X

Suicide Blonde
Disappear
The Stairs
Faith In Each Other
By My Side
Lately
Who Pays The Price
Know The Difference
Bitter Tears
On My Way
Hear That Sound

Now that they had conquered the world as no other Australian band had, now that they were rated as one of the best three bands in the world could they do it again? Would the pressures which had surfaced on their last tour tear them apart. Had their solo projects, all of which were creative successes driven wedges between the group?

INXS were secretly holed up in the bowels of the Sydney Opera House reacquainting themselves with each other after spending twelve months apart and rehearsing new material. The news was out, that Australia's most successful rock band were preparing for their next release.

It was December 1989, when INXS began recording X with production again lead by Chris Thomas for the third album in a row. "Andrew had hundreds of songs...and Michael had hundreds of ideas. It took a few weeks to start co-ordinating the two things together," recalls Tim Farriss. Once the sessions got under way there was a definite renewed enthusiasm and a resolve to make the best album possible. The sessions moved from the Sydney Opera House to Rhinoceros Studios in Darlinghurst. Within the first month the band had cut six songs before taking another break over Christmas.

During the break Michael and Andrew moved to New Zealand for a month of writing before returning to complete the album. Most of the material was recorded live in the studio, keeping the essence on performance, letting the guitar sounds come to the fore and the adrenaline pumping.

At the time of recording X famous American Blues Harpist Charlie Musselwhite was playing around Australia, and INXS invited him to play a couple of songs on the album. Charlie appeared in Who Pays The Price and On My Way. The only thing to decide after the recording had finished was to choose a title. "We actually weren't going to call it anything," says Michael. "Then were were going to call it Baby or Now... but we didn't want a wordy title."

Almost immediately after the completion of recording photographers were called in from New York for the cover shoot and Richard Lowenstein made the clip for Suicide Blonde which was due for release in August of 1990. A tour was booked starting with warm up dates in North Queensland and then the rest of the world. In June 1990, the mixing for the album was done in London and the album set for release in September.

"X was basically a step forward for us," explains Andrew. "It's also a culmination of a lot of hard work and also a lot of time to reflect on KICK, it wasn't that we ran straight off the road and into the recording studio."

Singles

..Suicide Blonde
..Disappear
..Bitter Tears
..By My Side