The Back Story

Two years after Hutchence's untimely death at age 37, a self-titled solo album was released posthumously in late 1999. Saber played guitar and bass on it, did programming and co-produced with Hutchence and Andy Gill from Gang of Four. Bono and The Clash's Joe Strummer were among the studio guests.

“Michael first contacted me in 1995 soon after the release of my album It’s Great When You’re Straight,” recalls Saber in a press release, about the UK #1 album by his band Black Grape with Happy Mondays’ Shaun Ryder.

“Michael was a huge fan of my record and wanted to find the right sound for a solo record, a sound that would galvanize all the success he had with INXS and allow him to establish himself as a solo artist and spread his creative wings outside the confines of being the frontman of one of the most successful bands in the world.”

Working closely with Hutchence, the two became friends and creative partners. “Over the next two years, we became very close collaborators, and the period we worked together was one of the best times of my life,” Saber remembers. “I had just broken through with a #1 record and having Michael as a ‘big brother’ to help me navigate this was so important to me."

“’One Way’ is the culmination of nearly two decades of work,” says Saber. “One of the fundamental reasons for releasing this music is to allow the fans to hear Michael’s voice on something new and fresh, offering a glimpse into what might have been, and, in turn, reawakening millions of people who may have simply forgotten about him.”

“I set about reviewing the recordings to find out if there was enough of a quality for some sort of release,” says Saber. Meanwhile, a documentary about Hutchence’s life was released in Australia and New Zealand, titled The Last Rockstar (2017), which included some snippets of these unfinished tracks.

“While some portions of these songs were featured in the documentary, the fully mastered versions had never been released.”

Taking one of the a capella vocal recordings that Hutchence left, Saber faithfully fleshed out and fashioned the track into “One Way,” ensuring it retained the elevated refinement that Hutchence demanded in life. “Michael and INXS set a really high standard for their music,” he explains. “I’ve said many times that you would be hard-pressed to find a crappy INXS song… a certain level of excellence had to be maintained.”

“One of the best things for me personally is that through this journey, I have come to a better understanding of what happened to Michael and why,” Saber sums up, referring to the emotional and tragic toll that fame and its excesses had on Hutchence. “I want to share that perspective as I really feel Michael’s story has so much relevance and value on so many levels, and along the way, hopefully we can shift the focus to how he lived and not how he died. Michael deserves to take his place in the pantheon of great frontmen and finally get the recognition he and the band deserve.”