Live in the City of Light is an awesome album. It shows them at their best during their heyday.
Live in the City of Light is an awesome album. It shows them at their best during their heyday.
Many years ago, I bought the Simple Minds' "Alive And Kicking" cassette single. I played it to death back then. Does anyone else have that? Does anyone know where I can get those tracks on CD?
Library Jon
I bought Good News From the Next World out of a bargain bin about fifteen years ago. Hands down the best $5 I ever spent on music. Great songs and THUNDEROUS production. I also really like Live in the City of Lights, but I haven't been able to get into too many of their other studio albums. Not sure why. Maybe I should give them another shot.
i saw these guys back in the day when they toured for "new gold dream". i liked the show but not having heard any of their stuff prior to the show made it harder since familiarity breeds likability. think i picked up the new gold dream around this period and the next one but overall they were ok/good but with lillywhite produciing they came off a little like a U2 wannabe band.
Ditto. Yeah, some of the earlier stuff was pretty good too.Originally Posted by markwoll
I got Once Upon A Time a few days ago at Second Spin. It was the original A&M/Virgin cd(not remastered). The sound was very good, so I don't think I'll be upgrading to any remaster. Has anyone heard the original CDs? I would like to get some opinions on the sound, because I might just pick up New Gold Dream since the original CD is only $1 on Amazon(used).
↑Beware those old Virgin CDs. I used to have the original issue of Life in a Day, and it was one of the worst CDs I’d ever heard. I’d hold out for the remasters, the sound quality is improved immesurably, and they’re not terribly expensive (I got used copies of Life in a Day, Reel to Real Cacophony and Sons & Fascination/Sister Feelings Call for $5 a pop).
Incidentally, I’ve had Sons & Fascination/Sister Feelings Call on the old MP3 player and...wow, those are good albums!
-------------
MIKE (a.k.a. "Progbear")
"Parece cosa de maligno. Los pianos no estallan por casualidad." --Gabriel Garcia Marquez
N.P.:“Clairvoyance”-Asturias/Circle in the Forest
It was the original A&M cd, and it sounded just fine.
+1! Well said.
I rate every thing from Sparkle in the Rain to the present day very highly , anything before that not so highly !
That's an odd statement on a Prog Site, because Sons & Facination, Sister Feelings call, and New Gold Dream are practically Prog albums (based on their instrumentation) while the later stuff was vocals dominated...
I heard the new single Broken Glass Park and thought what is this 80's track I've never heard, and what a Simple Minds rip off, then they said who it was. Only heard it once, it was ok, but I hoped for more of a return to the darker sounds, as they had toured 5x5 last year, which was wonderful. Mind you this years tour is greatest hits, so it going to ba all the stuff I like less. New Gold Dream was the pinnacle for me.
Meant to say from New Gold Dream onwards...sorry but their earlier electronic albums were not as good as what their peers were doing ...kraftwerk , Depeche Mode , Tubeway Army / Numan et al !
Life In A Day is a bit meh (but then I haven't listened to it in ages). Real To Real Cacophony is more interesting and then there's the golden age of Empires and Dance, Sons And Fascination/Sister Feelings Call and New Gold Dream. Sparkle In The Rain is where the cracks start to show; Once Upon A Time is empty noise and I lost interest after that. Around that time Jim Kerr was a bit dismissive of complaints about the band's direction, he thought they were complaining only because they were now too popular (or words to that effect).
I think that you guys are being too hard on Simple Minds for releasing "Once Upon A Time." At the time, all the bands were influenced by U2. Also, after that album they did move on to try other styles of music. Their last 4-5 albums don't sound at all like U2.
Library Jon
I am interested in picking up Simple Minds CD singles with worthwhile bonus tracks. Can anyone recommend which I should consider buying?
Library Jon
Their punky debut album is bloody awful.
I like their synthy, New Romantics sound from RTRC to E & D, S & F and finally on SFC.
Fav album: SFC or RTRC.....hard to decide.
I lost interest in 82 when they decided they were going to be an arena band called U2For me everything from 82 onwards is horrible and contains most of the elements that people complain about in 80s music.
Street Fighting Years tour, Edinburgh Meadowbank Stadium 1989 - possibly the finest gig I've ever experienced......
The band were booked into the larger Murrayfield Rugby Stadium, but protested at the Scottish Rugby Union's decision to play apartheid South Africa, and decided to boycott the venue, at considerable expense and inconvenience.
You could tell they were angry and fired up when they hit the stage for a 3 hour show, that ranks as one of the most emotional gigs I've ever experienced. Nelson Mandela was still incarcerated, so you can imagine the vibe when they played Mandela Day. And by the time they closed with Biko, you could see distant lighters aloft on the Arthur's Seat crags overlooking Edinburgh.
There was certainly nothing horrible or empty about their music that night.
I have seen Simple Minds on numerous occasions & their set is always predominantly songs from New Gold Dream onwards. That in itself says the earlier stuff is not that popular with either the band of fans!
Everything up until NGD is very patchy, everything after is classic !!!
Calling NGD similar to the 2 previous albums is very odd. as they aren't even similar. And calling them "practically prog albums" is way off. Nothing prog about any of them at all. Up to SFC they were synth/New Romatic albums (with the exception of the punky debut).
Well, it's all very subjective in that the choice of fav SM albums all depends on what else any given fan is listening or listened to. I wasn't then listening to and still don't listen to U2, Big Country, Talking Heads, Thompson Twins and such like. But I was listening to these types of bands that follow and still listen to them and modern equivalents: Marilyn Manson, Depeche Mode, Kraftwerk, Human League, Spandau Ballet, Mission, Sisters of Mercy, Paradise Lost, Rose of Avalanche, New Model Army, The Stranglers, Cure, ABC, Icehouse, Nitzer Ebb, DAF, Siouxsie, Nina Hagen, Einsturzende Neubauten, Ultravox, OMD, Duran Duran, Visage, Gary Numan, Combichrist, Deathstars, The Cult and so on.......so Simple Minds soft poppy 80s albums from NGD onwards just weren't my thing.
I had gotten interested in picking up all of Simple Minds' CD singles. I found on Ebay a brand new factory sealed box set of all of their singles on CD covering 1978- 1992. Basically, covering the era of "Life In A Day" to "Real Life". It was kind of expensive but I really wanted all those remixes and B sides. It shipped on Sunday from Taiwan and I hope for it to arrive in the coming days. I promise to post my thoughts on the box set once I listen to it.
Library Jon
y
Would like that box set myself. I have a few on 3" CD singles that i bought back in the day
Some had different tracks & were released ad Blue, Red etc¡
I have all of the Themes singles box sets, well all except the last one which ventured into the 80's stuff that didn't particularly appeal. They are cool collections with stacks of B sides and live additions, basically they collect the 12" singles onto CD's... I have the 12" singles somewhere too, I was ever the completist back in the day!
There's a live box DVD/CD set from their latest tour available on their web site, not cheap though!
Dont know if this will get a general release?
Last edited by Rufus; 02-24-2014 at 04:41 PM.
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