Hot on the heels of their top 20 single, The Loved Ones, INXS returned to the studio to craft what would become their sophomore album, Underneath The Colours. Upon its release in October 1981, it would peek at number fifteen in Australia.
Soon after its recording, some of the members worked on other projects, which included Eric Clapton's album, The Great Escape, and a single for the soundtrack to the film Freedom. However, by 1982 they were all back on the road, touring in support of their album. It was during this time that their manager began to feel their future with current label Deluxe wouldn't last much longer. Instead, he had his sights focused on RCA, who were the distributors for Deluxe. Their manager felt that they needed a label who could get them the international attention they deserved.
Paying out of their own pockets, INXS recorded the single, The One Thing, with producer Mark Opitz. The results were so well received that they opted to record three more tracks. These recordings would also lead to WEA Australia signing the band for releases in Australia, South East Asia, Japan, and New Zealand. Atco Records (a subsidiary of Atlantic Records) would also sign them to release their albums in North America, and PolyGram for Europe including the UK. However, to fulfill their contract obligation to Deluxe, the band released the compilation album, INXSIVE.
Before we go any further in the history of the band, the pause button needs to be hit to actually sit down and listen to Underneath The Colours. Will it be good? Will it suffer the same fate as most debut follow-ups?
Let's first start by reviewing what some of the members of the group have said about it. Guitarist Kirk Pengilly stated, "It was very difficult for us. We'd toured the first album and then we had to come up with a follow-up. We weren't really prepared for it and I think the album suffered a bit because of that."
Meanwhile lead singer, Michael Hutchence said he was very happy with the album: "The first album was a cheapie, but with this one we had time to spend. We had Richard Clapton producing and he was a big help. We looked at things from a straight studio perspective."
Hmm...That's two very different perspectives.
For me, I'm going to lean more so towards the opinion of Pengilly. Colours doesn't have that punchy sound that their self titled debut had. Further, it doesn't have anything really memorable. Admittedly, I think this particular album ended up in my collection simply to check off the "last one" in my collection. Basically, there wasn't anything that really drew me to initially buying this album other than ticking a box.
Underneath The Colours is a pass for me. For me, it just doesn't have anything to offer. Nothing memorable at all. It truly felt like a list of throw away tracks, generic 80's at its best. If this was my first exposure to INXS, I would not have been impressed. I'm hoping things pick up with their next album.
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| THIS WEEK ON THE CHARTS June 17, 1989 |
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