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Full Moon, Dirty Hearts

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Full Moon, Dirty Hearts is an album released by Australian band INXS in 1993, through Warner Music Australia. It was the band's ninth album,[1] and was followed by the Dirty Honeymoon world tour of 1993–1994.

"Please" featured vocals by Ray Charles; the title track featured vocals by The Pretenders lead singer, Chrissie Hynde, however the latter was not released as a single, while the former was.

The bands manager, Chris Murphy arranged to shoot videos for every song on the album. Twelve videos were shot on a small budget by different up and coming Australian Directors.[2]

The Japanese edition of the album included a cover of Steppenwolf's "Born to Be Wild", which was specially recorded for the April 1993 launch of Virgin Radio in the UK.[3]

Background

As INXS were finishing Welcome to Wherever You Are in mid 1992, the group decided not to tour in support for the album. Instead they promised to go straight into the studio to record their ninth studio album then later tour for both albums.[4] Following the release of Welcome to Wherever You Are, INXS spent the next few months promoting the album across various countries in Europe including the UK, France and Sweden.[5] While promoting the album in Europe, vocalist Michael Hutchence visited then girlfriend Helena Christensen in her home city of Copenhagen in Denmark. The couple were returning home from a nightclub one night when Hutchence got into a scuffle with a taxi driver.[6] The incident started when a drunken Hutchence refused to move off the road to allow the taxi to pass. The taxi driver got out of his vehicle and punched Hutchence causing him to fall onto the pavement.[6] The singer sustained a fractured skull due to the fall and as a result suffered a loss of his sense of smell and taste.[6][7] The singer spent two weeks recovering in a Copenhagen hospital.[7] In the unofficial biography "Michael Hutchence: A Tragic Rock & Roll Story", Australian author Vince Lovegrove wrote "It had a very strange effect on Michael. The alleged injury also caused the singer to act erratically, abusively and to suffer insomnia."[8] Although temporary, these conditions would have an effect during the production of Full Moon, Dirty Hearts.

Recording and production

The album was written soon after the release and promotion of the band's previous album, Welcome to Wherever You Are, at the end of November 1992. The album was recorded and produced at Capri Studio[9] on the Isle of Capri in Italy and completed in February 1993. The Capri Studio had just reopened during the recording of Welcome to Wherever You Are and after spotting an ad for it in a trade magazine, Michael and producer Mark Opitz insisted that the band should record their next record there. Rehearsals for Full Moon, Dirty Hearts took place at Michael's villa in the south of France in October 1992 were the group were often distracted by other celebrities and supermodels who Michael regularly invited.[10] The group decided to set off to the Isle of Capri early, arriving on the island one month after rehearsals. The journey was long and tiring for all members of the band as it took them almost two days of travelling to get there.[11] Once on the island, each member of the band received their own villa, with the studio itself located close by. The studio sat atop a steep cliff, overlooking the Bay of Naples. Guitarist, Kirk Pengilly recalls, "It was like a five-star Alcatraz".[11] Michael and Optiz each shared a villa on the island with Michael living upstairs and Opitz living downstairs.[12]

Michael’s condition raised concerns throughout the recording process. At first he became distraught of being isolated on the island. On the first night, Optiz was awakened at four a.m. to the sound of furniture being smashed upstairs by Michael.[12] During one session, Michael threatened to stab bassist Gary Beers with a knife after the two had a dispute.[13] Andrew Farriss recalls another incident were Hutchence shoved his microphone straight through the strings of an acoustic guitar while shouting, "We need more aggression on this track!"[10] In the bands autobiography – INXS: Story to Story, Pengilly recalls "Michael had very violent moments. He threw his microphone stand around inside the studio, and he threw violent tantrums all the time."[12] The group took a one-month break for the Christmas period, allowing Michael time to recover from his condition and the rest of the band time to spend with their families. Before breaking for the Christmas holidays, the band managed to get half of the album completed.[14] Michael returned to his estate in France, later joining Andrew in London to write the last remaining songs for the album.[15]

At the start of the new year, Michael and Andrew returned to the Isle of Capri one week earlier along with Optiz and engineer Niven Garland.[14] Upon returning to the sessions in Capri, Michael’s behaviour had progressively returned to normal.[15] While riding the hour and a half journey on the ferry from Naples to Capri, Michael began writing the lyrics for the albums title track.[14] Chrissie Hynde would later perform the song with Hutchence. As the remaining members of INXS were preparing to return to the island, Michael, Andrew, Optiz and Garland managed to get six more tracks for the album finished including, Days of Rust, Please (You Got That…), Freedom Deep, Kill the Pain, Viking Juice and the title track.[14] Production of the album came to an end in late February 1993 with everyone spending the final night capturing ideas and doing last minute touch ups on some of the tracks.[14] The following morning, INXS caught the morning ferry back to Naples to prepare for their journey to Paris to carry out additional work on the album. Optiz took the recording tapes to Los Angeles were he mixed them with mixing engineer, Bob Clearmountain. Clearmountain previously engineered and mixed the bands best selling album, Kick.[16]

While recording overdubs at a studio in Paris, Andrew and Michael discovered that Ray Charles was recording at the same studio.[17] The pair asked his engineer if Charles would be interested in recording vocals on two tracks for the album, "Make Your Peace" and "Please (You Got That...)".[10] Charles passed on "Make Your Peace" because he thought the key was too high for his voice but he agreed to perform vocals on "Please (You Got That...)".[10] The duet between Hutchence and Charles took place at Charles’ own recording studio in Los Angeles.[17] Charles agreed to appear in the song's music video and would later perform the song live with INXS on the Late Show with David Letterman.[18] The mixing of the album was completed by Opitz in July back on Capri while the band were touring some of the new songs on their Get Out of the House tour throughout the spring and summer.

Reception and release

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[19]
Q[20]
Rolling Stone[21][22]

Following the positive response to the sold-out UK Get Out of the House Tour in 1993, Full Moon, Dirty Hearts received mixed reviews on its release.[23] In his Allmusic review, Stephen Thomas Erlewine rated the album one star and said, "Full Moon, Dirty Hearts sounds tired and as calculated as X.” He concluded his review by stating, "INXS sounds energetic throughout the album, but the experimentation is poorly executed and there is a serious lack of strong songs and singles, apart from two duets: "Please (You Got That ...)" with Ray Charles and the title track, which features Chrissie Hynde."[19]

Christian Wright rated the album three stars in his review for Rolling Stone magazine. Although he criticised INXS for sounding like other artists on some of the albums songs, he did praise the albums third single, "Time". He wrote "Thankfully, on "Time," with its guitar and vocal counterpoint, the band sounds like itself, and Hutchence resumes the instinctive swagger that made him a video star."[21]

At the time, the band had been hyping up their new-found raw and "grungy" sound. The album's release marked a steep downturn in terms of sales, with the issue of only two singles worldwide: "The Gift" and "Please (You Got That ...)".

Commercial performance

Full Moon, Dirty Hearts entered the Billboard Top 200 in November 1993. It peaked at number 53 and lasted only five weeks in the charts.[24] The album did perform better outside the States having charted at number 3 in the United Kingdom[25] and number 4 in Australia,[26] earning Gold certifications in both countries.

Track listing

All tracks are written by Andrew Farriss and Michael Hutchence, except where noted

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Days of Rust" 3:09
2."The Gift"Jon Farriss, Hutchence4:04
3."Make Your Peace" 2:41
4."Time" 2:52
5."I'm Only Looking" 3:31
6."Please (You Got That ...)" (featuring Ray Charles) 3:02
7."Full Moon, Dirty Hearts" (featuring Chrissie Hynde) 3:29
8."Freedom Deep" 3:59
9."Kill the Pain" 2:57
10."Cut Your Roses Down" 3:28
11."The Messenger" 3:28
12."Viking Juice" 3:12
13."Born to Be Wild" (Bonus track on Japanese edition)Mars Bonfire3:48

Personnel

References

  1. ^ "Full Moon Dirty Hearts". INXS.com. Retrieved 18 June 2011. Full Moon, Dirty Hearts, the band's tenth album
  2. ^ INXS: Story to Story (the official autobiography), page 216. Retrieved July 18th, 2016
  3. ^ Savage, Mark (2 September 2008). "Entertainment | Absolute Radio loses its virginity". BBC News. Retrieved 17 February 2012.
  4. ^ INXS: Story to Story (the official autobiography), page 207. Retrieved August 22nd, 2016
  5. ^ "Welcome To Wherever You Are’ 20th Anniversary Today!" Retrieved July 18th, 2016
  6. ^ a b c "The Sydney Morning Herald - Michael Hutchence changed after vicious attack". Retrieved July 18th, 2016
  7. ^ a b "Fifteen Years Without Michael Hutchence INXS' Singer" - UNRULY HEARTS. Retrieved October 11th, 2016
  8. ^ "MTV News - Hutchence Bio Tells Sad Tale Of Singer's Short Life" Retrieved July 18th, 2016
  9. ^ "Capri Studio". Capri Studio. Retrieved 17 February 2012.
  10. ^ a b c d "INXS Anthology Liner Notes". Retrieved July 18th, 2016
  11. ^ a b INXS: Story to Story (the official autobiography), page 211
  12. ^ a b c INXS: Story to Story (the official autobiography), page 212. Retrieved July 18th, 2016
  13. ^ "The Scotsman - The New Face of INXS" Retrieved July 18th, 2016
  14. ^ a b c d e INXS - Full Moon, Dirty Hearts - Linear Notes. Retrieved July 18th, 2016
  15. ^ a b INXS: Story to Story (the official autobiography), page 213. Retrieved July 18th, 2016
  16. ^ "Classic Track: INXS, "Need You Tonight" Retrieved July 18th, 2016
  17. ^ a b "Happy Anniversary: INXS, “Please (You Got That…)”". Retrieved July 18th, 2016
  18. ^ "12 Aussie Acts That Stole The Show During Letterman’s Reign As King Of Late Night" Retrieved July 18th, 2016
  19. ^ a b "Full Moon, Dirty Hearts". AllMusic. Retrieved 17 February 2012.
  20. ^ "Q Magazine | Music news & reviews, music videos, band pictures & interviews". Qthemusic.com. Retrieved 17 February 2012.
  21. ^ a b "Internet Archive Wayback Machine". Web.archive.org. 16 May 2008. Archived from the original on 16 May 2008. Retrieved 17 February 2012. {{cite web}}: Cite uses generic title (help); Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  22. ^ Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian, eds. (2004). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide. Simon & Schuster. p. 406. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
  23. ^ Andy Gill (4 November 1993). "ALBUMS / Do the don't be a lemming polka - Arts & Entertainment". The Independent. Retrieved 17 February 2012.
  24. ^ "Billboard 200 INXS – Chart history". Retrieved February 9th, 2016
  25. ^ "The World's Music Charts - Chart runs of INXS". Retrieved February 5th, 2016
  26. ^ "Australiancharts.com – INXS – Full Moon, Dirty Hearts". Retrieved February 5th, 2016
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