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

To me, it is their opus. It's their White Album regardless of whether some consider it a double album or not. It takes me on an adventure and it's so original. "Earth" "20th Century" "Angel" "70 Cities" I know NGD has the focus and accessibility, I love SITR for the memories and the music, it was the first album that I was just waiting for, made plans to be at the record store the instant it was available so it remains my favorite although admittedly not their best. Sons takes that title for me.

Check this performance.



This was the band getting its legs back after the dark times, imagine if they didn't have the awesome discography of the albums before the stadium rockers.

 

I'm a massive fan of the band and derek's bass. There is some good bass stuff on SITR but it's buried in the poor mix. Apparently the remaster makes it a bit clearer but I've haven't heard that yet.

I couldn't hear much bass on neapolis though I have to say. I was so looking forward to that considering derek was back for that album. Disappointed.

I've got the new album but yet to give it a listen.

I'd love it if Mick got involved again.

 

There are two, at least, to my knowledge, links to Simple Minds from Tears For Fears.

1) EWTRTW's one note bass line was inspired by Waterfront.
2) Tears For Fears sampled the drum intro from Today I Died Again on their Mother's Talk B-Side Empire Building.

Also, EWTRTW is one of my all time favourites.

 

Theme for Great Cities?

 

For me it's Someone Somewhere In Summertime.

 

Ok, didn't realize those were called that. I have recent case bound Depeche Mode and OMD albums then.

 

Premonition is a great early one. New Sunshine Morning and Home and Stars Will Lead The Way are great late ones.

 

Glad to see I"m not alone in thinking Sons and Fascination is probably their best album. For me, it's one of the most underrated gems of the 80's. Earth That You Walk Upon is so sublime and tribal in its percussion.

Another song that has the 'Earth' vibe is League of Nations, which was somehow criminally left off of the CD I own, forcing me to chase it down elsewhere.

 

If you not have it I can strongly recommend the box set from some years ago.
Great sound!

 

There are several curveballs on those albums; that kind of innovation is missing since 1982 or so. "League"...a funky bass riff, angular keyboards and Jim's mutterings....spooky!

 

thank you, fRa, I did not know that exists.

 

That's actually quite difficult and expensive to track down now, and a couple of the individual cd's eg. Empires & Dance are OOP and also creeping up in price.

Its a great set though, especially the individual discs for Sons and Fascination and Sister Feelings Call.

 

yes, it was a massive tune in clubs in Glasgow when the album came out.

 

Of the post Mick MacNeil albums, imho.

Real Life - is half really good (title track, See The Lights, Let There Be Love, Woman, Rivers of Ice), but reaches some real low points (Traveling Man, Let The Children Speak) that showed they were in trouble.

Good News From The Next World - The nadir of their catalogue to me. The singles, and Great Leap Forward, are the only keepers on a muscular, blustery overproduced album mostly devoid of ideas and melodies. I thought it was the end.

Neapolis is a peculiar and low key rebirth that's very underrated. You can't really hear Derek Forbes' bass though. The few live shows that line-up played are recommended to seek out on audio and video.

Our Secrets Are The Same sounds like demos, but hey, the melodies are back. Sadly it ended up on a box set only.

Cry is light and unambituous and very enjoyable. Title track, Spaceface, New Sunshine Morning and Face In The Sun are great, then the album slips a bit. Not much Charlie involvement, so the band was still in jeopardy.

Black And White was a real return to form that I still enjoy a lot.

Graffiti Soul was slightly weaker but has at least two powerful songs; Stars Will Lead The Way and Light Travels.

Big Music is really good songwise but not so cohesive as an album.

 

Neon Lights is a guilty pleasure

 

I know we're digressing from wbw a bit here but I got into the minds when dyfam came out so once upon a time was the first new release for me. Loved it. Then I waited four long years for the next studio album, SFY, catching up on some back catalogue in the meantime.

SFY blew me away, I loved it, so my anticipation for the next album was very high. Ultimately, and I was gutted that Mick left, I was disappointed with Real Life. Production was poor. A few good songs as mentioned above.

I liked Good News. Cracking album with Charlie on great form but the band as a unit had lost their way a bit. Quite a few session musicians played on it.

Again, cos I'd heard derek was back, anticipation was high for neapolis but apart from war babies I really don't like it; tried several times to get into it.

Lost my way with the band then and didn't even really know about Cry and the Secret album at the time. Barely listened to them since.

However, Black and White, Graffiti Soul, and Big Music are all pretty good.

Too early to say about WBW as I've only heard it once so far.

 

IMO, he's the finest bass player ever............with the exception of Macca and Bernard Edwards but we're not really comparing apples to apples. I agree with every word of your post regarding Derek. Simple Minds lineup changes have been a massive source of frustration for me, I realize it's rare that a band keeps the original lineup but SM has had more than its fair share of movement. When you have the finest modern bass player in the industry, you'd think it would take more than some womanizing to sack him so maybe there's more there. I was hoping for more bass on Neapolis given that Peter Walsh brought it to the front with NGD. All the components were there for a lurch back to relevance and even though I love Neapolis, it obviously didn't help things much.

WBW is very, very good. Not a clunker in there IMO, a very vibrant record. Only bad thing I can say about it is the ridiculously narrow sound stage that actually does exhaust the ears after a while. I played my original Icehouse "Great Southern Land" disc right after and the differences were quite remarkable. Album's worth the investment though, if they went out on this note (I don't want them to of course) they could do much, much worse. This is better than Once Upon A Time IMO, right behind NGD in quality. Even though I've heard the album many, many times..........I can't wait for my super deluxe happy fun pack (complete with locks of Jim and Charlie's hair!) to arrive just so I can relive everything in vinyl and spend quality time with the album the way I used to when vinyl (and to a lesser extent, CD) were the norm. Just not the same with a download.

Cheers!

 

Definitely one of the members of the "my favorite SM song right now" rotation.

 

I was rather unlucky in that I listened to the new Steve Reich, Pulse / Quartet, (DR of 16 or something) before Walk Between Worlds. It was quite a contrast.

 

I'll jump in with my own thoughts on the post-MacNeil albums:

Real Life -I like this one better than most people seem to. The title track is brilliant. As someone else noted, See the Lights is one of SM's best singles. I like the new direction with the keyboards even though MacNeil is absent. The lyrics are cringeworthy but I like how "Let the Children Speak" borrows from Theme for Great Cities. I even like the Theme for Great Cities 91 that was a b-side during this time.

Good News From The Next World - No love for this one at all. The songwriting took a nosedive. If Real Life is a midlife crisis album in a good way, this is a midlife crisis album in the worst possible way. Some of the b-sides from this era (Women and Ghosts) are more interesting.

Neapolis-a welcome return to a "band" sound after the Jim and Charlie show of Good News, and the return of Peter Walsh is welcome, but it doesn't add up to anything too memorable. War Babies is a terrific song though.

Cry-I like this one, they came up with some good melodies. It doesn't really sound like a SM album though, just Jim collaborating with Italian DJs.

Black And White-here's where they start to get their mojo back. This album sounds like a return to atmospheric euro-rock, which SM does well. It probably didn't connect with audiences because it's so far removed from what was happening in the broader world of pop music at the time.

Graffiti Soul-REALLY like this one. Moscow Underground is fantastic and Stars Will Lead the Way is the first hit-single worthy song in a long time. "This is It' is also a great album closer, not counting the two "bonus tracks' tacked on to the end.

Big Music-I understand the criticism that this sounds more like a compilation than an album, but I love it anyway. Some great songs and production on this one!

Walk Between Worlds-still waiting on amazon!

 

Our opinions are not So far of. The exceptions are real Life And Black & White And that's Allright.
Simple Minds For me are The band from My childhood.
I love Sons And Fascination, New Gold Dream, Sparkle And Once Upon A Time. I play them regulary.
Walk between Words grows On me. I think it's great. I certainly like to know what you think of that album.

 

not so far, I think it varies from country to country.
I remember it to come out exactly after a huge revamp in interest in Eighties music, in Europe. They could hint back at the classic formula because it seemed to have a market again. IIRC it sold well, the singles were on heavy rotations and I've seen footage of packed up live shows.
Anyway, I find the album superficially exciting but ultimately pretty shallow. It wore out quickly for me. Dolphins is an absolute highlight though, IMO, why has nobody mentioned it yet?

 

I met derek, and Brian, in a pub in Swindon where they were playing a gig with a band called The Flys. Must've been early 90s but I'm not sure exactly. They signed my Chelsea girl 7" and derek gave me his plectrum

 

I've never managed to figure out why they didn't keep that set in print, I never managed to get a copy at the time and was so annoyed to find it was deleted!

 

Are you talking about X5? If so, it's available from Qobuz in cd quality download (16/44.1) for £27.99.