Jim's made a full recovery and is now OK. Last night's Dublin Gig was still scheduled (I'm waiting for some gig reports to show up) and tonights concert will also go ahead.

Simple Minds didn't appear at the Prince's Trust Concert due to Jim becoming ill with food poisoning on Saturday night. How this will affect the Dublin gigs today and tomorrow is currently unknown.

Get well soon Jim.

The concert to be held at Hyde Park in London with weekend will be broadcast by Capital Radio over the Internet. More details can be found here.

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Archives of the Néapolis mailing list are now on-line. They can be viewed at http://www.heydon.org/kevan/mlists/neapolis

The full discography for Néapolis, The Early Years 1977-78 and Real Live 91 is now on-line. Goto the discography section and select Albums or Singles to navigate to these new sections.

All the lyrics for Néapolis are now on-line. These were taken from the Japanese edition of the CD which featured a lyrics sheet. Either navigate to the lyrics section or jump straight to the lyrics from here:

Song For The Tribes
Glitterball
War Babies
Tears Of A Guy
Superman V Supersoul
Lightning
If I Had Wings
Killing Andy Warhol
Androgyny

I picked up a copy of Orgasmaphobia by Then Jerico and found that Mick MacNeil is more involved in the album than previously reported.

He plays keyboards on Never Surrender, Iain Banks and the title track Orgasmaphobia. Special mention goes to Iain Banks - it's an incredibley good instrumental; just Mick's keyboards and author Iain Banks narrating a piece from one of his works. The piece is very dark and eerie.

MacNeil co-wrote the final instrumental Energy with Mark Shaw. The song reminds me of Kick It In - a high powered piece suddendly segues and slows into Hammond organs and keyboard effects.

I was pleasantly surprised with Orgasmaphobia - it's instantly recognisable as Then Jerico. If you liked the band in the late eighties then you'll like this. It's just a pity about the title and the artwork.

The picture of Mick was taken from the Gallery on the enhanced portion of the CD. (Their colour scheme, not mine!)

Then Jerico: Orgasmaphobia available on Eagle Records. (Eagle Records - EAGCD012.)

The first bootleg from the 1998 festival tour has just turned up. Entitled Ice To The Skies (which I think should've been Eyes To The Sky!), this Italian bootleg features recordings from four parts of the Italian tour, and a token Night Of The Proms number.

Ice To The Sky - T. Rex Records TRCD 061 - picture CDR in jewel case with picture insert.

Sonic Studio, Milan, February 18th, 1998

Glitterball

Waterfront

War Babies

Alive And Kicking

Palauer, Rome, February 16, 1998

Glitterball

Belfast Child

Propaganda, Milan, February 18th, 1998

Alive And Kicking

Glitterball

Gloria

Hypnotised

Don't You (Forget About Me)

Night Of The Proms

Alive And Kicking

I don't have any information about the quality of this CD at the moment.

A new Simple Minds sale is featured in the Marketplace. Hermes Carlyon is selling off his collection and the prices are very reasonable.

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Two promotional club 12"s have been issued by Chrysalis in conjunction with the War Babies release. They are:

Club Promotional 12": Chrysalis 12CHSDJ 5088

Theme For Great Cities - Flukes Atlantis Mix

I Travel - Utah Saints Mix

All The Things She Said - Waiwan Mix

Club Promotional 12": Chrysalis 12CHSDJS 5088

Love Song - Ultimate Lobotomy Mix

Up On The Catwalk - Silicon Valley Def Stars Mix

The remixes on the first 12" turned up on the UK CD of War Babies. The remixes on the second 12" currently remain unreleased commercially.

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British tabloid The Sun has announced that Johnny And The Self Abusers will reform for a one-off gig in Glasgow in November - this ties in with the Jim's comments on the official site about his hopes to reform the band. Obviously such a gig would depend on John Milarky, Alan McNeil, Tony Donald and Brian McGee - hopefully it will happen!

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Mick MacNeil, Simple Minds' long missed keyboard player, has reappeared. He's cowritten an instrumental called Energy with Mark Shaw, the frontman of the newly-reformed Then Jerico (although Shaw is the only original member.)

Recorded at Mick's own Mickmac studio in Glasgow, the intrumental is available on the new Then Jerico album Orgasmaphobia available on Eagle Records. (Eagle Records - EAGCD012.)

I've not heard the piece yet, but I've been told that the end of the track is very recognisable as MacNeil's style.

New fanzine section created. All the current fanzines (Travelling Man, Who's Doing The Dreaming Now, Endless River, Le Menti and Mission In Motion) have their pages updated. Full format and subscription information is given on each page.

Plus some updates to the Marketplace section.

Both sections can be accessed here

Who's Doing The Dreaming Now? issue six has now been printed and is being sent to subscribers. This issue features:

The current news
The first Néapolis discography
Bilbao and Glitterball EPK transcription
Cybertheatre Brussels review
VH1 Uncut gig review
The Early Years 1977-78
Summer Festival Tour Dates

Plus an exclusive feature by Jim where he introduces Néapolis and explains the meanings and/or thoughts behind each track.

Full colour cover with many colour and B&W picture within - still 40 pages.

Subscription details can be found in the fanzines section. (Note: the Who's Doing The Dreaming Now? pages have been redesigned - the other fanzines will have their pages bought up-to-date and redesigned in a similar way.)

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The following press announcement was issued for tonights CyberTheatre gig:
Simple Minds "A World Tour In One Night"

ONE OFF LIVE GIG AT THE CYBERTHEATRE, BRUSSELS BROADCAST LIVE OVER THE INTERNET 26TH MAY 1998

Simple Minds live gig from the infamous CyberTheatre in Brussels - broadcast live on the Internet in RealAudio and RealVideo from RealNetworks at 21.30 (CET), Tuesday 26th MAY.

On the 25th February this year Simple Minds launched their website with a live gig broadcast live over the internet from the CyberTheatre in Brussels (http://www.nirvanet.com/live). With only a limited number of streams available 10,000 people watched live, while 500,000 queued around the virtual block waiting for an available stream. For the Q & A session that followed the band were swamped by over 4000 emailed questions, and 1.5 million people visited the site directly after the webcast.

The event was such a success that the band have announced another live performance at the CyberTheatre on 26th May, but this time it will be bigger and better than ever. Titles "WORLD TOUR IN ONE NIGHT", the number of streams will be doubled.

To allow a maximum of fans watching this event, the concert will be broadcast by:
Nirvanet/CyberTheatre at http://www.nirvanet.com/live
Official Simple Minds Website at http://www.simpleminds.com
Broadcast.com at http://www.broadcast.com
NRJ Europe at http://www.nrj.fr

Philippe Brawerman, President and CEO of Global Theatre Network mentioned how pleased he is to see the CyberTheatre being used to its full potential for this launch. The CyberTheater is a high end media center that provides new business and consumer event capabilities. The CyberTheatre's expertise lies in integrating live performance, interactivity and the Internet in the creation and distribution of a message.

The official Simple Minds website at http://www.simpleminds.com realised by Motion Pixels UK is today's Macromedia's shock site of the day. Every Simple Minds release including hard to find albums, singles, imports and other merchandize will be available online during and following the web cast.

The event will be broadcast live via broadcast.com, the leading aggregator and distributor of streaming media programming on the Web. According to Broadcast.com's Julie Smith: "Simple Minds' fan base spans the globe. We are thrilled to be the host of this event and to be able to connect these fans to one another during this very special performance."

Francois Mazoudier, European Marketing Director, RealNetworks concluded: "Using webcasting to launch a new album is an excellent way to reach a truly global and diverse fan base. It gives Simple Minds' fans a chance to experience what's coming out soon and also provides them with an element of interactivity with the band that they wouldn't get through traditional media like radio and TV. We are convinced there will be a large number of bands adopting this model this year - it is just what the fans want."

The performance will start at 21.30 (CET) and will be the first chance to see Simple Minds play live since the release of their new album Neapolis. The set will consist of songs from Neapolis as well as a number of Simple Minds classics. The set will last approximately 45 minutes.

The Simple Minds single War Babies is at radio across Europe NOW.

Those unable to tune in on the night need not despair. The concert will be archived on http://www.nirvanet.com.cybertheatre/archives allowing followers to listen to the new tunes again and again.

More info at: http://www.nirvanet.com/simpleminds
Contact: Rudy De Waele

Special thanks to EMI International, Motion Pixels, RealNetworks, Broadcast.com and NRJ Europe.

GTN (Global Theatre Network) is supported by prestigious partners such as Alias WaveFront, Apple, Axis, Barco, Belgacom, Cisco Systems, Claris, Connections, Connectix, Digital Equipment, EML, Hotel Metropole Brussels, HP, Informix, ImagiNet, Kinnetix, Macromedia, MetaCreations, Netscape, PictureTel, Quattro DMB&B, RealNetworks, RMB, Silicon Graphics Inc.,3 Suisses, St Roch, Technivert, Unisource, Ubisoft, Vartec, Vosaic and Wacom.

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Are Jim and Bono going to buy Celtic?. Following story broke on Sky News and Teletext:

Kerr Bid For Celtic Alive And Kicking

Rocks stars Jim Kerr and Bono are ready to join a bid for control of Celtic when Fergus McCann offloads his £36m, 51% stake in the club next year.

Former Bhoys director Brian Dempsey is the man behind the consortium involving the Simple Minds and U2 singers and Kerr said: "I can confirm I've been in discussion with Mr Dempsey with regard to the future of Celtic."

"It's well-known I love this club and the people who support it."

"I am delighted to support Mr dempsey and others in our attempt to ensure that the ownership of the club goes back to Celtic shareholders and its fans, as Mr Mcann promised it would."

The official fanclub Travelling Man is up and running. Copies of their first fanzine (far right) and the exclusive Real Life live concert CD (right), called Real Live 91 (Mindmood SMFC01), are now being sent to subscribers.

The glossy fanzine includes profiles on Jim, Charlie, Derek and Mel, Glitterball lyrics, competition and more.

The live CD, from an unspecified gig, features eight tracks:
King Is White And In The Crowd (4.20)
Big Sleep (5.18)
Sanctify Yourself (6.10)
Let There Be Love (5.42)
Alive And Kicking (7.07)
Waterfront (5.11)
Ghostrider (4.03)
Belfast Child (9.20)
(And don't trust the timings on the back of the sleeve. They're all incorrect.)

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It was reported in the Daily Mail on Monday, that Keith Richards of The Rolling Stones had recently broken a rib. This has caused their European May gigs to be either postponed or cancelled.

Simple Minds were support for the Zagreb gig on May 28th - it looks like this concert will be affected.

War Babies has been released in the UK. The formats and track listing are :

7" Chrysalis CHS 5088 (shown right)

War Babies (Bascombe Mix) Full length version

I Travel (Utah Saints Mix) Edit

7" in wrap round sleeve.

Cassette Chrysalis TCCHS 5088

War Babies (Bascombe Mix) Full length version

I Travel (Utah Saints Mix) Edit

Cassette with picture sleeve and jewel case.

CD Chrysalis CDCHS 5088

War Babies (Bascombe Mix) Single version

Theme For Great Cities '98 (Fluke's Atlantis Mix)

All The Things She Said (Waiwan Mix)

War Babies (Johnson Somerset Extended Mix)

Enhanced 5" CD with picture sleeve and jewel case. Includes War Babies video.

UK CDs are totally different to their European counterparts. If you want to hear the full Utah Saints mix, or The American by Interference then you'll have to swap with someone in mainland Europe. Similarly European fans will want to track the UK disc down for the mixes by Fluke,Waiwan and Johnson Somerset.

The third and fourth promotional club 12"s have started circulating. The third is rumoured to feature the Fluke,Waiwan and Utah Saints remixes. The fourth features another mix of Love Song and either a mix of Up On The Catwalk or Speed Your Love To Me! Clarification soon.

No definitive reasons have yet surfaced for Simple Minds non-appearance at the Fleadh Festival. But some more information can be found on the NME's web site (check out James Replaces Jim in their news section.) Looks like it was a contractual issue - whatever that means.

Jim will be turning up on the unlikely named Wessels Woelige Wereld as a co-presenter on May 14th (Thursday). Part of The Music Factory being shown in The Netherlands, he will be on your screens from 22:00 to midnight (CET).

The Néapolis Mailing List now runs as two lists - either as a single mail list (where you receive singular mails as soon as someone posts) or as a digest list (where the mails are all packaged up into one.) Current topics have mainly included the need for a digest version of the list.

Details in the Mailing List section.

Simple Minds are not playing the Fleadh festival in the UK. Despite new advertisements for the event, all showing pictures of the band, it was announced yesterday on the UK's teletext service that Simple Minds had been replaced by James.

This was confirmed by a telephone call to the event's information service. No reason has yet been given.

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Interesting developments for the War Babies single.

As reported on April 26th, the new single, already released in Belgium and Italy, featured remixes of The American and I Travel.

The UK release is entirely different.

Released on 7", cassette single and one CD are the following:

All The Things She Said remix by Waiwan

I Travel remix by Utah Saints

Theme For Great Cities remix by Fluke

Plus the CD is enhanced and features the War Babies video!

Some changes to the tour dates section - check them out.

Also some changes to the Simple Minds mailing list. Melissa sent a message to the list explain that due to pressures of work, she was unable to continue.

Therefore a new mailing list, called Neapolis, has started. All New-Gold-Dream list members have been sent resubscription instructions.

Otherwise details of the new list can be found in the Mailing List section

More tour dates. Most significant is the announcement of another Web broadcast from the Cybertheatre in Brussels, and a festival appearance in Holland.

I've updated the Tour section : the current and unconfirmed tour dates are all listed there. Plus another UK tour date!.

Whilst War Babies has been delayed in the UK, it's been released in Europe. CD1 features the new mix of the title track by Dave Bascombe,I Travel remixed by The Utah Saints and The American remixed by Interference. I don't know what's on CD2 yet.

A couple of New Gold Dream digests limped out over this week, but the list is now a month behind. It's usually around this time that I go in and sort it out, get the posting back on a daily basis, and then watch the whole list collapse again in several weeks.

I'm not going to bail it out this time. If the current list is going to die, then let it die.

If I hear nothing in the next week, then I'll start a new list going. The majordomo software is up and ready. It's time Simple Minds had a mailing list again.

A rather different kind of interview with Jim was published in Sunday's Daily Express Sunday suppliment. Jim was asked various questions about his favourite things (Q: What is your favourite piece of art?), some general knowledge questions and then his answers were reviewed to gain insight into his character.

The following was published in Music Weekly. Things are not as bad as they seemed! I don't know when this was published, but it seems fairly recent.

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Artist Profile: Simple Minds

Even before any concert dates have been announced, Simple Minds can already this year claim to have performed live to more than half a million people.

The veteran band achieved that phenomenal figure with just one appearance in February, even though the Belgian venue in question would have struggled to have held several thousand people, let alone a crowd of hundreds of thousands.

As Craig Logan, EMI's vice president of international marketing explains, this launch for the band's first Chrysalis album Néapolis was beamed from the Cyber Theatre in Brussels onto the Internet, encouraging 542,000 people to log on.

In the venue itself, media from around Europe were able to witness the band at first hand, whilst outside a couple of thousand people could view them playing songs from the new album. "It was a huge success" says Logan. "It was a small venue but it has really taken Simple Minds into a new domain." Next month another 250,000 people will be added to their live audience so far this year when they play in St. Peter's Square, Rome, helping to further boost popularity of the album in Italy where it entered at six last week and has already gone gold. Additionally Glitterball, Neapolis' first single, has been a top three hit there.

While in the UK Neapolis has become the first album by the band not to make the Top 10 in more than 15 years, in Switzerland it entered at seven and Germany nine. "There's a fanbase everywhere for them, but maybe their profile has been higher on the continent," says Logan.

The album's next single, War Babies, has just gone to radio stations across Europe and carries with it high record company hopes. "That's the single which is the one we feel shows Simple Minds at their best," says Logan. "It's going to be a big single for us."

Live dates for the band are due to be annouced later this year, while a continued promotional campaign will ensure efforts to reach the band's fanbase to not let up. "We weren't under any illusion we just had to put it out and it was going to happen because it has been some time. It's all about awareness really, letting the fans know there's a new Simple Minds album.

Album gold and top 10 in Italy.
Album new at seven in Switzerland and nine in in Germany
Up to 26 in France
War Babies single sent to European radio.

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Not brilliant by Simple Minds' past standards, but not bad either.

Plus Fila's release of Theme For Great Cities reached number 9 in a Belgian Club Chart back in March!

An update to the tour dates from the 2nd April: The band are confirmed support for The Rolling Stones at the Werchter Festival on the 20th and 21st of June.

And a couple of weeks ago, on the 10th April, TFI Friday was a special Best Of show - repeating items from the last season. Simple Minds appeared - not playing War Babies but actually playing a truncated version of Waterfront, which wasn't broadcast at the time. It's certainly worth trying to track down a copy.

The release date for War Babies has been postponed until May 18th. But single track promotional CDs (shown right), Chrysalis CDCHSDJ 5088, are already circulating. They feature the Single Version of the song, remixed by Dave Bascombe.

Promo videos, again in impressive colour sleeves, are also starting to circulate. The video features Jim and Charlie in South Africa.

On a different note, several people have e-mailed me inquiring after the New Gold Dream e-mailing list. The daily digest has been absent for several weeks now, and list members were wondering if the list had died.

Since then, some digests have filtered out, but they're very old, from almost two weeks ago.

I sent a mail to Melissa, and like many of you, I've received no personal reply. All I've seen is a public posting on the bulletin board on the official site from Melissa, with a 'PS' that the list would be sent last weekend. Obviously this hasn't happened.

Melissa did send a mail to the forum section on the official web site asking if the New Gold Dream mailing list should continue. The guys at Motion Pixels have the updates to the forum, and I'm waiting for the new section to go on-line. But simply, my answer was "Yes - absolutely. Many people rely on that list."

I want the list to continue, all the people who mailed me want the list to continue, and I assume everyone subscribed to the list also want it to continue.

For the list to be useful, and to survive, it's got to be sent out everyday. Hopefully things will change in the near future.

Whispers of more live dates. The band are rumoured to be supporting The Rolling Stones on the 20th and 21st of June at Belgium's Werchter Festival. It's also possible that the band will headline a warm-up gig the day before.

Those looking for the CyberTheater Broadcast can now find it in the archive.

Shown on the right is the colour sleeve for the promotional video of Glitterball.