Michael Hutchence, singer of influential ‘80s outfit INXS, was nearly synonymous with the hedonism and excess that mirrored the band’s name. At the height of his fame Hutchence dated Kylie Minogue and a slew of supermodels, was involved in lurid tabloid scandals and led a jet set life with all the trappings of rock and roll.

On November 22, 1997, Hutchence was found dead, hanging from the ceiling of his Sydney hotel room. INXS’s last album Elegantly Wasted, released in that same year, seemed an apt if brusque testimony of everything that had led him to be swinging by his neck on that cold November morning.

The long-hinted-at solo works of Hutchence was released in 1999, mostly ignored by the public. Afterwards, INXS toured with session singers Terence Trent D’Arby and Jon Stephens for a bit, but by the end of 2003 it seemed the band was going to slink away to musical oblivion.

Few would have been surprised, and fewer still would have blamed them if their grief led them to vanish altogether. Their silence in 2004 seemed to confirm this. Then 2005 came and, with it, the unveiling of Rock Star: INXS.

Teaming up with Mark Burnett, the executive producer of such reality show giants as Survivor, Eco-Challenge and The Contender, INXS launched a search for a new front man. Globally televised and popularly acclaimed, Rock Star: INXS was an elaborate, gritty and gaudy audition that pitted thousands of singers from around the world, narrowing them down to a final 15 that would vie for the prime spot in the band’s line-up.

The result? Canadian singer JD Fortune. "It’s an understatement to say that this is a dream come true," says Fortune. "Growing up, INXS albums like Shabooh Shoobah, Listen Like Thieves and Kick were a huge influence. I’d listen to those songs and wonder what it would be like to be in this band."

The 31-year-old Fortune discovered INXS as a teen, after catching one of their music videos on TV he begged his grandfather to buy him a guitar. With it he taught himself how to play "Devil Inside." As a former Elvis impersonator who was living out of his car when he heard of the auditions, Fortune brings both a sense of verite and swagger to INXS; an acumen borne of conflict with the world that the soft, pampered bohemian Hutchence lacked.

"Not only was J.D. incredibly passionate about wanting the job," says Andrew Farris, keyboardist for INXS, "but he has this enigmatic charisma. You’re drawn to him. As an artist, he thinks outside the square and does things that are a little edgy. I like that. He’s also a storyteller—and you recognize that in another songwriter."

With still the same original line-up in Andrew Farriss (keyboards and guitars), Tim Farriss (guitars), Jon Farriss (drums), Gary Beers (bass) and Kirk Pengilly (guitars and sax), except for JD Fortune, INXS unveil their bid to capture new fans and bring their brand of dance-rock into the 21st century.

Switch is the eleventh album in the band’s discography after an eight year silence, and their first on their new label Epic Records. "There’s been so much change," says Andrew Farriss, "that it seemed appropriate to sum it up with just one word."

For the task of streamlining and updating the ‘80s dance-rock of INXS, the band worked with acclaimed producer Guy Chambers who had been with the likes of Queen and Robbie Williams. Andrew Farriss initially got in touch with Chambers to collaborate on songs for the album, but the two found that they also shared the same attitudes with regards to studio labor.

Tim Fariss agrees with his brother, "Guy has a vision of the whole album. He doesn’t get hung up on putting everything into each song. He sees how they all fit into the whole."

With just six weeks to complete the whole record from the closing of the reality show to the album’s release date, JD Fortune was quickly thrown into the musical whirlwind that is INXS.

Switch was recorded on an uber-tight schedule at Westlake Studios in Los Angeles. The band’s typical work day would consist of recording basic instrument and vocal tracks in one studio, while overdubs for another song were laid down across the hall and rough mixes were being done in a third room.

"It was a challenge that we responded to very well," says Tim Farriss, adding that he’s also found no end of amusement in watching a neophyte performer adjust to his new life as a rock star. "You forget that it’s [JD’s] first album, his first video, first photo shoot. These are all things we’ve done for 30 years and it’s all new to him. JD brings a mix of innocence and knowingness into the process."

"In the past," exclaims saxophonist Kirk Pengilly, "You’d have time to listen to the songs and figure out what you’re going to play." For Switch JD would hear the song and have to make up his part on the fly. "It was exciting," says Andrew. "It’s the way they used to do things in the ‘60s."

The problem with Switch is that, after eight years, it’s a mixed bag of goods at best. From the outdated party harty theme of Elegently Wasted, the glitzy search for a new lead singer and getting a new producer, we expected so much more. Or at least something entirely different, a departure or experiment on par with 1992’s underrated Welcome to Wherever You Are.

Is all the hype commensurate to the product? In many ways, yes. Hot tracks abound as in the excellent hip bopping, bluesy trash of "Devil’s Party." Fortune’s vocal work is less decorative than Hutchence’s and the music is as edgy as anything the early Stones has produced. He may not be the new Jagger but Fortune still kicks up some mean southern dirt and Memphis soul.

The smash hit single "Pretty Vegas," penned by Fortune during one of the reality show tasks, can probably epitomize INXS opening up to the faster than light carnival of the new century. Fortune is an excellent songwriter, spot on in his lyricism and wit, dangerous and charming at the same time. Plus he has an excellent, menacing drawl.

The album version of this song has an added interlude on half-time where Fortune sings "The party is over and the road is long / The party’s over and we’re moving on." With its catchy chorus and cautionary lyrics it’s no wonder that "Pretty Vegas" debuted on Billboard’s Top 100 at Number 37, the highest-charting single debut of INXS ever.

Strangely though, co-reality show competitors Jordis Unga and Marty Casey share lyric credits with Fortune on "Pretty Vegas." Viewers of Rock Star: INXS will remember the episode where a dispute in laying down lyrics for a new INXS riff led Fortune to separate from his assigned group and pen his own lyrics, thus producing "Pretty Vegas."

The sexy "Hot Girls" is very INXS with its sleazy bass line, crooning come-ons and Japanese words spoken by a girl. The riffing is a cross between ‘90s alt rock formula soft verse/ smithereens shredded chorus and sparse, catchy 80s note play. The band says that "Hot Girls" was inspired by the strip clubs near the Santa Monica Boulevard studios.

"Hungry" shows the compassion and insight that have made Andrew Farriss’s new wave-infused rock songs life savers. The lyric are meaningful as in the opening phrase "The world is a hungry place/ And it’s never satisfied." It’s made all the more poignant by Fortune’s grizzly, half-gloomy and half-optimistic vocal treatment. "Hot Girls" and "Hungry" is as good as it gets in the marriage of veteran musicians INXS and its new front man.

In some ways the hype has hurt INXS because Switch has its undeniable faults. The downside is that some of the experiments are really bad.

The ballad "Afterglow" skirts the dangerous country between trying to reach out with its moving melody and putting you to sleep. Some songs sound like a bad day at the carnival trying to combine diffuse genres and ending up with embarrassing lyrics as in "Like It Or Not" ("Like it or not/ Love is the God"), "Perfect Strangers" ("Thank you for spending one night with me"), "Never Let You Go" an awkward venture into reggae with silly declarations ("If someday I find the answer / Move down south and marry a dancer").

Then there’s "Us," which seems like an incomplete song. Like the band got tired and slapped together this haphazard ineffectual call for positivity. Overall, they try too hard or just miss the point and vacillate between old synth, drum machine thinness and overdub overkill.

The surprise hit here is the ending ballad "God’s Top Ten God’s Top Ten" that features vocals by Fortune’s co-reality show competitor Suzie McNeil. The song is both atmospheric and raw, with only a softly thumping drum and acoustic guitars. Rueful and introspective, this song balances all the tracks that come before and saves the album from a disappointing conclusion.

McNeil balances Fortune’s procilivity for often harsh, over the top slickness and lends the song the soul it needs. This is what "Afterglow" and the other experiments lack – a core of honesty sung with the same nakedness, something that Fortune often dresses up or unconsciously masks, favoring vocal brawn over bleeding candidness.

A song like "God’s Top Ten" is proof that INXS is ready to abandon the past and ease themselves out of nostalgia, out of grief and near musical oblivion. "They’re coming back to claim what’s theirs,’ J.D. says of his bandmates. "They haven’t finished being artists together in a band, and they haven’t finished their journey. Now I’m a part of all of this, and I’m proud to be here."