INXS Welcome To Wherever You Are

As successful as INXS were through their blockbuster ‘80s run, the new decade demanded bold moves to maintain their momentum. Released in 1992, Welcome to Wherever You Are bristles with eagerness to try fresh styles and approaches, without losing the band’s high-velocity energy. For one thing, their canny fusion of dance and rock music—a hallmark of the emerging alternative scene INXS pioneered—remains at the root of songs that otherwise represent dramatic departures, like sitar-filled opener “Questions” or “Baby Don’t Cry”, a potent piece of Beatlesque pageantry recorded with the Australian Concert Orchestra. The same goes for the loping, Manchester-style rhythm of “Not Enough Time”. With the muscular yet melodic rock of “Heaven Sent” and slinkier funk of “Taste It”, they draw straighter lines back to the most thrilling moments of Listen Like Thieves and Kick. Yet for all the usual swagger, there’s a greater sense of tenderness, too. Michael Hutchence’s affecting performances in “Beautiful Girl” and “Men And Women” add to the unexpected poignancy of what proved to be the final album INXS recorded before the singer suffered the brain injury that deeply affected him in the tumultuous years before his 1997 death. But with Welcome to Wherever You Are, they sound ready for a different kind of future than the one that transpired.