INXS "The Swing (1987 Repress, USA, ATCO Records, 7 90160-2)"

The Swing is the fourth studio album by Australian rock band INXS, released on 21 March 1984. It peaked at number one on the Kent Music Report Albums Chart for five non-consecutive weeks from early April to mid-May 1984. The lead single "Original Sin" was recorded in New York City with Nile Rodgers and featured Daryl Hall on backing vocals. Overall, the album featured a slightly harder-edged sound than their previous releases.

By 1983 Australian rock band INXS attempted to expand their international profile with their fourth studio album, The Swing. The Sydney-based group had formed in 1977 by three brothers Andrew on guitar and keyboards; Jon on percussion and drums; and Tim Farriss on guitar; together with Garry Gary Beers on bass guitar; Michael Hutchence on lead vocals; and Kirk Pengilly on guitar, saxophone, and vocals.

In September 1983 the band travelled to New York City to work with Nile Rodgers as producer at the Power Station. It was the first time the group had recorded outside Australia and provided the album's lead single, "Original Sin" (December 1983). Rodgers asked Daryl Hall of Hall & Oates to guest on backing vocals for the chorus, Hall later recalled "I don't know why because they're good singers, they didn't need me but I did it anyway".

All four singles were co-written by Andrew with Hutchence, while other album tracks were generally written with one or more additional band members.

From December INXS were working with Nick Launay (Midnight Oil, Models) at The Manor Studio in Oxfordshire, to complete the rest of the album. A cassette extended play of remixes, Dekadance, was also released in Australia.

AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine noted that The Swing "retains the new wave pop sense and rock attack of their earlier albums, while adding a stronger emphasis on dance rhythms". He liked the improved songwriting "with more than half of the album featuring memorable hooks".[9] Australian musicologist Ian McFarlane opined that "[it] boasted all the confident swagger and accomplished rock hooks of a band on the cusp of international acceptance".

Fellow Australian journalists, John O'Donnell, Toby Creswell and Craig Mathieson, found that Rodgers' effort with "Original Sin" had delivered a track with a "confident rhythm" and helped the band so that "they now had focus; the lyrical image ... fitted their circumstances". Meanwhile, Launay, after hearing that track, "accepted the challenge" of providing a "sense of reinvention" for the group so that "post-punk affectations and new romantic plumage were fading away, revealing a rock band with funk leanings and pop instincts".

The Swing peaked at number one on the Australian Kent Music Report Albums Chart for five non-consecutive weeks from early April to mid-May 1984. It remained in the top 100 for over 100;weeks. On the New Zealand Albums Chart it reached No. 6.

Beyond its local success, this album, as its predecessor, entered the US Top 75, reaching No. 52 on the Billboard 200; it also entered the Canadian Top 40, where it reached No. 27 on the RPM 100 Albums. In Europe, The Swing entered the Top 20 in France due to the big success of its single "Original Sin" which reached the French Top 5 during the summer of 1984; and the Top 40 in the Netherlands.

In October 2010, The Swing, was listed in the book, 100 Best Australian Albums at No. 56, with their 1987 album, Kick at No. 11.

In 2011 The Swing was re-released as a remastered edition. The remastering engineer was Giovanni Scatola.

In February 2014 The Swing returned to the top 50 on the ARIA Albums Chart, with the local airing of a mini-series, INXS: Never Tear Us Apart, on the Seven Network.

Track listing

All tracks are written by Andrew Farriss and Michael Hutchence, unless otherwise indicated

1. "Original Sin" 5:19
2. "Melting in the Sun" Tim Farriss, Jon Farriss, Hutchence 3:25
3. "I Send a Message" 3:24
4. "Dancing on the Jetty" 4:34
5. "The Swing" Garry Gary Beers, A. Farriss, T. Farriss, Hutchence, Kirk Pengilly, J. Farriss 3:52
6. "Johnson's Aeroplane" A. Farriss 3:53
7. "Love Is (What I Say)" Beers, A. Farriss, T. Farriss, Hutchence, Pengilly, J. Farriss, Ananda Braxton-Smith 3:42
8. "Face the Change" J. Farriss, Hutchence, Pengilly 3:34
9. "Burn for You" 4:59
10. "All the Voices" 6:06

Total length: 42:40

Recording information:

Nile Rodgers – producer (1)

Nick Launay – producer (2–10), engineer (2–10), mixing

Jason Corsaro – engineer (1)

Jeremy Allom – assistant engineer

Stuart Breed – assistant engineer

Steve "Barney" Chase – assistant engineer

Paul Cook – assistant engineer

David Price – assistant engineer

Ross – assistant engineer

Alan Wright – assistant engineer

Philip Mortlock – cover design, photography

Jon Watkins – artwork

Michael Putland – front group photography, black and white photography

Paul Clarke – photography

Kirk Pengilly – photography

Mixed at Townhouse Studios, AIR Studios, Sarm East Studios and Sarm West Studios (London, UK)

INXS "Original Sin (Single & Video)"

"Original Sin" is a song by Australian rock group INXS, released as the first single from the band's fourth album, The Swing. It was written by Michael Hutchence and Andrew Farriss, and produced by Nile Rodgers.

Released as a single in December 1983, it became the group's first single to reach the Australian top 10, reaching No. 1 in early 1984; it was the group's only No. 1 hit in Australia. The song also reached No. 20 in Canada and No. 58 in the US.

Pengilly said, "Michael wrote the lyrics and each time I ask him what they mean I get something different. The main theme of it really is — it's almost a hippy song! — it's about everyone joining together, and it's also about people's desires, and waking up the next morning and finding them washed away."

Daryl Hall sings the chorus with Hutchence. During an interview in Australia, Hall said Nile Rodgers called him and asked him to sing on the song. Rodgers had participated in remixing the single "Adult Education" for Hall & Oates the previous year.

Two music videos for the song were filmed in Japan. Riding on motorcycles, the band members accompany a convoy of trucks to a vacant lot, where a fairground is set up and later dismantled around them as they play; at the end, the band then rides away with the trucks. The alternate version (in fact the original one) show an Asian woman appearing at certain moments and has a different ending.

In 2010, INXS rerecorded "Original Sin" with American vocalist Rob Thomas and Cuban female rapper DJ Yalediys as a dance single. It is featured in the 2010 INXS tribute album Original Sin.

Cash Box said the song "is a politically clever track which dreams of a racially equal and peaceful world, while also working as a tight dance single."

In February 2014, after the Seven Network airing of INXS: Never Tear Us Apart mini-series, "Original Sin" charted again in Australia via download sales. It peaked at no. 61 on the ARIA Singles Chart.

In January 2018, as part of Triple M's "Ozzest 100", the 'most Australian' songs of all time, "Original Sin" was ranked number 58.

Track listing

7" single Track listing

1. "Original Sin" M. Hutchence, A. Farriss 3:45
2. "In Vain/Just Keep Walking" G. Beers, M. Hutchence, A. Farris, J. Farris, T. Farris, K. Pingily 7:24

12"/CD Maxi single Track listing

1. "Original Sin" (Extended remix) M. Hutchence, A. Farriss 6:23
2. "Jan's Song" (Live) M. Hutchence, A. Farriss 3:06
3. "To Look at You" (Live) A. Farris 3:39

USA For Africa "We Are The World (Single & Video)"

"We Are the World" is a charity single originally recorded by the supergroup United Support of Artists (USA) for Africa in 1985. It was written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie and produced by Quincy Jones for the album We Are the World. With sales in excess of 20 million copies, it is one of fewer than 30 retail singles to have sold at least 10 million copies worldwide.

Following Band Aid's 1984 "Do They Know It's Christmas?" project in the United Kingdom, an idea for the creation of an American benefit single for African famine relief came from activist Harry Belafonte, who, along with fundraiser Ken Kragen, was instrumental in bringing the vision to reality. Several musicians were contacted by the pair, before Jackson and Richie were assigned the task of writing the song. The duo completed the writing of "We Are the World" seven weeks after the release of "Do They Know It's Christmas?", and one night before the song's first recording session, on January 21, 1985. The historic event brought together some of the most famous artists in the music industry at the time.

The song was released on March 7, 1985, as the first single from the album. A worldwide commercial success, it topped music charts throughout the world and became the fastest-selling American pop single in history. The first ever single to be certified multi-platinum, "We Are the World" received a Quadruple Platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America.

Awarded numerous honors—including three Grammy Awards, one American Music Award, and a People's Choice Award—the song was promoted with a critically received music video, a home video, a special edition magazine, a simulcast, and several books, posters, and shirts. The promotion and merchandise aided the success of "We Are the World" and raised over $63 million (equivalent to $144 million today) for humanitarian aid in Africa and the US.

Following the devastation caused by the magnitude 7.0 Mw earthquake in Haiti on January 12, 2010, a remake of the song by another all-star cast of singers was recorded on February 1, 2010. Entitled "We Are the World 25 for Haiti", it was released as a single on February 12, 2010, and proceeds from the record aided survivors in the impoverished country.

"We Are the World" was promoted with a music video, a video cassette, and several other items made available to the public, including books, posters, shirts and buttons. All proceeds from the sale of official USA for Africa merchandise went directly to the famine relief fund. All of the merchandise sold well; the video cassette—entitled We Are the World: The Video Event—documented the making of the song, and became the ninth best-selling home video of 1985. All of the video elements were produced by Howard G. Malley and Craig B. Golin along with April Lee Grebb as the production supervisor.

The music video showed the recording of "We Are the World", and drew criticism from some. Michael Jackson joked before filming, "People will know it's me as soon as they see the socks. Try taking footage of Bruce Springsteen's socks and see if anyone knows who they belong to." Jackson was also criticized for filming and recording his solo piece privately, away from the other artists.

The song was also promoted with a special edition of the American magazine Life. The publication had been the only media outlet permitted inside A&M Recording Studios on the night of January 28, 1985. All other press organizations were barred from reporting the events leading up to and during "We Are the World"'s recording. Life ran a cover story of the recording session in its April 1985 edition of the monthly magazine. Seven members of USA for Africa were pictured on the cover: Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Cyndi Lauper, Lionel Richie, Michael Jackson, Tina Turner and Willie Nelson. Inside the magazine were photographs of the "We Are the World" participants working and taking breaks.

"We Are the World" received worldwide radio coverage in the form of an international simultaneous broadcast later that year. Upon spinning the song on their local stations, Georgia radio disc jockeys, Bob Wolf and Don Briscar came up with the idea for a worldwide simulcast. They called hundreds of radio and satellite stations asking them to participate. On the morning of April 5, 1985 (Good Friday of that year) at 3:50 pm GMT, over 8000 radio stations simultaneously broadcast the song around the world. As the song was broadcast, hundreds of people sang along on the steps of St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York. A year later on March 28, 1986 (Good Friday of that year), the simultaneous radio broadcast of "We Are the World" was repeated over 6,000 radio stations worldwide.


"We Are the World" gained further promotion and coverage on May 25, 1986, when it was played during a major benefit event held throughout the US. Hands Across America—USA for Africa's follow-up project—was an event in which millions of people formed a human chain across the US. The event was held to draw attention to hunger and homelessness in the United States. "We Are the World"'s co-writer, Michael Jackson, had wanted his song to be the official theme for the event. The other board members of USA for Africa outvoted him, and it was instead decided that a new song would be created and released for the event, titled "Hands Across America". When released, the new song did not achieve the level of success that "We Are the World" did, and the decision to use it as the official theme for the event led to Jackson—who co-owned the publishing rights to "We Are the World"—resigning from the board of directors of USA for Africa.

Daryl Hall "Foolish Pride"

"Foolish Pride" is a single from singer/songwriter Daryl Hall (part of pop-rock duo Hall & Oates). It was the second single release from his second solo album, Three Hearts in the Happy Ending Machine.

The song reached number 33 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and number 29 on the U.S. Cash Box Top 100. On the Adult Contemporary chart, it reached number 21. It was also a hit in the UK, peaking at number 25.