Tidy Tunes 2019 #15/28 Waterfront - Simple Minds

Waterfront - Simple Minds
Virgin
Produced by Steve Lillywhite
Released November 1983
UK Chart #13


 

Waterfront (Live)
The SSE Hydro Glasgow
27th November 2013

Sparkle In The Rain - Simple Minds
Virgin
Produced by Steve Lillywhite
Released 6th February 1984
UK Chart #1
Remained on the Chart for 57 Weeks!

Listen To The Album Here.

Simple Minds? I know some people who are diehard fans and others who like them up to a certain period (normally the New Gold Dream era) and some who just seem to have a real aversion to them altogether. You hear the usual quips of "weren't they just trying to rip off U2!" (funny one that because a lot of people said them same thing about The Alarm!) or "oh, they're Scottish!" (like it's some kind of disease and surely no one from North of the Border can actually create good music!).

I had first stumbled on them in 1979 with the release of their debut single, Life In A Day. A friend of my Dad worked at a Record Plant that pressed for the label Arista Records (and Zoom at that time had recently entered into partnership with them) and he used to bring a box of records at the end of the week (probably gained by questionable means!) and allow me and some others to take what we wanted and one week there was a 7" single in a Black Picture sleeve with red writing declaring:

LIFE IN A DAY 

SIMPLE MINDS

I took it not really knowing anything about who they were apart from they were probably Scottish as most of the other bands on Zoom hailed from North of the Border and I absolutely loved it (I did discover not long afterwards that a couple of members had been in Johnny and the Self Abusers who had released one single for Chiswick Records in November 1977 - Saints and Sinners).

Now, while I really liked the Debut album 'Life In A Day' I wasn't totally captivated by everything that followed. I enjoyed the singles, but the albums didn't grab me by the short and curlies! It probably wasn't until New Gold Dream (81-82-83-84) that I really begun to enjoy their albums.

Now, if Jim Kerr happens to read this (and he does tend to read most of the posts on the Simple Minds Facebook page on which I am looking to post this), I hope he is not overly disappointed in me for what I've just said. The strange thing is, years on from the release of Real To Real Cacophony through to Sister Feelings Call I now find myself actually appreciating those albums much more than I did back then. With age comes wisdom! 😉

I am all distracted. Let's get back on Topic. Waterfront. It was the single that paved the way for their first #1 album in Sparkle In The Rain. I won't go into details about the album as I know you all have a life to get on with and my ramblings are just going to delay you getting anything done! The album just recently passed it's 35th Anniversary (so it's a good excuse to dig it out again and play it!).

Where was I? Oh yes, Waterfront! I really love this single but I do have to say to really enjoy its sheer brilliance it is way better to experience it played live in concert. That throbbing bassline is often extended when played live and then the song just explodes into life as the keyboards, guitar and drums kick in...in a word it's...Mesmerising! 

The other thing about it is that it doesn't matter what body of water I am ever close to, the Thames in London, The Clyde in Glasgow or even down on the Ayrshire Coast, that bassline has a habit of resurfacing in my mind and reminding me afresh of what a cracking single this was and still is.

Revisiting Sparkle in the Rain - Simple Minds (1984)

 🌟🌟🌟🌟

Sparkle in the Rain - Simple Minds
Virgin Records
Produced by Steve Lillywhite
Released 6th February 1984
UK Chart #1
US Chart #64

Personnel
    Jim Kerr – vocals
    Charlie Burchill – acoustic and electric guitars
    Derek Forbes – bass, vocals
    Mel Gaynor – drums, vocals
    Mick MacNeil – keyboards, vocals

Additional personnel
    Kirsty MacColl – vocals on "Speed Your Love to Me" and "Street Hassle".


 Singles from Sparkle in the Rain

7"

 

Waterfront /  Hunter and the Hunted (Live in Newcastle 1982)

12"

Waterfront (Extended Version)
    Released: 4 November 1983 

UK #13

7"

    Speed Your Love to Me / Bass Line

12"

Speed Your Love To Me (Extended Version)
    Released: 22 January 1984 

UK #20

7"

    Up on the Catwalk / A Brass Band In Africa

12"

Up On The Catwalk (Extended Version) / A Brass Band In African Chimes
    Released: 12 March 1984 

UK #27

*****************

New Gold Dream (81-82-83-84) released in 1982 had reached the highest any previous Simple Minds album had on the Charts (#3), they even manged to get three singles from it into the Top 40 (two of those, Promised You A Miracle and Glittering Prize, squeezed into the Top 20: Promised #13 and Glittering #16).

With their sixth Studio Album in five years, Sparkle in the Rain, they catapulted to the Top of the Album Charts in the UK in February 1984. It would spark a dose of good fortune for the band with a number of Albums that followed reaching either #1(Once Upon A Time - 1985 and Street Fighting Years - 1989) or #2 (Real Life - 1991 and Good News From The Next World - 1995) and more than twenty singles between 1984-1998 would grace the charts including their only #1 in the UK - Belfast Child and their only #1 hit in the USA - Don't You (Forget About Me) - that reached #7 here in the UK.

The only thing I really disliked about the album was their cover of Lou Reed's Street Hassle, I don't think they did it any justice at all. Apart from that there were a lot of good things about the album that get a thumbs up. Their sound was developing into what would become known as "Big Music" and obviously a lot of that had to do with all band members making a contribution musically and the bigness of their sound really came to fruition with their next album Once Upon A Time that would follow a year later in 1985.

I disagree with those that say Simple Minds were on a path of just following hard after U2 (an NME writer reviewing the album had called them U3, much to the annoyance of the band), a similar charge was often thrown at The Alarm and yet those bands each have their own unique stylings. Sparkle was yet another step on the journey to crafting that style to where the band wanted to be. 

Producer Steve Lillywhite should be given some credit as well as he brought out the best in the band by getting them to work as a unit rather than everyone doing their own thing and then flinging it all together in the hope that a song might come out of it!

Sparkle in the Rain remains a particular favourite of mine even after all these years.

 

New Music 2018: Magic - Simple Minds

Due for release on 2nd February 2018 the brand new Studio Album from Simple Minds.

On 4th January 2018 they released the Promo Video for a track taken from Walk Between Worlds entitled Magic.

Magic - Simple Minds
Released 4th January 2018

Let The Day Begin...Let The Day Start!: Day 295 Simple Minds (#5)

Once Upon A Time - Simple Minds
Virgin
Produced by Jimmy Iovine and Bob Clearmountain
Released 21st October 1985
UK Chart #1
US Chart #10

A1 Once Upon A Time    
A2 All The Things She Said    
A3 Ghost Dancing    
A4 Alive And Kicking
B1 Oh Jungleland    
B2 I Wish You Were Here    
B3 Sanctify Yourself    
B4 Come A Long Way

There were two covers for the album

 Personnel
Simple Minds
    Jim Kerr – vocals
    Charlie Burchill – guitar
    Michael MacNeil – piano, synthesizer
    Mel Gaynor – drums, vocals
    John Giblin – bass

Additional personnel
    Carlos Alomar – backing vocals
    Michael Been of The Call – backing vocals
    Robin Clark – vocals
    Sue Hadjopoulos – percussion
    Frank Simms and George Simms of The Simms Brothers Band – backing vocals

Singles on Once Upon A Time

(these are the 12" Versions):

Alive and Kicking / Alive and Kicking (Instrumental)
(September 1985 UK #7, US #3)
 

 Sanctify Yourself (Extended Mix) / Sanctify Yourself Dub
(January 1986 UK #10, US #14)
 

 All the Things She Said (Extended Version) / Promised You A Miracle (US Remix) / Don't You Forget About Me (Live)
(March 1986 UK #9, US #28)

Ghostdancing (A Special 12" Remix) / Ghostdancing (Instrumental) / Jungleland (A Special 12" Remix) / Jungleland (Instrumental)
 (November 1986 UK #13)

********************

I posted about this album last year as part of the on-going Rewind Series and so I'll try not to repeat myself too much about what I've said before. 

When you like a band from the very start of their career and you hold everything they do as precious, and you buy the records, go to the shows, get the merch and read everything you can about the band but lo and behold they start gettting noticed a bit more, you begin getting concerned. All of a sudden the gigs have gotten bigger and there are way more people at them than you have ever seen. That moment you suddenly realise that the band you prize as your very own are now worldwide! Maybe a little resentment creeps in because tickets are harder to come by and the band are not as accessible as they once were when they were playing smaller venues. Some have then turned face and cried "sellout" and then maybe go off and fixate on somebody new and start the process all over again. It's a little bit like that with some fans of Simple Minds (and I know bands like R.E.M. experienced this kind of thing also) when it comes to the Once Upon A Time album!

I know that may sound a little extreme but there are actually people who think like that and it's always puzzled me. For any band that I have liked I've always been quite happy to see their growth, not only musically, but also when it comes to more people discovering what I and others had always known, that they were a great band.

The success of the single Don't You (Forget About Me) particularly in America had catapulted Simple Minds into new territory. The song had reached #1 there and was included on The Breakfast Club Soundtrack (here in the UK it peaked at #7). I was glad that they hadn't included it as part of the Once Upon A Time album (although their label wanted them to do so). I had heard it way too many times and grew a bit tired of it. Like many I was unaware that three other artists had rejected the song (Cy Curnin of The Fixx, Bryan Ferry and Billy Idol) as had Simple Minds. They were "encouraged" by their American label to record the song. According to one account, the band "rearranged and recorded 'Don't You (Forget About Me)' in three hours in a north London studio and promptly forgot about it.They didn’t realise that they’d recorded the title song. And the title song of The Breakfast Club reached Number One in the US charts. After trying for years, they’d finally broken the American market with a song that the band didn’t care for much."  I have to say that I'm not a big fan of the song myself either and have similar feelings for Pretty in Pink by The Psychedelic Furs which also ended up on a Soundtrack and gave The Furs a bigger audience in the world then they had enjoyed previously.

I said in the Rewind piece that I had gone off of the music of Simple Minds for a while and not all their albums had been such a thrill for me to listen to apart from a song here and there. That wasn't me trying to be precious about them but merely making a point that with my own particular taste at the time certain albums appeared on the scene just didn't connect with me. That by the way does not ring true just for Simple Minds, I could add a number of other artists and bands to the list - U2, The Alarm, Bruce Springsteen, Bananarama (okay I was kidding about them!) to name but a few.

But Once Upon A Time I actually liked from start to finish and I have no problem admitting to that. Personally I don't think there is a bad track on it (I know there will be those who disagree).

Their seventh studio album is one of their biggest sellers throughout their whole career having being certified 3x Platinum here in the UK alone!

I remember earlier in the summer of 1985 when Simple Minds were playing the US part of the Live Aid Event and that was the first time I heard Ghostdancing. It was the first song of a three song set (the others were Don't You Forget About Me and Promised You A Miracle - the satellite link was lost during the song). I thought it was one of the best songs of theirs that I had heard for ages and had to wait a good few months for the album to appear to hear the studio version.

As for the singles released from the album. I know I'm a bit of a moaner about the excessive amount of singles released from an album but I do think two as a maximum would be good - and that's why I'm not raking in the cash as a music executive! 

From the eight tracks on the album four were released as singles (five if you include Oh Jungleland as a B-Side). As one who enjoyed buying 7" or 12" Singles, the releases by Simple Minds from this album did disappoint me a little, mainly because of the inclusion of Instrumentals of the A-Side on the B-Sides; only All The Things She Said didn't go that route.

Let The Day Begin...Let The Day Start!

Let The Day Begin...Let The Day Start!: Day 256 - Simple Minds

This one's dedicated to Shirley G.

I think the soundtrack to her dreams

is the music of Simple Minds!

Sons and Fascination

Virgin Records

Produced by Steve Hillage

Released 12th September 1981

UK Chart #11

Personnel
    Jim Kerr – voice
    Charlie Burchill – guitars
    Mick MacNeil – keyboards
    Derek Forbes – basses
    Brian McGee – drums

Sister Feelings Call

Virgin Records

Produced by Steve Hillage

Released 12th September 1981

Personnel
    Jim Kerr – voice
    Charlie Burchill – guitars
    Mick MacNeil – keyboards
    Derek Forbes – basses
    Brian McGee – drums

Singles from Sister Feelings Call

The American / League of Nations

Released May 1981

UK Chart #59

Singles from Sons and Fascination

Love Song / This Earth That You Walk Upon

Released 15th August 1981

UK Chart #47 

Sweat in Bullet / 20th Century Promised Land

Released November 1981

UK Chart #52

*************************

Sons and Fascination and Sister Feelings Call are the fourth and fifth studio albums from Simple Minds. Both albums were recorded at the same time and were released on the same day - this day - in 1981.

After moving from Arista Records to Virgin Records it was an interesting call to release two albums on the same day. The first 10,000 copies of Sons and Fascination had the Sister Feelings Call album as a freebie. I'm not exactly sure when the decision was made to sell the Sister Feelings Call as an individual album at budget price though!

When it was issued on CD it contained both albums.

Drummer Brian McGee left the band at the end of the Sons and Fascination sessions, citing exhaustion at Simple Minds' constant touring schedule and a desire for more time at home with family. He later joined Propaganda. He had been with the band right back at the start during the Punk days of Johnny and the Self Abusers.

 Let The Day Begin...Let The Day Start!

45RPM: #93 Chelsea Girl - Simple Minds

Chelsea Girl / Garden of Hate - Simple Minds

Zoom

Produced by John Leckie

Released June 1979

A-Side: Chelsea Girl

Chelsea Girl was the second single from Simple Minds and was the follow up to Life in a Day. There's a pretty good Demo version of it floating around as well that some think is superior to the version released on the single.

The Single was also featured on the debut album Life in a Day.

It did not chart.

B-Side: Garden of Hate

Chelsea Girl

Old Grey Whistle Test 1979

Let The Day Begin...Let The Day Start!: Day 176 - Simple Minds

Live In The City of Light - Simple Minds

Virgin

Produced by Bruce Lampcov

Released 11th May 1987

UK Charts #1

Tracklist for Original LP Release

Side 1

A1 - Ghost Dancing    
A2 - Big Sleep    
A3 - Waterfront    
A4 - Promised You A Miracle 

Side 2   
B1 - Someone Somewhere In Summertime    
B2 - Oh Jungleland    
B3 - Alive And Kicking 

Side 3   
C1 - Don't You Forget About Me    
C2 - Once Upon A Time    
C3 - Book Of Brilliant Things    
C4 - East At Easter  

Side 4  
D1 - Sanctify Yourself    
D2 - Love Song - Sun City - Dance To The Music (Medley)    
D3 - New Gold Dream 

Recorded live at Le Zenith, Paris in August 1986 except 'Someone Somewhere In Summertime', recorded live at Sydney Entertainment Centre, Australia in October 1986. The album was a record of the tour that followed the Once Upon A Time album and all the success that brought them. It was their first live album and their 8th album release.

Sometimes admitting to liking Simple Minds is a bit like going to a Rock Music Anonymous Meeting, "Hi, my name's Doug and I like Simple Minds!" You are bound to get a few nods of respect for standing up and saying it and maybe a few mumblings of "oh no, not another one of those! There's actually a separate meeting down the hall for you folk!" So you stumble off down the hall to Room 202 and you are greeted by the sad sight of people just like you struggling through life because you just happen to like Jim Kerr and co! What's worse about this group though is that the minute you admit to liking the Once Upon a Time album the mutterings from among the gathered can be heard quite clearly, "Oh really? Well there's no hope for that man!"

Why such an attitude exists I do not know. I have been a fan of Simple Minds going right back to the start with Life In A Day and although there are periods in their musical journey that have not appealed to me I've never point blank come out and said that I hated them or anything like that. As the years have passed even some of the things I maybe didn't like so much when they came out originally I have come to appreciate, and Once Upon A Time is actually an album I've always loved despite it's somewhat over production and pop sensibilities.

Their success (especially in America) of course came on the back  of the Don't You Forget About Me single that was taken from The Breakfast Club Soundtrack. Whilst not necessarily my favourite Simple Minds song by a large margin I can see the appeal. The problem with the song though is it's a bit like a weight around their necks just like Pretty in Pink is to The Psychedelic Furs - people expect to hear it every show they go to!

Only five songs from Once Upon A Time made it onto the Live in the City of Light album (Ghost Dancing, Oh Jungleland, Alive and Kicking, Once Upon A Time and Sanctify Yourself) and I do really like the album but it does have a problem, and it's one of my pet peeves, sometimes the band are just a little bit over indulgent in their stretching out of a number of songs. To me it seems totally unnecessary and can, depending on the mood listening to it, just make want to skip to the next track!

Let The Day Begin...Let The Day Start!

Let The Day Begin...Let The Day Start!: Day 37 - Come In, Come Out of The Rain

New Gold Dream (81-82-83-84) released in 1982 had reached the highest any previous Simple Minds album had (#3), they even manged to three singles from it into the Top 40 (two of those, Promised You A Miracle and Glittering Prize, squeezed into the Top 20: Promised #13 and Glittering #16).

With their sixth Studio Album in five years, Sparkle in the Rain, they catapulted to the Top of the Album Charts in the UK in February 1984. It would spark a dose of good fortune for the band with a number of Albums that followed reaching either #1(Once Upon A Time - 1985 and Street Fighting Years - 1989) or #2 (Real Life - 1991 and Good News From The Next World - 1995) and more than twenty singles between 1984-1998 would grace the charts including their only #1 in the UK - Belfast Child and their only #1 hit in the USA - Don't You (Forget About Me) - that reached #7 here in the UK.

The only thing I really disliked about the album was their cover of Lou Reed's Street Hassle, I don't think they did it any justice at all. Apart from that there were a lot of good things about the album that get a thumbs up. Their sound was developing into what would become known as "Big Music" and obviously a lot of that had to do with all band members making a contribution musically and the bigness of their sound really came to fruition with their next album Once Upon A Time. 

I disagree with those that say Simple Minds were on a path of just following hard after U2, a similar charge was often thrown at The Alarm and yet those bands each have their own unique stylings. Sparkle was yet another step on the journey to crafting that style further. 

 Sparkle in the Rain - Simple Minds

Virgin

Produced by Steve Lilywhite

Released 6th February 1984

UK Album Chart #1

US Chart #64

Singles from Sparkle in the Rain

 "Waterfront"
    Released: 4 November 1983 UK #13
    "Speed Your Love to Me"
    Released: 9 January 1984 UK #20
    "Up on the Catwalk"
    Released: 12 March 1984 UK #27

Oh and Waterfront still sounds amazing live to this day

Let The Day Begin...Let The Day Start!

Let The Day Begin...Let The Day Start!: Day 1

I'm not 100% certain how this is going to work but I thought I'd start a new daily series for 2016, Let The Day Begin...Let The Day Start!

I don't know what your life is going to turn out like in 2016 (and I am not even certain of the way my own life is going to turn out!) but if there's any certainties it's that each new day can offer new opportunities, detours, valleys, disappointments, tragedy, hopes and dreams fulfilled etc...

I have to say I like this quote that I saw a few people had posted yesterday over on facebook and I'm sure we'll all make a few mistakes as well along the way.

"I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes. Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You're doing things you've never done before, and more importantly, you're doing something." - Neil Gaiman

Anyone who has for any moment in their lives been involved in addiction recovery will know the mantra that life is lived by - One Day at a Time. Sometimes we have to take life like that because for all our planning and goals etc it doesn't always work out the way we want.

Let's hope as well that amid whatever circumstances we find cross our path in this New Year that we will find a song from past or present that can perfectly express the place we are at and the response that we make so that we can add to the our very own Soundtrack4Life.

So, with that thought of One Day at a Time in mind Let The Day Begin...Let The Day Start!

The perfect song to kick off the series (and borrowed for the title of series) is a track originally released in 1989 by The Call. It's one of those songs that you think should have been a much bigger hit than it ended up being. In the US it only reached #51 whilst in the UK it fell short of the Top Forty at #42.

It's a song that seems to include all of us somewhere in the lyric.

 The Call

Let The Day Begin

Let The Day Begin
Songwriter
Michael Kenneth Been
Published by
(Lyrics © BMG RIGHTS MANAGEMENT US, LLC)

Here's to the babies in a brand new world
Here's to the beauty of the stars
Here's to the travelers on the open road
Here's to the dreamers in the bars

Here's to the teachers in the crowded rooms
Here's to the workers in the fields
Here's to the preachers of the sacred words
Here's to the drivers at the wheel

Here's to you my little loves with blessings from above
Now let the day begin
Here's to you my little loves with blessings from above
Now let the day begin, let the day begin

Here's to the winners of the human race
Here's to the losers in the game
Here's to the soldiers of the bitter war
Here's to the wall that bears their names

Here's to you my little loves with blessings from above
Now let the day begin
Here's to you my little loves with blessings from above
Let the day begin, let the day begin, let the day start

Here's to the doctors and their healing work
Here's to the loved ones in their care
Here's to the strangers on the streets tonight
Here's to the lonely everywhere

Here's to the wisdom from the mouths of babes
Here's to the lions in the cage
Here's to the struggles of the silent war
Here's to the closing of the age

Here's to you my little loves with blessings from above
Now let the day begin
Here's to you my little loves with blessings from above
Let the day begin

Here's to you my little loves with blessings from above
Let the day begin
Here's to you my little loves with blessings from above
Now let the day begin, let the day begin, let the day start

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club

Let The Day Begin

In 2013 Black Rebel Motorcycle Club released their seventh studio album Specter of the Feast and a cover of Let the Day Begin was released as a Single. Songwriter Michael Been had been involved as part of the Sound Crew for the band, his son (Robert Levon Been) plays Bass Guitar. The recording was a tribute to Michael Been passed away after working a show with them in Belguim in 2009.

Simple Minds

Let The Day Begin

The third video here is a version of the song by Simple Minds. The song was recorded for their 2014 album Big Music. In an inteview this is what Jim and Charlie had to say about it:

Jim Kerr: "There's a song on the album called Let The Day Begin and it was written by Michael Been of a band called The Call. Some people will know them but I think – by and large many people this side of the water don't know about The Call or Michael."

Charlie Burchill: "And they toured with us in America for quite a long time. And he's an amazing writer – he had an amazing pedigree. He was in Martin Scorsese's Last Temptation Of Christ, he was an apostle in that – Martin Scorsese directed the videos, his backing band was The Band – I mean, that's not bad. And he was just an amazing writer."

JK: "Years later – so many years later – in fact last year, we got the chance to go back and tour in America and in that time, sadly Michael - fairly recently, had passed away, very sad. But we'd have loved the chance to hook up with him again or the chance to play with him again – but it wasn't to be. So on the last tour of the States indeed we played Let The Day Begin. It went down an absolute storm and sounded better than we ever imagined that it would. Pretty much within about twenty-four hours since coming back to these shores and landing at Heathrow we booked the studio in London and tried to capture it."

JK: "It's great to have it in the set, and great to have it on the album, and hopefully it's a great homage to Michael as well."

Here's wishing you all an exciting Year ahead but remember it starts with a day! - Doug

Rewind: 1985 Once Upon A Time - Simple Minds

Seventh Studio Album from Simple Minds. It was their third in a row that made it to Top Three and the second in a row to make it to #1.

Now, I loved the debut album from Simple Minds, Life In A Day (1979) I thought was fantastic but apart from a few songs here and there I didn't really enjoy the albums that followed until 1982's New Gold Dream (81-82-83-84). Sparkle in the Rain that followed in 1984 did nothing much for me at all but Once Upon A Time made me sit up and take notice of them again. A lot of that had to do with the Alive and Kicking which I thought was one of their best singles in years. Also Ghostdancing had struck me as a real gem of a song when I saw them perform it on the TV at Live Aid in Philadelphia in the summer of 1985.

Today marks 30 years since it was released. Still sounds fine to my ears.

Once Upon A Time - Simple Minds

Virgin

Produced by Jimmy Iovine and Bob Clearmountain

Released 21st October 1985

UK Chart #1

US Chart #10

Personnel
Simple Minds
    Jim Kerr – vocals
    Charlie Burchill – guitar
    Michael MacNeil – piano, synthesizer
    Mel Gaynor – drums, vocals
    John Giblin – bass

Additional personnel
    Carlos Alomar – backing vocals
    Michael Been of The Call – backing vocals
    Robin Clark – vocals
    Sue Hadjopoulos – percussion
    Frank Simms and George Simms of The Simms Brothers Band – backing vocals

Four singles were taken from the album: 

Alive and Kicking

(September 1985 UK No. 7, US #3)

 Sanctify Yourself

(January 1986 UK No. 10, US #14)

 All the Things She Said

(March 1986 UK No. 9, US #28)

Ghostdancing

 (November 1986 UK #13)

One of the things that annoyed me a little with the singles was the fact that the B-Sides on all but All The Things She Said were Instrumentals of the A-Side. Even on All The Things She Said I thought it was poor to have a live version of Don't You Forget About Me on the B-Side. It was a song they were reluctant to record in the first place having turned it down once, this was after Cy Curnin of The Fixx, Bryan Ferry (could you imagine him doing this?) and Billy Idol had all declined it. But encouraged by their American label they promptly recorded it in the space of three hours and forgot about it (no pun intended of course!). The single of course was a #1 hit in the US and reached #7 in the UK. I think they were enouraged to include it on Once Upon A Time but chose not to (I'm glad they didn't, it's not that I don't like the song, I just got sick of hearing it - a bit like The Furs Pretty in Pink!).

Simple Minds - Let the Day Begin NEW VIDEO

Happy Birthday Jim Kerr

Born on this day in 1959

A Little Trip Down Through the years with Simple Minds
Click on the Links to enjoy the music.

Live at Hamburg Docks 03/02/14.
Brazil 12/10/13
T in the Park Scotland 07/07/12.
Broken Glass Park - Thetford Forest 11/06/11.
Hannover 04/06/10.
Busum 22/08/09.
Belfast Child (ft. Sinead O'Connor) - Antwerp 2008.
All The Things She Said - Rome 19/03/06.
Gent 16/09/05.
Liverpool 22/07/03 (Audio).
Amsterdam  03/06/02 (Audio).
She's A River (Italian TV) 01/06/98.
Rockpalast 1997.
The Olympia Paris 31/10/95.
Glasgow Barrowland 13/08/91.
Hockenheim 25/08/90 (Audio).
Cologne 17/06/89.
Rock in Rio 07/01/88 (Audio).
Pleasantly Disturbed - Glasgow Barrowland 14/12/87.
Ibrox Glasgow 07/06/86 (Audio).
Rotterdam 02/12/85.
Irvington New Jersey 27/05/84 (Audio).
Bologna 14/03/83.
Rockpalast Cologne 06/06/82.
The Edge Club Toronto 18/03/81 (Audio).
Holland 23/03/80 (Audio).
Aberdeen University 21/04/79 (Audio).
The Mars Bar, Glasgow 30/07/78 (Audio).
.

Happy Birthday Jim Kerr

Click on the links to enjoy the music.

Alive and Kicking (Live).

Sanctify Yourself/Don't You Forget About Me (Live).

Ghostdancing 12" Mix.

Colours Fly and Catherine Wheel.

Chelsea Girl (Whistle Test).

Live at T in the Park 2012.

Happy Birthday Derek Forbes

Don't You Forget About Me - Simple Minds

London Calling/White Riot - Los Mondo Bongo

Chelsea Girl - ex-Simple Minds

Celtic Rock Festival INEC Killarney 29th-30th July 2011

What an exceptional bill for this festival: Simple Minds, Big Country, Cry Before Dawn and the return of Cactus World News!

Here's a few videos from the show (a big thanks to kennyu272's on You Tube for most of the vids, looks like he had a great view).


Simple Minds


Waterfront



Sanctify Yourself



Up On The Catwalk



Big Country


Restless Natives



Another Country



Last Ship Sails


Cactus World News


New Years Later


Cry Before Dawn

Flags

Gems From My Collection - Simple Minds

My Top Ten Simple Minds Tracks

10. Promised You A Miracle

09 Colours Fly and Catherine Wheel

08 Love Song

07 Life In A Day

06 Speed Your Love To Me

05 See The Lights

04 Ghostdancing

03 Sanctify Yourself

02 Chelsea Girl

01 Alive And Kicking