INXS' breakthrough album is getting the red carpet treatment for its 40th anniversary. The Australian group's 1985 effort Listen Like Thieves is getting a multi-format reissue this spring...and while it will be available around the world, there's a slight catch: each format has different and unique bonus material.

The centerpiece of the campaign, in stores May 9, is a 3CD/LP box set featuring a new remix of the original album by Giles Martin and Paul Hicks plus two discs of unreleased material: one covering unheard demos and outtakes from the album sessions, and the other featuring a newly unearthed BBC recording of a 1986 set at the Royal Albert Hall in London. A 2CD cutdown will feature the remixed album and highlights from the live set, but will also add seven rare B-sides and remixes from the Listen Like Thieves era - tracks which, oddly, aren't part of the bigger box. Writer Paul Sexton contributes new liner notes, including new quotes from interviews with the surviving band members.

The release of Listen Like Thieves marked a major step forward for the hard-striving group (the late frontman Michael Hutchence; the Farriss brothers, Andrew (guitar/keyboards), Tim (guitar) and Jon (drums); bassist Garry Gary Beers and guitarist/saxophonist Kirk Pengilly). Though they'd already had minor international hits with 1982's "The One Thing" and 1984's Nile Rodgers-produced dance-rocker "Original Sin," INXS was hungry for further domination. For this, their fifth LP, they teamed up with Chris Thomas, a British producer behind top-notch singles by Roxy Music, the Sex Pistols, Pete Townshend and Elton John. He pushed the band to come up with the strongest material they could manage, insisting on one last song for the album as a potential lead single. The result: a tightly-wound pop-funk cut called "What You Need," which finally netted INXS a Top 5 hit in America. Listen Like Thieves, also featuring standouts like "Shine Like It Does," "This Time," "Kiss the Dirt (Falling Down the Mountain)" and the title track, topped the charts in Australia and peaked at No. 11 on the Billboard 200, and the group would team up with Thomas on 1987 blockbuster Kick and 1990's X. INXS toured extensively behind Listen Like Thieves, including a special hometown set to commemorate a visit from England's Prince Charles and Princess Diana (once digitally issued as Rocking the Royals) and a 1986 set at London's Royal Albert Hall that was attended by the likes of Mick Jagger and members of The Cult and The Psychedelic Furs; a recently-rediscovered recording of the set from the BBC archives is part of this reissue.

The Listen Like Thieves reissue continues the group's partnership with Giles Martin, who signed on as the group's executive music director in 2018. Martin curated the demos and outtakes heard on the second disc of the deluxe edition. He and Sam Okell mixed Kick in Dolby Atmos for a 30th anniversary reissue in 2017, and Martin and Hicks' new Atmos mix of Thieves will be available on Apple Music. The son of legendary producer George Martin also went on to oversee projects like a live set from Wembley Stadium (reconfigured from the 1991 album Live Baby Live); the group also digitally expanded 1982's Shabooh Shoobah for its 40th anniversary in 2022 - along with a Europe-only CD release of their set at the US Festival that same year - and rolled out a series of 12" releases and digital singles of rare remixes under the name All Juiced Up Part 2. (The occasionally confusing release plan stems from INXS being one of the last big major-label rock acts whose band-owned catalogue is distributed by different companies depending on where you live; Rhino Records and Warner Music handle it in America, while the rest of the world are covered by Universal Music Group.

Pre-order links are set to populate soon (they already have in the U.K. - as an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases), and all formats will be available May 9.

Listen Like Thieves (40th Anniversary Edition) (Petrol/UMC (U.K.)/Petrol/Atlantic/Rhino (U.S.), 2025)

3CD/LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada

* previously unreleased

CD 1/LP: Giles Martin & Paul Hicks stereo remix of original album (original mix released as WEA 252363 (AUS)/Atlantic 81277 (U.S.), 1985)

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

CD 2: Additional Material (Extended Edition only)

1. Listen Like Thieves (Extended Remix)
2. Begotten
3. What You Need (Nick Launay Remix)
4. I'm Over You
5. Sweet As Sin
6. Six Knots
7. Listen Like Thieves (Instrumental Remix)
8. Same Direction (Live @ Royal Albert Hall, London, England - 6/24/1986) *
9. Kiss the Dirt (Falling Down the Mountain) (Live @ Royal Albert Hall, London, England - 6/24/1986) *
10. Biting Bullets (Live @ Royal Albert Hall, London, England - 6/24/1986) *
11. Shine Like It Does (Live @ Royal Albert Hall, London, England - 6/24/1986) *
12. Listen Like Thieves (Live @ Royal Albert Hall, London, England - 6/24/1986) *
13. One X One (Live @ Royal Albert Hall, London, England - 6/24/1986) *
14. What You Need (Live @ Royal Albert Hall, London, England - 6/24/1986) *
15. Red Red Sun (Live @ Royal Albert Hall, London, England - 6/24/1986) *

Tracks 1-2 and 7 released on "Listen Like Thieves" 12" - WEA 0-258659 (AUS)/Atlantic 0-86818 (U.S.), 1986
Track 3 released on "What You Need" 12" - WEA 0-258868 (AUS)/Atlantic 0-86832 (U.S.), 1985
Track 4 released on "What You Need" Australian single - WEA 7-258971/"This Time" U.S. single - Atlantic 7-89497, 1985
Track 5 released on "This Time" Australian single - WEA 7-258836/"What You Need" U.S. single - Atlantic 7-89460, 1985
Track 6 released on "Kiss the Dirt (Falling Down the Mountain)" single - WEA 7-258735 (AUS)/Atlantic 7-89418 (U.S.), 1986

CD 2: Demos & Outtakes (deluxe edition only) *

1. "We're rolling, it's 1985" (Studio Dialogue)
2. Funk Song #11 (Take 2 - What You Need)
3. "Press the blue and red button" (Studio Dialogue)
4. Kiss the Dirt (Studio Demo)
5. Meaning of the song "Listen Like Thieves" - Interview Excerpt
6. Listen Like Thieves (Studio Demo)
7. INXS SA FM Radio Spot
8. One X One (Studio Demo)
9. This Time (Studio Demo)
10. Shine Like It Does (Studio Demo)
11. Good and Bad Times (Alternate Take)
12. Red Red Sun (Studio Jam)
13. Red Red Sun (Alternate Take)
14. Recording of "Same Direction"
15. Funk Song #9 (Same Direction)
16. What You Need (Studio Demo)
17. Shine Like It Does (Home Demo)
18. Listen Like Thieves (Home Demo)
19. Kiss the Dirt (Home Demo)

CD 3: Live @ Royal Albert Hall, London, England - 6/24/1986 (deluxe edition only) *

1. Intro by Pete Drummond
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