Early
Gold
Classics from
pre-stadium bore period.
'Uncut' July
2003 (UK)
There are people
who were so disappointed at the Minds' descent
into sub-U2 stadium rock that it has had a
retrospective spoiling effect on even their
best work.
They've partly
atoned for that period, however, and it's
easier now to appreciate again their greatest
years, which saw them wriggle out of their
punk chrysalis ("Chelsea Girl"), lay down
solemn, Euro-funk tracks like "I Travel",
then come magnificently and aurically into
their own with the likes of "Promised You
A Miracle" from New Gold Dream, a teetering
moment of pop promise they could never surpass.
(5 out of
5)
†
Early Gold
Pomp rockers'
early years in pretty good shock
Paul Moody -
'NME' 28th June 2003 (UK)
Hundreds of
years ago, Simple Minds ruled the planet.
While the '80s raged, Jim Kerr leered 'Don't
You Forget About Me' from every transistor
in Christendom, and right-minded music lovers
vowed that one day, they'd do just that.
Twenty years
on it is time for an amnesty. Simple Minds
may have been among the most cringworthy of
the stadium dinosaurs (think a Scottish version
of U2 circa 'The Joshua Tree') but like many
such bands their early stuff was fab.
'Chelsea Girl'
is Bowie on a student loan; 'Promised You
A Miracle' epic tosh to match Bono on mushrooms.
'Life In A Day' even got played at London's
Nag Nag Nag last week, which says it all really.
Scarily good
†
Early Gold
Excellent
compilation of early Simple Minds...
Kevin Maidment
- 'Mysic' (US)
Early Gold is
a showcase for a very different Simple Minds
to the earnest stadium band that had hits
like Alive&Kicking and Belfast Child in the
80s. It focuses on the band's first five albums,
from 1978's Life in a Day to 1982's masterpiece
New Gold Dream. Early Gold betters the earlier
Celebration-collection, as it focuses on the
years 81&82 (even if it does miss off a few
tracks from Celebration- notably Kant Kino
& Kaleidoscope). This compilation shows that
early Simple Minds were something very different-
very individual; like Roxy Music they created
mindblowing music and then drifted towards
MOR. This compilation provides enough evidence
to realise that in post-punk terms they were
as interesting and wonderful as Human League#1,
Japan, Joy Division, Magazine & Wire. Like
many acts (The Cure, Japan) Simple Minds debut
would be flawed- though the two best songs
Chelsea Girl & the title track have been selected
(the former is great). It's very formative,
but producer John Leckie would help them develop.
By 1979, Leckie & the Minds had made a much
more promising album, Real to Reel Cacophony-
from which there are several tracks. Premonotion
is the missing link between Japan and Joy
Division, while Changeling sees them create
an alien electronica- if Gary Numan tried
to play like Chic?
This compilation
really takes off with 1980's I Travel, a cut-up
Trans Europe Express that offers a proto-techno
sound: "Travel round/I travel round/Decadence
& pleasure towns/tragedies, luxuries, statues,
parks, and galleries...". There is also the
robo-funk of Celebrate and one of the highlights
of the source album Empires&Dance, 30 Frames
a Second: bleak-krautrock inflections with
sci-fi time reversal recalling Philip K Dick.
1981 saw Simple
Minds switch producers- Gong's Steve Hillage
(System7, The Orb, The Charlatans) would give
them a more epic soundscape on the albums
Sister Feelings Call and Sons and Fascination.
Here was blended funk with art, kraut and
prog-rock. Just a pity that the three singles
are the only tracks to be culled from them-
Theme for Great Cities is sorely missed, partly
as it has been reconstituted as Radiohead's
recent Where I End & You Begin! The American
still sounds wonderful, even if we're not
quite sure what Kerr's singing about; ditto
Sweat in Bullet- a bizarre funk that suggests
chemical experimentation "rolling & tumbling/ambition
in motion...she's sweating bullets". Love
Song sees a pop sensibility that had been
apparent on I Travel & Room- though here it's
wondeful alien pop that Bowie had been unable
to produce for a few years now: "so well,so
well/I cut my hair/paint my face/break a finger/tell
a lie/so well, so well/America's a boyfriend..."-
this is up there with early Associates for
godlike alien pop...
The final selections
come from 1982's classic New Gold Dream- which
saw original drummer Brian McGee depart and
producer Peter Walsh arranging the songs to
explore their pop potential. This was the
album of perfect pop in the year of perfect
pop that saw such entryist delights as The
Lexicon of Love, Songs to Remember & Sulk
(following 1981, which had seen Dare!, Penthouse&Pavement
and Red Mecca). As Paul Morley noted in the
NME it was now more Post-Abba than post-punk-
New Gold Dream influenced as much by Abba
& Chic as Can & Neu. We get the three singles
and the mindblowing title track "until the
world goes pop!/until the world goes higher"-
the latter's influence is still apparent in
electronic music. Perhaps the latter tracks
point towards the stadium Minds, though the
pop sensibilities dilute the anthemic qualities...
Early Gold is
a pretty definitive primer of Simple Minds
from 1978 to 1982- a good way in for the curious;
though being a fan I'd say everything from
Empires & Dance to New Gold Dream is worth
owning. Many great tracks aren't here- eg
This Fear of Gods, Boys from Brazil, League
of Nations, Room, Wonderful in Young Life,
Hunter & the Hunted etc. Regardless, a budget
priced reminder of what a great futurist band
Simple Minds once were & proof that they were
as great as any band from that sublime era...
(5 out of
5)
†
Early Gold
www.directpopmusic.com
(US)
Simple Minds
are a hugely misunderstood band- whose reputation
as one of THE cult UK bands of the new wave/post-punk
era alongside The Human League, Japan, Joy
Division & Wire is frequently overlooked.
This is largely due to the shift towards stadium
rock with Sparkle in the Rain and then the
success of Don't You/Once Upon a Time, prior
to their commercial high of Street Fighting
Years (1989). Like influence Roxy Music, they
moved from a highly original art-rock band
to a largely popular stadium act who walked
the thin-line between bombast & MOR. This
compilation attempts to address their early
works and provides ample evidence why Early
Simple Minds rank as one of the great acts,
taking in a selection of tracks from Life
in a Day (1978), Real to Reel Cacophony (1979),
Empires&Dance (1980), Sons&Fascination (1981),
Sister Feelings Call (1981) & New Gold Dream
(1982).
The selection
is more or less perfect, an advance on the
earlier 'Early Minds' compilation 'Celebration'-
the two tracks from the debut album are the
best, particularly Chelsea Girl. The debut
is not brilliant, but shows a band that were
open to possibilities. Follow-up Real to Reel...
was much more succesful- though sadly key
tracks like Real to Real, Film Theme & Calling
Your Name are passed over. Still, Premonition,
Factory and the brilliant Changeling show
a band advancing hugely on their debut.
1980's Empires&Dance
would see a label change and the original
Minds-line-up's first complete success (its
cover would also influence the cover to the
Manics'Holy Bible)- the Kerr, Burchill, MacNeil,
Forbes & McGee line-up making a perfect soundtrack
to a world of European travelogue, to the
height of the Cold War in the 80s (Iran-Hostage
Crisis, The invasion of Afghanistan, the after-effects
of Cambodia...)- an album as easily dark as
Joy Division. Though, like Human League#1,
Simple Minds were streets ahead in the electronic
sense- here the robo-funk anthem Celebrate
and pulsing-Kraftwerkesque popsong I Travel
show how ahead of the times they were. Even
better is Thirty Frames a Second, which advances
on those Krautrock influences (Can, Kraftwerk,
Neu!, Bowie-Eno-Pop:Berlin). If Primal Scream
or Radiohead did this now, they would be feted
as the future of music; Simple Minds did this
THEN and show that they're as significant
as early Suicide.
The final releases
from the original SM-line-up were the twin
set Sister Feelings Call & Sons and Fascination;
here they teamed up with ex-Gong (&future
Orb/System7/Charlatans collaborator-producer)
man Steve Hillage- who captures a more free
form peak Minds. Personally I don't feel three
tracks from a possible fifteen is enough-
bizarre that live fave Theme for Great Cities
is passed over, especially as Radiohead appeared
to have covered it as Where I End and You
Begin on their latest Hail to the Thief! So,
we get the brilliant singles Love Song, The
American & the electro-funk of Sweat in Bullet-
all brilliant- but what about songs like 20th
Century Promised Land, Boys from Brazil &
Seeing Out the Angel?
The compilation
is rounded off by career high New Gold Dream
(1982), which saw the departure of McGee (&shortly
after Forbes)& saw the Minds, expertly guided
by Peter Walsh, towards a perfect pop album:
the songs more perfect than the previous soundscapes
of 1981. This release towered above most others
in the year of entryist perfect pop- topping
even Associates'Sulk, ABC's Lexicon of Love
& Scritti Politti's Songs to Remember. The
influence of Abba and Chic is most definitely
present alongside the usual Art, Kraut & Prog
rock. The three singles Glittering Prize,
Someone Somewhere in Summertime & Promised
You a Miracle are all predictably present-
though they are divine and wonderful, even
if they sadly pointed towards the anthemic
Minds that would follow (Promised...got into
Uncut's Top100 Single of all Time a few years
ago). Obviously great tracks from NGD are
left off- Hunter&The Hunted & Somebody Up
There Likes You particularly- it's one of
those classic albums that needs to be owned:
the whole album could be here. But we do get
New Gold Dream (81-82-83-84), which is about
as great an exit point as there could be-
this track has been sampled for several dance
tracks (notably Felix & Utah Saints) and is
decades ahead of its time. As Kerr sang "And
the world went pop!"- sadly only briefly,
but this tops off a brilliant, if slightly
incomplete, primer to early Simple Minds.
Early Gold is a great introduction to this
work, though I'm sure it'll merely lead back
to those brilliant albums. At this price then,
a budget introduction to a band who briefly
had everything and who warrant a place in
music history...
(5 out of
5)
