BSPH: Max Q - Max Q 1989 (Michael Hutchence / Ollie Olsen project)

Sometimes the best the artist has to offer is somewhat hidden under the surface and left mostly unnoticed in the light of the more celebrated works. That's the story of Max Q in a nutshell, a project of INXS' frontman Michael Hutchence and Whirlywind's Ollie Olsen.

But how do i got here? I have been watching recent Michael Hutchence documentary and it got me back at the time i did INXS discography guide (gotta find and post it - probably the single best piece of music writing i ever did). One of my big regrets with that piece was that i haven't mentioned about Hutchence's solo efforts like his posthumous solo album with Andy Gill and 1989' Max Q. The latter was killing me for years because i could've added a paragraph or two about it almost immediately - i've got the copy a couple of days after the piece of published and the editor already gave me a new assignment.

Now, watching Hutchence documentary, i thought it would be good to make it right ten years too late.

So. Let's start.

Max Q was a collaborative project of INXS' frontman Michael Hutchence and Whirlywind' Ollie Olson. The two met on the set of the movie Dogs in Space in 1986. Sidenote: the movie is a cultural landmark that captures the spirit of mid-80s Australian music scene in a manner of classic Wim Wenders flicks.

The story goes: Hutchence and Olsen worked on a couple of songs for the film's soundtrack (including the lead single of the soundtrack album Room for the Memory which was a big hit). The experience was good enough to decide that their artistic impulses can spark something special in a full-length album format titled after Olsen's dog because it was a cool name.

But before they could get it on, Hutchence needed to go back to INXS. He was gearing up towards his career peak with INXS' 1987 megasmash Kick, so further collaboration was put on the backburner for a couple of years. Then in 1988-89, during the band's sabbatical, Hutchence got back to the project ready to do something completely different.

In hindsight, prolonged gestation of the project was a blessing, as Hutchence and Olsen had time to solidify the vision and flesh out the songs. The resulting is something truly special. I would dare to say, that this album is actually the best thing he ever did - the artist at his most raw and daring.

The album combines then-trendy chicago house sound with pop rock songs and leftfield post-punk blue-eyed soul sensibility. In many ways, the album predates the aesthetics U2 had developed a couple of years later with Achtung Baby - similar combination of modern technology and raw emotion underpinning.

Later in the interviews, Hutchence went into detail about the creative process of the project. "It was really fast, you know, it was just enthusiasm – it was just, ‘Let’s do this, let’s do this’ – Olsen wanted to make the new Thriller and I wanted to make something a bit more left, you know? So these two strange ideas got together… With Max Q, we didn’t really know what monster we were making, you know what I mean? We were just gonna see what happened by the end. See, with INXS, it’s a little bit more worked out than that."

Aside from Olsen and Hutchence, the other important creative force on the album is Todd Terry. He added some unexpected textures to the mix and provided very creative approach to the song arrangements. The songs perfectly combine relentless grooves with steadily revolving melodies. It never get boring.

Unfortunately, the album went mostly unnoticed by the public, especially in comparison with INXS smashing success.

Nevertheless, Max Q was important project for Hutchence. It let him to explore his creative parts unknown and expand his writing skills into different styles. Among other things, the influence of Max Q is felt of latter day INXS albums, especially Full Moon Dirty Hearts, whose The Gift would not sound out of place on Max Q album.