After completing the album 'Welcome To Wherever You Are,' INXS decided not to do the usual tour to promote the record but headed back to the studio to start work on the album that would become 'Full Moon Dirty Hearts'.
The album was recorded in a brand new studio on the island of Capri. One benefit of recording there was that each band member had their own villa, which should have been idyllic. Saxophonist Kirk Pengilly described it as being like "a five-star Alcatraz."
Things weren't helped by Michael Hutchence's behaviour (smashing up furniture, threatening other members of the band with knives…), which were a result of complications from a fractured skull he received earlier in the year when he was assaulted in Copenhagen and smashed his head on a curb.
With half the album recorded, the band took a month-long break over Christmas. When they got back together, it was clear that the time away had helped Hutchence, who started to return to normal. The writing, rehearsing, and recording process went smoothly, and the album's second half was completed in a few weeks.
While doing some overdubs in Paris, they learned that Ray Charles was in the studio next door and asked if he fancied laying down some vocals, which he agreed to do on 'Please (You Got That)'. He isn't the only guest vocalist; Chrissie Hynde from The Pretenders also features on the title track.
This is a weird album for me; it has a harder sound than 'Welcome To…' and is more of a return to their pre-Kick work, rougher and influenced by grunge, which was sweeping everything before it at the time.
After listening to it for the first time in years, I was reminded how good some parts are, but it could be better. The singles' The Gift', 'Please (You Got That)', 'Time', and 'Freedom Deep' show the quality and variety of the record, but tracks like 'Viking Juice' show how iffy the experimentation got back then.
If you fancy a copy, it is available for about £15 for a secondhand copy on eBay and £20 for the 2017 rerelease.
Tracks To Try: 'Days Of Rust', 'The Gift', 'Make Your Peace', 'Time', 'Please (You Got That)', 'Freedom Deep', 'Kill The Pain', 'The Messenger'.
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