INXS Invented Hauntology by accident!

I was a kid into INXS and knew all their experimental B-sides but I'd never heard this one until today, I think.. Perhaps it wasn't the Australian B-side to The One Thing or maybe I've just totally forgotten about it...er maybe it's coming back to me. I think I just hated it so I rarely played it. Anyway I'm thinking Moon Wiring Club might dig this. INXS invented hauntology by accident in 1982.

New Wave Australiana Intros For The FM Airwaves

Here we go with atmosphere! I love a bit of Fairlight to get me goin. Then those synthy drums at 0.18 followed by that new wave bass just before Iva Davies goes into his Aussie Bowie/Numan shtick.

Now a bit of evocative didgeridoo before those cavernous drums kick in and that bendy bass. At 0.20 the best guitar lick Lindsay Buckingham never wrote enters before Shane Howard comes in with his right on lyrics at 0.32. Another song from my preteens that's a bit haunting. If I'd been older maybe I'd have found it cheesy but these songs stick with you.

Another one from 1982. Beautiful synth (I assume a Fairlight) soundz here that sets up the excitement for the rest of the song. Then that classic riff kicks in at 0.25 followed by some double snare hits and Hutch is at the mic at 0.48.

This ones a coupla years later and in a totally different class. Jill Burt on the oh so beautiful keys. Bass drums and high-hats from MacDonald. That "2, 3 ,4......" whisper from Dave McComb at 0.15 sends a a chill down my spine every time as does the accompanying  bass ever from the great Martyn P Casey. Then at 0.26 the drum rolls start and the song swells up with Dave's guitar, Jill's keyboards and Evil's pedal steel all chiming in just before the first verse at 0.39. Classic production from Gil Norton pre-Doolittle. The rest is awesome too.

INXS Were An Experimental Band

Weren't they?

I loved it when INXS got weird and experimental. The B-Sides in the 80s were always something to look forward to.  I reckon they were into Eno, dub, disco & maybe Cabaret Voltaire and The Residents. This is the other side of INXS, what could have been.....

Nostalgia and INXS

Putting up that INXS track the other day I had no qualms about. For me they are in a position where I have no perspective on them. Having liked them from a preteen to my late teens. If I was introduced to them today what would I think? I have no idea. On paper it looks like I'd probably not like them but who knows? When I listen back to them now which is not very often, a little look on the youtubes now and again, I'm not even sure if I like them. I think I do though. I know the songs off by heart, there's memories, period charm, history, nostalgia, perverse pleasure and just plain pleasure all tied up in those songs. It's a bit hard separating it all.

I guess the biggest thing though with these songs is the you. The younger you. The less cynical you(er..I was always pretty cynical). The less tired you. The future you. The you you were going to be. The you that you never were. The possibilities of you. So these songs are pregnant with all of your hopes, dreams and excitement for the future and when you hear them that all rushes back usually in a good way. So whether you are getting off on that vibe or just a top tune it's hard to say. In the end does it really matter? It is interesting though

Jon Farriss - Black & White

This was some of my favourite drummage as a preteen. Particularly this 12" version. 8os Rota Toms I think they were. Dancing in the lounge room so our feet stay dry.

              

This shows Jon could cut it live too. Jon is a great drummer and shows us his stuff especially after the 2 min 30 sec mark! Hutch was a bit pitchy live wasn't he? Anyway it's all about the drums and they're pretty pretty good.

Buying LPs In The Old Days

First of all you had news of a record coming out sometimes many months before. You'd usually pre-order it. You would probably go into the record shop to see if had arrived yet. Then once I had the vinyl I would take it home and play it full bore on dad's Marrantz Hi-Fi. The vinyl would then be put onto a tape so I could listen to it in my bedroom as I didn't have my own turntable, just a crappy mono tape recorder. Which is featured in this video at the 2.55 minute mark.

Anyway I had it for many years till I saved up for an upgrade. Which I believe was some kind of Panasonic ghetto blaster. None of this double tape deck shit so I couldn't even dub other tapes. But hey it had detachable speakers. Wow - the spaciality of stereo.

Then there was the records. You'd put so much time and thought into your purchase so the odds of it being the goods was in your favour. Through those teenage years LPs went, I think from around $10.99 to $17.99 so that was a lot of money and you didn't want to waste it. So if an album sounded rubbish on first listen, you would give it another go. Then you would give it another go, then another and another up till at least 20 times. Usually the biggest disappointments were bands with a previously great track records so you didn't give a second thought about laying out the dollars for their new record. An example of this was The Models follow up to Out of Mind, Out of Sight which was Models Media. I really really wanted it to be good and probably played it over 25 times before I had to concede it was rubbishola! $16.99 down the drain.

Hoodoo Gurus 3rd LP Blow your Cool did have some great tracks (that Models one had about none) on it but over half was shite. So the endurance of putting up with that other half got annoying in the end. Should have known as the previous record Mars Needs Guitars was only 50% classic. I guess now you would just uncheck the shite songs on i-tunes. This is what I did with that Salem album King Night a couple of years ago. I love about 50-60% of the tracks that I kept checked and couldn't give a fuck about the unchecked ones.

With some groups you knew when to get off the fan wagon instinctively or if the first single off the forthcoming LP was lame. Thus no more INXS post Kick or Midnight Oil post Blue Sky Mining. Hey I was young & impressionable. Probably could have got off earlier with those two groups.

Then there were times when the investment music policy paid off. Take The Triffids final LP The Black Swan which I thought was the worst piece of crap I'd ever laid my ears on. Especially after the over the top, over produced and over budget classic Calenture. These days I'd just delete the file after maybe one or two listens in but due to my investment I played it many times. It is now one of my favourite LPs of all time.

I don't hate Strangeways Here We come by The Smiths but that would have been in the recycle bin straight away. Giving it the investment time made me like it more. Still I find it inferior to the rest of the catalogue, the runt of the litter. Still a good record mind you.

Royal Trux Twin Infinitives is a later example (not really in the timeframe of ths article anyhow) which was on CD but I paid good money at import prices for it. At first maybe for a year and I'm no stranger to noise I found it perplexing and annoying. I would come back to it intermittently after months at a time. Then one day years later it made perfect sense. The perfect noise.

My investment listening music policy couldn't help records which were no good. Jesus & The Mary Chain's Automatic had 2 great singles Head On & the real beauty Blues From A Gun. The rest of the LP however...Gold Afternoon Fix The Church's follow up to the classic Starfish couldn't be helped by repeated listenings. That Petrol Emotion's Chemicrazy very bad indeed.

Maybe recent albums by Black Dice, Maria Minerva and Laurel Halo would perhaps have benefited from the investment policy. James Ferraro's Bodyguard project got a fair airing around here but me no likey so goodbye!

I have touched on this before in a previous post. These are different times and we may now miss out on some things but you know what it's inconsequential as there is so much other stuff out there. Why would I care? No use wasting your time! You don't have that much.

Friday Night

Wow 

Never seen this vid!

Warning - Does not contain the full intro, which is the best bit of the song along with the middle bit and the end. Good hair into bad hair! The original vid is better.