Gone But Forgotten: Simple Minds/New Gold Dream 79-82
Вставка
- Опубліковано 26 сер 2024
- Even Scottish band, Simple Minds, rote story is all but forgotten - that they were purveyors of bombastic stadium rock alongside the peers U2, throughout the mid eighties, draping themselves in worthy social issues. This completely misses the even more hidden truth - in the four years between 1979 and 1982, the band released six albums in what was one of the most progressive and brilliant runs by any band, including The Beatles and Can. A look through that period - so deserving of reappraisal - and how the rest of the decade played out for them. It started as a review of the masterpiece (10/10) album New Gold Dream but I felt the wider story needed addressing.
***this is the radio show which contains the actual music
www.mixcloud.c...
I was aware of Simple Minds, but hadn't really heard any of their albums in full. Then I heard New Gold Dream and my jaw just dropped.
My forever band, incredible journey. Seen them about 130 times and still I travel.... to see them
i was so gutted that i missed them in sydney and hadnt seen them since wembly stadium :(
Wonderful synopsis of early Simple Minds. 👏🏼👏🏼
Their early stuff is the best Forbes, MacNeil, McGee, Burchill, composed everything Jim was the house poet, and poseur. IMO.
absolutely spot on mate, simple minds in those years were brilliant
You have hit the nail on the head that period of time is the golden era Empires and Dance what an album thank you for highlighting this forgotten period of time.
Empires and Dance is still one of my favourite albums. NGD is number 3. in the SM-charts.
Great review but I do rate Don't You Forget About Me very highly. It introduced me to Simple Minds via The Breakfast Club. NGD is ofc the perfect album. Every song is a masterpiece.
i would say probably the same for me too, i was 12 so it seems most likely
Great review of New Gold Dream....100% agree 10/10 synthpop masterpiece. Completely ethereal. I beg to differ and think that Sparkle in the Rain was the last good Minds album. When they became stadium rock and Jim got a mullet and cowboy boots, I was out.
the sparkle v Once debate is the biggest simple minds debate for me
Disagree with you on street fighting years as well its a stone cold classic and the supporting tour was incredible.
did they do wembly stadium on that tour? if so , I was there!
Great review of New Gold Dream. The band did a special anniversary live recording of the album from Paisley Abbey just before Christmas. They also made a programme about the filming of it which I think was on the Sky Arts channel and released a coloured vinyl of the recording. The fantastic sound and space inside the Abbey really showcased how good all of these songs are. A must see and listen to for fans of this album.
i totally need to do both ngd recording and the doco, havent got round to it yet
@@thebrownnotereview8473Keep up the good work on your channel 👍🏻
Couple of points, you didn't mention wonderful in young life from Sister feeling call (my favourite simple Mind's song). Colours fly and catherine wheel is not an instrumental. Just thought I'd mention that
Saw them on the Sons and fascination tour in 1981, they played the Liverpool Empire. Really was a great concert. Your right about Derek Forbes
wow
Decent album reviews and you're right about the publics perception of the band. I played 'Twist, Run, Repulsion' to a friend and when I told him that it was Simple Minds he was like F#@k off! 😂. They get it levelled at them for selling out but they actually made some decisions that went against the grain of commercial gain at the start of their period of global success (Not including 'Don't you' on OUAT and their next studio recording release being quite 'folky' in places). The albums you reviewed you can definitely trace a lineal evolvement, some would say not for the best.
Totally agree with most of this. 'Sparkle in the Rain' was a fine album too, but I was so disappointed with 'Once Upon a Time' and all that followed....will pick you up on the 'old drummer' thing on NGD though. Brian McGee didn't play on it.
Derek Forbes is very underrated. Hes one of the best ever. Simple Minds early albums are brilliant, But New gold dream is my fav album of all time.
Interesting review. I discovered Simple Minds when I was about 16 (early 90's, Real life time). I live in Chile, and quite unlikely, I found their old albums in a music store. I heard a few songs and bought them all, until New Gold Dream. I think it's possible to give technical opinions about their music, but maybe our ratings are frequently based on how much the music moves us, how much it means to us. After a couple of decades, I've heard again their music, and still the album I love the most is Real to real cacophony. It's impressive how fast they recorded it, by the way. I love songs from Life in a day, I think Empires and dance is fantastic, the same about Sons and fascinations/Sister... And most of New gold dream, in my opinion, is excelent (my favorite is Hunter and te hunted). I agree with you and others that Sparkle in the rain is disappointing, although it has some moments, maybe. And Once upon a time has good songs, but it's another spirit and energy, not my favorite from Simple Minds. With regards to Street fighting years, it was very interesting to hear your comments, and that you mentioned the friendship between Thatcher and the Chilean dictatorship (we sadly know very well about that in Chile); the song Street figthing years was dedicated to Víctor Jara, a very important artist killed in those times. I love that song, but definitively that music is not the Simple Minds I like the most.
Great stuff.
their peak album, were still very listenable after that for a couple albums, but none came close to this
agreed
A bit harsh on 'Sparkle in the Rain' here giving it 4 out of 10 as i think alot of tracks on 'SITR are similar to Once upon a time but each to their own opinion.
New Gold Dream tops it for me with Sons & Fascination a very close second.
out of that opening run, sons/sisters is the most under appreciated, i like it more now that reel / empires, ngd is the best. sparkleis where i get most disagreement. i just think its an unholy mess
I agree with all this. A "lost masterpiece" indeed.
Great review. NGD was inviting, veiled and impressionistic, full of mystery and optimism - something they lost with the outward focused, Sparkle in the Rain, which felt designed to impress. More muscle, than heart.
Excellent analysis. Sheer class. 10 out of 10.
Perfect summation, perfect.
Agree with ranking Derek Forbes with Peter Hook. Though I'd add The Cure's Simon Gallup to the list.
and >cough< John Taylor of Duran Duran
Preach.
My favourite album of the early 80s new gold dream, but their early work was brilliant, after new gold dream I went off them, they became too commercial, successful, but the music went downhill and was diluted compared to the early stuff 👏
I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone articulating exactly what I feel about simple minds pre and post new gold dream. The pre era, they were lithe, urgent, anxious, exotic, ambiguous and had a feline grace, which I think, stood them apart from their peers. And they don’t get the kudos that, say, new order get (admittedly deserved) for slaying the dance floor frequently. ‘I travel’, is easily on a par with ‘ everything’s gone green’ , if not better. And predates it also. I saw them a few times in the early eighties and I remember Jim Kerr pronouncing mel gaynor as their new drummer. And for my money, that’s when it changed.The bass got turned down and the drums went the other way. Derek Forbes was for me, the lead player in the band. When I listen to those early tunes, I always lock onto the bassline. Anyway,many thanks, great job fella.
Cheers! yes for me Forbes was the MVP of their greatest period and their pre Once upon run of albums gets nowhere near the kudos new order, the cure, or anyone gets, but totally deserves it
Sorry for this but you started it. I’m having a real ball digging through the magisterial years and I’m struck by how much ‘ celebrate’ still sounds futuristic. Released the same year as ‘ once in a lifetime ‘and every bit as great yet every bit less ubiquitous. My neighbours may feel different but I can’t thank you enough.
@@iaingeddes4288 KEEP GOING!!! I travel, Love Song, theyve so many songs from that era that still sound like the future
Mel Gaynor was born in London
i know, I have long since owned up to this faux pas
@@thebrownnotereview8473 an astonishing album though
Perfect summation.
Sparkle in the rain has some interesting parts, “Bass line” which is an instrumental version of “White hot day” really emphasises the interaction of Dereks bass and Mel’s drumming. It would have been interesting to see what this would have been like if Walsh had produced it. Once upon a time is better than you think but he’s wrong about the best tracks though. For me “Once upon a time” and “Come a long way” are up there. Hate “Alive and kicking” though, sorry!
Have you heard the demo of book of brilliant thing ? It sounds better than in sparkle in the rain and gives you a hint that sparkle in the rain could have been NGD 2.0 had it been produced by Walsh.
@@Maitatron I’ve not heard that, it might be like the versions Mick did with Loudery, one with lyrics, (can be found on UA-cam). These are interesting to listen to and you can feel a bit of New Gold Dream in them. Derek plays bass on them also I believe. Not struck at all on the last two albums, too bland by far.
…not UA-cam, Apple Music, apologies.
I’ve grown up on Simple Minds you get to Once Upon a Time and think WTF Street Fighting Years good album but then it all goes meh! Until Direction of the Heart but the first 6 albums are the best however Jim Kerr quoted as saying “everyone bangs on about the first 5 albums but no one fucking bought them” I did
i did but i also heard the early stuff after dont you forget about me :(
Colours Fly and Catherine Wheels is NOT an instrumental, but yes it’s a 10 out of 10 album
oh dear - this is up there with me calling Mel an American :(
17:27 Mel Gaynor is NOT an African American. He's British, of course.
i already posted a comment to this effect, ive no idea what madness led me to say this - half hour of talking without edit and being stupid probably
@@thebrownnotereview8473 You're not stupid....
Fantastic band
Your clueless about sparkle in the rain not a duff track on that record. I've never had a problem with the production at all.
on that count we will have to disagree
When i listen to the early demo of speed your love to me /book of brilliant, that has magic in it following the magic of NGD, i very lament the choice made by Steeve Lillywhite, it's as if he butchered their sound.
I agree with your views on NGD & OUAT >> SITR. Much is in the production - brilliant production for NGD, terrible for SITR. OUAT has great songs but to me the production brings it down slightly - it's too dry and thin. To me the sound of the OUAT songs on the Live in the City of Light album really highlight what's missing production-wise on OUAT.
My view is R2R and NGD are the two best Simple Minds albums. R2R might just shade it because King is White and in the Crowd is such a weak closing track compared to the rest of the NGD album.
two halves here - you are one of the only Simple Minds fans to agree with me that the production on SITR is horrible, but i think OUAT is really well produced
@@thebrownnotereview8473 my view on OUAT is probably coloured from my introduction to Simple Minds. Live in the City of Light was a teenage impulse buy and I worked my way back from there.
i am 100% the same. I heard the city of light version of promised you a miracle before NGD! (a single i think) i too worked my way back, i think OUAT was first, and i ended up not appreciating it compared to the early albums, but ive grown to appreciate it more
Cant agree on Sparkle, the muddy production sounds deliberate and great to me. I love that album as much as I love NGD
When you hear the demo of book of brilliant things and speed your love to me, you wonder what would have been SITR if Steeve Lillywhite wasn't the producer with his "explosion" of the sound, it could have been NGD 2. I guess Simple Minds wanted to take a total opposite direction from NGD with SITR, but if they succeeded in sounding totally different, they lost the magic of NGD with this production, you can see that with the live of book of brilliant things in city of light that sounds far better and epic than the album production.
I've got a great album idea for you to review!! The greatest ambient album ever made (in my opinion) that doesn't even feature in any Top 100 ambient album list! (Let alone Number 1 or in the Top 10 at least). A totally "lost" organic, analogue masterpiece (that was never found in the first place). It's a largely improvised album, made largely in about 2 days to my knowledge by Can (except the singer\s) , Marcus Stockausen on flugelhorn and David Sylvian. "Flux and Mutability" from 1989. I've played it every nigh to sleep to for 34 years.....making it by default, my most played album of all time. I must have played it at least 12.410 times. It still surprises me! A great companion piece to it is the second (instrumental) disc of Gone to Earth with the Fripp!
Well I will certainly check this out, 8 have vaguely heard off it but never HEARD it
You may not know, not only I a krautrock tragic but Can are one of my favourite bands of all time
My krautrock radio show from a few years back
m.mixcloud.com/julian-brown/the-brown-note-krautrock-special-presented-by-julian-brown/
@@thebrownnotereview8473 Thanks for the link! I shall have a listen. Let me know if you like Flux and Mutability and / do a review.
Don’t get why people write off Once Upon a Time. It’s an album of its time and while not shifting the needle creatively, it’s a brilliantly commercial synth/rock album in tune with its time. I love their early work but it’s a lot of ‘too cool for school’ posturing by wannabe Indy Heads to discard a lot of the band’s post NGD 81 etc era
my biggest problem with SM perception is SITR is held up as their last great artistic album but for me Once is much better, vastly more cohesive too, a raft of great songs all with the same sound/colour rather than a scattershot mess like sparkle
Only just seen this and huge Simple Minds fan. Glad you've pulled out Life In A Day, as you say, great fun. Pleasantly Disturbed for me is a masterpiece. The whole band were underrated and all of them were on fire during that period with every album being a nailed on classic. I still have a soft spot for the transformative years after Mel joined as I loved the dynamics during that period. Although Derek left John Giblin was an immense on Once Upon A Time and a shame he's not louder in the mix. The quality dropped off after this point for me and then flattened out with Mick's departure from Real Life onwards but they still have their moments.
Indeed. Few bands produce top stuff for 40 years. The Stones haven't made a decent album for pushing 50 years. U2 have made one decent album since Achtung Baby 30 odd years ago. You have it, then you lost it as Sick Boy theorised.... And who better than Irvine Welsh as an example!
But the quality product is still there to enjoy..... Youth burns brightly but not eternally.
Fantastic, detailed analysis, exteremly thoughtful. I agree with you 100% until and including New Gold Dream. But then...I think Once Upon is Simple Minds very worst album, just like U2's Rattle and Hum. At the that time I was a huge fan of SM so I gave it a pass (just), but it's really terrible after all the previous greatness. And I find Sparkle outstanding. After New Gold Dream, it was extremely difficult for the band to follow through. So they decided to get more down to earth after NGD. Sparkles is probably the band's most energetic album. The extended version of Speed Your Love to Me is amazing. So is White Hot Day and its incredible instrumental version (called Bass Line). I would say all songs on Sparkles are 8/10, but I admit none of them are a 10, whereas in New Gold Dream I would give a 10 to Someone, Somewhere in Summertime, Big Sleep, Somebody Up There Likes You, and Hunter and the Hunted. The rest is not great, the two single hits (Promised You a Miracle and Glittering Prize) are awful. And I disagree that there is nothing after Once Upon a Time. Good News from the Next World is one of their best. Many of the songs in the albums since 2000 are great (Stay Visible, Honest Town, Swimming Towards the Sun, Moscow Underground, Let the Day Begins to name a few) are amazing, even if the whole albums are mixed.
thank you ! its bizarre but i have very similar feeling about sparkle that you do about Once. I def prefer the art rock early albums to the U2 bombast, i just feel Once is more cohesive than sparkle. For me sparkle = rattle and hum and Once is closer to Joshue Tree/NGD. NGD is a flat out 10/10 to me and faultless
NO, THEY ARE COMPLETELY UNIQUE AND HAVE A DISTINCT SOUND OF THEIR OWN. I GREW UP IN CALIFORNIA, MOVED TO LAS VEGAS, AND I HAD HEARD OF "SIMPLE MINDS", BUT THERE WAS A HUGE PUSH FOR U2. WHILE I ENJOYED BONO, I THOROUGHLY LOVE AND APPRECIATE THE MUSIC AND THE LYRICS FROM SIMPLE MINDS. IN MY ESTIMATION, THEY ARE WAY BEYOND THE CROWD, HAVING WISDOM IN THEIR SONGS THAT IS UNPARALLLED. PERSONALLY, THEY ARE MY FAVORITE BAND AMONG CLASSICS, ROCKS, SOME PROGRESSIVE JAZZ, AND THE TUNES ON THE RADIO. I AM STUNNED THEY HAVE GONE UNAPPRECIATED; UNNOTICED. WHY? ‼❣🎵🎵🎶🎹UNBEATABLE!!!!! THEY ARE HAVING A CONCERT IN 2024; PERHAPS SEVERAL. I HIGHLY SUGGEST IF YOU WANT TO HAVE A TERRIFIC TIME; SPIRIT FILLED, AND ROCK OUT LIKE YOU NEVER HAVE BEFORE, LISTEN TO SIMPLE MINDS. THERE IS "NOTHING" SIMPLE ABOUT THEM. I "DEMAND" JUSTICE; IT'S A CRIME THEY WERE "MANAGED" BY THE MUSIC INDUSTRY.
what are you disagreeing with here? dont I say this?
Yes, Robin Clark sang on "Young Americans" from "another very famous soul singer" called DAVID BOWIE. 🤣🤣🤣🤣
and Luther Vandross!
oh dear, for some reason I called Mel Gaynor American.... the perils of live scriptless broadcasting and yapping for half an hour without an edit, he is of course from LANDON
Il faut parler Français sinon on ne va pas vous comprendre. Merci
Mel Gaynor isn't American he's English.
Quite a few errors in this review.
oh dear, where on earth did i get that from, the perils of script less long form waffle im afraid
probably :)
I fully agree giving Sparkle In the Rain a 4 out of 10. It is really an unbalanced mess of sound, courtesy to Steve Lilywhite For me, NGD is the last real SM album for me, never bothered to listen to any of their albums after the Sparkle disaster.
It's so messy sounding it's horrible
I love once but that's the end for me
Nope totally disagree Sparkle in the rain is an all time classic…..Empires , Sons & Sister classic albums as well . The track Life in a day, was stolen for the title for “Brookside”
Your knowledge is good and respectful, some information you don’t know, SM had issues with the there record label hence Sister & Sons albums . Too much is compared to U2, at the time when I saw both live are completely different. U2 have The Edge & SM had Derek Forbes …..we all have our opinions. 4 out of 10 for Sparkle in the rain, you’re wrong. Nelson Mandela concert was for his 70th birthday. I was there SM were great. They really regretted not being at Wembley for Live Aid, but they were brilliant in Philadelphia especially the track Ghost Dancing .
@@thebrownnotereview8473 Sparkle and New Gold are the most amazing sublime albums Ive ever listened to. They never grow old. From Canada. SM is largely unknown here. :(
Bullshit !
Sparkle in the rain . Good songs poorly recorded . Just not a good album at all 3/10 for me
blimely. a Simple Minds fan that agrees with me about Sparkle. Given how cohesively produced the previous albums were, ive not idea why the production here is such a mess
Sparkle is a far better record than NGD which is only the 6th best SM record. RANKING: R2R/E&D, S&F/SFC, SITR, NGD, LIAD, OUAT.
sparkle is my least popular SM opinion, i cant stand it - top tier in order NGD, EAD, S&F/SFC, R2R, OUAT >>>> SITR
The production on Sparkle was horrible.
Perfect summation, perfect.