The Floating World Tour, Interviews
I've already been to see the Minds at Birmingham, and will be travelling to Brighton, Bournemouth and the second night at the Royal Albert Hall. So far I've met a few readers of this site - I hope to meet more of you in the coming few days.
The band continue to surprise. Big Sleep made a welcome return at Newcastle, but the one everyone was talking about was Dead Vandals, the B-side of the Abusers single, the first song Jim and Charlie wrote together.
By the second night in Manchester, Book Of Brilliant Things and Life In A Day appeared on the set list, whilst Oh Jungleland made the encore at Nottingham.
The Intro tape sounds like a cycle of the opening rippling synths of Fluke's remix of Theme For Great Cities (which appears on the back of the UK CD of War Babies). Perhaps it should be called Fluke Loop!.
Review in the Sunday Herald.
Set lists are being collected on the tour page.
The Floating World Tour, Competition
Today is 20th April 2002. You are in NEWCASTLE, CITY HALL..
Please send in the set list!
GLASGOW, CLYDE AUDITORIUM
18th April, 2002
Main Set: New Gold Dream (81,82,83,84) 
Encore: I Travel 
Changeling 
Glittering Prize Up On The Catwalk 
Don't You (Forget About Me) 
One Step Closer 
Encore: Let There Be Love 
Speed Your Love To Me Sanctify Yourself 
The American 
Alive And Kicking Love Song 
See The Lights Space 
Ghostdancing She's A River 
New Sunshine Morning This Is Your Land 
Someone Somewhere (In Summertime) Belfast Child/ Waterfront
Glasgow 17/04/02
Glasgow 17/04/02
The band are opening with a new intro track. This instrumental is like static electricity with some throbbing bassy hum and goes on for about 5 minutes. There's some instrumentation with a similar but murky production (sounds like a Neapolis out-take.).
Ghostdancing is reverting to its Live In The City Of Light guise. Jim's starting to ad-lib, with the 'car pulled up' section now mentioning meeting Elvis in heaven.
Jim also does a brief Elvis impression during She's A River (as seen on the VH1 Uncut show).
The high kicks were back at the first night at Glasgow.
The band's getting tighter.
Jim started mistakenly singing Ghostdancing lyrics to I Travel. He acknowledged his mistake (under his breath) with a rather sheepish grin.
Billy Sloan was backstage at the Glasgow gig.
Bruce Findlay was spotted at the Edinburgh gig in the coffee bar. A guy with a pass came up to him: "Good evening Mr Findlay, the boy's were wondering if you are coming back stage for a drink after the show." To which Bruce replied "Of course".
Note that the date for the Taormina concert is the 26th (not the 27th as previously stated).
Next week, there's a competition on RTL2 (French radio). Each morning, between 9 and 12 o'clock, you could win places for the Olympia concert in Paris on the 21st May.
The Floating World Tour
Today is 19th April 2002. Day Off/Travel
GLASGOW, CLYDE AUDITORIUM
17th April, 2002
Main Set: New Gold Dream (81,82,83,84) Encore: She's A River Up On The Catwalk New Sunshine Morning One Step Closer Don't You (Forget About Me) Spaceface Encore: Let There Be Love Speed Your Love To Me Sanctify Yourself The American Alive And Kicking Love Song See The Lights Face In The Sun Ghostdancing Space Glittering Prize This Is Your Land Someone Somewhere (In Summertime) Belfast Child/ Waterfront
Glasgow 17/04/02
Glasgow 17/04/02
To order tickets for Taormina from www.Ticketone.it:
1. On the main page, look for a banner that has "TAORMINA ARTE 2002" written in it and click it.
2. On the following page under the words Simple Minds click on the underlined "Taormina, dal 6 al 30 luglio".
3. On the following page, down on the left, you will see: "26-07-2002 Taormina - Teatro Antico 21:30" and click on it.
4. On the right, you will see: "acquista on line con TicketOne - Buy on line". Click on the mouse icon.
5. On the following page, check the British flag and click it. The rest of the site is in English.
The Floating World Tour
Today is 18th April 2002. You are in GLASGOW, CLYDE AUDITORIUM.
Please send in the set list!
EDINBURGH, USHER HALL
16th April, 2002
Main Set: New Gold Dream (81,82,83,84) Encore: She's A River Up On The Catwalk Cry One Step Closer Don't You (Forget About Me) Spaceface Encore: Let There Be Love Speed Your Love To Me Sanctify Yourself The American Alive And Kicking Love Song See The Lights Face In The Sun Ghostdancing Hypnotised Glittering Prize This Is Your Land Someone Somewhere (In Summertime) Belfast Child/ Waterfront
The final show of the tour, and to be recorded for a DVD release, is Taormina on the 27th July. 
This show is part of the Taormina Arte 2002 festival.
Tickets can now be purchased from www.Ticketone.it.
Aberdeen Music Hall
"Once upon a time………."Simple Minds have been around for aeons now, but from once contesting the rock/pop thrown with a certain very famous and successful irish rock quartet in the 80's, their presence since has been almost non-existant. Sort of like a once top international striker getting on a bit, not quite retiring, but through a love of the game, playing now as an icon in some 3rd division league side. There are moments of genius, but never witnessed by anyone other than the local following. These players, often perceived as past their best, sometimes create the old magic, and for one short burst, we are reminded of how truly great they once were.
Simple Minds have released 3 studio albums, 1 covers album and 2 greatest hits packages in the 90's. None of these to any great critical acclaim, and with falling sales, it seems like the fans, press and record companies have all moved on, with the band being left behind to ponder where it all went wrong. It does feel like a lifetime ago we attended massive open-air stadium gigs with the MINDS, in pole position, where no band could touch them. The live gigs were truly a sense of occasion long before Madchester(sic), Seattle, Brit-Pop, and Pop Idols!. Yes, it does seem like a lifetime ago.
One thing about Jim Kerr, he's never dwelled on past glories and, as a music lover, never seems to give up having a go. The boots have not been hung up just yet. A new album Cry appears to be a quite refreshing return to form, and it appears this old player has been working extremely hard. The signs are good, a small but loyal band of followers are talking extremely positively, and one wonders what kind of performance can be delivered on the night.
This is the first date in an extensive world tour. This time it's not stadiums in the summertime, but mid-sized music halls, and a typically chilly and drizzly spring evening in Aberdeen. The hall is full and with quite a subdued atmosphere, as a mixed and varied crowd chat idally.
All at once the opening strains of an old familiar intro roars from the speakers. The crowd appear upbeat, with mixed expressions of bewilderment and happy smiles, apparent from both the young and…well, slightly older. Dark sillhouettes take to the stage to the sound of wild screams and whistles, lifting a few decibles higher as the very casual yet confident stride of Jim Kerr is seen making an entrance. The lights go up. "Well hello Aberdeen…you okay? This is New Gold Dream". A few hairs on the back of the neck raise uncontrollably, as contorted melodies ooze, twist and turn around a thunderous, rythmic pulse. This track is 20 years old.
The song draws to a close, and I can hear excited voices around me as the crowd roar their approval. The buzz is tremendous, just as a deep electric guitar riff literally cuts my kidneys in half and tears my heart apart. This is more rock based, New sunshine morning, from the new album and a laid back swirl of edgy guitar orientated momentum....until the coda, the band die and kerrs' vocal takes over the hall, "much of the story's been told, can you sympathise?, seems like a lifetime ago…" as if contemplating their own career, I get the feeling Kerr knows what others, including myself, had been thinking! But it is a new sunshine morning, a new beginning with something new to say - and its bloody Marvellous! So far, I am witnessing a coherent, fresh and re-charged Simple Minds. No pomp or bluster, but waves and walls of gorgeous sound. The high kicks and bellowing have gone, replaced with slight of hand and concentrated vocal. The band, likewise are projecting a certain coolness, albeit, this is the very first gig, and without being over-critical, there is much room for improvement. There are sometimes awkward moments for Kerr waiting for the band, at one point Kerr asks the audience "Are you ready?" to receive a great thirsty roar from the eager crowd. Laughing, he then turns to the band asking them the same question. These are minor technical hitches to be expected early days, but these didn't really detract from the show when smoothed over by an experienced front-man with a sense of humour and acute sense of timing.
Loud and vibrant, and after a symphonic, almost orchestral intro, a drum roll kick-starts and energises a pulsating, melodic track reminiscent of their better early 80's work. Its joyous, upbeat and fills the hall with a full breath of sound. Kerrs' vocal has matured into a strong, effortless croon, and floats above this distinctly rocky electro groove. Again, a new piece One step closer with simple and effective lyrics, set within a dreamy soundscape. Quite simply, this is majestic and the band appears a tight, focussed unit. Kerr is wearing a dark tailored cut trouser and white designer full zip shirt, with long collar and wide sleeves. He looks slim, healthy and slightly elegant. The band then break into some of their established classics which sound raw and edgy, yet fully dynamic. Speed your love, The American, Love song, Catwalk - and the crowd are really taking this on the chin. Love song in particular fizzing and burning with tidal waves of power.
Some of the 90's output has been re-arranged quite effectively with a very subdued, almost minimalist mix. It tends to work quite well. Songs like See the lights, War Babies and This is your land all benefit from this greatly. Mid-set however, and a guitar change from Charlie Burchill sees an outstanding Ghostdancing launched if not hurled at the crowd. Fantastic! Works really well as did the song Sanctify Yourself from the same album. The versions of Face in the sun and Disconnected from Cry are almost as per the album cut, but the production values are different. The former lying exposed, with kerrs voice resonating around the hall in a deep throaty drawl, the latter thumping with bass and reinforcing the rythmic drive.
The songs tend to be short arrangements however, very similar to the vinyl cuts. Maybe to pack all 25 numbers into a two hour set, the neat, sharp arrangements moving quickly from one to the next. A case in point would be the edited version of Belfast Child, where midway through the song, the chords change and the familiar vibrating throb of Waterfront is delivered to an ecstatic throng of heaving bodies. The acoustics at Aberdeen Music Hall are well known for being particularly poor. Not tonight! Each song filling the hall right up to an equally joyous balcony way up in the heavens. A closure to the set, the song dies away and the crowd plead for more. This is a real tease for the crowd. This song has traditionally been an opening number, signalling the start of an almost endless hail of sharp bullets of sound. Tonight, the band won't get out of here alive, and finally return to the stage for a final salvo launch.
With six numbers for encore, a surprise introduction of Space from a lost never released album, Our secrets are the same glides effortlessly. Although heavily bootlegged by fans all over the world, it appears to be completely alien to this house tonight. It's a crying shame that this may never be officially released, because it one of the best simple minds' penned tunes in years. Truly beautiful and very well received. The set closes with Alive & Kicking, and by this stage its all over, with the band disappearing into the darkness. This has been a remarkable opening show for a band, who have not toured seriously for a number of years. They return triumphantly, a little older, a little wiser and proving still ever capable of producing great music, and that old live magic. They have delivered a sterling performance, and as this tour is taken around Europe and the States, many will be reminded of how great they truly are now - and not once upon a time!
Review by "Oceanic"
Peter Carlin, Dundee, Scotland. April 15th 2002
The full set list for Aberdeen has been added below.
Most of the songs are appearing in album form.
Belfast Child is edited and merges into Waterfront. This was the subject of much rehearsing during the Edinburgh soundcheck.
The Edinburgh set list is deliberately shorter than the Aberdeen set list - perhaps they overran on the first night?
Henrik Larsson's name has been added to the list of names in Up On The Catwalk.
New Gold Dream features the numbers "Zero One", "Zero Two", "Zero Three", "Zero Four". (Jim also changed the numbers for the Gold Dreamer recording.)
The band play for just over two hours.
Mark Kerr was spotted at the mixing desk at Edinburgh.
There are two types of T-shirts: one is navy blue with Simple Minds and Claddagh on the front with the tour dates on the back, whilst the other is grey with blue sleeves but no dates. There is a lycra type T-shirt for the ladies. Tour programs cost £8 whilst mugs cost £6.
The Floating World Tour, Press
Today is 17th April 2002. You are in GLASGOW, CLYDE AUDITORIUM.
Please send in the set list!
It's very frustrating that no-one has been able to produce the definitive set-list from the first night of The Floating World Tour. The list above is the most accurate, but misses out several Cry tracks which were played between New Gold Dream and Speed Your Love To Me.
The support in the UK is a Liverpudlian band called The Real People. Well established with nine years of history, they're definitely worth checking out.
There's full merchandise including T-shirts (Claddagh on the front and tour dates on the back), base-ball caps, fleeces and a glossy tour programme.
The tour listing is now pretty much complete. New York, USA (24/06/02) and Taormina, Sicily (27/06/02) have been added.
Another on-line interview with Jim can be found on the www.studiobrussel.be website. Follow the links for 'scan', and then 'popnews'.
Tour, Monster, Remix Album, Cry Single
Today is 16th April 2002. You are in EDINBURGH, USHER HALL.
Please send in the set list!
Monster by Liquid People has now been accepted for release by Simple Minds and will be released on Defected Records as Liquid People v. Simple Minds. All parts have been played by Liquid People and no samples have been used.
Liquid People have also agreed to remix the next Simple Minds single.
There's a forthcoming album of Simple Minds remixes in the pipeline. This will include Monster, but no more information is known at this time.
The new version of the Cry Single, a German slimlined jewelcase varient of the 'silver' edition, has been confirmed as featuring Cry, For What It's Worth and The Garden. No 'bronze' versions have turned up however.
Tour, Billy Sloan Special, Live DVD, Mick MacNeil, Press, Best Of SACD
Today is 15th April 2002. You are in ABERDEEN, MUSIC HALL.
Please send in the set list!
The Billy Sloan Special last night was an absolute blast. The whole two and a half hours (which was extended from two) were devoted to Simple Minds with Billy playing his favourite Simple Minds numbers, Jim selecting the non Simple Minds cuts, extended interviews, e-mail questions from people on the list, and the first (and only) play of a three track session CD, pre-recorded by Simple Minds.Produced by Gordon Goudie and Kevin Burliegh, the sessions were:
Here's the playlist for the show. It reminded me of my days of listening to Anne Nightingale on Radio One in the 1980s on a Sunday night - one great song after another.
- 1. New Sunshine Morning [Acoustic Version]
- Stripped down and bare, opened by harmonica, a beautiful and soulful version of one of the favourites from the Cry album.
- 2. She Moved Through The Fair [Acoustic Version]
- Nothing like their performances with Alan Stivell in the mid 1990s, the song was stripped down and given an electronic heartbeat. Néapolis style and effects. Old song in modern guise.
- 3. Freedom Angel [Acoustic Version]
- Written during the Cry sessions in Taormina, Sicily, this slow new song was characteristed by strong female backing vocals.
1. One Step Closer
2. Spaceface
3. Book Of Brilliant Things [Live] (from Live In The City Of Light).
4. Changeling
5. Space
6. New Sunshine Morning [Acoustic]
7. Speed Your Love To Me
8. Don't You Forget About Me by Billy Idol
9. Homosapien [with promo introduction]
10. She Moved Through The Fair [Acoustic]
11. Face In The Sun
12. Elected by Alice Cooper
13. When Doves Cry by Patti Smith
14. Deliverance by Regency Buck
15. The Light Pours Out Of Me by Magazine
16. Soul Love by David Bowie
17. Gasoline Alley by Rod Stewart
18. Dead Vandals
19. Freedom Angel [Acoustic]
20. Next by Alex Harvey
21. Public Image Limited by PIL.Highlights during the discussions with Jim included:
- The band's excited and looking forward to the tour. They have rehearsed 40 songs, out of which they will pick 25 each night. Fans going to several shows should enjoy varied set-lists. Jim's been listening to the old bootlegs of the band. This is the start of a new live momentum for Simple Minds.
- Charlie's been chained to his new amp. Eddie Duffy's a Simple Minds fan, ten years younger than Jim and Charlie. Comes from the same street in Toryglen.
- Changeling and Speed Your Love To Me are both part of the 40 songs.
- Jim remembered writing Changeling at EMI Publishing with Charlie and Mick MacNeil on a four track. He recalled it was the first song they wrote with Mick. (Note: this contradicts John Leckie's comments that when they entered the studio to record Real To Real Cacophony, Derek Forbes had the Changeling riff.)
- Jim mentioned that if EMI were really behind Our Secrets Are The Same, they'd have got it out. This was despite an international meeting where it got the thumbs up, and was labeled 'great'. He called Jordi the "Spanish Billy Sloan", and said "good on him" for playing it. Jim also mentioned that after it leaked onto the Internet, no record company would touch it. The discussion finished on a romantic note - that all the greats had a 'lost album'.
- Space is a Kevin Hunter ballad.
- Jim regretted taking so long to do a covers album. He feels there's a stigma about them at the moment. But if John Lennon did covers, then they were good enough for him. Neon Lights was seen as a great way to get working again, as a no pressure project.
- After the new version of She Moved Through The Fair, Jim mentioned that if rock music's got a future, it's because you can take different things and mix them up to create new music. They went back to the original folk song and gave it a new context. He mused about the possibility of Simple Minds doing a stripped down album - not purely acoustic, but sparse, electronic music.
- Charlie Burchill and Mark Kerr have formed a great songwriting partnership. Mark spent two weeks writing songs with Charlie in Dublin - these songs will form the basis of the next Simple Minds album.
- Jim's mother wouldn't let him see Alice Cooper.
- Simple Minds won't tour Australia or South America this tour. This is beacuse they get offered tour dates from promoters, and don't choose themselves. But, as Jim mentioned, people will be keeping a close eye on how this tour goes, and so dates in these countries are a possibility for subsequent tours.
- Jim recalled scrapping together £60 to record Dead Vandals and Saints And Sinners. The single was supposed to be a double A-side. Dead Vandals was their New York Dolls song. If Billy had played Dead Vandals ten years ago, Jim would've killed him!
- Half of the Cry songs were written in Sicily. Some were left over (such as Freedom Angel) and will be used for the new album.
A great show. There was far, far more, but those are my highlights.
Business discussions have been taking place last week about the possibility of recording a DVD for this tour. Jim mentioned that they were looking at playing at the amphitheatre, Taormina, Sicily for the filming.
It's been reported in the Italian press that Mick MacNeil will be rejoining Simple Minds. Why this rumour has surfaced now, on the eve of their tour, is unknown.
I can't confirm this but I'm just passing the rumour on. However, I would suspect that if he's involved, he'll be part of the collective: perhaps donating songs and working on arrangements with the dynamic cast of Simple Minds: Jim Kerr, Charlie Burchill, Kevin Hunter, Gordon Goudie, Mark Kerr, Maggiorana, Tignino and Pat Lego.
This is just my take on it.
Jim was interviewed by the Belgian frenchspeaking magazine Telemoustique last week.
The Best Of Super Audio CD features an additional mistake. Mandela Day, when displayed on the player's LED display, is written as 'Mandela Bay'.
The song also caused problems for the Japanese compilers of 81-95 DJ Copy who labeled it 'Mandera Day'.
Cry Album, Cry Single, Best Of Album, Tour, Cry Lyrics, Promote Cry, Spanish TV Appearance, Competitions, Press, Secrets CD Quality, Remixes
Cry Reviews
A favourable on-line review of the album in Dutch can be found here. It's taken from La Dernière Heure ("The Last News"), a popular tabloid.
After a lengthy hiatus, Simple Minds swagger confidently back on to the scene with Cry, their first collection of all new songs in almost four years. Recorded in Sicily and Glasgow, the album is described by frontman Jim Kerr as 'a vast departure in sound from the mid-eighties, bombastic, let's say stadium rock, Simple Minds'. Merging modern recording technology with a sound first explored on early albums such as Real To Real Cacophony, Empires And Dance and Sons And Fascination, Cry looks set to both delight longtime fans and introduce the band to a whole new audience.hmv.co.uk
Thanks for the kind words on your website in relation to my review of "Cry" on amazon.I enjoyed the album. It has its shortcomings, of course, (like most records) but judged in isolation and entirely on its own merits I found it a very pleasant surprise.
Great website, by the way. When reviewing Simple Minds - which I've done on two or three occasions - I always drop by to make sure I've got all the facts right. Opinions are flexible, facts aren't!
Kevin Maidment
amazon.co.uk
Nineteen-eighty-two, the year of Simple Minds' sixth and best album, was one of the greatest in music history. There was a thriving Club Culture, fed by the subversive narcissism of the new romantics, and across the water an explosion of synth-funk innovation, from Larry Levan's The Peech Boys to Afrika Bambaataa, all of which fed the sensibilities of popist introverts New Order and Scritti Politti. The year also saw ABC's The Lexicon Of Love, The Associates' Sulk and, the third in that great trilogy of impossibly romantic, untoppable new-pop albums, Simple Minds' New Gold Dream (81-82-83-84).
Classic Albums Revisited
David Stubbs commends New Gold Dream
From their raucous beginnings as Johnny And The Self Abusers, Simple Minds had been urged to refinement and a sense of the epic by a love of groups like Chic, but also by Eno, Roxy Music, Neu! and La Dusseldorf. They swiftly rejected the glum and parochial chrysalis of punk in order to find a sound that straddled the biggest and best of America and Europe: cinematic, transcendental, the stuff of distant dreams rather than gloomy quotidian realities - and if that sounds 'apoliticaI', remember this is the sort of ' politics' pop is very often, most effective at.
With Empires And Dance (1980), featuring I Travel, it was clear that Simple Minds had listened to the right German groups, watched the right European movies, read the right texts as they inter-railed across the continents. As brilliant a musical transcription of their experiences as it is - check the slide projection effects of 30 Frames A Second - you can make out the joins of their influences.
With the follow-up albums, 1981's simultaneously released Sons and Fascination and Sister Feelings Call, Simple Minds broke another punk taboo. Not only did Jim Kerr talk in interviews of his love of Genesis (circa The Lamb Lies down On Broadway) but they hired Steve Hillage, the ultimate prog hippie, as producer. For those more interested in the credible than the incredible, this was heresy. Kerr's pomp baritone, meanwhile, bristled with vaulting, epic ambition. But so it might With tracks like The American, Theme For Great Cities and Seeing Out The Angel, Simple Minds were on the point of achieving a unique synthesis of pop, prog, punk, funk and avant-garde.
Come New Gold Dream and Simple Minds enjoyed critical worship and every prospect of a vast, dawning fan base. If they wanted to take over the world, there were plenty willing to hold Kerr's coat: "Anything is possible... ", Indeed.
For the cover art, the Minds eschewed the oblique modernist tendencies of previous sleeves for a typeface and aura suggestive of some rekindled mediaeval mysticism. Had the contents been less than brilliant, more impertinent attention might have been paid to this conceit.
As it was, New Gold Dream glistened like a grail from its opening chimes. On Someone Somewhere In Summertime, Michael MacNeil's keyboards are reminiscent of Abba's Dancing Queen (according to a mischievous Paul Morley, the best new music was "post-Abba rather than post-punk") as Kerr hints at a shimmering and elusive fictional or authentically imagined state of environmental ecstasy: "Moments burn, slow burning golden nights, Once more see city lights... ". Colours Fly And Catherine Wheel equally twists and flickers and falters - grammar and sequence collapse to great effect. "Great times attack inexpensive thrills... Catch a boy Fell Falling FalI in love FelI Falling... " In conjunction with the intricate interplay between MacNeil's keyboards and guitarist Charlie Burchill, there's a perfect, dazzling sense about these non sequiturs.
Promised You A Miracle, which became the band's first hit single, makes what has come before it seem like small fireworks. "Promises, promises as golden days break wondering ." What's so great about this track, and indeed Big Sleep, isn't just its combination of stinging riff with delicate mosaic musical colouring, but its subtle rhythmical patterns, which are a feature of the whole album. There's no programming on New Gold Dream (though credit must surely go to producer, arranger and engineer Peter Walsh). Instead, three drummers were used Mike Ogletree, Mel Gaynor, and, on Promised You A Miracle, former Skids drummer Kenny Hyslop. Interwoven with Derek Forbes' busy, funkified bass, the rhythms never tumble to 4/4 earth, seeming to dance and shape-shift in mid-air, like the aurora borealis.
Following Somebody Up There Likes You, a golden, dawn-breaking instrumental follow-up to Theme For Great Cities, which was generally the opener for their gigs around this time, comes the title track, in which all of the pent-up energy of the album is finally unleashed with full-on locomotive optimism, a sort of celestial bullet train. "Crashing beats and fantasy, setting sun in front of me" - it's as close to anthemic as the album gets, a chant for the New Pop Class of 1982 who didn't know that Howard Jones and Nik Kershaw, were around the next corner.
Glittering Prize teeters gracefully, a stately but snowblinding display of the jumbled motifs on New Gold Dream - clear skies, dreams, romantic moments that are both perfect but transient and uncertain. It's these last qualities that distinguish Simple Minds from U2, whose open-air, sanguine tendencies, while bracing, lack intricacy or nuance.
With Hunter And The Hunted, the album begins to draw to a close and cast long shadows. "Kyoto in the snow but Heaven's far away," sighs Kerr, who even alludes to "the side effects of cruising at the speed of life/ The side effects of living in temptation," as if aware of the impending mortality of the moment captured on the album. Yet in the autumn of its 40-odd-minute life, it seems more beautiful than its springtime promise, as encapsulated in guest player Herbie Hancock's magnificent, meandering solo - kudos to the lateral thinker who got him on board.
Finally, there's the oblique and inconclusive King Is White And In The Crowd, with its surreal mix of Simple Minds' influences, from Eno to Abba to Krautrock, and the sense that the much-vaunted concept of perfect pop is both fleeting and fragile - or 'powerful and transient'. MacNeil's decaying synth tones, the measured rhythmical pace and BurchiII's firefly guitars all amount to a dignified fade-out into the dying light, leaving questions and ambiguities still hanging in the dark, electric air.
After New Gold Dream, Simple Minds gigged incessantly and became addicted to stadium crowds. The Steve Lillywhite produced Sparkle In The Rain (1984) had its moments, but after 1985's Don't You (Forget About Me), a song not written by them but for the film The Breakfast Club (it had already been rejected by Bryan Ferry), the Minds' golden sound lapsed into turgid, leaden parody. The political consciousness of Belfast Child (1989) and Amnesty campaigning did them moral credit but seemed only to lend a pious starch to their sound.
In a sense, though, the decline that followed New Gold Dream was the point. New pop was only ever a glimpse, not a sustainable proposition - a break in the clouds, a shaft of sun. The moment may have passed but, 20 years on, New Gold Dream sounds as pristine and out of time as when it was first released.
David Stubbs
Uncut Magazine
May issue
As their appeal becomes more selective, the Minds move away from stadium rock Simple Minds' commercial decline in the mid-Nineties was as precipitous as their critical decline in the mid-Eighties. They're still hang-gliding in there, however, with this, their 17th album. Jim Kerr describes the Minds as a "state of mind", and certainly, on the title track and single, there's a lingering sense of soaring across mental and emotional landscapes that reminds that this group were spiritual forerunners to The Verve. Kerr and guitarist Charlie Burchill have attempted to rejuvenate their sound with the help of Italian electronica merchants Planet Funk, most effectively on the Orb-esque One Step Closer. Overall, however, while it's heartening that Simple Minds have abandoned their windier stadium rock tendencies, this lacks the magisterial lightness of a New Gold Dream or Sons And Fascination. (3/5) 
David Stubbs
Uncut Magazine
May issueCry entered the UK chart at number 80. A very disappointing position. However, the tour will probably drum up further interest.
And there are some other, let's say "less honest", methods of promotion:
"I was in a WHSmiths today -- I picked up the copies they had at no 83 and put them over the No 3 slot.
It's made me feel a lot better and will confuse the shite out of some people -- I reccomend this to the list :))"
Paul Hewlett
The limited edition versions were available first. These feature a special edition of the album, which includes the Cry video, packaged in a digipak sleeve and presented in a slip case.
Yahoo! Groups mailing listI saw a press release where the number of limited edition packages was limited to 5000. After many mails on the subject, it looks more likely that 5000 copies were issued to each European country.
A little more information can be found the discography section.
As for a US release, various dates have been proposed from mid-April, or mid-June. The later is more likely as it will coincide with the tour.
Another format of the Cry single has surfaced. Found in Germany, this three track CD features the 'silver' artwork in a slimline jewel case. (Catalogue number: Eagle EAGLX218). More information as it comes in.
The long promised Best Of Super Audio CD has finally arrived. It was released on the 1st April.
There is no mistaking it in the sales racks. The jewel case has rounded corners and "Super Audio CD" is printed on the spine artwork (where the originals have "Digitally Remastered"). Less obvious are the crisper song titles on the back artwork. Unfortunately, no corrections have been made to the sleeve notes.
Super Audio CDs will play on standard CD players. But "for an unforgettable audio experience, you've really got to hear it on a new Super Audio CD player." The full technical blurb is here.
The songs included are the same as the standard Best Of: so you'll get unique versions of Let There Be Love, Real Life, Hypnotised and War Babies.
Promotional copies have small blue stickers and are missing one of the discs.
Simple Minds wish to alert all fans to the fact that stolen tickets are currently being circulated by touts, primarily for the Glasgow and London gigs. These tickets are invalid and anyone attempting to enter the venues using them will be turned away. In order to avoid disappointment, and to thwart the touts, Simple Minds urge all fans to buy their tickets from recognised official vendors and outlets.
The tour starts tomorrow in Aberdeen. But dates are still filtering out.
One is a rumour of a concert in Taormina, Sicily, near the end of the tour.
However, there's now confirmation about the Austrian date. Simple Minds are playing the Freizeitinsel festival on the 1st July.
Kinkster are the support for dates in Belgium.
Please send in set lists!!! Thank you.
All the lyrics on this website have been taken from album sleeves, music books and old fanzines. None of them have been transcribed.
For example, the lyrics for Neapolis were taken from Japanese copies of the album.
Unfortunately, lyrics for Cry haven't been published (yet). But transcribed lyrics have been posted to the Yahoo! Groups mailing list. I can't vouch for their accuracy.
Whilst the Cry transcriptions are good, there's always the odd word that's misheard, which can throw out the whole meaning of the song (for example, the 'machine man' from Death By Chocolate). That's why I don't publish transcribed lyrics - you can be sure that they're right here.
An example, of some dreadful lyrics, take a look at this example of I Travel:
From Empires And Dance lyric sheet included with the album. The source for Dream Giver. From Billboard's The Greatest Hits Of Simple Minds. Well dodgy cassette compilation from Indonesia. Cities, buildings falling down
Ideal homes falling down
These pictures I see on the wall
Timeless leaders stand so tall
Assassin in a hit and run
Asia steals a new born son
Evacuees and refugees
Presidents and monarchies
She believe in falling down
On having before falling down
Don't look so gladly on the wall
The time she bring the spending coat
I though you'd made up feedle noon
This is what I've been looking for
We're back to wish back to back
To ten bolt up heat
Radio stations from Spain and Sweden, and a couple from the USA, have been added to the Promote Cry section.
Many thanks to everyone who sent in radio stations and contacts, and for those who took time to e-mail them.
I'll keep the list on-line for when the next single is announced.
Fans in Italy can listen out for Cry on RDS (Radio Dimensione Suono) and Radio Capital.
Jim and Charlie were promoting Cry on Spanish TV on the 20th March. The interview, which lasted an hour, included Cry, the new tour and, of course, their 25 years in the music business.
The interview can be seen here.
I don't know if it's included on the web, but Moisés Prendes was featured on the programme as a fan from Spain. (He's the author of the long running fanzine Mission In Motion.)
WIN FREE ENTRY TO THE OLYMPIA MUSIC FAIR - 4TH AND 5TH MAY. It's show time! - the annual Olympia Music fair returns on Saturday and Sunday 4th and 5th May to this World famous venue in the heart of the UK's capital. Great news - we have a pair of free tickets available!
At this massive event, you'll be able to buy CDs and vinyl PLUS memorabilia, DVDs, books, videos, tapes, posters, autographs etc. In a top quality well-lit, carpeted Hall, you'll find all the major UK dealers plus traders from USA, Australia, Canada and all over Europe. In addition there will be guest appearances at the event.
Organisers web link http://secure.vip-24.com/venues/olympia.html
Winners will be added to the guest list for the event. And the question is:
Who can be seen in the back of the Cry video? He's dressed in white, and can be seen walking behind the main characters in the factory scenes, or speeding around on a scooter.
E-mail me with your answer. Competition closes on 29th April.
And another competition is being run by a U2 website, who are featuring Simple Minds as Artist Of The Month:
U2achtung.com in association with Record BMG/Eagle are holding a competition for the Cry album release:
10 CD singles (Bronze edition)
10 CD promos (4 titles: Jim Kerr Speech, Cry, Spaceface, One step closer)The competition can be found on one of these links:
Concours page
Arist Of The Month
Cry page
Tour page
Jim was recently interviewed by the German magazine Zillo. (In fact, there's some promotional in Germany on RTL, and some adverts for the limited edition album and tour in music magazines.) The album was also reviewed on BFBS (Britsh Forces radio station) and received an positive review.
Jim is also interviewed by todays Sunday Express.
Jim appeared on Scotland Today last Friday. But don't worry: the full interview is also here. Also, check the site out for the competition: win five signed copies of Cry.
He will also be interviewed on Billy Sloan's Radio Clyde show tonight (14th April) at 20:00 - 22:00 BST.
On the subject of Billy Sloan's show, he recently previewed Cry by playing a selection of tracks on his Sunday night show. These were quickly recorded, and despite their low quality, ended up on www.audiogalaxy.com.
Since the release of Cry, it's been realised that his broadcast versions were of an earlier mix of the album. Those interested should download Disconnected in particular, which appeared as a stripped down mix.
He also played Death By Chocolate from the unreleased Our Secrets Are The Same. Those listening reported that it sounded like a different mix.
Which is was - there are two different versions of Death By Chocolate.
To outline the difference, here's a tiny snippet (Windows WAV files) of the two versions of Death By Chocolate:
1. Jordi Tarda version. Taken from Internet streaming broadcast
2. CD quality version. Taken from CDI've included these tiny samples just for comparison of the two mixes, and for comparison of the Jordi broadcast quality and CD quality. There has been debate recently whether the Jordi broadcasts represent 'CD quality'. They don't - there's better recordings out there.
Some updates on some new releases:
1. New Gold Dream by GoldDreamer.
White label copies of this have circulated, and feature a seven minute mix. However, there's still no news of a release, and it's becoming almost mythological. To prove that it does exist, a sample of it can be found here. (Windows WAV file - which I've purposely made low-quality).
More promos were released by Soul Syndicate, for club usage only, and feature a Cricco Castelli remix. This is to be followed by a commercial release on Defected - but it's remained TBA despite airplay on Radio One.3. The Darkness by Jeremy Sylvester.
Just released on Azuli Records (AZNY156), this song takes Charlie's guitar riff from Don't You (Forget About Me), and mixes in some drum and bass and the odd line of lyrics. The flip side, The Things I Can Do, also has a Simple Minds feel to it.4. Alive And Kicking by Simple Minds
This turned up on 12" acetate from Whitfield Street studios. It's not Simple Minds, but does feature the "ba ba ba" backing vocals from the instrumental version of the song, mixed into about six minutes of drum and bass. Could be a long lost Néapolis B-side remix?
