Circadian Shift

I didn't follow the show, but the word is that Rockstar: INXS wrapped up this past week, and some Canadian guy won. I'm not going to get all worked up about the whole "bastardization of INXS' legacy" thing that some fans are on about, but let's face it: getting anyone to replace Michael Hutchence as lead singer is a mighty tall order. J.D. from Oakville, I wish you luck.

Anyway, I'd been meaning to put a couple of old INXS tunes online for a while, so now is just as good a time to do it as any.

These two tracks are from INXS's 1982 album Shabooh Shoobah:

• "Don't Change" is one of my favourite INXS songs, which is kind of funny, since it's somewhat different from the sound for which they later became known. It's got a very pop-y, almost dance-y, New Wave feel to it, and features a keyboard riff that will appeal to fans of the Modern English tune "I Melt With You". Fun fact: when No Doubt was deciding on an 80's tune to include as a cover version on their greatest hits album, "Don't Change" was one of the songs under consideration. (FWIW, I thought they did a fine job with the song they eventually picked -- "It's My Life" by Talk Talk.)
• "The One Thing" still features some prominent keyboard work, not to mention some screeching sax, and something that sounds like marimbas (?), but already you can hear the swagger that went on to typify the group's later stadium rock hits.

You can download "Don't Change" and "The One Thing" as a ZIP file (EXPIRED) (7.14 MB) via Rapidshare.