On this day in 1960, INXS's lead singer Michael Kelland Hutchence was born, and I think it's only fitting that I plug the band's only official release in over 4 years. It's not quite a greatest hits package, not quite a best of compilation, but moreso a time capsule of the band's history up until now. See, INXS has announced they will continue to make music, so Shine Like It Does: The Anthology plays more like a closing chapter than a closed book.
The two-cd set is a fan's delight, but is it for everyone else? I may be beyond the point of biased, but I believe the answer is actually "yes". If you only know a few INXS songs and would rather make one purchase than buy all their albums, Shine Like It Does is a great introductory piece. It features a lot of rare and hard-to-find material heretofore only available on vinyl, and these songs will help the novice hear a variety of different musical influences, including punk ("We are the Vegetables", "Simple Simon") and new wave ("To Look at You (Single Edit)" and "Here Comes II").
Most of the hits are here, including "Original Sin", "Need You Tonight" (minus "Mediate"), "The One Thing", "Never Tear Us Apart" and "New Sensation". It's great to have remixed versions of some of their biggest hits too, including the Barcelona LP Fade for "Not Enough Time" (the album version bleeds into the next track, "All Around"), "Devil Inside" (the Australian single edit), the Leadstation radio edit of the normally docile "Searching", and the Mendelsohn Mix of "Beautiful Girl", which features more drums and harmonies. Inexplicably absent are "Spy of Love", "Baby Don't Cry", "Melting in the Sun", "Everything", "All the Voices", "(Love Is) What I Say", "Guns In the Sky", and "By My Side", the song that was played at Michael's funeral.
The anthology has a great accompanying booklet, penned by Andrew Farriss and David Fricke from Rolling Stone magazine. INXS fans know the magazine has never warmed to any of the band's material, so it's nice to see them get respect from the senior editor. Some of the included anecdotes are ones even I didn't know about, so it was another pleasant surprise in this well-assembled work by Rhino Records, who are steadily gaining more and more ground (see http://www.rhino.com/features/74262p.html to read the booklet and for other perks).
On the one hand, Shine Like It Does boasts 42 tracks, so one would think it is worth its weight in gold; on the other hand, it retails for anywhere from $40 to $50, and unfortunately that's the lowest I've seen it anywhere. While I'm ecstatic I finally own it, I have to confess I couldn't justify a splurge purchase of that kind, so I got it from ebay. Don't get me wrong, I still highly recommend this set, but don't blame me if you end up spending 50 bucks and you don't become a convert of the band. After all, not everyone is an INXS fan.
