INXS: "Switch" Take Two

Sorry for the delay…everyone’s been sick around here for the last two weeks.
The Mrs. came back with her take on “Switch”, she has a rather different take on it from me.

First off, she thinks that “Pretty Vegas” and “Devil’s Party” are pure INXS.  My daughters agree with her.  Ironically, she doesn’t really care for “God’s top Ten”. Though I do have to point out she didn’t care for many their ballads with Hutchence either.  This is IMO a “how you listen” issue.  I almost always listen to new music alone, (not that I try to), it just works out that way.  The Mrs. is almost always with the kids when she listens to new music, and the kids usually just don’t appreciate anything that can be conceived as boring, so many songs even mildly slow get skipped. She finally did listen to it, and said it was O.K., just not as good as the two above.  She also felt that a few of the other songs almost sound almost like they’re by different artists (Specifically U2 and Tom Petty).
For me, it may also go back to being in a band, while I love the three minute power pop/punk/alternative song, they are very exhausting to play one after another in front of an audience, especially if you’re singing a few of them as well.  Nothing comes as a relief as that good slow song that gives you a break.  I bought “Switch” from MusicMatch, and I did not organize the songs in the CD release order when I burned them using MM’s burner, so on my CD; “God’s top Ten” comes after three high energy songs….which may be why it hit me so strongly on my first few listens.

I do have a better opinion of the entire record upon repeated listening.  I retract my statement on the direction they chose….No matter what; I’m glad to have a music world with INXS still in it….even without Hutchence.
A DVD is available, but it’s not the whole show, just the performances and some outtakes, Amazon has it for 10 bucks….I’m teetering.

While we’re talking about music. I have to give a giant sigh of relief that one of the few shining Islands in the wasteland that is Chicago radio, has made a major improvement. WXRT has until recently has never shown song information (That little display under your car stereo, you may have to turn it on to see it, most car stereos from the last 5 years can display it).  Their reason is supplied on the above link, but this reason doesn’t hold much water with CD’s that contain ID3 tags.  The link provided shows what songs were played yesterday, but I can count on one finger the number of times I’ve gone back and looked up a song I heard on my way to work the following day (White Stripes, “Seven Nation Army” well over a year ago).  To make it worse, XRT almost never back announces songs in the wee hours (or I miss it when I leave the car).  Dammit, I want to SEE that INFO!!!
Starting last week, if a song has an ID3 tag, XRT is broadcasting it via radio info.
You don’t get it for every song, but almost every NEW song has it….
If I see it in radio info, I will commit it to memory and likely buy it later if I like it.

THANK YOU, WXRT!!!!

Mini-Movie info:

Daughter #2 wanted to see “The Pink Panther”.  While it clearly wasn’t in the same ballpark as the first three…it is probably funnier for little kids than the original movie series.
We were entertained, and all of us laughed….which is more than I can say for “Doogal”.