Listen Like Thieves was the fifth studio album by Australia’s INXS and it helped launch them into a stratosphere as global superstars. It was released in 1985 and thanks to Rhino is being released May 9th, 2025 in a 1 LP/3CD Deluxe edition to mark the album’s 40th anniversary. The first CD and the LP are the original album but remixed by Giles Martin & Paul Hicks newly in 2025. The mix isn’t going to shock listeners with newly unearthed parts or anything that alerts the sound other than it’s extremely “crisp”.
CD two is a treat for anyone that likes to listen “behind the curtain” to band putting something special together. “Funk Song #11” appears to be a fairly complete music shell of what became “What Your Need” but with very little of the final vocals. It also sorely lacked an endeing. It is followed by some little snippets of Michael between takes. “Kiss the Dirt” has the shape and melody of the final product but includes some guitar not in the final in that form as well as some holes in the lyrics. Really cool track of Michael talking about the meaning of “Listen Like Thieves”. The demo of “Listen Like Thieves” is much more mellow musically than the final track. It is fairly complete lyrically but sounds a little more dated than the final. A cool little radio plug follows. The “One X One” demo has some longer musical interludes while they worked to put it together. The demo of “This Time” really sounds like a demo. Not the fidelity of the others but still demonstrates the band’s abilities and Andrew’s hypnotic guitar line. “Good + Bad Times” was labeled as an Alternative take and not a demo. It’s hard to imagine how this song never got released as a single. There’s a little different guitar riff (sort of a noodling riff) in this version which I can’t say enhanced it so it is probably wise it was left off. With “Red Red Sun” we are treated to a really cool track with the band actively talking about the intro to the song and then a alternate take form the album. There is a track of taking about the song “Same Direction” and then a scratch track that became “Same Direction” but at the time was an instrumental called “Funk Song #9”. Following that is a home demo of “What You Need” that features the distinctive bright guitar with in a very over-driven guitar that sounded very out of place. This is an instrumental track. “Shine Like It Does” is also an instrumental with a little more acoustic guitar. Then an almost unrecognizable demo of “Listen Like Thieves” that I swear sounds more like the theme to Hill Street Blues. The final track is a very acoustic demo of “Kiss the Dirt”.
CD 3 is where the real jewels lie; INXS live from the Royal Albert Hall on June 24, 1986. The shows starts with a crisp rendition of “Same Direction”. You can tell right away that the recording, at the time a BBC radio broadcast, is extremely well recorded and preserved. The band then goes into “Soul Mistake” from Shabooh Shoobah. After a quick introduction “Kiss the Dirt”. For a recording that you know Michael didn’t go back and overdub, it sounds remarkably close to the quality of the demos if not the final, album version. “Welcome to this most dignified occasion” Michael utters before going into “Biting Bullets” which was an obvious nod to the majestic and historical Royal Albert Hall. The band then goes back to their fourth album, The Swing, for “Burn For You” with it’s almost Depeche Mode-like keyboard riff. Micheal introduces “Do Wot You Do” as a song they wrote for the movie Pretty In Pink. The track is a sometimes overlooked gem. Some reports on the Internet indicate the band performed “I Send a Message” and “Melting in the Sun” though neither song made the recording. “This song is inspired by Martin Luther King” introduces “Original Sin”. Then other obscure song from a movie; “Different World” which appeared in Crocodile Dundee. Hutchence refers to “Shine Like It Does” as a “Heavy Metal, Jazz Rock sort of thing”. The next track is “Listen Like Thieves” which oddly was reported on some sites are not being played that night. The band played a energy packed version of “One x One” complete with the signature brass. “What You Need” which surprisingly had charted only as high as 51 in the UK the prior year. The crowed though seemed to be really into the song as Michael coached them through some audience participation. The set rounded out with “Red Red Sun” which was an interesting cnoice for a closer as it wasn’t released as a single from Listen Like Thieves.
The album can be ordered here.
LP + CD1: Listen Like Thieves (2025 Mix by Giles Martin and Paul Hicks)
- What You Need
- Listen Like Thieves
- Kiss The Dirt (Falling Down The Mountain)
- Shine Like It Does
- Good + Bad Times
- Biting Bullets
- This Time
- Three Sisters
- Same Direction
- One x One
- Red Red Sun
CD2: Demos & Outtakes
- “We’re rolling, it’s 1985” – Studio Chat
- Funk Song #11 – Take 2 (Working Title of What You Need)
- “Press the blue and red button” – Studio Chat
- Kiss The Dirt – Demo
- Listen Like Thieves Track Commentary
- Listen Like Thieves – Demo
- Listen Like Thieves Radio Intro
- One X One – Demo
- This Time – Demo
- Shine Like It Does – Demo
- Good and Bad Times – Alternate Take
- Red Red Sun – Rehearsal Fragment
- Red Red Sun – Alternate Outtake
- Same Direction Track Commentary
- Funk Song #9 (Working Title of Same Direction) – Studio Demo
- What You Need – ‘Calvin Bell’ Home Demo
- Shine Like It Does – Home Demo
- Listen Like Thieves – Home Demo
- Kiss the Dirt – ‘Calvin Bell’ Home Demo
CD3: Live From Royal Albert Hall
- Live in London, UK – June 24, 1986
- Intro
- Same Direction
- Soul Mistake
- Kiss The Dirt (Falling Down The Mountain)
- Biting Bullets
- Burn For You
- Do Wot You Do
- Original Sin
- Different World
- Shine Like It Does
- Listen Like Thieves
- One x One
- What You Need
- Red Red Sun