It’s been a hectic few days with no writing due to the demands of the eight-to-five, but as of yesterday my deliverable was handed off. I was preparing for bed last night and had one last look at the personal device and Gloryoski…my friend Ross hipped me to the fact that Monastic Core Collection band Simple Minds had dropped a new single yesterday and I was unwittingly oblivious to it all. More’s the pity since I had received a forward of his communique direct from simpleminds.com where Ye Olde Monk has been duly registered since at least 2001. Not to mention buying all of the fine releases directly from the SM mothership webstore over the years. Still, can’t complain; mustn’t grumble. Given that The Minds usually let a stately five year span fill the gulf between bouts of album fever we appreciate the tidbits that the band see fit to send our way.
The story behind this one was that the band wanted to write a song that referred to their past due to the “Everything Is Possible” documentary premiering on the BBC. The movie was streaming here in The States earlier this year on Paramount+, a channel we don’t subscribe to, so I’ve yet to see it, though I’m rather keen as one would imagine. So they wanted to call back to the ambience and sound of their early days and turned to Paul Statham of B-Movie/Audiopeach/Dark Flowers fame to write with the band. Mr. Statham had already contributed strongly to Kerr’s excellent “Lostboy A.K.A.” project so let’s hear what we’ve got this time.
The first thing we heard was Charlie Burchill’s chorused guitar but that was followed closely by modest drum machine rhythms with watery, winsome synth over the top of it. Then Jim Kerr sang the first two couplets, a musing on the chase of fame in a delicate upper register. The bass syncopating handily with the drum machine. Then we got a pleasing curveball when Sarah Brown came in like a lioness and took over the rest of the first verse from Kerr. Putting her in the duet seat instead of just BVs.
The music bed fattened up for the second verse and then Charlie’s ringing guitar and the synths harmonized together to bring receive the foundation of the bass guitar in the third verse. The spiky lyrics seemed to comment on the costs that the chase of fame tenders.
Never sentimental, never afraid
– Your Name In Lights
About such devotion and the games that we played
And you never felt cruel, you never saw the wreckage that lies behind you”
As the song arced to its climax, the guitar built up in the mix to fill the traditional Simple Minds cathedral of sound as the thin synths of the beginning were banished in the mix for more resonant synths. So the single began with one foot in the thinner, spikier days of New Wave from whence the band sprang and then transitioned to its present footing with a sound that wouldn’t be out of place on any of their last three albums. Jim Kerr cited their youth “proudly wearing our Kraftwerk and Brian Eno influences on our sleeve.” In this way it wasn’t too far from the conceits that brought the band to finally record their early song “Act Of Love” 40+ years later.
As Statham was intrinsic to the Lostboy album, this has a complementary vibe but with the added frissons that it’s got Charlie Freaking Burchill playing on it [beautifully] which seals it firmly into the Simple Minds camp. Don’t take my word for it. It’s out there in all of the usual places [streaming/DL] though none of my preferential media embeds have it so you’re on your own this time. No buttons. Just be glad we have something to tide us over until the next album and this time it’s a proper Simple Minds single and not just a quickie [though fun] cover like the last Dl single they dropped.
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Post-Punk Monk 
I’m fourteen minutes into watching the documentary and so far, it’s great. Lots of historical context and, best of all, lots of Jim and Charlie, in Glasgow, talking about their history.
It’s available in the UK on BBC iPlayer, so anyone over here with an internet connection can see it.
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hi mr monk,
here are my observations about the documentary (couldn’t find a reference to a DVD release though)…
watched the documentary.
the first hour is a must watch for all simple minds fans. i don’t really care for the
parts where they go into once upon a time, and later albums, but off course thats
part of their history.
especially seeing how they lost their fandom, and popularity, and went from filling
stadiums to starting over, and playing in small clubs, and now starting to get bigger
and playing festivals.
—
there is really no new information, if you know the basic history of simple minds, you
will not learn anything new.
however, the presentation is top notch. and is great to see all the archival footage
and early photos of the band
also hearing the early stories is fantastic, and interesting. yes, the accents are a little
thick, but you can make out what they are saying. (i’ve used AI to create subtitles, and it works 90% of the time).
a lot of personal and family stories about their lives and relationships are also mentioned.
its quite amazing to hear how adventurous they were, and how they travelled so much, and how they grew to be such great musicians. they did go through a lot of personnel changes. but jim and charlie are very constant throughout.
even the latter material which i didn’t care for, was still great to watch and listen to.
i didn’t plan on really paying attention, but from the first minute i was hooked, and
the 90 minutes flew by, with me wanting more, and for it to go on.
i will definitely be watching it again.
—
highly recommend watching for all fans.
and even if you’ve heard all the stories, like dont you forget about me.
there’s a lot of great guess, david gahan of depeche mode, molly ringwald, other musicians, producers, and music journalists too.
little live snippets of their performances are put in throughout the entire documentary.
its one of the better documentaries out there.
4 1/2 out 5 stars.
later
| || | |
n egative 1
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negative1ne – I swear I saw a DVD reference originally on page on the band’s website touting the new single and the BBC premiere…but either I had a misread or it’s been scrubbed by now. And now it’s scrubbed from PPM.
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You can rent it directly on youtube, it’s worth it!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kM6gLfW_ptU
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Stéphane Wantiez – Actually, it’s rentable as VOD pretty much everywhere now. Finally! I just need the time to watch TV!
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I’m with ya Monk on the mix of say Reel to Real Cacophony naïveté/conceit and a journey through the mid 2000s to recent sound. My first impression was that the skeleton of this song may even hail from the 1999 – 2005 era, but you never know. Sarah fits into their sound more and better than ever. Her contribution is pretty integral to shaping the song for me. I love this musical present from SM.
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I zoned out of Simple Minds in the mid eighties. For me ‘79 to ‘82 is their peak. It’s all downhill for me after New Gold Dream. Sparkle In The Rain does have its moments though. I’ve heard very little of their stuff since the mid nineties.
I watched the documentary a little earlier and I really enjoyed it. Good to see many old clips and pics. I guess through time limitations the nineties was totally bypassed. I have to say that Jim and Charlie came across really well. Glad they are still working together.
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AndyB – no argument on their peak but I’m fine with the ‘95 and beyond era which marks a massive uptick to the ‘85-‘91 era for me. I find their last 30 years to be good if not stunning work. That ‘79-‘84 [I was still all in on “Sparkle In The Rain”] was so very stunning I was willing to give them chances. No regrets in the last 30 years… apart from “Our Secrets Are The Same” and “Acoustic!” I have a VPN so I can technically watch the documentary but I still have to register with Auntie Beeb first and not certain how to proceed.
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I’m not sure how to access the iplayer from overseas.
Officially you must have a tv licence but I’m not sure if you can create an account anyway and just tick the box to state that you have one.
Maybe someone else from overseas can advise.
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AndyB – one would think with the plethora of programming the BBC has that a non-resident license payment and profile would be a simple matter of making online payment and Bob’s your uncle. But it’s apparently more complicated than that.
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I love their early albums, but I also like a lot the latest albums – “Black&White 050505” is the album that made me a fan of them in the mid 2000s, I love it so much, and also “Walk Between Worlds” (2018) that is a pure gem for any 80s lover like me. “Silent Kiss” is a proud heir of songs like “I Travel”, and “Walk Between Worlds” is just magnificent 😊
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