Welcome to Wherever You Are [Expanded] [Remaster]

Performer: INXS
Engineer: Neil Sandbach; Niven Garland
Producer: INXS; Mark Opitz; David Eugene Edwards (Reissue); Dan Jones (Reissue); INXS (Reissue)
Distributor: WEA (Distributor)

Notes: INXS: Michael Hutchence (vocals); Kirk Pengilly (guitar, saxophone, background vocals); Andrew Farriss (guitar, keyboards); Tim Farriss (guitar); Garry Gary Beers (bass); Jon Farriss (drums, percussion). Additional personnel includes: Sunil De Silva (percussion); Deni Hines (background vocals). Recorded at Rhinoceros Studios, Sydney, Australia. Originally released on Atlantic (82394). Includes liner notes by Mark Opitz. All tracks have been digitally remastered. Personnel: Michael Hutchence, Andrew Farriss (vocals); Sunil DeSilva (percussion); Deni Hines (background vocals). Audio Mixer: Bob Clearmountain. Audio Remasterers: Don Bartley; Mark Opitz; Andrew Farriss. Audio Remixers: Mark Opitz; Andrew Farriss. Recording information: Andrew's Home Studio, Cottage Point, Sydney, New South (1991-1992); Rhinoceros Studios, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia (1991-1992). Photographer: Peggy Sirota. Unknown Contributor Roles: Kirk Pengilly; Tim Farriss; Gary Beers. Ironically, INXS's best and most experimental album came out exactly when the album-buying public had ceased paying much attention to them. After the multi-platinum success of 1987's KICK, the disappointing sales of 1990's follow-up X brought whispers of "has-been" to the Australian combo, and the fine LIVE BABY LIVE was largely viewed as an attempt to coast on former glories. 1992's WELCOME TO WHEREVER YOU ARE answered these accusations with surprising grace and subtlety. Arranged and largely written by keyboardist Andrew Farriss, these 12 tracks are almost Beatles-esque in their melodic canniness and sharply etched, multi-layered production. The first single, "Not Enough Time," is a particular delight, a breathy, atmospheric pop song that's as smart and pretty as 10cc at its creative peak. Although INXS needed to experiment badly, their attempt at self-reinvention, Welcome to Wherever You Are, didn't even come close to gaining commercial or critical acceptance. From the start of the album, it's clear that INXS are out to confuse the standard perceptions of themselves; the first instrument on the album is an Eastern-flavored horn. Special recording effects and exotic rhythms and sounds are abundant on the album. Evidently, the pop audience didn't care about INXS anymore, since nobody bought the album. And that is a shame, since it is one of their strongest. [The reissue appends five bonus tracks: "The Answer," "The Indian Song," the demo of "Heaven Sent," and different versions of "Wishing Well" and "All Around."] ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Q (1/93, p.69) - Included in Q's list of the 50 Best Albums Of 1992. Q (9/92, p.71) - 4 Stars - Excellent - "...a far more engaging and heartfelt collection than anything the group has put out in recent memory...It rocks..."

Like many groups that achieved mainstream success in the 1980s, Australia's INXS was kinetically inspired by the British punk scene. Led by charismatic singer Michael Hutchence and the musically gifted Farriss brothers, INXS began as a new-wave rock band, but by the mid-'80s they hit on a global level with an accessible, streamlined dance-rock sound. For most people, the band's saga ended with Hutchence's tragic suicide in 1997. In 2005, however, the band went in search of a new lead singer via the AMERICAN IDOL-style reality-TV series ROCKSTAR, eventually choosing Canadian J.D. Fortune. The revamped INXS released SWITCH in 2005 and toured the world in support of it that same year.

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