INXS’s Kick is getting a “revolutionary” new mix for anniversary reissue
As part of its 30th anniversary reissue, INXS’s classic album Kick will be released in a breakthrough immersive sound mix called Dolby Atmos.
Called “the most significant development in cinema audio since surround sound” by Dolby, the technology is used in American cinemas.
More recently, it has been adopted for its clarity for Sky’s sports broadcasting in Europe and Microsoft for its Xbox One and Xbox One S games consoles.
UK producer Giles Martin, who did the mix with Sam Okell at Abbey Road Studios in London, says it marries the record’s sound with “the incredible power” of INXS’s live shows.
The new mix appears on a Blu-ray disc along with all the promo videos for the reissue.
“You can hear Michael [Hutchence] so close to you, you can hear his breath,” Martin says of the set, to be released on November 3 through Petrol Records/ Universal Music Australia.
“You feel like you’re in the studio with the band.
“You have a record that’s 30 years old, but it’s been taken in a completely new direction and you can listen to it in a completely new way and it becomes new again.
“Great music and great songs, they don’t get old.”
Kick is the first of a series of reissues to mark the band’s 40th anniversary.
Work began on Kick in January 1987 at Rhinoceros Studios in Sydney, with British producer Chris Thomas and Rhinoceros co-owner and engineer David Nicholas. It was finished off in Paris.
The band had just come off 14 months of touring behind their international breakthrough Listen Like Thieves, and firing on all cylinders.
The idea, INXS said at the time, was to record each track as a possible single.
Standouts included ’Need You Tonight’, ’New Sensation’, ’Devil Inside’, ’Never Tear Us Apart’, ’Mystify’, ’Kick’ and a sharp-edged cover of Australian ‘60s band The Loved Ones’ ’The Loved One’.
The story goes that keyboard player and co-songwriter Andrew Farriss came up with the guitar riff for ’Need You Tonight’ while waiting for a cab to take him to Sydney airport. He was flying to Hong Kong where Hutchence was living at the time.
Farriss told the driver to wait a few minutes because he’d left something in his motel room. In fact he was putting down the riff on a cassette player, and returned to the fuming driver 45 minutes later.
When Hutchence heard the tape, he wrote the lyrics in ten minutes.
Interestingly Kick was rejected by the band’s US label, Atlantic, when manager Chris Murphy flew to New York to play it to executives.
They were worried the funk elements in the music (which had always been there in their music from their start anyway) would alienate the band’s growing – and predominantly white – rock audience.
Rejecting their offer of $1 million to make the album again, Murphy secretly got college radio programmers to play the tracks. It caused a groundswell of fan interest, and Atlantic was forced to release it.
Kick was releasedvia WEA/Warner in Australia, and Mercury Records through Europe and other territories.
The record went on to sell close to 7 million copies worldwide, four in America alone, with 500,000 in Australia where it was a chart topper, diamond in Canada, 3 x platinum in the UK, and heavy sales through Europe and South America.
Kick returned to #2 in Australia after the huge success of the Never Tear Us Apart mini-series in 2014,
The 30th anniversary edition extends previous editions with additional B-sides, rare mixes and bonus tracks over 3 CDs.
These include the original soul ballad rendition of ’Never Tear Us Apart’, a guitar version of ’Move On’, live cuts of ’Mediate’, ’Kick’, and ’Shine Like It Does’, and demos of’Mystify’, ’Jesus Was A Man’ and ’The Trap’.
There are also countless remixes which were embraced by clubbers as well as African American audiences.
Murphy, now Chairman & CEO of his own Petrol Records, says of the Atmos mix, “It is really surreal that 30 years ago three record label companies rejected this album.
“Now, it is revolutionised through the incredible, incredible Atmos technology through one of my favourite people in the world, Mr Giles Martin.”
A vinyl version has a Half-Speed Remaster cut over two heavyweight, 180g black vinyl LPs at 45-RPM for supreme fidelity.
“Classic, fabulous pop songs that jump out of the speakers, now more than ever before!“ Farriss comments on the new edition.
“The latest INXS vinyl cuts are an outstanding sonic achievement, especially the Kick album.
“I was truly amazed to hear INXS’ recordings sounding so incredibly fresh, clear and kick-ass, like vinyl on steroids…”