INXS - Listen Like Thieves (40th Anniversary Deluxe) (1985/2025) (Hi-Res)

Listen Like Thieves may not have been INXS's biggest album—that honor would certainly belong to its world-conquering follow-up, 1987's Kick—but it is arguably the band's best album. Its predecessor, 1984's The Swing, found INXS working out how to fuse their innate "modern-rock" edge with their growing affinity for rhythmic intensity, while Kick was the sound of a band that had buffed all of their quirkier edges away in pursuit of becoming a highly optimized hit-single machine. Right in the middle was Listen Like Thieves, the very definition of a "pivotal" album, not just for what it meant for INXS, but also for a rapidly maturing "alternative" music scene. They always had aspirations of chart dominance, but were also always highly unique in their execution, merging guitar-forward rockisms, serpentine rhythms, vocal swagger, and unconventional arrangements in a way that made them instantly identifiable and a formidable live presence.

Elements of what made the The Swing great carry over onto Listen Like Thieves (the sinuous bassline of the title track; the funk foundation of "Good + Bad Times"), and the band's New Wave roots show through on the pogo-ready "Biting Bullets" and the atmospheric "Three Sisters" instrumental, but for the most part, this is a record designed for modern-rock audiences. There are arena-ready anthems ("What You Need"), dramatic balladry ("Shine Like It Does"), and even something resembling a sultry blues-rocker (the synth-horn-drenched "One X One"). Even on numbers as forceful and direct as the soaring "This Time" and the slashing "Red Red Sun," the band's highly specific personality shines through. There's literally no other band that could have made an album as simultaneously accessible and weird as this. Creatively, it documents INXS at their peak, and, commercially, it was an undeniable breakthrough.

This overdue deluxe edition is centered on a new remix by Giles Martin and Paul Hicks that mutes just a bit of the reverb and sheen of the era, focusing on the band's muscular attack, which is also on glorious display on the live set included here, a summer 1986 concert at the Royal Albert Hall. Another disc of demos and outtakes are included; it's notable that at least two songs ("What You Need" and "Same Direction") were originally titled "Funk Song #11" and "Funk Song #9," which gives you some sense of the band's post-Swing headspace, while others, like the rock jam of "Red Red Sun" shows the direction they were moving toward. © Jason Ferguson

Tracklist
[3:37] 1. INXS - What You Need (2025 Mix)
[3:48] 2. INXS - Listen Like Thieves (2025 Mix)
[3:56] 3. INXS - Kiss The Dirt (Falling Down The Mountain) (2025 Mix)
[3:06] 4. INXS - Shine Like It Does (2025 Mix)
[2:46] 5. INXS - Good And Bad Times (2025 Mix)
[2:50] 6. INXS - Biting Bullets (2025 Mix)
[3:12] 7. INXS - This Time (2025 Mix)
[2:28] 8. INXS - Three Sisters (2025 Mix)
[4:59] 9. INXS - Same Direction (2025 Mix)
[3:06] 10. INXS - One X One (2025 Mix)
[3:35] 11. INXS - Red Red Sun (2025 Mix)
[0:13] 12. INXS - "We're rolling, it's 1985" - Studio Dialogue
[4:28] 13. INXS - Funk Song #11 - Take 2 / Working title of What You Need (Alternate Take)
[0:25] 14. INXS - "Press the blue and red button" - Studio Dialogue
[3:05] 15. INXS - Kiss The Dirt (Studio Demo)
[0:37] 16. INXS - Meaning of the song "Listen Like Thieves" - Interview Excerpt
[2:34] 17. INXS - Listen Like Thieves (Studio Demo)
[0:08] 18. INXS - INXS SA FM Radio Spot
[3:05] 19. INXS - One X One (Studio Demo)
[2:50] 20. INXS - This Time (Studio Demo)
[2:35] 21. INXS - Shine Like It Does (Studio Demo)
[2:51] 22. INXS - Good And Bad Times (Alternate Take)
[1:25] 23. INXS - Red Red Sun (Studio Jam)
[3:51] 24. INXS - Red Red Sun (Alternate Take)
[0:36] 25. INXS - Recording of Same Direction (2025 Mix)
[4:54] 26. INXS - Funk Song #9 (Working title of Same Direction) (Studio Demo)
[3:49] 27. INXS - What You Need (Calvin Bell Home Demo)
[2:31] 28. INXS - Shine Like It Does (Andrew's home demo)
[2:24] 29. INXS - Listen Like Thieves (Home Demo)
[3:16] 30. INXS - Kiss The Dirt (Calvin Bell Home Demo)
[0:12] 31. INXS - Introduction by Pete Drummond (Live At Royal Albert Hall, London / June 24, 1986)
[4:59] 32. INXS - Same Direction (Live At Royal Albert Hall, London / June 24, 1986)
[3:21] 33. INXS - Soul Mistake (Live At Royal Albert Hall, London / June 24, 1986)
[4:04] 34. INXS - Kiss The Dirt (Live At Royal Albert Hall, London / June 24, 1986)
[2:51] 35. INXS - Biting Bullets (Live At Royal Albert Hall, London / June 24, 1986)
[4:56] 36. INXS - Burn For You (Live At Royal Albert Hall, London / June 24, 1986)
[3:13] 37. INXS - Do Wot You Do (Live At Royal Albert Hall, London / June 24, 1986)
[5:16] 38. INXS - Original Sin (Live At Royal Albert Hall, London / June 24, 1986)
[4:15] 39. INXS - Different World (Live At Royal Albert Hall, London / June 24, 1986)
[3:27] 40. INXS - Shine Like it Does (Live At Royal Albert Hall, London / June 24, 1986)
[3:53] 41. INXS - Listen Like Thieves (Live At Royal Albert Hall, London / June 24, 1986)
[2:57] 42. INXS - One X One (Live At Royal Albert Hall, London / June 24, 1986)
[4:20] 43. INXS - What You Need (Live At Royal Albert Hall, London / June 24, 1986)
[3:16] 44. INXS - Red Red Sun (Live At Royal Albert Hall, London / June 24, 1986)
[5:47] 45. INXS - Listen Like Thieves (Extended Remix)
[3:08] 46. INXS - Begotten
[5:38] 47. INXS - What You Need (Nick Launay Remix)
[4:07] 48. INXS - I'm Over You
[2:21] 49. INXS - Sweet As Sin
[0:59] 50. INXS - Six Knots
[4:09] 51. INXS - Listen Like Thieves (Instrumental Remix)