X

Q - 3 Stars - Good - Included in Q's list of the Fifty Best Albums of 1990. Rolling Stone - 3.5 Stars - Very Good - "..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...big-audience rock & roll that feels right for our times.." Stereo Review - Performance "High-octane" / Recording "Hot" - "...the band's most flinty, knife-edged album of rock noir to date... there's not a wasted note or loose end to be found in "X."...a durable program of danceable, rhythm-based rock that rarely lets up in intensity or impact.." New York Times - "...achieves a high standard here--rock-and-roll you can dance to." Rolling Stone (11/1/90) - 3.5 Stars - Very Good - "..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...big-audience rock & roll that feels right for our times.." Q - 3 Stars - Good - Included in Q's list of the Fifty Best Albums of 1990. New York Times (11/18/90) - "...achieves a high standard here--rock-and-roll you can dance to." Stereo Review (1/91) - Performance "High-octane" / Recording "Hot" - "...the band's most flinty, knife-edged album of rock noir to date... there's not a wasted note or loose end to be found in "X."...a durable program of danceable, rhythm-based rock that rarely lets up in intensity or impact.."

Following up an album as huge-selling and pop-culturally omnipresent as INXS's 1987 breakthrough KICK was a daunting proposition. But, possibly because most of KICK's best moments were killed by overexposure, X stands the test of time better than its predecessor.
Opening with the hypnotic, twitchy "Suicide Blonde", one of the band's finest singles, X careens through 11 unpretentious Stones-meet-techno dance-rock tracks, including the fine rocker "Disappear" and the impressive, emotional ballad "Bitter Tears". While INXS should be applauded simply for not making KICK PART II, X is a great album in its own right.|

The seventh album from Australia's INXS basically sticks to the formula set up on Kick, mixing solid remixable dancefloor beats with slightly quirky production tricks, Michael Hutchence's rough-edged, bluesy vocals, and some good solid song hooks. The most immediate numbers are, of course, the two singles, "Suicide Blonde" and "Disappear," but other tracks stand out as potential hit material as well, including the anthemic "The Stairs." The biggest problems with the album are a tendency to play it safe, sticking to the tried and true -- echoing a line in the thumping "Who Pays the Price," when Hutchence sings "it's all been felt before" -- and the fact that there's very little in the way of subtlety on the entire album. All of the songs are designed for immediate radio contact -- they don't really give you a chance to grow into them, they just grab you by the throat and start shaking. "Know the Difference," as an example, threatens to be sneaky but immediately switches to an obvious assault instead. In the finish, the overwhelming lack of subtlety and sense of sameness overcomes the album as a whole. It's not that's it's a bad album. It's just nowhere near as good as it could -- and should -- have been. ~ Steven McDonald