80’s giants INXS has announced the release of their 12th studio album titled ‘Original Sin’ in January 2011, which was released digitally last year in October and has already become somewhat of a rage. The band has recorded several of their signature hits re-imagined by some of the world’s finest musicians. An ambitious project two years in the making, ‘Original Sin’ teams the band with musicians from around the globe, from superstars like Ben Harper, Train’s Pat Monahan, Rob Thomas, and Nikka Costa to up and comer DJ Yaleidys of Cuba, to reinterpret and revitalize their own classics for a whole new generation. An eclectic mix of music including Thomas and Yaleidys’ sultry take on ‘Original Sin’ and trip-hop superstar Tricky’s electrifying version of ‘Mediate’ to Pat Monahans’ emotional ‘Beautiful Girl’ and French pop artist Loane’s take on ‘Mystify’ with John Mayer & Kirk Pengilly on guitar, INXS boldly embrace their past and future on one album.
‘Original Sin’, the first new musical project between INXS and CM Murphy in over 15 years, is not just typical re-recordings of the band’s original songs. INXS along with artists from all over the world are paying tribute to the songs themselves and to the songwriters Andrew Farriss and Michael Hutchence. “INXS’s material, specifically INXS’s songs, set the table for singers,” said Ben Harper. “In my opinion, they’re any singer’s dream songs to sing. Covering, ‘Never Tear Us Apart’ is like covering ‘Dock of the Bay.’ I’m not here to make grandiose overstatements; it’s just a fact that is one of the greatest soul songs ever written.” For drummer Jon Farriss, it’s all about the music. “We wanted to celebrate the songs, they’re such great songs,” he says. “I think initially there was a mixed bag of emotions and feelings, which was probably a good thing because we realized how much the songs meant to us. But at the end of the day we started to realize that this is actually cathartic for us and it might be for everyone else as well.” After the success of the more recent ‘Afterglow’, its time the band gave back something for the old school die-hard fans of INXS; ‘Original Sin’ promises just that.
