We’re back from our little flight of fancy. When we last directed our attention at the Simple Minds X5 boxed set, we were discussing the omissions made in the running time due to any number of reasons: disc running time, licensing issues. We’ve covered the missing debut single under the nom du disque of Johnny + The Self Abusers. Today we’ll move forward to discuss the next period where there are gaps in the record; the period of the group’s crucial fourth single, “I Travel.”

I Travel [7″ edit]

Arista | UK | 7" | 1980 | ARIST 372

“I Travel” is among the most exciting Post-Punk tracks that I can name. Jim Kerr has described how hearing “I Feel Love” by Donna Summer with its groundbreaking Giorgio Moroder production was a revelation for him and his friends. On “I Travel” you can detect faint wisps of that song’s DNA dropped into a much more aggressive host body. The result is ground zero for acid house, which happened nearly a decade later. The best version to my ears is still the original album cut, which is rightfully pervasive. But the original Arista/Zoom 7″ contained an edited version of the track, which is a whole minute shorter. If you want to hear this, you have but a single location where it is available; the original 1980 7″ single. Every compilation and “best of” the band has ever put out uses the LP mix instead.

Celebrate [7″ edit]

Arista | UK | 7" | 1981 | ARIST 394

When Simple Minds signed to Virgin Records, where they should have been all along, really, Arista issued a second single from their magnificent, yet woefully promoted third album. “Celebrate” is a fairly radical 7″ edit in that it excises half the running time of the LP cut! That’s more than enough to make it a curio for your interest, certainly. As with the last song, the original UK 7″ is the only place where this is to be found in the years since its issue. You’ll have to haunt the web to find a copy in 2012, one would imagine. Special thanks to reader Brian Ware for setting me up with a copy of this gem many, many years ago!

Changeling/I Travel [12″ segue mix]

Arista | UK | 12" | 1981 | ARIST 12394

The next m.i.a. rarity is something really unique and obscure, that even I didn’t find out about until I tracked down a copy of the UK “Celebrate” 12″ single some 20+ years after it was issued. The A-side is an extended version of the A-side, which is why I bought it, but when I flipped it over and played the B-side I was treated to “Changeling” and “I Travel” from “Empires + Dance” in a unique segue mix. The two songs appear as a DJ would mix them together on the radio with the fade of “Changeling” being overlaid with the intro to “I Travel.” This is actually what I refer to as a “buried treasure” in my collection. “But Monk,” you say. “Aren’t you splitting hairs?” Yes!! That’s the whole point of being the Post-Punk Monk! How many remixes can dance on the head of a pin? I aim to find out! As before, if you want to hear this, there’s but a single source for it – this original 12″ single.

Love Song 7″ edit

Virgin | UK | 7" | 1981 | VS 434

Simple Minds first single for Virgin was a classic track, bristling with anthemic power of the legitimate sort. Burchill’s guitar is careening into space while the rhythm section and McNeil are locked in tandem for the surging riffs that are the song’s bedrock. As with “I Travel,” the LP cut is the crucial version, but unlike the songs above, the 7″ edit, which shaves a little more than a minute from the five minute song, is utterly ubiquitous. I can’t give you a thumbnail, but I will provide links. The song was their first top ten single…in Australia no less, so OZ comps are well represented.

• V.A. – Touche – K-Tel – OZ – NA 612 1981
• V.A. – Methods Of Dance – Virgin – UK – OVED 5 – 1981
• V.A. – Modern Dance – UK – NE 1156 – 1981
• V.A. – 1982…In The Sun – Festival Records – OZ – GIVE 1982 – 1982
• V.A. – Super Hits – Ronco – UK – RTL 2058-A – 1981
• V.A. – 1981 The Big Ones – CBS – OZ – CSP 214 – 1982
• Simple Minds – Themes For Great Cities – Stiff – US – TEES 102 – 1981
• Simple Minds – Urban Sampler – Stiff – US Promo – SM 1 – 1981

Next: Gonna make you sweat…