INXS: Definitive INXS

By RUSSELL BAILLIE

(Herald rating: * * * )

Now touring as a tribute band to themselves - with expatriate New Zealander Jon Stevens in place of the late Michael Hutchence - INXS are heading here to play a $300-a-head charity ball having canned a previous attempt at New Zealand tour because of a of lack interest.

The 21-tracks here do remind about their musical peaks, with most of those from the international break-through period, 1985 to 1990. This non-chronological collection might be a little light on their pre-

international days to be considered as definitive as its title suggests, and it slips in a cover of Born to be Wild for reasons unknown.

That song does confirm one theory: That without Hutchence's presence and his lusty vocal style atop the clever funk-rock arrangements of chief songwriter Andrew Farriss, INXS may have never quite escaped the Sydney pub circuit.

Label: Mercury