It’s been released ever since February 2, 2018. It’s been in house for almost six weeks, since I had to wait for the pre-order to arrive from abroad. If I were capable of extending the massive Simple Minds Rock G.P.A. from a few years back, this would see them hitting a 4.0 for the first time on a studio album since 1983. but I can’t to do that. You see, Simple Minds have released two albums following their 3.5 rated “Big Music” opus of 2014. An album of acoustic covers of their formerly electric material and an acoustic live album from their acoustic tour. These, I will never own, much less hear, so we can’t extend the Rock G.P.A. It’s kind of sad, since this album represents modern triumph for the band, but there we are. They forced my hand with that acoustic nonsense.

Simple Minds: Walk Between Worlds UK CDX [2018]

1. Magic
2. Summer
3. Utopia
4. The Signal And The Noise
5. In Dreams
6. Barrowland Star
7. Walk Between Worlds
8. Sense Of Discovery
9. Silent Kiss
10. Angel Underneath My Skin
11. Dirty Old Town (Live)

When we first discussed the “Magic” pre-release single there were some who thought that the track trafficked a bit too much in modern pop music tropes. I was prepared for something as ghastly as much of the EDM-influenced material on the last Duran Duran album. Fortunately, the 3:23 edit of the song for single release that was issued in advance of the album was better than that by quite a margin. Yes, it was thoroughly produced music in the modern Digital Audio Workstation [i.e. Pro Tools] style, and the first verse was a bit shaky for my tastes, but once the chorus kicked in, the tune was bright, shiny pop from our potentially turgid stadium hacks. The specter of another “Once Upon A Time,” or worse… “Street Fighting Years,” can always exist as a horrifying possibility for this band. As if the last acoustic studio album didn’t already make that possibility painfully apparent.

I had to say that I found it was calling back to the pop-informed “Cry” album of 2002, which had been a big favorite of mine on its release. For me, this will always eclipse the band striving for “sincere” yet bloated stadium rock. A friend of mine likened the 7″ edit to a Katy Perry single. If that’s what Katy Perry is about, then I won’t worry about her all that much. Modern cyberpop can be far more soulless and this was a solidly good track. I liked it better than the opener to “Cry,” its title track. And Katy Perry often has Johnson Somerset mixing her singles. If she’s got that much taste, then she’s probably all right compared to other tween-aimed divas who don’t choose a Bryan Ferry/Peter Godwin sideman to embellish their remixes.

And that was just the single mix. The album version delivered another minute of music rife with atmospheric Charlie Burchill guitar that swirled and eddied like clouds in fast forward motion. Basically, much of the “Simple Minds” essence that had been excised from the song to get down to single length! With Burchill back in the spotlight, the tune rose a few notches higher in my esteem to become genuinely good and not just “good…for 2018 pop music.”

Next they started really laying some Simple Minds rubber down with the early fan favorite “Summer.” It’s probably only down to the fact that it was released in February that has thus far prevented this song from getting the nod as the next single. It immediately grabs your ears with the lurching tarpit bass line, courtesy of Ged Grimes. Of course, the fact that Simple Minds were constructing a song around a bass hook shows that they were once again operating at peak efficiency! I also liked the male backing vocals the first made their presence known on this track. Best of all Kerr sang this one with a dark swagger that had some bite to it. The weird gunshot ricochet-sounding loops of heavily layered sound marked the approach here. When I first heard the samples, it seemed to be a muddy sound. Far from their usual “Bob Clearmountain” aesthetic. Now that I was listening to the album, it made more sense in context. “Summer,” like all of the songs here, was a densely layered package of many sonics laminated together into a whole. It gave the proceedings a shoegaze-like patina while staying firmly in rock territory.

When he next song began, the extremely subtle cymbal hits were actually the furthest thing from the stererotypical booming Mel Gaynor, Bonham-influenced drum sound imaginable. The net effect was to suck me into the track so deeply, that I’ve yet to climb out of it! Then Burchill’s guitar began contributing swirling harmonics like nothing else in the Simple Minds canon. I’ve come to recognize the new arrow in Burchill’s quiver as a dip into the Robin Guthrie toolkit, as he had embraced an impressionistic, shoegaze sound on this album. Never more strongly than on the shimmering soundscapes of “Utopia.”

This song was incredible! Who says you can’t teach old dogs new tricks… even 40 years into the game! The dreamlike vibe here was the sound of a hazy afternoon sun shimmering in the remnants of an afternoon rain shower. With all of nature glistening in the fading light of the afternoon. Every time I listen to this song, and I’ve listened to it a lot, I can’t believe something this subtle and atmospheric is once again coming from the pen of Simple Minds. I’d have to retreat back to “New Gold Dream [81, 82, 83, 84]” to hear another song remotely like this, but this was no self-pastiche. First of all, as beautiful as the music bed was, it was more than matched by Kerr’s subtle vocals; at times as if he’s whispering in the listener’s ear. Sounding all the while in his phrasing more like Ian McCulloch of Echo + The Bunnymen than even himself. This stunning number has currently pulled to the head of the pack to become my favorite song on the incredibly strong album, but the field was very competitive as we shall see next.

Next: …Return To Trance