“The Lost Boys: Hard-To-Find ’80s Albums” gives you exactly what the title implies: a rare or out-of-print album from the ’80s in its entirety. Some will be from CD, but most will have been lovingly transferred from pristine vinyl culled directly from the Analog Kid’s vast collection. Whatever album I choose, it will be one that you can’t easily find a physical copy for sale on Amazon or in your local record store (if you even have one anymore). Death…by stereo!
Don’t remember Max Q? You’re not alone. INXS was one of the biggest bands in the world in 1989, but for some reason this Michael Hutchence side project received very little notice at the time. Hutchence’s main collaborator on the album was fellow Aussie Ollie Olsen, and the two combined to write all of the songs on Max Q. The album’s existence came as a bit of a surprise to Hutchence’s INXS bandmates, who apparently knew nothing about the record until after it was released. They weren’t too happy about it, either– perhaps that explains why Max Q never played any live shows to support the album, and why Atlantic Records spent very little to promote it. Hutchence immediately returned to the INXS camp to begin work on 1990’s X, and the one and only Max Q album began its slow drift into obscurity.
It’s a shame that more people haven’t heard Max Q, as it really is a great little record. “Way Of The World” was a minor hit on alternative radio, and certainly could have been huge with the right promotion. The chorus is an absolute monster, and it’s still one of my favorite songs of the late ’80s. “Sometimes” is another great track that was only noticed by those lucky enough to live in a city with a great alternative radio station. Thank you, 94.5 The Edge!
Max Q has been out of print for years, so the Analog Kid hopes this entry in “The Lost Boys” series will help a few more fans discover this lost gem.
Max Q: Max Q
Atlantic Records, 1989
1. “Sometimes” (Olsen)
2. “Way Of The World” (Olsen)
3. “Ghost Of The Year” (Olsen)
4. “Everything” (Olsen/Hutchence)
5. “Concrete” (Olsen/Hutchence)
6. “Zero-2-0” (Olsen/Hutchence)
7. “Soul Engine” (Olsen/Hutchence)
8. “Buckethead” (Olsen)
9. “Monday Night By Satellite” (Olsen)
10. “Tight” (Olsen/Hutchence)
11. “Ot-Ven-Rot” (Olsen/Hutchence)
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Bonus Tracks!
The first rule of The Analog Kid blog is that if you write about a song on the Analog Kid blog, you share the song on the Analog Kid blog.
![Suicide Blonde [U.S. 12_]](https://theanalogkidblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/suicide-blonde-u-s-12_.png)
INXS: “Suicide Blonde [Earth Mix]” (Hutchence/Farriss)
From the U.S. 12″ Suicide Blonde
Original version from the album X
Atlantic Records, 1990
The Analog Kid 
Another great post. I bought the cassette of this album in a cut out bin in Boston in 1989. I think I paid $2 for it. Hutchence was basically forbidden from promoting it by his fellow band members, so a great album became a lost classic.