Track Listing

1. All Is Fair
2. How Much Is Enough
3. No One Has To Cry
4. Crucified
5. Falling In Love
6. Shut It Out
7. Still Around
8. All The Best Things
9. Yesterday, Today
10. One Jungle
11. Climb The Hill
12. Make No Plans

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #44627 in Music
• Released on: 1998-08-25
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Original recording reissued

Customer Reviews

Absolutely PHENOMENAL, classy, quality songwriting!
It SHOCKS me to see some '2 star reviews' regarding The Fixx's 'Ink'! This is truly one of The Fixx's BETTER releases, with clockwork songwriting craft that rivals the best alternative rock ever produced. The songs are tight, hooky, layered, exciting, and very well written. Most of the songs on 'Ink' are excellent, and sound contemporary and modern even now in 2008. This signature release is as good as anything The Fixx has done. When music is this good, time doesn't matter!

Low Point for a Great Band
The Fixx is a very underrated and misunderstood band. They are often considered a new wave synth band, and while ample synths flesh out and compliment the sound on their albums, what really makes them shine is their great instrumental work on bass and guitar and the vocals of Cy Curnin. Guitarist Jaime West-Oram in particular is incredible, playing a diverse array of understated but beautiful and complex rhythm guitar parts that are really what distinguish the Fixx sound. All of that said, this is definitely the low point for the Fixx, primarily because the songwriting is so inferior to that of previous and subsequent releases. The band's other albums are marked by strong melody that may be instantly accessible or uncovered more slowly through repeated listens, but this album simply doesn't have any standout songs. It barely has any second rate tunes. Production is an issue too. Gone is the dark tension, the paranoid edginess, the quirky & groovy (listen to the bass work on their other releases) atmosphere, replaced by a rather bland mainstream pop feel that doesn't work for a band with as much talent and distinct craftsmanship as the Fixx. I love this band and strongly recommend early works like Reach the Beach and Phantoms. They are 80s albums that stand out for great musicianship, creative production, and strong songs. Those albums still sound really fresh and rich and I find them as mesmerizing now as when they were released. Even later albums like Elemental are strong, showing the band able to recover from this mid-career phase well. Check those albums out and leave this one to die-hard fans and completists only.

A Decent Fix of the Fixx
As far as bands go, I've always regarded The Fixx as more of a singles band, never really going the full gamut with the rest of their work on a given album. That started to change over time and it was with this, "Ink" that really reeled me in.

This soundpiece having been released sandwiched between the waning synthesizer era of the 80's and just before the nascent of early 90's grunge, bears some of the hallmarks of that musically transitoning "in-between era".

I have always enjoyed a good number of their singles since their heyday from the early 1980's. When I heard the lead off single from this effort - "How Much Is Enough?" along with the accompanying video, I was impressed. This was spring 1991, a bit after the commercial peak of The Fixx. The lead single even managed to crack the top 40. So, on a whim I picked "Ink" up and have been enjoying it for a good part of the last 15 years. I tend to agree with most that the first 5 tracks all pack a certain punch and accessiblity. Much of the others have a finesse and grace about them that warrants repeat listening.

My personal favorites: "All Is Fair" bristles with an edgy pop rock sensibility with a nice harmonica hook thrown in. "How Much Is Enough?" hammers a message in the music without superflous fluff. "No One Has To Cry" demonstrates conscience without pretense in a gorgeous sonic context. "Still Around" sounds sleek yet has substance and transfixxes. And the lyrically sound and poignantly pleading "Yesterday, Today" still haunts and lingers - my favorite track from this release.