's vocals out front.
"Baby Don't Cry" opens like it's going to be a plowing, heavy sounding
song with horns and guitars mixed densely. Then suddenly it all lightens
up with vocal harmonies repeating the title. Nice effect. It's the
kind of song you'd hear coming out of a pub just before closing.
"Beautiful Girl" was a hit. The piano and guitar play off each other
before the drums kick in and Hutchence provides the airy lyrics. Very
melodic, which is probably why it was released as a single.
"Wishing Well" has a moderate tempo groove that breaks into a Rock
song in the chorus. The haunting guitar riff and percussive organ
part are the highlights. It's followed by "Back On Line." The tempo
gets shot up a notch and there's a perfect inter-play between the
keyboards and guitars. It sounds retro with the organ and piano parts.
"Strange Desire" and "Men and Women" round out the CD. The former
is a Rocker with a guitar-bass-drums core. While Hutchence is engaged
in some speed lyrics Hines backing vocals provide a stark contrast.
Also, Pengilly steps out on the sax solo.
The CD went platinum (one million sales). While that's a success,
it didn't reach pervious highs and caused Atlantic Records to release
a Greatest Hits CD (usually a sign the label thinks an act's career
is pretty much over) shortly thereafter. Fortunately, they were wrong
and INXS continued until Hutchence's death in '97.
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The Yardbirds are over. Let that Jimmy
Page kid play lead guitar. It's time to move on. But to what?
Those thoughts were rolling around Jeff Beck's brain in '68. After
initially turning down the Yardbird's offer Page decided to join.
on bass.
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During a U.S. tour Beck fell ill and Page switched to lead guitar.
When Beck returned the Yardbirds featured duel lead guitars. Though
few recordings of this edition of the band were made it was a period
remembered fondly by Page. However, Beck was not as enthused. Like
Page would do a few months later, Beck left the Yardbirds and assembled
a band of talented unknowns. On vocals, a former soccer-pro wannabe
gravedigger named Rod Stewart. Future Faces and Rolling Stone guitarist
Ron Wood was assigned bass. Session expert Mickey Waller played drums.
It's interesting how early Led Zeppelin shadowed the Jeff Beck Group.
Both had a lead singer fronting a power-trio line up. Each featured
a unique vocalist (Rod Stewart/Robert Plant) along with an ex-Yardbird
guitarist who had already achieved legendary status. Both incorporated
updated versions of Blues songs. In fact, both groups recorded the
Willie Dixon/ J.B. Lenore song "You Shook Me." (Beck was dumbfounded
that Page would record the song so soon after he had). Beck played
acoustic guitar on "Greensleeves" while Page countered with "Black
Mountain Side." The real kicker was that Page wrote one of the best
tracks on the album, the instrumental "Beck's Bolero," and future
Zep bassist/organist John Paul Jones played on "Ol' Man River."
"Truth" opens with an "updated" version of the Yardbird's classic
"Shapes of Things." The song is slower than the original but Stewart
and especially Beck's guitars make this track stand out. "Let Me Love
You," a Blues workout with double tracked Stewart vocals. Tim Rose's
"Morning Dew" is another highlight. This is a haunting Blues ballad
that bursts into an up tempo rocker. Their version of "You Shook Me"
is truer to the original than Zeppelins. The organ and piano put the
song the across. Also, this version is livelier than Zep's. A live
version of "Blues De Lux" features session great Nicky Hopkins on
piano. Aside from "Beck's Bolero" the other peak is Howlin' Wolf's
"I Ain't Superstitious." This is the way Blues-Rock should be played.
Loud, rude and Rockin' with a powerful guitar riff.
Finally, Jeff's liner notes are perfect. They're the "Truth."
The Jeff Beck Group released a second LP "O-La" that was neither as
artistically or commercially successful. From that point on, fights
and arguments ruled. Ron Wood was sacked and joined the Faces while
Stewart left for a solo career that also included a stint with the
Faces. Beck went on to form other groups and venture into the realm
of Jazz-Rock fusion which produced his "Blow By Blow" album. He even
recorded Curtis Mayfield's "People Get Ready" with Rod Stewart in
the '80s.
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Iron
Butterfly
Heavy
What a name. Iron symbolic of something heavy.
Butterfly represents something light and floating that can be used freely in the imagination.
Yeah well, it was the late-'60s and people were coming up with worse...
Blue Cheer, Blues Magoos and Strawberry Alarm Clock.
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The original band came about in San Diego with Danny Weiss (guitar),
Ron Bushy (drums) Jerry Penrod (bass) and Darryl DeLoach sharing lead
vocals with organist Doug Ingle, and eventually ventured up the road
to L.A. After playing Sunset dives and working their way up the club
scene they attracted the attention of ATCO records and recorded their
first LP Heavy. It was easily one of the coolest LPs of '68 with songs
like "Unconscious Power," "Stamped Ideas," and the ballad "So-Lo."
The playing was tight and the songs, which followed the format of
verse-chorus, solos, verse-chorus, fade out were strong. This LP almost
wasn't released. Internal friction caused Weiss, Penrod and DeLoach
to leave. All that remained was Ingle and drummer Ron Bushy. ATCO
didn't want to release a record of a non-existent group. So Ingle
and Bushy auditioned new members deciding on guitarist Erik Brann
and bassist Lee Dorman. This version of the band hit the road opening
for The Doors, among others. Finally, they convinced ATCO there really
was an Iron Butterfly. So Heavy was released in the Spring of '68
and became a best seller. Later that summer this version of the band
would record and release "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida." Because "Vida" was
so huge everything else the band did before and after got overlooked.
However, Heavy" is a great Rock LP.
While critics since almost day one have consistently trashed the Iron Butterfly they rock. And according to Rhino Records who now repackages Iron Butterfly material says the band is one of their best sellers.
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