The Great Jock n Roll Single

Statsbunker · Site Admin 2 Joined: 02 Nov 2006 Posts: 68

Nothing is dividing you Jock N Rollers more than ra Minds. Some of you are voting for the really early stuff. Some of you for the more recent stuff. But loads of you are sending emails saying, in effect: 'this is from when they were really good before...' and it's always a different before. So let's settle this once and for all......

Jocknroll · Posted: Sat Nov 04, 2006 10:05 pm Post subject:

It's interesting to note that some people are putting Simple Minds in their Top 10 Best AND as their Worst Single.

Spotted a Simple Minds compilation called "Early Gold" in FOPP today and it was £7 and I was almost tempted. It covers all the good stuff:

Tracklisting:
1. Life In A Day
2. Chelsea Girl
3. Changeling
4. Factory
5. Premonition
6. I Travel
7. Celebrate
8. Thirty Frames A Second
9. The American
10. Love Song
11. Sweat In A Bullet
12. Promised You A Miracle
13. Glittering Prize
14. Someone Somewhere In Summertime
15. New Gold Dream 81-82-83-84

For many years I thought Simple Minds and U2 were just one band. You could ask any Celtic fan what music they were into and they would say "simplemindsu2" in one breath!! Laughing

For me "Sparkle In The Rain" was passable, everything after that was pompous, overblown, bombastic stadium rock nonsense. And I mean that in the nicest possible way of course.

The Cat
=^..^=
_________________
www.jocknroll.co.uk - The Great Jock 'n' Roll Album - Have You Voted?

the vinyl villain · Level 42 Joined: 03 Nov 2006 Posts: 46

Hey Hey Hey Hey.

A great run of records from Life In A Day through to New Gold Dream. That's the best part of 6 LPs. Sparkle In The Rain had dodgy moments, but was passable. Then came stardom in the States thanks to 'Don't You Forget About Me.' Many of us did. Me included

mccann · 25 Or 6 To 4 Joined: 19 Oct 2006 Posts: 26

I think they lost it around about the 'alive and kicking' period just about the time they lost derek forbes.

Mrs Cat · 7 Nation Army Joined: 26 Oct 2006 Posts: 7

Was Don't You Forget About Me the one with Jim in the big blue suit in the video? That's when it started to go wrong for me I think.......Alive and Kicking got a bit nippy as well when crowds of lads used to jump around to the na na na bit in it if memory serves. It was certainly a far cry from cool shuffling to I Travel. It's a tricky one though because they redeemed themselves with Sanctify Yourself which I quite liked.......Is that wrong? Confused

Mind you the worst of the worst has to be Belfast Child. Just utter preposterous, pompous nonsense. And it spoiled a nice traditional song. If there's any justice it will top the worst Scottish single poll at the end of this caper.......... Evil or Very Mad

Statsbunker · Site Admin 2 Joined: 02 Nov 2006 Posts: 68

k3nnyc · 16 Reasons Joined: 17 Nov 2006 Posts: 16

I think they became pish during Sparkle In The Rain, some genius moments on it but also some dross. Saying that I think they moved back in the right direction with Black and White 050505.....and live they still have it Cool

mishmash · Eleven To Fly Joined: 22 Nov 2006 Posts: 11

Do you really think that's the ultimate question for ra Minds?

Actually the big question is really just for Jim, isn't it?

mishmash · Eleven To Fly Joined: 22 Nov 2006 Posts: 11

Hi

A couple of minor points about SM.

Firstly, I have heard a lengthy complaint from JK about how much he hated DYFAM, they were duped into it by the film company, never wanted it on the album, and were it not for the consequent income, would have been quite happy to disown it entirely.

Secondly, am I right in thinking that New Gold Dream makes more sense as an album if you listen to side 2 first? This of course harks back to the days when track order was an issue that people came to blows about; before CDs with shite graphics, or downloads with none.

Mishmash

Statsbunker · Site Admin 2 Joined: 02 Nov 2006 Posts: 68

Jocknroll · Posted: Thu Nov 23, 2006 9:22 pm Post subject:

mishmash · Eleven To Fly Joined: 22 Nov 2006 Posts: 11

I think it's why they call him MISTER Kerr.

dogmansuede · 3..6..9..Seconds of Light Joined: 27 Apr 2007 Posts: 3

i absolutely love sparkle in the rain....to me it sounds epic, without being mammoth. i think they lost it around the time of once upon a time. it's not a complete horror by any means (i'm quite partial to a bit of "all the things she said"), but compared to the run of stellar efforts before it (see sons and fascination, new gold dream) very much the let down. and the less said about what followed the better.

nothing gets me going in the morning like sparkle though.....

Dil · Posted: Tue May 01, 2007 8:44 am Post subject: Give The Kerr a Bono???

Perhaps the more baffling question in rock history is "how can a once mighty, life-changing, pioneering electro-rock avant garde band fall from grace as spectacularly as SM"??

Its a question many of us die-hard 1978-84 fans still dont have an answer to. It defies all logic yet given Kerr's often times inane and contradictory rants over the years it does point to the dollar sign and fame substituting itself in place of that early period artistic creative urge.

But I hold to the school of thought that says it is indeed the case - as most of their early music journalist supporters like Paul Morley, Ian Cranna, Chris Bohn, Adam Sweeting et al say - of simply having nowhere else to go but down, after the glorious epiphany and perfect New Pop sensibilities found on the singular New God Dream album.

Furhter, ater this high point, Kerr stopped being a dreamer. The cynical and deliberate sell out to the Yankee dollar and the Minds' subsequent demise is indeed one of the sadder stories in our musical lexicon.

Dil