Underneath the Colours (1981)

Underneath the Colours is what you get when a band starts shedding its early influences but hasn’t quite figured out what to replace them with. It steps away from the ska and punk edge of their debut in favor of a cleaner, tighter sound—but the results are uneven at best.

The album opens strong with Stay Young, a clear standout. It’s got drive, energy, and a chorus that sticks. This is the sound of a band inching toward something bigger, even if they aren’t all the way there yet. Fair Weather Ahead is the only other real highlight—funky bassline, catchy guitar hook, and a textured groove that makes it the most memorable deep cut on the record.

Beyond that? It gets rough. Tracks like Barbarian, What Would You Do, All Those Years of Learning,” and Follow suffer from forgettable melodies and filler-grade lyrics. Even Big Go Go, which flirts with being a funk-pop gem, gets dragged down by repetition and lifeless instrumentation. These songs aren’t bad—they’re just flat. And when you’re listening to a band this early in their arc, flat stands out.

That said, Underneath the Colours isn’t a total loss. It hints at the band’s pop instincts and future direction, and it’s a smoother listen than their debut. For fans tracing the evolution of INXS, there’s value here. Just don’t expect fireworks.——————————————————

Highlight Songs

• Fair Weather Ahead

• Stay Young

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Own it, Stream it, Forget about it?

Unless you’re an INXS completist, I would stick to streaming this one. The two songs I like are two song that are worth giving a listen to while the rest of the records stands as a solid showcase of what the band was before stardom.

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Overall Rating:

2.5 Stars