New Simple Minds album, "Walk Between Worlds", set for release 02/02/2018

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by pghmusiclover, Nov 20, 2017.

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  1. sunking101

    sunking101 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Yorkshire, England
    Oy!:tsk:
    I love Don't You Forget About Me.
    My favourite blast of Minds is the City Of Light live set and I love every single song.
    Just spinning the new album for the first time and it sounds pretty good.:D
     
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  2. godslonelyman

    godslonelyman Forum Resident

    Location:
    Copenhagen
    WBW... Standout track is still Signal and the Noise with its early-Minds textures, though Im warming up to Sense of Discovery - despite the obvious homage to A&K, and despite JKs vocal is pretty shot throughout. Though the delivery of "put you hand on me" is indeed very emotive. As was the case with Big Music, the (studio) bonus tracks are top of the batch; Angel Underneath My Skin is ridiculous catchy - and JK feels rejuvenated. Generally, the retrosynths of fx Signal, Angel, Silent Kiss fits like a (sorely) missed glove. Im still somewhat on the fence regarding the strings sections of the title track and Barrowland Star. Just a little too overpowering, and perhaps unnessessary? The latter track could've been a contender 20 years ago, if they managed to crack Celtic Strings (itself a slighty annoying instrumental), and apply JK vocal stylings of the day. Instead the result is an overblown, nostalgic "loveletter" to a concert hall - curiously without much genuine poignancy, or perhaps the feels just comes across as tacky and way too insisting. Sole hightlight is almost surely CBs solo (sadly undermined by vocals towards the end)
    Just my two bittersweet cents...
     
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  3. DTK

    DTK Forum Resident

    Location:
    Europe
    Jim has lost quite a bit of range. That's what non-smoking and non-drinking does to you? And someone like David Crosby sucked the crack pipe for years and has his range intact.
     
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  4. Havoc

    Havoc Forum Resident

    Location:
    Poland
    LMAO........Crosby lived so hard that his liver divorced him, you know what it takes to have your liver ask for an early out? Jim lives a fairly clean life in his latter years and his voice takes a beatin'...............although I can attest to the band's love of the reefer having seen them behind the Kabuki when I was a wee lad, too young to go in as a matter of fact. I'm thinking it was the power vocals of the 80's and early 90's, I mean....FFS, the singing on Good News alone may alone have been the culprit in killing his voice now.............did he really have to lay it all out there on "And The Band Played On?" Let that be a lesson childrens.
     
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  5. Havoc

    Havoc Forum Resident

    Location:
    Poland
    I think the fingerwagging "OY!" is one of the best things I've seen............anywhere.
     
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  6. Porkpie

    Porkpie Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    Is his singing really that bad these days? That’s too bad.
     
  7. Neonbeam

    Neonbeam All Art Was Once Contemporary

    Location:
    Planet Earth
    No, that's what decades of "Na, nanananaha, nana, na, nanananana, na, naaaah!" do to you :laughup:
     
  8. Porkpie

    Porkpie Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    Did Macartney ever have range though??
     
  9. sunking101

    sunking101 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Yorkshire, England
    Nah. Never understood the hype with Big Music, I think it's one of their worst albums. Their best in the last 30 years?? Street Fighting Years, Real Life, Good News From The Next World, Black & White 050505, Graffiti Soul and Walk Between Worlds are all much much better IMO.
     
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  10. sunking101

    sunking101 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Yorkshire, England
    Back to the new album and I think the non-Deluxe version is the one to go for. I have both and none of the three bonus tracks deserve to be on the album (*and Dirty Old Town absolutely sucks). The album proper finishes with the best song, Sense Of Discovery, and although some complain that it's too short with only eight songs I do think it's a nice length. Far too many albums are overblown nowadays, they outstay their welcome and contain filler.
     
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  11. Havoc

    Havoc Forum Resident

    Location:
    Poland
    What if you considered Big Music more of a singles collection? I think of it in the vain of The Cure's Galore, just round up everything they've been working on over an extended period, fix a few things and release it. Can't you even say you like "Blindfolded" or "Honest Town"? "Spirited Away" is one of the best songs they've done in quite some time. I think the hype came from the long time since Graffiti Soul had been released. I really like the package, I keep reading "overblown" and things like that which I understand......until I just treat it like a compilation, then it makes sense. There's not much of a flow to it and it is long for an album, right after the title track it gets a little labored. I would have put Liaison in there and taken out Human, "Concrete" and Blood Diamonds. That's just me and after all, I'm just some guy on the net looking at a bird.
     
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  12. godslonelyman

    godslonelyman Forum Resident

    Location:
    Copenhagen
    Yeah, its interesting though, GNFTNW was indeed the last album that showcased JKs powerhouse vocals. I remember being somewhat gobsmacked by the subdued (restrained?) vocals on Neapolis just three years later. Sure, there's the odd flare on later albums, Stay Visible comes to mind, but the deep croon becomes ever more dominant. He is clearly trying to adapt to the limited range with various vocal effects; selective word-whispering being quite effective, but also relying heavily on doubletracking.
     
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  13. sunking101

    sunking101 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Yorkshire, England
    Oh sure I like some of the songs but there are a lot that I don't like. The first three do pretty much nothing for me and by that point an album is done. Oh and I hate Blindfolded.:eek:

    ...but I'm one of those weirdos who thinks Good News From The Next World is a five star album.:D
     
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  14. riskylogic

    riskylogic Forum Resident

    Good News is my third favorite SM album after Sparkle and New Gold. As I'm playing the hell out of this one too, this one currently runs at #4, and it definitely reminds me of GNFTNW. The title is echolaic, but it's not just that.
     
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  15. Surly

    Surly Bon Viv-oh-no-he-didn't

    Location:
    Sugar Land, TX
    I finally received my copy of Walk Between Worlds today and my impression after just one listen is that I like it very much! Best thing they've done since Black & White 050505 and I like it even more than that one. I'm going to need a few more listens before I decide where it ranks among all of their album, but yes, I'm quite pleased. The intro to "Summer" has a classic late-period intro, the title track is just great all around, and while the lyrics leave a bit to be desired, I quite like the music for "Barrowland Star." Another song with a great intro, coupled with some solid guitar work by Charlie. The bonus tracks on the casebound edition are well worth the extra expense, too.

    I listened to a few of their other albums these past 2 days in anticipation for the new one. I maintain that Our Secrets Are The Same is among the weakest in their catalogue. Starts out alright but falls apart near the end. Graffiti Soul is pretty good but not as strong as Black & White 050505. The accompanying disc of covers, Searching For The Lost Boys is just that - something to add as a bonus to the album. Decent covers that are OK to listen to, but that was their second album of covers in the '00s and I wish they had just focused more on original songs. I also listened to some random stuff, like the Big Music Live EP, iTunes Live: London Festival '09 EP, the "Legato Remix" of "Rockets" (great version), and the Bascombe Mix of "War Babies" which is almost excellent...except for the MAJOR faux pas of burying Charlie's guitar way down in the mix. The guitar is what makes that song!
     
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  16. DTK

    DTK Forum Resident

    Location:
    Europe
    I wouldn't say it's bad, it's just not the powerhouse baritone it was in the mid 80s/early 90s. The top range is pretty much gone. It's been pretty clear from concert recordings from the last few years.
    It's not a problem on the new album imo, more of a problem on some of the old material in concert. Sarah and Catherine are probably at least partly there to carry some of the vocal weight.
     
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  17. sunking101

    sunking101 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Yorkshire, England
    It's a bit 'trendy' to have all these females innit. Backing vocals fair enough but a female drummer too? It looks strange seeing all these new faces when I look at the album artwork. Still, I like the album. Along with Black & White 050505 and Graffiti Soul it's the best out of the last eight or nine albums since Good News IMO.
     
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  18. Audioresearch

    Audioresearch Forum Resident

    Not a five star album in My opinion But pretty good. Let's Say 4 stars
     
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  19. Colin Allstations

    Colin Allstations Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    Street Fighting Years is one of the worst records ever made.

    The Top Of The Pops performance of She's A River, with Jim Kerr prancing about the Eiffel tower, was similarly wretched.

    As for the new line-up, heaven forfend they actually employ some women. God, the state of this place sometimes.
     
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  20. sunking101

    sunking101 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Yorkshire, England
    Hey I wasn't being sexist. When a band suddenly becomes half female it's kinda engineered don't you think? It doesn't seem like the best applicants just happened to be female but more of a deliberate thing. I have no problem with it, and heck my girlfriend is female.:D
     
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  21. Havoc

    Havoc Forum Resident

    Location:
    Poland
    Given the current climate, when a band's lineup becomes half female, I raise an eyebrow as well. Guess you're not allowed to do that anymore, God forbid you come off as "mansplaining" for just making an observation. God forbid you have an opinion. Charrisse is a fantastic drummer and a seemingly delightful person, if I were Jim and Charlie I might want her around as opposed to the "lately disinterested" Mel as well. I'm very glad you can report your girlfriend is female, in this day and age one can never take things for granted.

    P.S. I've shared this with my wife that I suspect that she and her fellow "femmes" plan on ruling us all, keeping us in a cage in the unused bathtub, keeping us alive with frozen burritos........not for procreation purposes but just for bragging rights. The change in lineup might be a sign............or am I just having some fun? Who knows?
     
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  22. Stuart S

    Stuart S Back Jack

    Location:
    lv

    Shall males invade female groups then? and there will really be no need for gender based bathrooms. We shall all drink from the same fountain and pee in the same toilet. My urinals cease to exist. NOT!!

    Mels uglier but a way better drummer. I prefer him in SM. Without him, im out. :D
     
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  23. Havoc

    Havoc Forum Resident

    Location:
    Poland
    You're blowing my mind dude, it's like contemplating all those galaxies inside of ours. I think it needed to be said, it is odd. This drive towards replacing a large part of your group with women might be completely organic and innocent, or it could be to satisfy certain "requirements" and appeal to this younger generation that has a problem with all male groups from yesteryear. I've heard it said, I've heard it suggested that these "man bands" soften up and get women in there cos they're women. If it wasn't such a dominating conversation, I'd probably not think a thing of it but as our pink pal said, it is trendy. Did the music suffer? No, the album is great if not brilliant. Watch Charrisse's videos and you'll see she can handle any drumming asked of her but as you said, I liked Mel in there. I grew up with him on the throne and to see him puzzled about what's happened isn't all that comforting. He did seem a little disinterested lately, I could be misreading it.

    Who knows WTF went on? They went acoustic, maybe Mel didn't want to be a part of it and maybe Jim and Charlie liked the chemistry of that touring band. My cousin went to see them at a promo event in Glasgow and said Charisse was one of the nicest people she's ever met in her life, maybe that is what did it.

    All that said, I wish Brian had never left. He is my Sun and he is my Fascination. Mel's great too.

    BTW, they're coming for your urinals, and your cats.............should you have any.
     
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  24. sunking101

    sunking101 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Yorkshire, England
    I wasn't being misogynistic. Half the band has suddenly become female and I was just saying that Kerr and Burchill must have made a conscious decision to make it that way. My question was is this for fashion/trend purposes? Is it more 'hip' to have female band members? Might it get the band more fans? I think it's a reasonable observation when one opens the album and sees the band photo...surely we can pass comment?:shh:
     
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  25. Stuart S

    Stuart S Back Jack

    Location:
    lv
    They should tour with Britney Spears. Then maybe I'll buy tickets. If I want to see female artists, theres plenty.
     
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