When producer Giles Martin signed on as INXS' executive music director in 2018 - not long after a 30th anniversary edition of Kick was issued - it was not immediately clear what that entailed. The latest fruits of the partnership have just been unveiled - but, frustratingly, don't mean as much for the Australian band's American fans.
Next month, INXS will release a completely restored version of Live Baby Live, their 1991 concert film captured on their Summer XS date at London's Wembley Stadium. Long cited as one of the key examples of late lead singer Michael Hutchence's star power, the film has been completely reassembled from the original 35mm elements and scanned in 4K. What's more, Martin and engineer Sam Okell remixed the show audio at Abbey Road Studios in both stereo and Dolby Atmos, expanding the set for a 2CD or 3LP presentation and in turn restoring a "lost" performance of X album cut "Lately." The expanded album's packaging will include unseen imagery and liner notes from surviving members of the band as well as British writer/TV presenter Jamie East, an attendee of the original show. The film itself will receive several one-night-only screenings across the globe in November and December, with the soundtrack expected in stores November 15.
While exciting, the band's licensing deal with Warner Music in the U.S. seems to exclude a soundtrack release Stateside. The Kick expansion was released globally, but subsequent projects, including a soundtrack to this year's Hutchence documentary Mystify (screened in New York at the Tribeca Film Festival) and a vinyl repress of 1984's Australian cassette-only remix EP Dekadance, have been mostly ignored in North America. The Live Baby Live theatrical reissue will at least come to the New York metropolitan area on December 9, and fans are encouraged to "demand it" in their market on the film's official site.
In the meantime, Amazon U.K. looks like your best bet to pre-order the new Live Baby Live album - which you can do below.
Live Baby Live: Wembley Stadium (Petrol/Universal Music, 2019)
2CD: Amazon U.K.
3LP: Amazon U.K.
Disc 1
- Guns In The Sky
- New Sensation
- I Send a Message
- The Stairs
- Know The Difference
- Disappear
- By My Side
- Hear That Sound
- Lately
- The Loved One
- Wild Life
Disc 2
- Mystify
- Bitter Tears
- Suicide Blonde
- What You Need
- Kick
- Need You Tonight
- Mediate
- Never Tear Us Apart
- Who Pays The Price
- Devil Inside
All tracks recorded live at Wembley Stadium, London - 7/13/1991
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