INXS - Elegantly Wasted (1997)

INXS stumbled greatly in the early '90s, since their slick, professional fusion of disco and the Stones was singularly out of place in the grunge era. On the heels of U2's discovery of irony and the dancefloor and Oasis' popularization of rock & roll hedonism again, INXS seemed to be better suited to the late '90s, but Elegantly Wasted, their first new studio album in four years, proves that theory wrong. The band does dabble in contemporary dance on Elegantly Wasted, but it all comes out sounding like the lite funk-n-roll of Kick, only without the energy. And without the tunes. Throughout Elegantly Wasted, INXS go through the motions, coming up with a record nearly as weak as Full Moon, Dirty Hearts. The really unfortunate thing is, it sounds like they were trying this time around.© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo