EXTC are from L-R: Steve Hampton, Terry Chambers, Terry Lines
I’ve been known to be a hardliner on the dreaded scourge of “tribute acts.” I’ve grown used to seeing the bulk of club and venue dates in my hometown become overrun by these tribute acts to the point where it feels some months like there are no active or new bands to play to gigs of songs they may have written! It actually makes my blood boil on a weekly basis. But there is a third way possible. Of late, acts that have a core member of a band with new recruits playing their old material are happening. Blurring the lines.
Peter Hook + The Light was one that I’ve had friends tell me that I need to see [memo to self: June 3rd in Asheville they are playing the Orange Peel]. Having actually seen the perfunctory event that was the original New Order on their “Technique” tour back in the day, I could not wrap my head around the notion of Peter Hook alone [in spite of his legendary bass …uh, technique] fronting something better, but that’s what I’ve beard from close, personal friends. Now another potential Monk-bait event is happening under similar conditions.
I’d heard that Terry Chambers, the original drummer of XTC had formed a band to play XTC material like it had not happened since 1982, when Andy Partridge had famously gone off playing live…forever. Partridge gave his blessings to Chambers and even named the band, so there’s that. I do know that there’s a vast untapped 35 year span of no XTC live performance by the band’s fans who would undoubtedly enjoy an evening of XTC songs with at least one of the original players onstage.
The bigger question was: would I care. I will be frank. While there remains a vast amount of XTC in the Record Cell to this day, I’ve not really had the urge to play it much in the last 25 or so years. I’ve got the album of theirs I’ve always disliked [“Nonsuch,” since you ask] on my huge cull pile currently. But the experience of reading two XTC books on the band, one of them official, put across the notion that Andy Partridge really acted like a spoiled child in his dominance of XTC. After reading the books I felt really bad for the behavior that the rest of the band had to grit their teeth and put up with to soldier through to the extent that they did. This had soured me on XTC in general, and the group, in spite of my ardor from 1980-2000, fell off my radar.
But Terry Chambers playing a gig in my town where I could attend without expenses? And my huge sticking point with the band, Andy Partridge himself, would be completely out of the picture. So last weekend, I called my old friend The RABH and told him that he could see a show full of XTC songs with original drummer Terry Chambers playing in Asheville. He and his spouse [who I’ve known almost as long] are coming over for the event and we are looking to have an enjoyable evening. Hopefully the show won’t be mixed aggressively loud. But how do ExTC sound?
MAKING PLANS FOR NIGEL
TOWERS OF LONDON
Well they sound like XTC…with different [but well competent] vocals. It should be probably more fun that I am expecting. As I’m late to the party, their US tour has been well-traveled already, but plenty more dates remain should you wish to pay their stage a visit. It’s nice to see an old-school tour with plenty of coverage even in adjacent markets! As if Ian Copeland himself was booking the tour! This band are definitely working hard. Tonight is Tampa’s turn.
EXTC US TOUR 2025
May 22 | New World Brewery | Tampa, FL
May 23 | Conduit | Orlando, FL
May 24 | The Wormhole | Savannah, GA
May 25 | The Radio Room | Greenville, SC
May 27 | The Grey Eagle Music Hall | Asheville, NC
May 28 | Snug Harbo | Charlotte, NC
May 29 | Super Rad Arcade Bar | Lynchburg, VA
May 30 | Lincoln Theater | Raleigh, NC
June 1 | The Richmond Music Hall | Richmond, VA
June 2 | Jammin Java | Vienna, VA
June 3 | The Room at Cedar Grove | Lewes, DE
June 4 | Elkton Music Hall | Elkton, MD
June 6 | The Caz | Buffalo, NY
June 7 | Horseshoe Tavern | Toronto, ON
June 8 | The Rainbow Room | Ottawa, ON
June 10 | Showcase Lounge at the Higher Ground | Burlington, VT
June 11 | Daryl’s House | Pawling, NY
June 12 | The (Le) Poisson Rouge | New York, NY
June 13 | Randy Now’s Man Cave | Hightstown, NJ
June 14 | Vinegar Hill Music Theatre | Arundel, ME
June 15 | Tupelo Music Hall | Derry, NH
We’ll be seeing the show on Tuesday evening and of course we’ll report back with our findings! Join us next week for those [crosses fingers].
Henry Badowski Made one album then disappeared…but it was a goodone!
This is just ludicrous. I can recall seeing the viddy for “My Face” in some pre-MTV situation and thinking to myself, “this sounds good, I should get that album!” The album in question was called “Life Is A Grand” by Henry Badowski, and adding insult to injury, I.R.S. Records was retailing it in 1981 at a low $5.98 list price. Which means that I probably would have paid $3.99 at Record Mart Warehouse; my primary record store of the time. The single was pure New Wave goodness. But in 1981 the music was peaking for my ears.
Every band I was into seemed to be putting out their best ever music then. And there was so much of it! It felt like a limitless pipeline of music excellence from Monastic faves like Ultravox, OMD, John Foxx, and Gary Numan. There was so much out there bursting into my receptive eardrums that I wanted that I quickly lost the plot on Henry Badowski. Within a year, I can’t recall seeing this album in the bins any more. And I don’t think I saw a used copy, ever.
I finally got the “My Face” single in the 90s and it made it to “mix tape classic” status with me, but never found the LP. It was some time in the 21st century that I resolved to finally buy the LP and make my own CD-R since no label seemed to be interested in reissuing this one. But the copies for sale online were pricey and usually in foreign countries. With the commensurately high postal costs on top of the vintage wax tax.
As of last March, I could strike that and the other singles from my endless want list since Caroline True Records have done us a favor by remastering “Life Is A Grand” and reissuing it on just 300 LPs and CDs each. I’m thrilled that they deigned to sully their hands with the hipster kryptonite CD format but they did and I have a copy now in the Record Cell. Let’s discuss!
Caroline True Records | UK | CD | 2025 | CTRUE33CD
Henry Badowski: Life Is A Grand – UK – CD [2025]
My Face 03:22
Henry’s In Love 03:07
Swimming With The Fish In The Sea 04:44
The Inside Out 03:02
Life Is A Grand 03:44
Silver Trees 03:35
This Was Meant To Be 03:50
Anywhere Else 03:55
Baby Sign Here With Me 03:49
Rampant 04:08
Making Love With My Wife (7″ Single Version) 02:38
Making Love With My Wife (Machines Compilation Version) 03:02
Four More Seasons (My Face 7″ B Side) 04:35
Lamb To The Slaughter (Henry’s In Love 7″ B Side) 03:26
King-Baby Sign Here With Me (1978 John Peel Session Version) 04:10
The song faded in with bass throb, motorik drumming, and some deliciously out of fashion la-la-las from the artist. The synth chords could have been electric organ in an earlier time. Then guitar descending chords and a drum fill shunted us into the earworm chorus as Henry exclaimed “could you believe I take me seriously.” “My Face” was a single in 1980 in advance of the album itself. It was strongly redolent of an early Eno Pop attempt; albeit with a more straightforward lyric. The sax playing here by Mr. Badowski was also rather Bowie-esque in its basic simplicity.
The song simply oozed low-fi charm in ways that the 1980 Pop market was ready to abandon. By 1981, when the album itself was released, the vibe was steely and glinting as the New Romantic trend was at peak frenzy. In contract, this song pointed more towards the ’78-’80 New Wave vibe. The warm production was made in a simple eight-track studio and I can’t imagine this song under the aegis of, let’s say, Trevor Horn!
“Henry’s In Love” was possibly even more Eno-esque! The simple rhythm box driven music bed abetting Badowski’s drily clinical self-examination of the lyric was touched with bass guitar from James Stevenson and Henry’s own winsome synths. Yes, it was Eno-inspired, but also sat on a shelf with early China Crisis like “African + White.” But China Crisis leaned on oboe instead of the sax here. Henry added lots of percussive detail to “Swimming With The Fish In The Sea” as the slow tempo rhythm box and swooping synths evoked the undersea world. When jangly guitar appeared in the song’s climax it was as if the tune’s entire world had changed.
The Eno references come fast and furious with “The Inside Out,” which prefigures the vibe of Eno/Cale’s “Crime In The Desert” which was a decade down the road from this album, so the knife cuts both ways! I think that the two artists probably share many sensibilities. That Eno has become a justifed elder statesman of Pop theory and Art Rock while Henry Badowski is finally getting his one album reissued 44 years later [in a combined edition of 600!] is probably down to marketing and providence. The sublime New Wave Bop that was this song was simply unbeatable. Miles Copeland told co-producer Wally Brill to mix the album like a late 60s early stereo record with the guitar in one channel while other instruments occupied the right channel. It gave the tracks like this one a vivid, bracing quality.
The amazing title track was probably the richest sounding mix here as the hard-panned minimalism of much of that had come before was abandoned for the jaunty instrumental. The swaggering sax work from Badowski give this song the whiff of a great track left off of Andy MacKay’s “In Search Of Eddie Riff!” Great, lyrical guitar from Mr. Stevenson fill in admirably for any singing not present here.
The glorious “Silver Trees” was simply the best track not on “Taking Tiger Mountain [By Strategy]” with its chugging rhythm box and gentle washes of synths. Henry’s droll and dry vocalizing was contrasted by the warm jet guitar from Stevenson. I particularly enjoyed the synth chirping like a cricket tucked away in here.
I can believe that the album was made completely with monosynths when listening to a track like “This Was Meant To Be,” which was a German single. The ascending synth figure hook repeated throughout the song was a delight to the ear. The metronomic pulse gating gave the track a kinetic sparkle and the sax kept it all from being too pixilated.
The pulsating, lurching vibe of “Anywhere Else” featured an undercurrent of unease largely foreign to the album as it began to approach its end. The typically dispassionate vocals of Badowski started to recall Donovan by this point in the program but Donovan would never end a song so coldly as the strangulated example here.
The other song from this album I had been familiar with from college radio play, back in the day was the cheerful “Baby, Sign Here With Me.” Using industry clichés to reframe a love song. The pulse gated synth wheezing against the bombastic drum fills were certainly a shocker in the context of this album. The octave swooping delivery of the “Baaaaaaa–by” hook each chorus began with tended to stick like napalm. I had vivid memories of this song for the 44 years in which I had not heard it! The synth solo in the middle eight was decidedly cheerful and redolent of a calliope. Yet the song’s complex fade was not unlike a “For Your Pleasure” deep cut. Intriguing!
Another excellent instrumental closed out the album with the pensive “Rampant.” The tempo here was slow and featured descending piano glissandos and the bass line of…”Rikki Don’t Lose That Number.” Which was already borrowed to begin from Horace Silver! The lazy end of album vibe was all about the piano here as it all circled around onto itself until the fadeout.
The single version of “Making Love With My Wife” followed on from the original LP as the CD bonus track. The honking sax solo [doubled by Badowski] injected some wide-eyed excitement into the chocolate box poise of it all. It’s the kind of song that Wes Anderson might have recorded had he been a musician instead of a director.
The downloads that accompanied the CD and LP purchase on Bandcamp had four more bonus tracks to flesh out the Badowski story. Next the alternate mix from the Virgin 1980 compilation LP “Machines.” It featured Alexsander Kolkowski’s Old World violin intro before being quickly distanced by the organ drone and cha-cha rhythm box. The EQ on this mix was flat and murkier with Henry’s voice buried in the mix.
Nothing we had heard thus far prepared us for the non-LP B-side of “My Face!” “Four More Seasons” was an instrumental built upon only three elements: a harmonica lead, chord support from an accordion, and a synth set to a random bird chirp patch! I’m venturing a guess that it’s a play on Vivaldi’s greatest hits but I can’t recognize any of the familiar melodies buried in the cheerful wheezing mess.
“Lamb To The Slaughter” from the B-side to “Henry’s In Love” was more in line with the values of the Album. Then finally the 1978 Peel session version of “Baby, Sign Here With Me” showed that it had been all planned and ready for some time. The version here was far more Rock-oriented and dynamic than the purposefully flat and droll album vibe.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
I’ve really enjoyed having this album around for the last week. I’m shamed that I didn’t spring for the 1981 LP like I was contemplating that year. I should have had this one in my Record Cell all along. I’m happy that the album finally made CD though a few telltale clicks and pops [particularly in the Machines version of “Making Love With My Wife”] jump out without the need for critical headphone analysis. I’ve not heard any obvious artifacts in the album cuts. They may have been mastered from a tape but even if not, the album was recorded in a cheap eight track studio [Pathway] and this was never intended to be a Trevor Horn Production.
It’s a cheerfully idiosyncratic album that I’m delighted is once available to buy and hear no matter its provenance. Had it not happened, I would have had to obtain a copy of the 1981 LP at approximately $50.00 in cost [to say nothing of the 7” bonus tracks – probably another $50 there counting postage] and invest about 20 hours to make a CD but twenty five dollars later [including postage] and I’m set for the rest of my days to groove to the playful sounds that Henry Badowski committed to album when I was just a lad. If that sounds good to you too, the CD is down to 40 copies left and I don’t think that the LP is too far behind. DJ hit that button!
Federica Garenna and Frank Marrelli are the core of Les Longs Adieux,
We just got notice last Saturday that the Roman Post-Punk-slash-Darkwave band Les Longs Adieux had covered Lou Reed’s classic bittersweet ballad, “Perfect Day” and there was a video for it. I wondered if this was an upcoming Bandcamp release but the band say that this is likely a B-side for an upcoming single. Just released for us to enjoy right now. They are working on the follow up to their sterling album of last year, “Vertigo.” That one was my third favorite album of 2024 so I’m quite eager to hear where they are going next. Particularly with bass player Johnny Rainbow joining Federica Garenna and Frank Marrelli in its recording. I love it when Post-Punk duos expand their horizons!
The synths of the intro were delayed to give them the feel of an accordion as the white noise synths blew in to add some frost to the wintry, pizzicato vibe of the song. With her low, powerful delivery, Federica began singing the song to suggest a glimpse of what “Perfect Day” might have sounded with Nico singing, instead of Lou Reed!
As she moved to the chorus, Federica doubled her vocals with her backing vocals coming in an octave higher from her primary voice for the kind of split octave complexity that we love so much. Then on the second chorus she really leaned into the song to project it magnificently as the synths crashed dramatically, like waves on rocks.
Then she delivered the ambiguous emotional payload of the song’s “you’re going to reap just what you sow” climax that gives this song amazing staying power. It’s why there will be no shortage of artists wanting to perform this song from now until doomsday. And also why we can treasure many different versions of it, including this fine one. Lou Reed gave us all a gift when he wrote it, and now Les Longs Adieux have returned the favor with their moving cover version.
We were in the middle of a thread last week when we got wind of the new single from one man musical gene splicer Chopper Franklin, so we’re directing our attention there today! I actually bought it immediately, based on the high satisfaction values with the last two Chopper Franklin albums of last year. But with my thrill-a-minute lifestyle [road paving, shopping, and a concert attended yet ultimately abandoned] last weekend, It fell to this morning in the hasty minutes before hitting the gym before I finally put the song on my personal device for listening.
“The Hexed Dub” is the lead off track from the upcoming “Darkness In Hymn And Dub Vol. 1” EP that will stand as a sequel to last year’s “Spaghetti Western Dub Vol. 1.” Right now Chopper’s band, The Heathen Apostles, are preparing for a long European sojourn this summer, so we’re told to look for that EP in the fall break before they head back to the UK for a pair of gigs to coincide with All Hallows Eve. It’s kind of Chopper to set this one free as a taster to tide us over until then!
The drums that kicked off this cut had the rim hits soaked in Dub while the bass pulled us under the surface of the song. A minor key piano rondo created a vortex of fatalistic energy. A portent of things to come. Then the Dark Siren herself, Mather Louth, began to weave her deadly spell with her backing vocals. Setting up Chopper, who plays the pawn in this game of woe.
He roared the song aloud like a man who knows that any aces he may have held were in games played in towns long abandoned and that the future at his door now holds only bleakness. Each line of lyric was laced with distortion and Dub. Slashing skanks of rhythm guitar offset the fiery but distant leads. Once Ms. Louth returned for lead vocals in the two final verses in the climax, Franklin’s low sustained guitar howled like a feral cat as minor key marimba teased us with its dark hints of Jazz.
It’s sophisticated in different ways to the Dub album of last year showing that Mr. Franklin has plenty of creative gas left in his tank for exploring the ways in which Dub can enhance his normal idiom of Gothic Americana in new and valuable ways. Meanwhile, if you’re reading this in Europe or the UK, why not make the effort to see The Heathen Apostles as they export some of America’s finest music to an audience that certainly values it.
THE HEATHEN APOSTLES | SUMMER EUROTOUR 2025
June 05 | Teatro Munganga | Amsterdam, Netherlands
June 06 | L’ Entrepot | Arlon, Luxembourg
June 07 | Roots in the Jar Fest | Aalter, Belgium
June 10 | Cactus Cafe | Hengelo, Netherlands
June 11 | Kulturfabrik Krefeld e. V. | Krefeld, Germany
June 12 | MS Stubnitz | Hamburg, Germany
June 13 | Can’t Live in a Living Room | Haacht, Belgium
June 14 | Cafe Pallieter | Herselt, Belgium
June 16 | La Mecanique Ondulatoire | Paris, France
June 18 | Kinett Kusel | Kusel, Germany
June 19 | 7er-Club | Mannheim, Germany
June 20 | Wild at Heart | Berlin, Germany
July 11 | The Treehouse | Frome, UK
July 12 | The Rustic Stomp 2025 | Poole, UK
July15 | The Joiners Arms | Southampton, UK
July 16 | Face Bar | Reading, UK
July 18 | The Piper | Saint Leonards, UK
July 23 | Prince Albert | Brighton, UK
July 24 | The Anchor Inn | Wingham, UK
July 26 | Altitude Festival 2025 | Blackborough, UK
July 29 | Hot Box Live | Chelmsford, UK
July 30 | 100 Club | London, UK
Aug. 02 | Wickham Festival 2025 | Wickham, UK
Aug. 05 | Hare & Hounds | Birmingham, UK
Aug. 06 | Sidney & Matilda | Sheffield, UK
Aug. 07 | Castle Hotel | Manchester, UK
Aug. 09 | Rebellion Festival 2025 | Trellech United, UK
Oct. 29 | The Voodoo Rooms | Edinburgh, UK
Oct. 31 | Tomorrow’s Ghosts Festival | Pickering, UK
The DL single is yours for a single, paltry US dollar and the EP it’s from won’t be here for a few months, so you might want to buy now and tide yourself over until then for a low price of entry. Not forgetting Bandcamp allow us to top up freely! DJ hit that button!
Is this the stage at Amsterdam’s Ziggo Dome? The booklet does not say exactly, but in any event, this is too large a venue for my taste.
Following the never ending rendition of “Belfast Child,” the set list began its sprint towards the inevitable. Their three biggest selling singles would inevitably manifest, but they were shot through with some more thrills from the band’s quiver of classics. I always think that “Someone, Somewhere, In Summertime” should begin with the classic Charlie Burchill solo riff on that fat delay, but no one asked me. After that song the playlist of the actual concert and this CD begin to differ. The CD has these performances from the Amsterdam show:
See The Lights
Book Of Brilliant Things
Don’t You [Forget About Me]
Alive And Kicking
Sanctify Yourself
But the actual concert setlist that followed “Summertime” was as follows:
Don’t You [Forget About Me]
Encore
Book Of Brilliant Things
See The Lights
Alive + Kicking
Sanctify Yourself
That’s why when Jim Kerr kicks off “See The Lights” here he growls “please let us play some morrrrrre…!” In any case, moving “See The Lights” doesn’t do any damage to the song arc. And this song always gives me pleasure. For an Art Rock band who slummed in Pop for a long, decade, this song still stands to me as evidence of their ability to meet Pop head on for once and walk away with their head up. Though this song has a gentle vibe, Burchill’s solo explores the tune’s bittersweet sentiments in an admirably fiery fashion. Kerr only looses the third [and final] “let me see your hands” from the entire concert following it. I like the extended coda it ended with here.
Simple Minds 2024 L-R: Charlie Burchill, Cherisse Osei, Erik Ljunggren, Gordon Goudy, Jim Kerr, Ged Grimes, Sarah Brown
The band performed the 1985 arrangement of “Book Of Brilliant Things” with Sarah Brown taking the lead vocal here. Remember, this was originally the first Encore song, so Jim Kerr was getting another 6:30 to chill out! The last time I saw the band in 2018, Ms. Brown sang the first encore song as well, so this seems to be well established, and fortunately for us, Sarah can sing the song [any song] to the rafters. Some fans might balk, but I appreciate the new spin Sarah gives on taking the lead. After as many years as she’s spent in service to Simple Minds, she deserves the lead mic for a bit.
Then the “Big Three” close out the show. There’s not much I can add here, save for thanks that Kerr made the choice to take the climax of “Don’t You [Forget About Me]” down to the level of a whisper before tearing into the climax; all within the space of four bars. No coy stringing the audience along for the better part of a minute. Milking the cow until it gave powder. Proof that this band are older and wiser! I can remember this song getting padded to ridiculous levels in the 80s.
Then the CD thoughtfully provided six more song [only on the CD] to flesh out the program with tracks not played at the Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam on April 6th of last year. The “Live In The City Of Angels” deluxe CD of 2019 featured two discs of bonus material that accounted for every song that went into that 2018 tour’s setlists. “Live In the City of Diamonds” doesn’t go that far, but it does address what would have been a head-scratcher for me had I been in Amsterdam and caught Simple Minds at the Ziggo Dome that night on the “Direction Of The Heart” tour. Namely, the fact that no songs from that album figured in the Amsterdam set list! Now that I consider it, I think that might just be a failure of some kind. I know that I would have felt ripped off. I treasured material from the “Cry” and “Walk Between Worlds” shows on those respective tours. Particularly since they seem to not manifest in subsequent tours as performance options.
“Vision Thing” had a taut chugging energy that served it well. Giving Sarah Brown another chance to duet with Kerr to their benefit. “The American” never failed to add triumphant power to any Simple Minds set. I liked how Kerr altered the stresses of his phrasing in the show to play with the beats and move them resultant songs in slightly different directions. That chant still sends me after over 40 years of hearing it. I think that the live arrangement of “Solstice Kiss” here managed to make a good thing even better by trimming the song’s intro of its Celtic aspirations. Its only failing on disc for my ears. Here it was all pleasure as the shimmering, anthemic power of the song was underscored by Burchill’s rondo riff and the rousing vocals of Kerr and Brown.
Next an all time Minds fave-rave of mine figured in the program. “Premonition” will always be their first classic to these ears and it never fails to excite in the 44 years I’ve been listening to it. Charlie’s guitar played off the tension of that monolithic bass line with shards of light shooting from the song at oblique angles. Here was one instance where Gord Goudy got his backing vocals in the spotlight as he carried the call and response with Kerr in the song’s climax. The abrupt grinding halt of the song’s ending was a new one for these ears. New and appropriate.
Finally, two more songs from “New Gold Dream [81, 82, 83, 84]” were added here in a move that surprised, considering that the last Simple Minds album [and it was also a live one] was that full album recorded live for a TV concert! Personally, I would have preferred some other material getting the love. “Hunter + the Hunted” is in danger of getting played out. Fortunately, it’s so damned beautiful that it managed to finesse a pass from me! Kerr was really biting into the lyric here and maybe that was why the more polite version from Paisley Abbey might have needed the supplementing here. Another nice factor about Kerr’s singing here is that he’s certainly moved on from the period where he emphasized certain syllables in his phrasing in a more heavily affected way. It’s refreshing not to hear the lyric as “the side effect of living in tempta-SHAWWWWWN!“
And if we must have a sixth track from “New Gold Dream [81, 82, 83, 84],” better that it’s the dazzling “Colours Fly + Catherine Wheel,” which is second only to the title track on my list of favorites. Kerr was singing fantastically here and getting superb support from Sarah Brown. Their interplay is getting more and more integrated over time and I have to say that I heartily approve. She’s not just a factory option bolted onto the band. And I also loved how the song dropped to let Ms. Ossei’s hard beats take front and center until the synth began its ascent from the basement of the song to end the middle eight.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
I have to admit. It was audacious for the band to program the set in the manner by which they did this “Live In The City Of Diamonds.” Opening with a mini “5×5” set right up front was kind of astonishing. For these ears, they ran the risk of peaking early as I have little interest in hearing the “Big Three” that I know will close the set. So the drama and hooks are in what comes before. But the difference between these renditions of the early classics, and what made it to the “5×5 Live” album was that here Sarah Brown was able to add her voice to the mix and I have to say that she elevates everything she touches.
I understand why the only tour she had not participated in since joining the band was the “5×5” tour. Given that those songs were originally bereft of any backing vocals and “purists” may have raised a ruckus. But after hearing the evidence here, I’ll suggest that they were playing it too safely by not letting Ms. Brown add her voice to the results. Their power was only enhanced by her accompaniment.
So while the “5×5 Live” album will always be my favorite Simple Minds live album, “Live In The City Of Diamonds” is my second choice for an official Simple Minds live album. The bonus material on “Live In The City of Angels” was often transformative, but the main Los Angeles concert lacked the excitement of this set. Even with the big damper of “Belfast Child” figuring in the mix.
If one wants to hear a Simple Minds concert that hits across all of their eras in a strong fashion, this set can’t be topped. The set choices [save for one] are well considered, though I would have reversed the play order of “Let There Be Love” and “She’s A River” due to the stylistic and vibe gulf separating “Let There be Love” and the preceding “This Fear Of Gods.” But that’s why we have the ability to program playlists and CD players. We can correct this oversight. And furthermore, swap “Belfast Child” for the two songs from “Direction Of Tthe Heart!”
They have completed their live album “trilogy” and it exits of a fairly high note. The series began in 1987 in the doldrums for these ears. I know that many swear by “Live In The City Of Light,” but I am not among those fans. For me it’s a painful reminder of the set I saw live the year prior. It represents the band at what I consider their near-nadir. Surpassed only by the horrorshow that was the “Verona” concert. I think that now Simple Minds can finally give the live albums a rest from here on out.
Unless they finally hit the live archives from ’79-’84” and give us a box with the early lineup. I can imagine a “5×5: Mk I” that would take residence in my CD player and possibly never leave!
After the most perfect opening salvo to a Simple Minds live album ever, Where can anyone go but down? If Kerr’s “let me see your hands” in the song least likely to host such shenanigans was a gaffe, possibly the second lapse, if it must be said, was in playing “Let There Be Love” following pitiless edifice of “This Fear Of Gods!” The tonal shift between those two songs was just too wide a gulf for even this band to negotiate! The two songs were the work of virtually two different bands!
When I heard that pennywhistle sample and SHUFFLE beat [courtesy of 1990] follow what felt like the end of the world, I thought to myself, “why didn’t they play ‘She’s A River’ next instead?” At least that song, while Blues based, featured an intensity that could come down effectively from the high water mark of tension that “This Fear Of Gods” represented. Only to have exactly that song follow next in the set!! So close…!!!!
Next, the high-water mark of the band’s commercial pivot with “Once Upon A Time” manifested with the title track to that album. Time has been very kind to the song that I was unfairly dismissive to on release, and this performance got extra help from singer Sarah Brown, who modulated the traditional melisma that the expression vocal had in the intro down to almost stacatto levels to really make over the familiar song in her own image! Jim Kerr was also adding variation to his attack and timing that served to keep the material fresh after what’s almost [rolls eyes] forty years. It was also great to hear Sarah taking the lead on the chorus with Kerr moving to backing vocals. It’s great to know that this band are not content to coast through things after two generations of playing this material. The cold ending on Kerr getting in the last “time!’ was pretty sharp.
The always stellar “New Gold Dream [81, 82, 83, 84]” was afforded some fascinating new approaches as well. Driven by the muscular bass of Ged Grimes and the propulsive rhythms of Cherisse Osei, The first new wrinkle was with Ms. Brown echoing Kerr’s lead vocal in the chorus; expanding the horizon of the song even wider. Vamping between Kerr and backing vocalists Sarah Brown and Gordon Goudy at the song’s midpoint gave Charlie Burchill a strong foundation for his questing solos on guitar to take off. Leading into a new coda where Ms. Osei created a fascinating dialogue with Burchill’s guitar with new tribal rhythms she was introducing. But wait! As the song was in ebb she revisited her drum solo, now without any other accompaniment for an expanded solo in the coda. Had I ever heard a drum solo, in the classic sense of the word, in a Simple Minds song before? Well, there’s always a first time!
“Cherisse Osei!!!” That’s what she calls girl powerrrrrrrr!”
Jim Kerr
Next came the always dazzling “Promised You A Miracle.” Given that her drum solo just concluded had rhythmic stresses that weren’t a million miles away from the intro to the US 12″ mix of “Promised You A Miracle,” I think the band might have missed a chance to create something amazing via a seamless segue into “Miracle.”
After such high water marks, I guess it was time to pay the piper. Low synth drone and scant cymbal work and Burchill’s extra bluesy guitar signaled that the nearly non-stop party that was this album was coming down for a crash. Then that sampled pennywhistle returned to vex me sorely as what was “Belfast Child,” my least favorite Simple Minds song, showed up like a unwanted house guest who would not leave. When Kerr finally entered the song, which had unfurled at a snail’s pace thus far, it was at the two minute lark. And he drew out each syllable as the synths were barely there to provide accompaniment. Until Goudy’s acoustic guitar showed up to twist the knife.
Then Kerr stopped singing at the 5:09 mark, saying “thank you,” and the crowd roared in response; but it was a falserespite! After a beat, Ms. Osei’s drum pattern began with jabs of a Hammond organ patch as the song really got underway. For another five, increasingly bombastic minutes of torture to my ears. Then at 9:22 in, Kerr said “thank you” one more time…followed by a half minute of applause…before he started singing the chorus onemoreagonizing time.
I’ve always disliked this song tremendously. It had nothing to do with any quality I ever liked about Simple Minds and was instead drawn from musical traditions which I have rejected since I was a lad. I’m not kidding when I say that this was the most interminable and infuriating version of “Belfast Child” I had ever heard. At almost eleven minutes in length it constitutes torture to my ears. After that second false ending it never fails to drive me into apoplexy.
The one time I’ve heard it performed live in person, was in 2002, where it was a slight, well under three minute version slipped into the Floating World Tour set so gingerly, as a brief introduction to a curiously placed “Waterfront” in the penultimate slot in that set list, that it failed to draw any blood. Looking back now it seems highly miraculous that I was spared that once time, and for that I’m properly thankful. Fortunately, the placement of it at the end of disc one makes for a perfect moment to end the disc early and move on to the rest of the fine program. Having duly reviewed my impressions today, I vow to never hear it ever again, in any form.
BMG | Simple Minds | Live In The City Of Diamonds | 2xCD | 964141672
Simple Minds: Live In The City Of Diamonds – Worldwide – 2xCD [2025]
CD1
Waterfront
Love Song
Sons And Fascination
Sweat In Bullet
This Fear Of Gods
Let There Be Love
She’s A River
Once Upon A Time
Glittering Prize
New Gold Dream
Promised You A Miracle
Belfast Child
CD2
Someone Somewhere (In Summertime)
See The Lights
Book Of Brilliant Things
Don’t You (Forget About Me)
Alive And Kicking
Sanctify Yourself
Vision Thing
The American
Solstice Kiss
Premonition
Hunter And The Hunted
Colours Fly And Catherine Wheel
We put this on the want list when it was announced earlier this year and we made sure to pre-order so that it was posted off to The States where I live by April 24th. While I saw the 2xLP in a store I visited the day after that, it will probably be a while before I run into the double CD in a record store. It arrived last week and I’ve been living with “Simple Minds: Live In The City of Diamonds” for over a week now and I’ve got to say that it’s far more impressive than the nth live album [counting downloads] that Simple Minds have managed to release in a 46 year career that shows no signs of stopping has any right to be.
When I unwrapped it and popped it in the car for the stately commute to work, I purposely didn’t look at the song order on the back of it; preferring to let it work its magic without any expectations. I remembered only that it was a fairly impressive set list from the earlier post, but the details weren’t engraved in my leaky cranium. The opening track was the sturdy perennial concert opener “Waterfront.” It’s safe to say that a lot of their shows post-1984 either began with “Waterfront” or it was the very next song played. There’s a reason for that. “Waterfront” was a machine designed to get the heart pumping and the crowd bouncing like a unified organism. It was the red carpet to the world of festivals which were tempting the band to leave the clubs and theaters behind by 1982. It’s as bulletproof a song to set the stage for the night to come as they have in their canon of compositions.
I can’t say that it’s a flash move that’s lost any allure in the intervening decades! The pulse beat of that looped bass line with the synths and Charlie Burchill’s guitar arcing overhead like skyrockets accomplished its tasks handily. It primes the Simple Minds fan for excitement, which this set list certainly delivered! Case in point, my pulse quickened as the opening random wave synth of “Love Song” happened afterward. One sensed, “this is going to be good!”
Then they unleashed “Love Song” and things got much better than good! Charlie Burchill was letting the guitar rip in the intro, hanging skillfully in the netherzone between major and minor chords with his tone; lending a hint of Scott Walker to the proceedings. He was on fire here. Jim Kerr was matching him with power and intent. New keyboardist Erik Ljunggren was taking the effort to color outside of the song’s outlines with his synths adding subtle Jazz fills into the melodic payload.
Then at the song’s halfway point as Kerr’s voice began to ascend on the “some promised land” line, Sarah Brown seamlessly meshed with him to carry the note upward and onward! Then, at the middle eight; Kerr let loose with an emphatic grunt hook [new for him] as Burchill stuck his boot in the solo he was delivering. Then, best of all, Sarah Brown began the “flesh of heart” refrain at a high simmer; taking the energy to the boiling point as she and Kerr traded off on the climax of the dazzling number.
One of the traits I’ve always loved about this song was the incredible power of the song ending with all the instruments in unison, but not this time! Burchill got a beat or two to crashland his guitar for the grinding last word to this tour de force. I’ve found this a top five Simple Minds track for over 40 years, and I’ve heard it live plenty of times on numerous shows and albums. I’m here to say that this rendition is my favorite. Listen.
Then, as the gooseflesh was still tingling, the inexorable drum machine march that heralded “Sons + Fascination” cut through the air and I was incredulous as the band were making a blatant show of their ultimate strengths right up front in this show. Ged Grimes added that amazing bass line into the dance of the rhythms as the foreboding synths of Mr. Ljunggren added their mystery. Backing vocalists Sarah Brown and Gordon Goudie were contributing stentorian backing vocals that widened the impact of this Krautrock meisterwerk. Then as Charlie and Ged took solos, Cherisse Osei kicked in with the live drums in the climax that brought the tidal wave of the song crashing into the rocks of the shore.
Then the next song started on The One with the Art Funk of “Sweat In Bullet” swaggering into the setlist like it owned it. Grimes was going fretless on this one while Burchill was abetted by Gord Goudie’s rhythm guitar. The instrumental middle eight here was the calm among the middle of the storm as the strutting energy of the song kicked back in to take us out. The rhythm guitar cutting like a knife in the climax.
Just when I think it couldn’t get any better, then they delivered the coup de grace…”This Fear of Gods.” My eyes widened further and I muttered a “F…!” under my breath as I could not believe where this album was going. Against all odds, right up front with what was basically a mini “5×5” set to stun me into rapt capitulation. That loping synth loop abetted by the rhythm section with Burchill’s guitar wailing like an atonal horn. Alerting us to how everything was askew in the implacable, brutalist world of this stunning song.
Again, Sarah Brown was adding her considerable power to the buildup of the piece. Hearing her chant “lust, lust lust” in unison with Jim in the third verse was making the impact that much more powerful. The subtle Disco hi-hats of Ms. Osei in the chorus perhaps made us remember to dance under the spreading black clouds that this song brings to the horizon.
Then, as we began to dive deep into the song’s climax, Kerr let loose with only the second “let me see your hands” in the program so far. Demerits were warranted, for sure, for threatening to pull us out of the dark spell here, but ultimately even that old warhorse couldn’t throw us. The tribal energy here was stronger than even that. And when Sarah Brown began trading off “back on black” call and response with Kerr it was spine tingling. Kerr then evoked the song’s inspiration; Joseph Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness” with all of the moral force he could muster as the song ground to a halt with a riff blasted by Burchill. Once more, this was the most compelling live version of the song I have on disc. Fully matching the pulse-racing thrills I had when seeing the band tear into this back in 2013 at the 9:30 Club. It’s never sounded better.
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