INXS – Listen Like Thieves (40th Anniversary Deluxe Edition) – Review

I’ve wasted an embarrassing amount of cash on remasters—most of them end up sounding like someone just wiped the CD with a baby wipe and called it a day. But this Listen Like Thieves 40th Anniversary thing is somehow worth it. Those old INXS tracks finally sound like they should’ve all along.

Everyone’s always going on about Kick, which is fine if you like stadium pop with a six-pack. But Listen Like Thieves is the one with actual guts. Two years before the hair and the white suits, they dropped this twitchy, angular, basically perfect album—and barely anyone talks about it.

The remix is just… orgasm-inducing. I had it on in the car yesterday, and when “This Time” kicked in, I nearly clipped a parked van. Everything’s sharper. There’s actual space in the mix now. Hutchence sounds like he’s in the seat next to you, half-drunk, probably chain-smoking, and talking about Nietzsche or something.

Disc 2’s packed with these half-baked demos that somehow make the finished songs better in hindsight. There’s a version of “What You Need” where the sax sounds like someone found it behind a pub and decided to have a go. There’s a vocal take where Hutchence is either trying to yodel or exorcise a ghost. I honestly can’t tell.

The 1986 Albert Hall live show on the 3rd and final CD sounds good and was recorded for radio broadcast. It sounds good, but it’s not overly polished. No overdubs, just 100% live, and the band is on fire. You can hear the sweat. You can practically smell the hairspray starting to creep in.

If you do decide to buy it, just know I’ve been blasting “This Time” and “What You Need” so loud my neighbour knocked to ask if everything was okay. I told him yes. He looked unconvinced.

Some albums just don’t die. They smoulder. This one still burns.
Score 9/10
Track List

3CD/1LP

LP + CD1: Listen Like Thieves (2025 Mix by Giles Martin and Paul Hicks)

1. What You Need
2. Listen Like Thieves
3. Kiss The Dirt (Falling Down The Mountain)
4. Shine Like It Does
5. Good + Bad Times
6. Biting Bullets
7. This Time
8. Three Sisters
9. Same Direction
10. One x One
11. Red Red Sun

CD2: Demos & Outtakes

1. “We’re rolling, it’s 1985” – Studio Chat
2. Funk Song #11 – Take 2 (Working Title of What You Need)
3. “Press the blue and red button” – Studio Chat
4. Kiss The Dirt – Demo
5. Listen Like Thieves Track Commentary
6. Listen Like Thieves – Demo
7. Listen Like Thieves Radio Intro
8. One X One – Demo
9. This Time – Demo
10. Shine Like It Does – Demo
11. Good and Bad Times – Alternate Take
12. Red Red Sun – Rehearsal Fragment
13. Red Red Sun – Alternate Outtake
14. Same Direction Track Commentary
15. Funk Song #9 (Working Title of Same Direction) – Studio Demo
16. What You Need – ‘Calvin Bell’ Home Demo
17. Shine Like It Does – Home Demo
18. Listen Like Thieves – Home Demo
19. Kiss the Dirt – ‘Calvin Bell’ Home Demo

CD3: Live From Royal Albert Hall

Live in London, UK – June 24, 1986

1. Intro
2. Same Direction
3. Soul Mistake
4. Kiss The Dirt (Falling Down The Mountain)
5. Biting Bullets
6. Burn For You
7. Do Wot You Do
8. Original Sin
9. Different World
10. Shine Like It Does
11. Listen Like Thieves
12. One x One
13. What You Need
14. Red Red Sun

*Previously Unreleased

1LP

Side A 

What You Need

Listen Like Thieves

Kiss The Dirt (Falling Down The Mountain)

Shine Like It Does

Good + Bad Times

 Side B 

Biting Bullets

This Time

Three Sisters

Same Direction

One x One

Red Red Sun
Label – UMc
Release – 9th May 2025

For all things INXS, click HERE and to purchase this deluxe version, click HERE