Inxs Inxs

Kick is the sixth studio album by Australian rock band INXS, released in October 1987 through WEA in Australia, Mercury Records in Europe and Atlantic Records in the United States and Canada…

Brisbane-born vocalist and multi-instrumentalist, Cam Giles couldn’t recall a time when music wasn’t front and centre in his life. In Cam’s musical world, anything is possible. After working with INXS in its heyday, Cam feels a special connection to their music. With that, his love of jazz and the strong traditions in jazz to reinterpret tunes, Cam’s tribute to Michael Hutchence and the music of one of the greatest bands to come out of Australia, has been a labour of love. “A couple of years ago I was playing at summer jazz festivals and doing all the classic stuff and thought, let’s mix this up a little. I used to muck around with singing Need You Tonight and it just fitted, so I did that, and a couple of others and we decided to do a few more and it fell together like that.”

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 the band; the first instrument on the album is an Eastern-flavored horn…

While INXS made a few consistent albums, singles are the best format for the group's stylish dance-rock. Throughout the '80s and early '90s, the group racked up nine Top 40 hits and seven of those singles hit the Top Ten…

The seventh album from Australia's INXS basically sticks to the formula set up on Kick, mixing solid remixable dancefloor beats with slightly quirky production tricks, Michael Hutchence's rough-edged, bluesy vocals, and some good solid song hooks…

INXS completes its transition into an excellent rock & roll singles band with this album. Unfortunately, the new configuration only works for three songs: "What You Need," "Listen Like Thieves," and "Kiss the Dirt (Falling Down the Mountain)." But these three songs are so strong that the album cannot be dismissed completely…

INXS wasn't quite there yet with Shabooh Shoobah – which, by the way, has to rank as one of the most annoying titles ever conceived – but at more than one point, they reached some total heights. For the most part, however, Shabooh Shoobah is an example of a talented bunch of performers still finding their own identity…