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Customer Reviews of Elegantly Wasted

Catchy Final Slice of INXS
INXS seemed somewhat rejuvenated on this album, and it shows throughout. Michael Hutchense keeps himself reined in (well, reined in for Michael Hutchense), which keeps the album from sounding too self-involved. The title track (funky and catchy) remains my highlight, even if a friend insisted they were singing "I'm better than Oasis". "Girl on Fire" has a great horn section, and the gospelesque "Don't Lose Your Head" is quite good, but it made me think of Deep Purple's "Hush". In fact, many of these tracks wouldn't be out of place on classic rock albums of the 60s and 70s. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but I wonder if they listened to their favorite albums (especially the Stones) before entering the studio. Still, they manage to pull it off more often than not. No really bum tracks here, just several that don't make much impression ("Show Me", "I'm Just a Man"). A short running time makes the whole package go down a lot smoother, too.

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Elegantly Wasted
The multi-platinum KICK made them world famous for their special brand of blues-based
party rock. KICK was a beautiful album.
Through the years, INXS have always been classic, modern, and innovative all at once.
They helped to define modern rock -- while sounding more original and very different from their contemporaries, and without ever forgetting their musical roots.
Kick, Shabooh Shoobah, and X are their greatest records.
In Elegantly Wasted, the guys from down-under deliver a record that's mainstream, progressive,
and traditional all rolled into one, still refusing to abandon their roots.
The music on Elegantly Wasted doesn't sound like the music they recorded for Kick, but the album is still unmistakably INXS.
Elegantly Wasted is a very strong album. Some of the tracks rock pretty hard (wait 'til you hear Shake The Tree in its entirety), whereas other songs on the album are more conventional.
My favorite tracks are Girl On Fire, She Is Rising, Cherry Baby, Shake The Tree,
Don't Lose Your Head (which was featured in the motion picture soundtrack of Face/Off),
I'm Just A Man, and the Elegantly Wasted title track.
We Are Thrown Together is also terrific, and Building Bridges is a great ending for the album.
I admire the fact that after already releasing so many albums - after writing so many songs that ranged from catchy to amazing, INXS were able to produce an album like Elegantly Wasted -- an album that is very solid, with tracks that are superior to many of the releases of other bands in the 90's. Great album. Outstanding.

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Unfortunately Titled Final INXS Album
By 1997, INXS was in terrible shape, and it had all come down to this record. Most of the 8 million, what the Brits would call "punters" that owned "Kick" were long gone, having jumped ship as soon as that record's follow-up "X" showed signs of lacking momentum. Of course, as it goes with the weird state of pop music, a group's best albums usually are the ones that don't sell one, and never was the case more than with the group's staggeringly jaw-dropping "Welcome To Wherever You Are."

By the late 90's however, the momentum was all but gone. "Full Moon, Dirty Hearts" had bombed (sad to say, almost deservedly so), and frontman Michael Hutchenece had painfully morphed from the trend-setting rock god he was into a blowzy, famous-for-being-famous tabloid star. There was that heartbreaking moment in 1996, when Hutchence (looking drugged out and much older than 36) presented Oasis with a Brit award, and was publicly snubbed by the Brothers Gallagher. Of course, 8 years later, the Gallaghers themselves are "has-beens" but you can't say that that rather inappropriate remark didn't have some resonance.

But things seemed to be picking up. The title track was released and we all remember how hard it rocked out. The classic opening bass riff with the funky guitar slide. Hutchence's orgasmic huffing and puffing all the way through the verses. Yes, classic INXS. And there was that energetic VH1 concert performance that showed the band in their element. Something clearly was up. Or was it?

Sad to say, perhaps all was wishful thinking. "Elegantly Wasted" is an absolutely astonishing record, and astonishing because you can't believe how lifeless the whole thing is. You curse your brain for not getting a better memory of the songs, but then you realize that it's not you, but rather the songs.

The entire record is an episodic mish-mash of song ideas that just don't stick. You yearn for the old days, when the opening rush of "Suicide Blonde" belt you right out of the chair, and you had no choice but to stay listening, or when the exotic "Questions" transported you into Hutchence's world.

Here, a few bits and pieces are slightly memorable (the jazzy opening bars of "Show Me", the title track, etc.), but you can't believe how quickly the album has evaporated from your mind by the time it's run its surprisingly short course.

At that point you're already second-guessing yourself. Then you realize the title track isn't as captivating as you originally hope or thought. And yea, Mike does look a little drugged-out in that VH1 performance, what's up with those crow's feet? Why do the guys look so exhausted and jaded in the liner photos? That exhausted look went out with Michael's five o' clock shadow/ mirror shot in the "Welcome..." booklet.

Sadly, several months after the release of this forgettable record, all of those questions were answered in a most tragic manner. And it's shame, but INXS was the kind've band you always thought would go out with a resounding bang, but they just didn't have it anymore. And they crashed.

And all of this makes it very difficult to recommend this record. There is nothing to respond to, nothing to draw you in, and nothing to go back to. This is not one of those Days of the Newish concept "the-more-spins-the-better" records. This is just a flaccid piece of dissonant vibes, seemingly hastily thrown together by a bunch of jaded, approaching-40 musicians who had simply lost the magic. That this record proved to be a cornerstone instead of a stepping stone only adds to the bad vibes. Still, it's best to stick with the classics.