INXS

Like many bands that rose to prominence in the ’80s, INXS could turn out a killer single, but it struggled to stretch that quality over an entire album. INXS has one masterpiece to its credit, 1987’s Kick, and a couple of others that seemed better at the time (1985’s Listen Like Thieves and 1990’s X). For casual listeners, then, a compilation is the best bet. The Best of INXS is actually the third such collection, following 1994’s sixteen-selections-strong The Greatest Hits and last year’s 42-track Shine Like It Does, which redefined in excess. The latest best-of disc offers the most appealing assortment for first-time buyers, but those who already own the only slightly inferior Greatest Hits need not make another purchase.

Augmenting its 21 songs with some worthwhile numbers that Hits omitted, including the essential single “Not Enough Time,” Best of delivers a more complete overview of INXS’s danceable pub rock. It goes a bit overboard, though, by including some justifiably unreleased tracks and uninspired remixes. (INXS becomes the latest band to bizarrely count songs among its best that weren’t good enough to make its albums.) It also fails to make room for “Good Times,” the band’s lean, mean collaboration with Jimmy Barnes, which means fans must still search for the comical, Lou Gramm-plagued Lost Boys soundtrack. Amazingly, none of these comps, including Shine, has “Mediate,” well-known to MTV junkies as the Bob Dylan-aping second half of the “Need You Tonight” video. Perhaps that track could be included on a comprehensive, chronological collection of the band’s singles, which would concisely — and nearly completely —capture its brightest moments.