…We interrupt this Rock GPA® to bring you this special Post-Punk Bulletin…!
Oh wail. Oh, gnash of teeth! I’ve just been informed that Simple Minds Feb./Mar. tour of Europe and the UK will be a special “5×5” tour where the band plays five tracks each from their first five albums. You, know… the best ones! The ones that made me a fan for 30+ years through some very lean times indeed. When I e-mailed this news to my wife, she went online to price airline tickets. It’s a lovely thought but it is absolutely priced out of our grasp. But as it’s become common to have special events in the last 2-3 years occur in the UK that I’d sell a kidney to attend, I’d better get used to the feeling. I’d stock up on kidneys if I were smart. My mind reels when I think of which five tracks from “Life In A Day,” “Reel To Real Cacophony,” “Empires + Dance,” “Sons + Fascination/Sister Feelings Call,” and “New Gold Dream [81, 82, 83, 84]” I’d pull from that body of work to play live if I were in their shoes.
Let’s see, here’s what I’d pick:
Life In A Day | 1978
- Someone
- Life In A Day
- Pleasantly Disturbed
- No Cure
- Chelsea Girl
Reel To Real Cacophony | 1979
- Citizen [Dance Of Youth]
- Factory
- Premonition
- Changeling
- Calling Your Name
Empires + Dance | 1980
- I Travel
- Celebrate
- This Fear Of Gods
- Twist/Run/Repulsion
- Thirty Frames A Second
Sons + Fascination | 1981
- 70 Cities As Love Brings The Fall
- Boys From Brazil
- Sons + Fascination
Sister Feelings Call | 1981
- The American
- 20th Century Promised Land
New Gold Dream | 1982
- Colours Fly + Catherine Wheel
- New Gold Dream [81, 82, 83, 84]
- Glittering Prize
- Hunter + The Hunted
- King Is White + In The Crowd
Moan. It’s a body of work that 30 years later has achieved a rarified patina of robust artistic development. Of all the “core collection” groups I love best, none have quite the level of achievement and progress that Simple Minds do throughout these six albums. Okay… maybe Bowie did from “The Man Who Sold The World” to “Scary Monsters” but even he had some clinkers [“Young Americans”] and sidesteps [“Lodger”] that sapped his momentum. Simple Minds have pretty much a geometric curve with a high slope of achievement that never falters! By album #3 they had achieved excellence and kept on developing further! Each album was better than the previous one until their sellout “Once Upon A Time” US hit album of 1986. Until then, their record was untarnished. Just compiling this list makes me think I’m insane for not racking up $4-5K in attendance costs!
I can hardly think of a theoretical concert I’d care more to see, honestly. If original bassist Derek Forbes re-joins the band I will go massively in debt to attend a show and by that point I won’t care! Barring that, at least I trekked up to Washington D.C. in 2002 to catch their last tour in The States, which was far from chopped liver, though the [excellent] set had just three songs from the list above, I was wildly ecstatic at how much better the band was than in 1986 when I’d seen them the first time.
Heavy sigh. Anyone got a few thou they could loan me? I’m good for it.
– 30 –
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Post-Punk Monk 
If there was any concert I would enjoy attending with you Monk, it would be this one! I have been holdin my “keyboard tongue” waiting to see if you were going to post on this upcoming EVENT!
I have only seen them twice, at the Ritz in NYC for the New Gold Dream Tour in 83 and at the Beacon Theatre for the Sparkle In The Rain Tour the following year.
I’m already trying to figure out if I can go to London for David Sylvian at the end of March, now there is Simple Minds at the beginning of the same month!!!
I love your choices from each album. For the diehard fans, I hope the band changes up the set each night to take advantage of the wealth of material available.
Here are my picks:
Life In A Day:
1. Life In A Day
2. Pleasantly Disturbed
3. No Cure (where they out Roxy Roxy Music!!)
4. Destiny
5. Murder Story (my choice to open the show!)
Reel to Real Cacophony:
1. Citizen
2. Film Theme
3. Premonition
4. Calling Your Name
5. Changeling
Empires And Dance:
1. I Travel
2. Celebrate
3. Capital City
4. Constantinople Line
5. Thirty Frames A Second
Sons And Fasination/Sister Feeling Call
1. The American
2. Sweat In Bullet
3. 20th Century Promised Land
4. 70 Cities As Love Brings The Fall
5. Boys From Brazil
New Gold Dream (81, 82, 83, 84)
1. Colours Fly and Catherine Wheel
2. New Gold Dream
3. Glittering Prize
4. Hunter And The Hunted
5. King Is White And In The Crowd (so we agree on this section of the set!)
I’ll top it off with my 5 encore choices:
1. Love Song
2. No Cure
3. Sons And Fascination
4. Today I Died Again
5. Someone, Somewhere, In Summertime
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Echorich – So you have already seen Simple Minds at their peak with Mr. Forbes, so really, this would be all gravy for you, eh? I actually wrote to A+M asking for “Sparkle” tour dates and got a reply; nowhere within 700 miles of Orlando at the time! I first saw SM on the teeth-kicking “Once Upon A Time tour in ’96. Gaaaaah! What a horror that was. In fact, it was a textbook example of insult to injury. Fortunately, when I saw their Floating World Tour in D.C. at the 9:30 in ’02 the setlist [and every other aspect of the gig, really] was far, far superior. And talk about double dipping; the night before The Black Cat hosted The Rezillos!!!!!!!!!! My favorite 1-2 concert punch of all time, buck-o! Scots Rock Rules!
SIMPLE MINDS / 9:30 Club – Washington D.C. – Sat. June 29 – No support act
setlist – – –
1. New Gold Dream
2. I Travel
3. Speed Your Love To Me
4. One Step Closer
5. Love Song
6. See The Lights
7. Hypnotised
8. Glittering Prize
9. Ghostdancing
10. She’s A River
11. Spaceface
12. Someone, Somewhere In Summertime
13. Belfast Child
14. Waterfront
15. Don’t You [Forget About Me]
encore – – –
16. Theme For Great Cities
17. New Sunshine Morning
18. Promised You A Miracle
19. Sanctify Yourself
20. Alive + Kicking
The only really awful selection was “Belfast Child,” and it was a mercifully brief version that was more of an intro to “Waterfront.” If there was ever a time to see the band post-Forbes, this tour was it. But still, that’s chump change next to what the 5×5 tour could offer! And I’d pay dearly to hear “New Warm Skin!” Speaking of which the 5×5 Boxed Set of dlx RM CDs are said to have B-sides and remixed appended to their running time. I hope it’s about damned time the Arista B-sides finally make the leap to CD [apart from my 10 disc BSOG® that is].
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I wish I could say I paid more attention to SM after Street Fighting Years, but by then they seemed to have lost the plot for me finally – something that obviously began with the mistep that was Once Upon A Time. I know somewhere towards the end of the 90’s Kerr and Burchill pulled up their bootstraps and got back on the beam.
I was intrigued by the EP of covers that preceeded Neon Lights and when the full album came out I was pleasantly surprised. Sure not every song worked – Hello, I Love You – or probably should have been attempted – Love Will Tear Us Apart, but you could hear a band that was confident and ready to get back in the fight – the strength in Needle and the Damage Done. Cry was strong but kinda lacked a focus. Black & White 050505 is a wonderful album made by a band that was obviously in a good place. Graffiti Soul is excellent and I listen to it often – although I and the rest of the world could do without “rockin in the free world” ever again…
I was thinking as we have a non linear conversation – Magazine segmented by Simple Minds – that there is a lot to be said for SM being Scotland’s real contribution to the origins of Post Punk. Most would point to The Skids, but I never really got the chills from listening to them. Yup, Jobson’s voice really does bug me…
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Echorich – After “Street Fighting Years” I did buy the singles from “Real Life.” [hmm – back to Magazine] They were much better than the SFY singles, and I will admit to having a soft spot for “See The Lights.” I think it’s the best song they did from ’85-’94. It’s the kind of song that sounds like it was written in 15 minutes; it’s such a natural. I eventually bought the Oz “Real Life” 2xCD with the “Live At Barrowlands” bonus disc since it appealed to the sick collector within me. It’s an album that would have made a good EP; which is better than I can say for the previous album!
I then chanced to hear “She’s A River” on the radio [!] and liked it enough to buy “Good News From The Next World” which though produced by Keith Forsey and obviously pitched towards the US audience, I thought was a corker of an album. If you’re going to sell out, do it with a solidly great record like that one! I was back on the Simple Minds bus from ’95 onward. At that point I was eager to see them in concert again. Shocking, considering that first show I saw was awful.
“Neapolis” was a big step forward. It actually sounded like the band that made “Sons + Fascination” had something to do with it! Derek Forbes was back, though they didn’t let him write and ultimately it was a wasted effort. By that time the twin iron fists of Kerr + Burchill controlled the reins and they’d never revert to jamming for material now that they were “proper songwriters!” [spits] The only lousy cut was “Song For The Tribes,” which was the last cut recorded and unfortunately, it pointed the way forward to “Our Secrets Are The Same,” an album which I really hated! It’s their “heroin album,” from the sound of it! I fully don’t blame Chrysalis for not releasing it. If I were their product manager, I would have made the same decision! I feel diminished for finally having heard it in the rather lackluster “Silver Box.”
But the wheels came off of their bus commercially with the move from Virgin to Chrysalis. They didn’t have another top 10 album until the last one. “Neon Lights” was a fascinating exercise. Kerr admits he had lost his focus and was flailing, but I think it was exactly the right move for them to make and you are absolutely right. That album, for all of its faults, is the sound of a band trying to move into new territory at a very advanced age. The experimentation paid off in spades for me with “Cry.” I loved the lack of focus! I also loved that it was written with mostly Italo-disco guys and was a solidly pop album instead of more tired, Simple Minds rock! Kerr/Burchill only cowrote two songs on that and god love ’em for it, it’s my favorite Simple Minds album post “Sparkle In The Rain!” And the two songs that Jim and Charlie wrote were also vibrant pop songs instead of stadium rock! The only dog is “Face In the Sun” and Mark Kerr is responsible for that one, though Jim’s awful vocal is his responsibility.
I thought that “Black + White 050505” started off incredibly strong. “Stay Visible” is fantastic and it sports the first compelling bassline in a Simple Minds tune since “Sparkle In The Rain!” After 30 years Derek Forbes is all I listen to when I’m hearing classic Simple Minds!!! Simple Minds is all about the bass for me, and this tune finally hit those marks again, but the energy level saps out by side two as the whole thing grinds to a halt. I loved “Graffiti Soul.” It’s their most consistent album since “Good News From The Next World” though I still give the edge to “Cry” for its more adventurous edge. But don’t think I’m knocking it! “Moscow Underground” is a fantastic return to form with the Krautrock rhythms coming back to the fore. All the more impressive considering that Brian McGee was their go-to man for motorik beats. When Mel Gaynor came onboard he was a very different drummer. It was nice to hear him adapt to that style of playing so successfully. There are no weak tunes in the flow here and good variety in tone and pacing. The bonus disc was a mixed bag, but I will say that they own “Christine” now! I never thought I’d say that about anyone but The Banshees. Their other whack at the John McGeoch songbook was less successful. I liked “Grip,” though. Good fun, that.
I still need Kerr’s solo album. The variety of formats with exclusive music worked against me and to date I’ve bought no versions! What I’ve heard sounds great and from what he writes, it seems like in the last few years he’s really gotten a handle on what made Simple Minds so compelling years back and it seems he’s honestly trying to re-connect with his mojo. The electro sets he toured with solo are more indication that the days of “let me see your hands” may be behind him for good. Bloody hell – this is practically a blogpost! Damn you, Echorich! You’ve baited me on the topic of Simple Minds and I’ve pontificated for 900 words in a comment reply!
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Echorich – The jury is out on The Skids. I never minded Jobson’s voice. Once, after I got the Rhino D.I.Y. UK Pop I CD, for the better part of a week, I listened only to The Skids “Into The Valley” on repeat all day long with no other music playing! I estimate that I heard the song 600-700 times; consecutively. Something in me just snapped. I had to hear only that song. When I was done you’d think I would get some Skids CDs, but to date, that has not happened. I have still only heard The Skids on comps that I have. I am very interested in the Bill Nelson produced album.
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Very happy to read your SM comments…Wasn’t intending to bait you, but I knew you would provide your insight. For me it’s Echo and the Bunnymen – if you start me, I might not be able to reign myself back in. I was listening to Cry earlier today and I agree there is a lot of boundary pushing on the album — New Sunshine Morning sounded great blasting out of my car with the top down coming home from work today! And yes, Face In The Sun sounds like some weak attempt at Bowie, failing miserably…
As for the Skids and Bill Nelson…he definitely added a new dimension to their sound…and can be held accountable for the direction of Jobson’s songwriting on many accounts. But if you pick up the album Days of Europa be careful – Virgin meddled with the album AFTER RELEASE and had some “rock” producer from Canada remix the album for the US market – which they never broke.
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Echorich – Looks like the CD issue [on Captain Oi!] of “Days Of Europa” is the original edition. The cover art as well as the sequencing are of the original LP version, and it contains “Pros And Cons.” Perhaps the Bruce Fairbairn mix has been consigned to the vinyl morgue?
I never really got into Echo + The Bunnymen. The only release I ever bought was the JPN “New Live + Rare” CD for the 12″ mix of “Killing Moon.” I’d heard “Crocodiles” and “Heaven Up Here” but was largely unmoved. This changed once I heard material from “Porcupine” and “Ocean Rain,” but somehow, I never followed through. I do own the “Electrafixion” album and “Never [CD2],” which, helpfully sit right next to my sole Echo + The Bunnymen CD thanks to the miracle of alphabetization. I did see them live on their “Echo + The Bunnymen” tour when they finally hit Boreblando.
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