Be sure to check out David Guetta's The World Is Mine. The song, which has been getting airplay in Denmark, samples Someone Somewhere (In Summertime) in the chorus.

New Gold Dream (81,82,83,84) Virgin DVDAV2230 January 17th 2005 Includes: 9 audio tracks Promised You A Miracle and New Gold Dream (81,82,83,84)* videos. Lyrics Weblinks Discography

Once Upon A Time Virgin DVDAV2364 January 17th 2005 Includes: 8 audio tracks Alive And Kicking and All The Things She Said videos. Lyrics Weblinks Discography

(* The fact that there is no video for New Gold Dream bodes well for the accuracy and contents of both these releases. For the record, I assume it's the Glittering Prize video as these CDs have been issued by Virgin's "Give Them Nothing New" department.)

Joining Sample Minds, The Blowups and New Gold Dream are Simple Minds Tribute 1984 - the latest tribute band on the block.

Having already played the Etten-Leur Hacel Festival, check out the band's website for more information, and hopefully new gigs to come.

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Music chain Sound Control born in the days of punk rock has become the UK's biggest supplier of musical instruments and equipment after aquiring rival retailer Academy of Sound. Sound Control, founded in Dunfermline more than 2 years ago, has paid an undisclosed cash sum to the two owners of Academy of Sound to create a company with 25 stores and joint sales of £60m. Texas, Busted and Simple Minds are among the rock bands that are counted among their celebrity customers. A leading player in Sound Control is marketing director Andy Gillespie, who has played keyboards for Simple Minds for the band's world tours for the past three years. "The acquisition of Academy of Sound doubles the size of our business at a stroke" he said. "It gives us the ability to reach right across the Uk, to satisfy what is becoming a huge sophisticated market." Sound Control already boasts annual sales of £35m. It was founded by Pat Kelly, who began by providing equipment to bands such as The Skids and Big Country. Terry Murden & Perry Gourley Scotland On Sunday 14th November 2004

Previously left out on the new album page, was that the album won't be released on Eagle Records. Despite having a two album deal, and only delivering one (which was Cry as apparently Neon Lights doesn't count) the group left the record company early in 2003. All subsequent releases have been through Virgin and Absolutely.

It's expected that the band will sign up with another major for the release of the new album.

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Four albums have been released in SACD format (New Gold Dream (81,82,83,84), Once Upon A Time, Best Of and Cry). Next year, Virgin plan to issue several DVD-Audio versions. Like SACD, the format offers better sound quality than plain CD, but DVD-Audio is only playable in DVD-Audio players.

With New Gold Dream (81,82,83,84) and Sparkle In The Rain pencilled in for release, Once Upon A Time will be issued on the new format on the 17th January.

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I've been asked several times about the Claddagh, so I've added some of its history and its use on Simple Minds releases to the FAQ.

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The covers discography continues with the first release from 1992 (which was a popular year). Eastside Beat took Alive And Kicking and made it their own.

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Dec. 27th: 9p.m. & 11p.m.
The Baked Potato
3787 Cahuenga Blvd
Studio City, CA
818-980-1615

Featuring:
Alan Hinds, Guitar
J.K. Kleutgens, Bass
Hans Zermuehlen, Keys
Mark Schulman, Drums

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And for Christmas, what could be better than a top Simple Minds rarity under the tree? Forget those ultra-rare copies of Promised You A Miracle that are endlessly listed on eBay - this list is the real deal (scroll down to the bottom).

Despite illness preventing Simple Minds from performing at Trevor Horn's concert in London last month, they're represented on Produced By Trevor Horn, a double CD-set of artists he's produced over the last decades. Released on ZTT on November 22nd, the track-listing features The Buggles, Art Of Noise, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Pet Shop Boys, Seal, Belle & Sebastien and taTu.

Simple Minds are represented by Belfast Child and Mandela Day, the two 'most famous' tracks from the Trevor Horn produced Street Fighting Years.

A great compilation of diverse acts and well worth buying.

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Updates to Our Secrets Are The Same in the discography:

• An image of the original UK non-mastered CD and the matrix number have been uploaded. Seriously anorak I know, but good questions and nice images to compare with anymore copies turning up on eBay.
  
• All Jim's comments about the Secrets songs from Silver Box have been added to the song pages. As well as writer and publisher info. (Did you know that Swimming Towards The Sun wasn't written by Jim or Charlie at all?)
• All the song times are now correct. So, Hello gets an extra ten seconds due to its new intro.

Speaking of Silver Box, I've updated the promo discography with the 10-track, rather rare, sampler.

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And I've added Kelvin to the incomplete, but growing, covers discography. This rather Europopish cover of Alive And Kicking was issued in 2003 to help out Utrecht FC. And now it's been immortalized on Redux.

I promised to this to several people a couple of weeks ago.

The Melting Point Of Gold ONE THIS RECORD is something of a glow. Whatever your preference you will find it memorable and instructive. Find its qualities and fix your place. Be swept, be drained ... This is really all I have to say, but I shall not stop on that account. Indeed, I shall begin again. TWO MY LOYALTY towards Simple Minds is known to be considerable, yet even I am jarred by the constant beauty of this music. Truly, all I need to say is that New Golden Dream(sic) robs me of my breath - but let's continue. Be swept, be drained, believe me. THREE After their last (double) LP it could be said that despite their undoubted ability, the group threatened to settle down into an overwhelming, agitating monotony devoid of nobility: a heat-switch has been turned on, the looming Simple Minds solid has melted, is melting into a bewitching, fresh sound. Suddenly the group sound acutely aware of space and emptiness, and their impact is a lot harder because of that. (When I say harder, I am just as likely to mean "softer" - it depends whether you're stood on your head or not.) Simple Minds took a certain way with rhythm and motion to it limits; they've now shook away what was becoming a kind of concussion, to be left with a very clear head. And, clearly, a heat. 'Melting' is a useful word to use in connection with this record. Not only are the known Minds cliches melting into new forms and shapes, but also more general cliches melt into new meanings. The familiar deliciously fails in on itself. This 'melting' results in an exotic re-orientation. Indeed, and this is perhaps because the Minds' aspirations sometimes seemed too great for the pop context to hold, the music contained here is as searching a representation of the meltings between what is 'memory' and what is 'imagination' as that which troubles me in the workings of Beckett and Baudelaire. New Golden Dream(sic) is the perfect attack upon those who think POP too small to think big. The group, confounding banal limitations and their duff reputation as kids muddling in areas roughly outside their scope, have outgrown what was previously their defiant restlessness, a celebrated stoicism, and turned their song into an adventure: an adventure embedded in memory/imagination, patient and dark, as intoxicating as the adventure of Buckley, as personally aggressive as the adventure of Joy Division. It is responsible to no one and nothing, it is sensation for sensation's sake, but it takes the working listener to wherever, it suggests to the working listener that ... everything is possible. Let's face it, it's a glorious achievement to produce something that works generously in the usual sweet way tucked inside the trivialised pop context, yet that stretches far beyond those coloured walls to stand strong as an exhilarated, canny comment on the "state of the world's flow", on the position of hope and anxiety. There's plenty of light and melody through the 'Dream' to please you; but enough heat to chill you. There's a number of outstanding instrumental performances to turn to - Forbes' arrogantly shrewd and eager guitar, MacNeil's expressive and seemingly infallible keyboarding - but 'Dreams' music is something that succeeds smoothly yet provocatively as 'a whole'. A rippling, humming, beating, rustling, driving, melting 'whole', with Kerr's voice, his glancing, broken words, as if tiny holes allowing glimpses into the worldview that enabled such noble music to appear. The 'whole' is an ardent, tender sound that sweeps and sways between the sly and the open with pleasured mastery; as for Kerr's 'holes', there's nothing wrong with his spelling, his spelling is binding, his images and touches spellbinding. If previously he could be irritating, now he and his words insist on response. And measure the words' intrigue by the depth of that response. The working listener will be quietly, carefully, profoundly re-placed. The absolutely gripping opening song Someone Somewhere (In Summertime) immediately announces that Simple Minds have shed old skin. What accounts for this shedding, the 'melting', the shaking away of concussion, is the group swallowing the pill of simplicity: rather than try to make a point or point towards mystery through a rush and rush of overcompensation - this is where many other groups, ie. Bauhaus, flip and flop into the muddle of futility - the group have moved out into the opening of understatement, tweaking will and snatching heart through implication. It's the kind of simplicity Joy Division smashed into accidentally and to devastating effect: a proof of articulacy and sensitivity through keen selectivity. The two '82 singles Promised You A Miracle and Glittering Prize fit into this record not blatant shows of concession for the charts but as bright, confident celebrations of this simplicity: the group scatter their assault rather than channel it. Listening to the completely satisfying instrumental Somebody Up There Likes You it sounds as though Simple Minds believe they a creating magic: and in a way they are, conjuring up from nowhere such vital, cajoling systems as Big Sleep and King Is White And In The Crowd, systems that will connect themselves to your experiences without wasting your time or minimising your energy. The title track confirms that Simple Minds' diagnosis of what is up and down about the bits and pieces of the world is as shocking, shaming and indignant as any pop group's. And then when Herbie Hancock glides in to embellish the lovely Hunter And The Hunted, one doesn't sense a clumsy, irrelevant intrusion by a name pianist with a huge erratic musical background, just an apt, almost hidden contribution by one musician to the effort of other musicians. It's a fine moment, sealing the group's (radiant) simplicity, and claiming that the group can exist on any terms - no longer must they be locked into a strained art-pop closet. So certainly this is Simple Minds' most distinguished collection. It also continues, powerfully, a period of music that melts and scatters around For Your Pleasure, Correct Use Of Soap, Closer, Sulk, Tin Drum, a music that went to follow through how Iggy somersaulted through good and bad possibilities, how Reed reached below the functional surfaces of city life, how Bowie travelled, how Hamill hoped, how Eno twisted and treated the pop song to the edge of 'the marvellous'. A music swerving and unnerving through recollection and recognition and habit and faded sensations ... searching for connections and new vantage points, using pop to mind more about memory than the order of guitar notes. Simple Minds have produced something as inventive, as cleansing, as suggestive as anything by the musicians, The Heroes, who first inspired them to form around the days and nights in Glasgow. This will thrill them, for it is still in them to be thrilled. And what will thrill you is that it is possible to pluck something as special and triumphant as this out from amidst all the painful failures. Its uses are abstract, but its signifance is universal. And the feeling grows, as I listen, that they're just beginning. FOUR AND NOW you begin... Paul Morley NME 18th September 1982

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Due to a misprint in a press release, Charlie's birthday was incorrectly given in several official Simple Minds publications (including the Real Life tour programme). If you want to wish him a happy birthday, then it's best to wait until the 27th November.

Congratulations Bruce!

Former Simple Minds manager Bruce Findlay received a top prize at Scotland’s Music Industry awards. The event was held to raise funds for Nordoff-Robbins, a music therapy charity, the Tartan Clefs recognise outstanding contribution to the music industry, at home and abroad, the Ex-Minds boss was honoured with the Music Industry Award. Wet Wet Wet claimed the Miller Tartan Clef award, and were set to entertain the 500 strong audience with one of their first live performances since reforming earlier this year. The Darkness guitarists Dan Hawkins and Frankie Poullain were to accept the inaugural T in the Park Best Live Performance award. A spokesman for the flamboyant band said: "Touring bonnie Scotland is like feasting from a veritable banquet where every flower reveals itself." Nicola Benedetti, the teenage violin virtuoso from Ayrshire, collected the Clear Channel Classical award, while songwriter/singer Edwyn Collins received the Performing Right Society Songwriters award. While Donovan received the Sennheiser UK Outstanding Contribution to Music award. Other honours went to Celtic Connections, the winter music festival, which received the Saga 105.2 Your Life, Your Music award, and The Sensational Alex Harvey Band, awarded the Sir Reo Stakis Foundation Lifetime Achievement award. All proceeds from the event, which was hosted by Real Radio’s Jay Crawford, were to go to Nordoff-Robbins, Scotland’s first national music therapy charity. Organisers expected the event to eclipse the £127,000 raised last year. Fiona McGregor Scotland On Sunday 7th November 2004

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Some French on-line retailers are advertising a six CD set by Simple Minds called A History. This mouthwatering box is due to hit the web-based stores in mid-November.

All is not what it seems. A History was the original, deemed 'boring', title of Silver Box, and extra disc is a typo.

Another mythical release from the virtual world.

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The saviour of Radio One, Chris Moyles, recently played Alive And Kicking on his early morning show. As part of the Buzz Off feature, the song is kept on the air by majority support of either the studio team or the listeners texting in. Alive And Kicking made it to the end of the song with 82% of audience approval and Chris enthusing the album version was even better.

Another one you might want to leave on the shelf in the shop is Seen The Lights: Live In Verona. Released the same day as Silver Box, this cynical repackaging is simply one disc from the Seen The Lights set.

If you're tempted, find the double set instead. It's probably cheaper as well.

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Good luck to sample MINDS who are playing in Crewe tonight. For more details about the gig, or further news about the tribute band, check out their website.

Released this Monday, the remastered editions of New Gold Dream and Sparkle In The Rain have yet again been be packed up together and sold as a box-set (this being the third time).

It's Virgin VBX7, a limited edition which you may want to leave on the shelf.

With the tour finished, and Silver Box on the shelves, Simple Minds are going to return to the studio to complete work on their next studio album.

Therefore it seemed a good idea to gather all the information known about the new album, and gather it all in one place. Expect this section to be updated regularly over the coming year.

Scorpio or God Save Us From Our Governements? Information about the new album can be found here.

Despite Virgin's assurances, some copies of Silver Box are faulty. The lack of one or two discs has been widely reported, but in some cases sections of the booklet are either missing or inserted upside-down.

The morale is: Try to get it from a shop, and check it before leaving.

The initial batch has now sold out, leaving some on-line retailers without stock. I'm afraid it's just a matter of being patient as Virgin press up more.

One small detail which has confused me is the 'misprint' on the back of the box itself. It turns out, after being sent a copy, that Simlpe Minds is on the European copies only - looks like the designer asked to put the Copy Protection artwork on the back overstepped his/her brief.

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The 'new' Seen The Lights DVD is now appearing in the shops. It's a single disc from the original double set, comprising of the Verona and Newcastle City Hall gigs. However, the original double set is still plentiful, now being offered at a lower price.... lower than this newly repackaged single disc from the set.

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A great review of Johnny And The Self Abusers has just turned up, which paints a vivid picture of those early gigs. Jim is described as "too motionless" and "cool" before he decided to dance on a table during Pogo Dancing. You'll find the review, first published in Pretty Vacant Fanzine here.

The Empires And Dance sections have now been added to Dream Giver Redux.

"The stock should be out there today, but some shops may have taken late delivery - I can't say unless I know exactly which shops people are having trouble with. We did experience extremely high orders for the box and all the initial stock has been allocated. We are currently re-manufacturing stock and will re-supply as soon as possible, however due to the very special nature of the box this is not as swift a process as would usually be the case...

I am not aware of any manufacturing fault and I have just checked with out production department and neither are they." - Virgin Records

I don't think it's a case of a manufacturing fault. Looks like they've already run out of copies.

The first copies of Silver Box were sent out on Friday throughout Germany. Some fans reported that the fifth CD, Our Secrets Are The Same, was missing from the set. Come Monday, and the CD has been released everywhere. Or has it? Whilst my local HMV had a couple of the box-sets on display, they'd both been opened, which was odd. Furthermore, some on-line retailers have not issued the box: "Please note that this item has been temporarily withdrawn from sale(everywhere) due to a manufacturing fault. We have been informed by the record company that it will become available again in November, and we will ship this item to you as soon as it lands in our warehouse!" I've so far listened to three of the discs and they haven't been mispressed. It's possible that the withdrawl is due to the 5th disc being missing in some of the sets (hence my local record store opening the packages to check them), but at the moment, the status of this long awaited release is uncertain.

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Congratulations Mark and Jen!

"I am so excited to announce my engagement to my extraordinary lady, Jennifer Kolchier! I asked Jen to marry me in the bubble bath on the gulf coast of Florida; she said yes!!! Life is glorious! "

Mark Schulman

The following is the start of a track-by-track review of Silver Box. So, spoilers ahead! If you'd rather keep the surprises for October, then skip this section.

Simple Minds: Silver Box Disc #3-#4 1985-1995 Live In Rotterdam Silver Box: Waterfront/Ghostdancing/Book Of Brilliant Things/Once Upon A Time/All The Things She Said/Alive And Kicking/Sanctify Yourself. Actual: Waterfront/Ghostdancing/Don't You (Forget About Me)Book Of Brilliant Things/Once Upon A Time/All The Things She Said/Alive And Kicking/Sanctify Yourself. By the time of Once Upon A Time, Simple Minds was the eighth most bootlegged artist in the world, with the bootleggers having to press up triple albums to capture their entire concerts. From the Rotterdam gig, it's easy to hear why - this is the period of most excess with the songs going on forever. Having listened to the trimmed and lean Live In The City Of Light over the years, and with the band subsequently shortening their live numbers since the 1990s, it comes as quite a shock as to how excessive some of these songs were. This gig will be familar to most as it was available as a TV show, broadcast across America (thanks to Westwood One) and bootlegged extensively. Don't You (Forget About Me) even appeared on the flip of All The Things She Said, probably why it's not included here. Barrowlands 1991 Silver Box: Real Life/See The Lights/Travelling Man/East At Easter/Banging On The Door/Stand By Love/Oh Jungleland/King Is White And In The Crowd/Big Sleep/Let There Be Love/Ghostrider/Belfast Child Actual: Real Life/Love Song/See The Lights/Travelling Man/East At Easter/Banging On The Door/Book Of Brilliant Things/Stand By Love/Oh Jungleland/Someone Somewhere (In Summertime)/King Is White And In The Crowd/Big Sleep/Sanctify Yourself/Let There Be Love/Alive And Kicking/Waterfront/Ghostrider/Belfast Child Over the years, I've been drowned in Real Life live tracks. From the B-sides of Stand By Love, Real Life and Love Song/Alive And Kicking, from the US radio broadcasts, from the UK radio broadcasts, from the fan club limited CDs, from the TV broadcast, and from the endless bootlegs, Real Life is the most over exposed of Simple Minds live output. Having an almost entire show here, some of which I've already got, is too much. I've listened to it once and then put it back in its sleeve. The only saving grace is that you get the full unedited broadcast, complete with Billy Sloan introduction, but it's not enough to interest me. Royal Concert Hall 1995 Silver Box: She's A River/Up On The Catwalk/Hypnotised Actual: She's A River/Up On The Catwalk/See The Lights/The American/Big Sleep/Great Leap Forward/Someone Somewhere (In Summertime)/Hypnotised/Let There Be Love/Belfast Child/Roadhouse Blues-Waterfront/Love Song/Alive And Kicking/And The Band Played On/Don't You (Forget About Me)/Sancitfy Yourself. It's interesting as to how bad the sound is here. Jim can heardly be heard through the mix, thus making the last three tracks of disc #4 somewhat of a disappointment. At least Good News From The Next World was represented in part (although why the US live recordings weren't selected is somewhat of a mystery); Neapolis (and everything since) has been ignored. A pity. Simple Minds: Silver Box Disc #5 1999: Our Secrets Are The Same For those who’ve heard Our Secrets Are The Same as MP3s, as the badly recorded Internet mush from Jordi Tarda, then you’re in for a treat. The crystal clear recording here is a revelation, and how the album was intended to be heard. With the exception of Space, Secrets sparkles with subtle instrumentation and effects. For example, Death By Chocolate sounds like a completely different song. However, for those who’ve got the original leaked unmastered CDs, then the changes are far less dramatic. Charlie’s work in the early months of 2003 consisted of remixing the songs, bringing the keyboards further up in the mix, and leaving the guitars behind. Do I hear extra new vocal layering on Swimming To The Sun? Is there extra percussion on Happy Is The Man? Hello has changed the most, even gaining a new intro, Jim’s voice clarified and extra strings added. However, Space still sounds like it’s been sung in a closet, an incredibly claustrophobic treatment, which stands out amongst the other tracks on the album.

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There's another Simple Minds release on the 18th October. Seen The Lights: Live In Verona will be the second official DVD issued by Virgin. However, it's probably just one of the discs from Seen The Lights packaged separately - nothing to get too excited about.

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sample MINDS, a Simple Minds tribute band, now have their own website, which can be found at www.sampleminds.co.uk. Here you'll find audio and video downloads, their discography, and all the latest news: for instance, their next gig is in Crewe on the 3rd Novemeber at the Limelight Club. Check them out: highly recommended.

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I've finally got around to adding the Australian CD of White Spaces Featuring Jim Kerr to the discography. Whilst it looked like a new collection of all the various Don't You remixes, the Perky Park remix is slightly different, with the addition of crowd noise over the end of the track. One for the completists but they'll probably already have it!

The Real To Real Cacophony sections are now on Dream Giver Redux. This includes updates to the news, discography, songs, people, timeline, tours, press releases, reviews and other sections.

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Want to win a copy of Silver Box? RememberTheEighties.com have five copies to give away in their easy competition (click on 'news' and follow the link).

This months Record Collector featured a review of the box set, and a quick Q&A session with Jim:

SIMPLE MINDS BOX

It's a rare, nigh-on impossible opportunity to be confronted with such a vast collection. Rarer still is the fact that it all matters and that each song, whether it's Life In A Day in 1979 or Sleeping in 1999, has been chosen for a specific reason: chronicling where Jim Kerr, Charlie Burchill, Michael MeNeil, Mel Gaynor and the rest of the rotational nucleus that made up Glasgow's most successful band to date have been and, possibly, where they choose to go from here. The last 12 years have seen the Simple Minds back catalogue - well, mainly the hits as opposed to the obscurities - collected together to form ubiquitous showcases of their story: Glittering Prize 81/92, The Best Of Simple Minds and Early Gold, but nothing of the magnitude of Silver Box has been attempted.

Each CD acts as a chapter, skilfully documenting the early, early days, bar Johnny And The Self Abusers, the swift evolution into an enigma way more pivotal than just New Romanticism, the rise to global stardom and stadiums and how Simple Minds managed to sustain the magic and energy before deciding to go it alone and, in many ways, returning to square one where it all began: songwriting culled from the fruits of Jim and Charlie's lifelong friendship. Capturing the band at their earliest critical point between 1979 and 1980, CD 1 shows the transition from avant-garde to John Peel Sessions and John Leckie-produced demos with tracks like Premonition, Changeling, I Travel, Twist/Run/Repulsion and Constantinople Line, to a pan-European sounding group with definition and their own agenda.

The next disc follows on with raw, radically unpolished demos, courtesy of Steve Hillage, that take in old favourites: The American, Life In Oils, Sweat In Bullet and Love Song while select out-takes from David Jensen sessions in '82 and '83 spawn unedited performances of In Trance As Mission, Someone Somewhere (In Summertime), Hunter And The Hunted and The Kick Inside Of Me. Bridging the gap between the New Gold Dream and Sparkle In The Rain period, a 12-minute live version of the former, complete with Bono at the Glasgow Barrowlands in '85 makes way for a Live Aid rehearsal of Don't You (Forget About Me) where Kerr actually forgets the words at certain points.

The two discs that follow are primarily made up live recordings: pre-Live In The City Of Light workings of Waterfront, Book Of Brilliant Things, Once Upon A Time and Alive And Kicking at the Ahoy in Rotterdam precede the euphoric crowd roars before Mandela Day live at the first Wembley Stadium event in 1988. Twelve songs from the 1991 Real Life homecoming bash back at Barrowlands cover anything from See The Lights and East At Easter to Oh Jungleland, Big Sleep and Belfast Child before the fifth final platter is represented by the mature, roots-return album Our Secrets Are The Same from 1999 that was never given an official release due to legal wrangles.

And that, for the time being, is where the story of Simple Minds' influential musical history signs off. So, until they dust off the rest of their old archives that are yet to be found, sit back and bask in the glory of a band whose new gold dream actually made a difference and, in many ways, still does.

Q&A with Jim Kerr

Did it take a long time to whittle down the final track listing?
A guy called , who was the drummer in a Glasgow band called The Silencers - he's a best mate and has basically grown up around Simple Minds. If it had come down to us, we'd have ended up arguing, so we used Martin because he could bring an outside perspective to it. Martin pulled it together really well.

The recordings at Barrowlands seem to hold great significance...
Barrowlands has always been a special place to us; my mum and dad even met each other in there! Even big American bands would know about it. It's the place and it's such a pit (laughs)! I think that there's always a moment in a band's career when they're on the cusp and it can go either way, and once they've played that venue it seems to either go through the roof from then on or it just pans out, so I guess some bands use the place as a kind of rocket-launch, if you like; an acid test. That night when we had Bono join us on stage was definitely one of them.

The atmosphere must have been wild.
The thing is, I was still in shock that night because Bono and Ali, his wife, had stayed over at my mum's house for a few days and he'd just bought himself a really dodgy new old-car that he thought was cool, so he insisted on driving us to the gig in it. I don't think he knew what he was doing as he drove through the middle of Glasgow. This was while he was completely sober (laughs)! I don't think I'd quite gathered my senses even by the time I went on stage. It was a very over-the-top night, put it that way (laughs). A great night.

Where next?
We're always thinking about the next song, the next gig and to the future, but the fact is that if you don't clear out the vaults at some point the tracks will end up online on the Internet anyway: someone will always know someone else who'll have that rare version or that dodgy mix that was never released, and suddenly it's out there for people to download, so you might as well get it mastered and sounding good, with some decent artwork on it and put it out legitimately. It's more a case of us wanting to tidy things up.

Swax M. Thomas
Record Collector
November 2004

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Adam Sweeting (originally the band's biographer) reviewed Silver Box in The Guardian this Friday. Giving the set four out of five, the review can be found on the Guardian's website and is reproduced below:

If you chucked out most of discs three and four from this beefy five-disc box, you'd be left with some fascinating insights and lost nuggets from the past and near-present of Simple Minds. Over a 25-year career, the band have gone from eclectic experimentalism through clapalong mega-pomp and back to something in between, and that trajectory is captured here. This collection consists entirely of unreleased material, with demos and radio sessions covering the Minds' earlier years; previously unreleased live recordings documenting the shouty, lumbering 1980s-to-1990s; and a complete unreleased album, Our Secrets Are the Same, on the fifth disc. The album, dating from 1999, was scuppered by legal wranglings, but it's some of the best music the band have made in 20 years. Tracks such as Death By Chocolate or Happy Is The Man recall something of their old pioneering spirit, and show a fascination with the process of recording rather than with prancing about in front of a sea of cigarette lighters. Anyone interested in the band's history will be gripped by the first two discs. There are 1979 live recordings of their earliest songs, such as Life In A Day and Chelsea Girl, which display precocious focus and imagination. And there's an excellent batch of demos from the Empires And Dance sessions, produced by John Leckie and mostly very close to the finished versions. From 1981, there are demos of songs from Sons and Fascination, including the long-lost Life In Oils, and powerful performances of tracks from New Gold Dream recorded for David Jensen's Radio 1 show. You can hear the wheels starting to come off during a horrific 1985 live recording of New Gold Dream from Barrowlands in Glasgow, which goes on for hours and features synchronised bellowing from Bono and Jim Kerr. And the rest of the mid-80s live material is dismally overblown and over-long. But maybe they're on the brink of a critic-defying comeback. Adam Sweeting The Guardian 1st October 2004

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The Open University are using Usura's Open Your Mind as backing music for adverts on BBC 1. Good to hear New Gold Dream on the BBC again.

The following is the start of a track-by-track review of Silver Box. So, spoilers ahead! If you'd rather keep the surprises for October, then stop reading now.

Simple Minds: Silver Box Disc #2 1981-1985 Sons And Fascination demos Silver Box: Careful In Career/The American/Life In Oils/Sweat In Bullet/Love Song. Actual: Americans/Life In Oils/Twenty One/Check Out/Love Song Prepared as a bait for potential record companies, the Sons And Fascination demos were more polished and refined than the ‘get the latest live songs on tape’ approach take by the previous Empires And Dance ideas. Mick MacNeil took the producers’ chair (not Hillage) and his girlfriend Hanna provided backing vocals. The songs ranged from rough ideas with minimal vocals (Careful In Career), the almost completed (Love Song), the it’s-all-over-but-for-recording (Sweat In Bullet and The American) and the absolutely finished and never to been seen again (Life In Oils). Careful In Career: The instrumentaion was softened when Hillage took the chair, and Jims vague, unfinished vocals were really beefed up for the final recording. The American: Oddly fragile, but complete, even down to the double vocals on the choruses. Some minor lyric shuffling, and harder underpinnings, would nail the track later. Life In Oils: For many, who avoided the grubby Saturday markets at Camden Town and resisted the chewed C90 cassettes, this will be the biggest surprise, the unreleased and forgotten Life In Oils. If Leckie had produced the album, this would’ve been on it. This fragile, etherial track was unlike the other songs recorded for the session, wandering from place to place, never really reaching its destination. Its wispy nature would suggest the more etherial nature of New Gold Dream (81,82,83,84), but it lacked any real drive or melody. As such, Jim rescued the more inspired Brecht quotes, and cemented them into 20th Century Promised Land, before casting the rest away. (Often called Shadow Follow on bootlegs, due to the mishearing of a repeated shouted phrase throughout the song). Sweat In Bullet: It’s difficult to see where Hillage, or Simple Minds, could’ve pulled more out of the demo, so it was simply re-recorded for the album as is. Love Song: The demo groans and labours along, as if the weight of the song is too much for it. Brian rattles away, Derek churns on bass, Charlie offers a chord here and there. The only uplifting moments are Mick’s synths, breaking in and lifting the mood during the choruses. The middle-8 is entirely undeveloped with everyone stopping and watching Brian (as he unexpectedly comes up with the album intro of New Gold Dream (81,82,83,84)). Whoever decided to add the appegio riff and its characteristic false start (a nodd towards Both Ends Burning by Roxy Music?) when the song was eventually recorded deserves a medal. The album version shines and flows for it; the demo just plods and eventually gets stuck. Kid Jenson Session: 23rd February 1982 Silver Box: Promised You A Miracle/In Trance As Mission Actual: Promised You A Miracle/In Trance As Mission/King Is White And In The Crowd Those fed on the previous John Peel sessions would’ve wondered what had happened, as Simple Minds turned briefly into ABC for a sparkly, confident version of their forthcoming single. In Trance As Mission appeared in its flowing live guise, whilst another brand new song, King Is White And In The Crowd, sounded souless and lacked the colour of the others. (This take of King Is White And In The Crowd was oddly chosen to debut on the flip of Someone Somewhere (In Summertime) and isn’t included in Silver Box). Kid Jenson Session: 13th September 1982 Silver Box: Someone Somewhere (In Summertime)/Glittering Prize/Hunter And The Hunted Actual: Summer Song/Glittering Prize/Hunter And The Hunted Invited back before the release of the album, this session allowed Simple Minds to preview some new songs (for those who hadn’t been catching the band at the weekend festivals in Europe). Someone Somewhere (In Summertime) was largely complete, despite the niggling problem of giving it a title (the BBC recorded it by the demo name of Summer Song). Glittering Prize and Hunter And The Hunted also didn’t show much variation to the eventual album recordings. Kid Jenson Session: 3rd October 1983 Silver Box: The Kick Inside Of Me Actual: Waterfront/Kick Inside/New Gold Dream (81,82,83,84) Between a rather hesitant Waterfront, and a fast-and-furous rush through New Gold Dream (81,82,83,84) (to be found on 1 And Only: 25 Years Of Radio One CD), the band played a santised version of The Kick Inside Of Me, which had literally been written the day before, based around one of Derek’s bass line. Yet to gain the manic furious drive of the studio smash-up, it appears now as strangly santisied and powerless. Barrowlands, 5th January 1985 Silver Box: New Gold Dream (81,82,83,84) Actual: I Travel/Glittering Prize/Book Of Brilliant Things/Up On The Catwalk/Speed Your Love To Me/Promised You A Miracle/Celebrate/The American/East At Easter/Waterfront/New Gold Dream (81,82,83,84) The Barrowlands concerts of January 1985 were legendary for many reasons. Firstly, the band recorded the event, changing many of the arrangements of the songs into definite live forms for future releases. Secondly, they were absolutely cracking gigs and thirdly, guest appearences ran throughout the performance, with Bono being invited onstage for the nights’ finale. Many will be familiar with the Summertime In Glasgow bootlegs which captured this event, all taken from the second night. However, the Silver Box recording is from the third night (as Jim doesn't make his 'joke' about the band splitting up), and Bono has lost all first-night nerves. The whole song turns into a numerical shouting match, before Bono screams “I’m in heaven. I’m in heaven!” and Jim’s left to restore some order by launching into Light My Fire. This was the best version of New Gold Dream (81,82,83,84) predating the radical rearranging two years later for Live The City Of Light. And unlike the other released songs from this concert (Up On The Catwalk, Glittering Prize and Celebrate), it hasn’t been edited in any way. Great stuff. Don't You (Forget About Me) Band Aid Rehearsal This is definitely one of the most intimiate and brave inclusions on Silver Box. Given that the band were about to play the biggest gig of their career to date, playing a set comprised of two new songs, its amazing to hear Jim fluffing the lyrics in the first verse, before attempting latter lines in a mockney accent. Despite the lead singer taking the mick somewhat, the rest of the band resolutely and professionally carry it through to fruitition. Good to hear that rehearsals were taken seriously by all.

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"Welcome to the Simply Mindless website. This site was created in July 2004 by Steve Robinson and Lawrie Lowe. The idea behind this site is to encourage and motivate ourselves and others to compete in a range of events, to get ourselves fit and healthy whilst raising sponsorship for charities."

Two Simple Minds fans getting fit and healthy, and bravely reporting their progress on their website. All sponsorship goes to charity. So take a look at www.simplymindless.com and give them your support.

There was recently a storm-in-a-teacup about the new studio album, originating from a fan's conversation with Jim, and the subsequent write-up (and removal) of the chat on a website. Whilst the website stated that Jim mentioned the new album being released next year, everyone started talking about 2006.

"Next year" is 2005 as far as I'm concerned.

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Mel's been busy recently. After finishing his live work with Simple Minds, he's been teaching at various drum clincs around Europe. He confirmed that his single (Addicted To Love) will be released in France soon, his solo album will be out next year (that's 2005), and he's working with two Danish DJs on a remix/house track.

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U2's new single Vertigo features a cover of Kraftwerk's Neon Lights. This will be the second time both Simple Minds and U2 have covered the same song, the first being Dancing Barefoot.

Vertigo is released on three formats on November 8th. Neon Lights appears on CD #2.

Despite being released now, U2's version was recorded around June 2001 for an unrealised Kraftwerk tribute album. So it appears that both bands were working on the same track around the same time.

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The following is the start of a track-by-track review of Silver Box. So, spoilers ahead! If you'd rather keep the surprises for October, then stop reading now.

Simple Minds: Silver Box Disc #1 1979-1980 Paris Theatre, London, 9th September 1979 Silver Box: Life In A Day/Chelsea Girl/Here Comes The Fool. Actual: Scar/Here Comes The Fool/Life In A Day/White Light-White Heat/Chelsea Girl/Pleasantly Disturbed-Memory Of A Free Festival After two consecutive tours of the UK (one as Magazine's support and then subsequently headlining), Simple Minds retreated to the borders of Wales to start work on their follow-up to Life In A Day. However, their live commitments to their debut were still not over, and after almost a months work, they dusted down their old set-lists and appeared at The Paris Theatre, London, on the 9th September. Recorded by the BBC, this short set featured the bare minimum required from their first album (as the band had now started to loathe it), peppered with covers and two new songs. This heavily bootlegged show offered a glimpse of those early days; from Mick's overworked keyboards, Derek's in-your-face bass, Brian's no-nonescene approach, Charlie's stabbing guitar, and in direct constrast, Jim's almost nervous lyrics. Despite being played for over a year live, neither Life In A Day or Chelsea Girl evolved much, remaining synonymous with their vinyl counterparts. Starting Silver Box with such well known tracks is a reassuring move by the compilers, but it's the startling, and previously unreleased Here Comes The Fool, that offers the most surprises. Mick's synths are pushed into overdrive, disappearing into an out-of-tune electronic squeal, whilst Derek's bass relentlessly drives the song onwards. Bold and colourful, it had the all the markings of the Life In A Day era, which is why it was probably eventually shelved. Alas, there was no room for the proto-Scar with its different lyrics, nor the epic Pleasantly Disturbed/Memory Of A Free Festival finale, which ended the show on a dubious high. Perhaps another time? Notes: The quality is top notch, but not all that improved from the bootlegs, which were taken from the original BBC broadcasts. Due to the segue of Scar with Here Comes The Fool, the last electronic drones of the former can be heard as Fool kicks in. John Peel Session: 19th December 1979 Silver Box: Changeling/Premonition/Citizen (Dance Of Youth)/Room Actual: Changeling/Premonition/Citizen (Dance Of Youth)/Room Between a quick tour of the UK (with additional visits to the USA, Belgium and Sweden) and Christmas, Simple Minds recorded their second session for Radio One, and first for station stalwart John Peel. After playing the Cacphony soundtrack live for the last couple of months, the Minds turned in a measured and solid performance, and Changeling (the new single) and Premonition were refashioned almost note for note from the album. Citizen (Dance Of Youth) ebbed and flowed with more dynamics than its halting countpart, whilst Room, already debuted during the tour (and not written for the session as was later claimed) was still in an embryonic extended form with Jim's lyrics painting a dreadful bloody scene, far removed from the eventual vague muses on the end of Empires And Dance. Notes: Again, great quality, but the bootlegs also match, being snagged from the original broadcasts. And whole session is included, which is top marks for the compilers. Empire And Dance demos Silver Box: I Travel/Celebrate/Thirty Frames A Second/Captial City/New Warm Skin/Constantinople Line Acutal: Never documented. For the hardcore, completist Simple Minds fan, the demos of Empires And Dance are the jewel in the crown of this box set. Whilst the demos for Life in A Day and Sons And Fascination are well known (both sets having escaped the clutches of band and record companies), and no demos were recorded for Real To Real Cacophony, in retrospect it seems odd that nothing was ever conjectured about demos for Empires And Dance. Especially considering that Arista would've insisted on hearing the prototypes for the new album, not willing to repeat the surprise that greeted the first hearing of Real To Real Cacophony. Unlike previously released demos, the quality of this set is rough, sounding like a second generation mangled cassette, before dropping to adequate bootleg quality for Constantinople Line. But this only increases their value, and emphasises their rareness; the only copy that could be sourced was found stuffed down the back of a sofa after being chewed by the dog. I Travel: The demo's instantly recognisable with Mick's bubbling synths and Derek's solid bassline. For the final album recording, Charlie's almost downbeat guitar line would be spruced up, Brian's odd bass drum intro and kicking inserts ("bang-bang-bang I Travel") were wisely removed and Jim's lyrics were given a final tweaking. (For the demo, "Decadence And Pleasure Town" was replaced with something else, "Parks Hotels And Galleries" was used in one verse, and the 'missing' last sequence "Euro-Bureau-Interpol, Making Love To The Criminals" was present). Celebrate: A slip by Mick in the first verse suggested his one-fingered rythmic pulse through the song as played, and not programmed. Despite that, the the song was essentially complete (one of the only changes being "Run, run, run, there's somebody home" eventually replaced by "Soilder Talk, And Uniform"). John Leckie had hardly any work to do on this song. Thirty Frames A Second: Mick's main melodic line with it's odd substain and attack synth programming sounds almost backwards. Jim's lyrics are rushed, cramming more stories into the mix, mentioning his suit not fitting anymore, asking his mother where his food was (on the album it's become 'father'), speaking to his wife (who also didn't recognise him), not recognising his children, and so on. Twist/Run/Repulsion: The biggest surprise of them all. Whilst Mick weaves a convoluted fairground-style riff thorughout the song (which is entirely absent on the album), Jim's lyrics are entirely different. However, the rest is familiar as Derek's twisting bass is still there, with Charlies weaving guitar work, all backed with the female French narrator reading Lolita. Capital City: Now with its correct title (although are the Virgin listings correct, and is it still Pulse?), the song was almost complete, having being tried out live over the start of the year. However, Jim's lyrics are echoed and overlaid whilst building up to the chorus (To a City That They Live On) and Mick and Charlie fight for supremacy in the chorus building up to an ill-conceived wall of noise and feedback with Jim shouting Pulse over the top. For the album, it was all sensibly cut back and restrained again. New Warm Skin: Lost to many as an obscure B-side on an obscure single, this will be their first hearing of the song. Unfortunately, whilst the lyrics are almost finalised (a sometimes amusing take on the subject of plastic surgery: "Beauty, this beast, it's as ugly as sin; this sun can be cruel, I don't want to melt"), the wonderful melody in the chorus is completely missing, with Mick just hinting at what it would become. (I'd suggest that those who haven't heard this song should get a record player and get on eBay.) Constantinople Line: This sounds like a studio warm-up, caught by a cassette recorder somewhere in the room. Whilst the music is instantly recognisable, the lyrics swerve away from the familiar album lines, with Jim narrating more about the train and extending his conversation with the waiter (and "American Express" gets ar rather unexpected plug). Listen on the fade out as the engineer, or producer, commends the band: "That was good." Note: Good on Virgin to include these as they're the highlight of the entire box set for me. Even more so, given the quality, with tape drop-outs and wow. The first tracks are good, but the quality starts to drop for Capital City and New Warm Skin, whilst Constantinople Line is very rough. But, this is the nature of the beast, and I'd rather hear the rough stuff than not at all.

Simple Minds Box Set (Universal) It's hard to believe, and much of this lavish five-CD set of live and demo rarities doesn't help, but honestly - once upon a time, Simple Minds were cool. As angular, theatrical and plain weird as Roxy Music, Sparks or The Futureheads, in 1979 they were true underground stars. Listen to the live version of Life In A Day, Premonition from a 1979 Peel session or the demo of Thirty Frames A Second and you hear startling pre-echoes of the starchy, uptight Euro-funk that also underpins Franz Ferdinand. CD2 finds the band hitting an early peak with Promised You A Miracle, where their nervy invention is welded to a fuck-off chorus, and the groove-heavy atmospherics of Hunter And The Hunted. All good. Then, in the mid-'80s, something terrible happened. U2 became enoromous and the Minds found their own take on what was called, in all seriousness, The Big Music. Bono appears on a live take of New Gold Dream that's nearly 13 minutes long and 'quotes' from The Doors' Light My Fire. It's immeasurably bad. The Live Aid rehearsal of Don't You (Forget About Me), finds Glaswegian Jim Kerr singing in a Lahndahn* accent. As a cultural artefact it's interesting - once - but you'd have to be mentally ill to want to hear it twice. By CD3, Waterfront - a neat throb of a single - is bloated into ten-plus minutes of wanky noodling and Ghost Dancing is so clearly in hock to U2's The Unforgettable Fire it's embarrassing, By CD4 it's time for Belfast Child. God no! Miraculously, though, CD5 the band's 1999 `lost' album is almost wank-free. So, devour CD1, check out two, throw away three and four and burn five. Lesson learned. *Lahndanh accent - London accent. Think Michael Caine: "You're only supposed to blow the bloodahey doors orfff". Or something like that - Simon. Rob Fitzpatrick NME 28th August 2004

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Seen The Lights is going to be reissued as two separate DVDS. Seen The Lights - Live will feature the live material from the set and is set for release on the 18th October. Seen The Lights - The Videos won't appear until the 31st January 2005. It isn't known if the videos will include the 'missing' videos from the original set.

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The Live Aid DVD listing previously published here was incorrect. Simple Minds are now represented by Don't You (Forget About Me) and Ghostdancing.

See here for more information and a breakdown of each disc.

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Dream Ticket, a BBC 6 show, will be featuring a Simple Minds album as part of the show on the 30th August. Those who can't hear the show, but have broadband, can wait and listen to the show via the Listen Again option.

NME have reviewed Silver Box. It's shocking.

1. It's box-set of the week!
2. The early stuff is really great. Honestly, it's really great!!
3. They like Our Secrets Are The Same!!!
4. (Of course, the stadium years are still rubbish - but you can't have everything).

So, good on the NME

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Further excitment occured when a New Gold Dream 2-CD set appeared in the various retail store listings, set for release in September. However, it all turned to complete boredom and disinterest when it was realized that it's simply a repackaging, of the repackaging, of the New Gold Dream/Sparkle In The Rain double pack that no-one wanted in the first place.

Some more details about Silver Box:

1. Full listings of the 5-CD promo set are now published.
2. The promos include the usual errors on their sleeves. Hopefully this isn't a premonition (ha!) of the booklet. For example, the two demo sets of Empires And Dance and Sons And Fascination were not produced by John Leckie or Steve Hillage (because, they were brought in to polish them up for the albums, which is what producers do.) The Sons demos, including the oft-bootlegged Life In Oils, were produced by Mick MacNeil, a credit which should be recognised, and incidentally was confirmed by Bruce Findlay on the mailing list this week.
3. The version of New Gold Dream (81,82,83,84) from Barrowlands featuring Bono clocks in at 12:32. Therefore it's the full version of the song and not an edit.
4. Clive Johnson has picked up the promos, listened, and written the review below.

Simple Minds are a unique odyssey. They have had line-up changes galore, sell-out albums and tours, and, all of this is evident in Silver Box a 5-CD anthology stapling the band's career together in the shape of unreleased demos, sessions, and studio out-takes. From disc 1, Mick Macneil's keyboards are underpinned by Charlie’s guitar on the live versions of Life In A Day and Chelsea Girl. This introduction is signed off with a flourish by a very timid version of Here Comes The Fool. A young but enthusiastic Kerr sings very nervously on stage, but progresses. The Iggy Pop/Bowie (the band took their name from a Bowie song The Jean Genie) influence can clearly be heard, and lurid scenes of Bowie and Lou Reed starting a fight at an Arista publicity bash can somehow be visualised, as Kerr salutes each song with valour. Disc 1 comes complete with several genres, from New Romantic to the Avant-Garde, and with Jim’s lyrics differing from the album version, on I Travel, with “ Europe, Europe Interpol make love to the criminal, then yes, it's welcomed! Mick Macneil, Simple Minds’ ex-keyboard player was responsible for producing the unreleased Sons And Fascination demos and, although heavily bootlegged, these, and other out-takes, remained unreleased officially. Fortunately, Virgin have got things right. “The ever mystifying Life In Oils was a leftover from the Sons And Fascination album and Kerr, who once declared himself as a cynic, perhaps decided the album was better than the song." Fast-forwarding to the haunting version of Love Song, the listener can clearly hear elements of Room the Empires And Dance track that is featured on Disc 1. Amidst the quantum leap from the New Romantic past of disc 1 and 2, we hit big time. Introduce Waterfront from the well-publicised Alive In Rotterdam concert at the Ahoy Arena on 3rd December 1985, and you miss the visuals that the song produces, and you are trapped inside a musical bubble that you want to see and not only hear. Ghostdancing and the remarkably pacy Book Of Brilliant Things are visually impaired for the listener here. The remarkable inclusion of 12 tracks from a show at the Glasgow Barrowlands during the band’s Real Life tour in 1991 is very much an overkill of what has been released before. This said, for the fan, any Simple Minds release is an interesting one and they will listen. Disc 5 is the opus. The “lost album” Our Secrets Are The Same has, at last, after much bootlegging, and legal disputes, reached officialdom. Recorded in 1999, and produced by Charlie Burchill and Kevin Hunter, we are hearing new reinvented Simple Minds. A new young bassist appeared in 1999 in the shape of Eddie Duffy, who joined Charlie On keyboards for this final CD of the set. The respectful sounding Death By Chocolate is also a rhythmic ode to Yukio Mishima, a Japanese author who committed seppuku (ritual disembowelment) in 1970. The song focuses on one of his books, The Sailor Who Fell From Grace To The Sea, a sharp and clear influence on Kerr, who whilst writing this album, almost lost interest in the band completely. Fortunately we have this box set to prove otherwise. Kerr is joined by a falsetto voice on Happy Is The Man which does the track justice, and like all the tracks on this CD, Charlie is the anchor man here. With invention and innovativeness pouring out of him, especially on the bouncy track number 8, Hello, through to the acoustic on Happy Is The Man. From the curious newcomer, right through to the die-hard fan, this box set is a must for all tastes. Buy, and enjoy! Clive Johnson

The Ahoy gig was filmed, the first broadcast appearing on The Tube in January 1986. The concert internally publicized by Virgin Vision (an A4 information sheet is shown right) and it also turned up on various late-night graveyard shift TV shows. It has never been commercially released.

Some of the songs ended up as B-side filler for the Once Upon A Time releases. Love Song, Street Hassle and the ever-lasting Don't You (Forget About Me) were all taken from the Ahoy tapes and produced by Pete Walsh.

Despite the commercial unavailability of these tracks, there was a semi-legitimate source. Westwood One broadcast the gig twice, and the transcription discs became highly source after items (as the Superstar Concert Series: one set with Tears For Fears and the other with The Fixx.)

By the 1990s, the CD bootleggers finally got in on the act, and spawned several illegal recordings of the show (such as Westwood One, Ghostdancing, Alive And Kicking and the imaginatively titled Don't You (Forget About Me).

Silver Box is now available for preorder on a couple of on-line retail shops. It seems to be priced around £30, which is very reasonable for a five CD box-set. Copies can be purchased from www.101cd.com.

Collectors can also look out for the 10 track CD sampler of Silver Box which has started circulating. More copies of the 5 CD promos set have also surfaced.

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The Live Aid DVD will not feature the entire concert, as each artist is represented by one or two tracks (and Led Zeppelin have withdrawn permission for their set). The Simple Minds segment includes Promised You A Miracle and Don't You (Forget About Me); Ghostdancing has been dropped.

For more information, click here.

This DVD is set for release on the 1st November.

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SaMPLE MINDS played a brief set at drummer Thorsten's wedding on the 7th August, consisting of This Is Your Land and the Live In The City Of Light version of New Gold Dream (81,82,83,84).

The band might support Then Jerico - but nothing remains confirmed. However, they will be playing in England in November. More news about that will be found on the band's website www.sampleminds.co.uk when it goes live later this month.

And it gets more complicated. Completists have another promo of Dirty Old Town to seach out; and this was the one send to radio stations and the press, so it should be more common.

The Dirty Old Town promo is an odd beast, as it features Shane MacGowan's Road To Paradise as the title track, and not the Simple Minds/Jimmy Johnstone duet.

More information about the promo can be found here.

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Band keeps it simple - and superb Simple Minds frontman Jim Kerr is a man of few words on the stage. Repartee with the crowd has never really been his thing. But on Saturday night he had one thing to say - over and over again - "We love you Liverpool". And judging by the audence's reaction during this barnstorming, 1980s-inspired gig, Liverpool loves him. Promising to "destroy this place tonight", Simple Minds launched into a nostalgia tinged set that had the big tent rocking from first song to last. This was what concerts should be - the band were on top form belting out classic hits from their back catalogue leaving the crowd to do nothing else but enjoy themselves and indulge in some communal handclapping and singalongs. No set changes, only one change of shirt for a sweat-drenched Kerr, and a glitch free set meant that all that mattered was the music, and Glasgow's finest did not disappoint on that score. Simple Minds were hailed by many as the best performers at last year's Summer Pops - when they appeared in Liverpool for the first time in 20 years - and those lucky enough to have a ticket for Saturday's gig will have walked away thinking exactly the same thing. Taking some time out during a European tour to record their lastest album, due for release this autumn [next year - Simon], the show was a deft mix of classics and future releases. The show rattled along at a frightening pace with no let up for the band or the audience. Kerr defied both age and human physiology with a display of hip swirling stage gyrating that left him, and everyone else, gasping for breath at times. But the highlight of the almost two-hour long show was the encore. Simple Minds had undoubtedly saved the best until last. Waterfront, Someone Somewhere (In Summertime), Alive And Kicking and Sanctify Yourself brought the set to a shuddering crescendo and left the crowd screaming for more. And, for the record, the big top was left standing - but only just. Tony Barrett Daily Post 26th July

Rockers Keeping It Real "Great to be back in a real city at last, Liverpool," whooped Jim Kerr, "We're gonna to destory this place tonight." For the next hour and 45 minutes his five-man band did just that, with a high octane set of their old hits interspersed with some fresher material. Simple Minds have tinkered with various styles during their 28-year career, ranging from post-punk pop to avante garde and electro. But it was the anthemic stadium rock that sprung from their link-up with U2 producer Steve Lillywhite that cast an enduring mould for the Glasgow lads. And the stage presence that made them one of the biggest live acts in the world during the 1980s certainly hasn't been lost. It was an offering Simple Minds never actually wanted to record, movie soundtrack Don't You (Forget About Me), that lifted things into the hysteria zone. Hey, hey, hey, hey screamed the crowd and 10 minutes later, when Kerr tried to wind down their most famous hit, the audience simply wouldn't let him. As Ghostdancing morphed into Van Morrison's 60s hit Gloria, Kerr joked "That'll be Gloria from Kirkby." The Scot was clearly loving every second of it and after introducing the band of founder member Charlie Burchill (guitar), Mel Gaynor (drums), Eddie Duffy (bass) and Andy Gillespie (keyboards) they returned for a four-song encore, including, aptly for Liverpool the pulsating Waterfront, and the rousing finale of Sanctify Yourself. Rating: 9/10 Alive And Kicking Mike Torpey Liverpool Echo 26th July

Amazingly the promos for Silver Box have already started circulating - 11 weeks before release! This set was snapped up on eBay on the 1st August.

There's also a collectable CDR promo of the The Bhoys From Paradise single. Oddly Shane MacGowan's Road To Paradise is the title track, being followed by Dirty Old Town and Lord Of The Wing. It's the usual record company clobber: CDR in ink-jet printed sleeve.

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The Live Aid concert is due for release at the end of this year. It isn't known if Simple Minds segment, which was marred by some technical problems, will be included in its full form. For more information, check here.

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Still reeling from the disappointment that Farenheit 9-11 doesn't feature one nano-second of Simple Minds, cinema goers will be releaved that Along Came Polly features everyone's favourite 80s movie theme, namely Don't You (Forget About Me).

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In fact, don't take my word for it. Check out the imdb.com's latest poll: When I think "80s movie song," the first song that comes to mind is.....

Well, it polled three times more than Take My Breath Away, and trampled Footloose into third: Don't You (Forget About Me) from The Breakfast Club is the 80s theme song. See the poll here.

Silver Box, the long awaited box-set from Simple Minds, will be released on 18th October. The track listing was published here on the 25th May and here's the press release:

VIRGIN RECORDS SIMPLE MINDS 'Silver Box' 5 CD Box Set 18th October 2004 In their 25 year career, there are few things Simple Minds have not done. They have sold tens of millions of albums, filled stadiums all over the world, received critical adulation and achieved extraordinary success. At their peak they were arguably the biggest band in the world and to this day they are still touring, writing and recording new material. However it is long overdue for the band to receive the retrospective Box Set treatment, and this 5 CD set, comprised of demo, live, studio and session material collects what Simple Minds are all about, remarkably containing not one previously released track.* Discs 1 & 2 focus on early session and demo material and highlight just how experimental the early Minds were. Far from the stadium stomp that symbolised the band's middle period, much of the band's early work had an edge which set them apart from most other post punk wannabes. Here BBC session recordings and live versions of classic singles like Chelsea Girl and Life In A Day capture the energy of the band at that stage in their career. Discs 3 & 4 are comprised of live material from a series of triumphant gigs between 1985 and 1995. Arguably when the band were at their peak, classic tracks such as Waterfront, Alive & Kicking and Sanctify Yourself are delivered with such gusto that it is hard not to have your breath taken away by Jim Kerr's vocal and the chiming power of Charlie Burchill's guitar work. Disc 5 contains the "lost" album Our Secrets Are The Same. Recorded in 1999 the album was stuck at the bottom of a legal dispute, but finally it is to be available to the fans as part of this Box Set. The Box Set's sleeve notes will contain a commentary written by Jim Kerr on the tracks on Our Secrets Are The Same. All tracks on this set are previously unreleased*. For more detail on specific tracks please see tracklisting. Packaged in a long box, the 76 page booklet contains many previously unseen photos from record company and band member archives. Also included is a companion essay to the music written by Simple Minds expert Alfred Bos which includes new interview material from band members and some of the amazing producers that have worked with the band. There is also a commentary to Our Secrets Are The Same, written by Jim Kerr.

^* Despite the press release claiming that all the tracks were exclusive, Stand By Love, Banging On The Door, See The Lights, Belfast Child and Ghostrider had been previously released as the B-sides of Stand By Love and Real Life. Additional tracks also appeared on the fan-club only Real Live 91 release.

I've finally got around to uploading the details about the Dirty Old Town single, which was released under the name of The Bhoys From Paradise.

I've updated the 2004 tour page, which was quite easy as the set-list hasn't changed at all. Jim did mention that the songs might change at Liverpool, but it was not to be - however reports filtering back from Liverpool definitely state that the band did not disappoint, and it was the highlight of the tour so far for many.

I was at Charlecote Park (many thanks to Jamie) so I'll write up something about the evening in the next couple of days.

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Full information about the 'missed' bootleg remix of Don't You (Forget About Me) by The Deadly Ones vs Simple Minds has now been added to the discography.

It starts out sounding like a hard-house mix (too much bass with everything resonating about the room) but settles down into a rather pleasing old-skool classic mix. As far as I'm concerned, it's well worth tracking down. It is rather rare now, being released in November 2003 as a single sided white, but www.dancerecords.com had some copies recently.

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Sparkle Three Day Party Weekend

The Belgian fanclub, Sparkle Through The Years, are holding their three day Simple Minds party this weekend. For more information, click the flyer. Why not attend? It sounds well groovy.

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Shaun Edwards has updated his Crashing Beats And Fantasy website. Well, he's actually deleted the whole thing and completely designed it. Check out one of the most comprehensive Simple Minds websites to appear since this one.

Whilst I promoted ATE 1 vs Simple Minds on this website a couple of months ago, we all missed their first release: Don't You by The Deadly Ones vs. Simple Minds which was originally issued at the end of last year. (11th November 2003 to be exact).

It's a great remix, building up slowly, and keeping the song's structure and style.

www.dancerecords.com have recently got a couple of copies back in stock if you're interested.

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Bunny Ears At Blickling You can sometimes sum up a Simple Minds concert in one word. A myriad of adjectives could be applied to past experiences: majestic, energetic, frenzied, insane. And yet as I stood in a cool field in Norfolk in my rabbit ears, watching the sunlight set, with waves of dope smoke wafting around the crowd, it came to me: this one, for me, was going to be chilled. The ambience of Blickling Hall permuated. People erected small marquees, ate cucumbers sandwiches and poured chilled Chabis into crystal glasses. As for the location, imagine Milton Keynes Bowl with grass and a lake. And a view. I set up camp outside Wines Of Chile, took a glass, and surveyed the view. The stage was set, the support band were being ignored, and I generally caught up with people. Chilled indeed. As the hour approached for Simple Minds’ appearance, the sky darkened to a deeper blue, and the cloud cover thinned. A guy walked past with his girlfriend. “Why didn’t you buy those?” he asked, obviously envious of my rabbit ears. “I wanted a T-shirt” she replied and gestured to an overpriced black Live In The City Of Light shirt. “That cost £20 quid," he wailed. "How much were the ears?” “Three pounds fifty.” “Three pounds fifty! The T-shirt was £20 quid. Darling, why didn’t you get the rabbit ears? You could look as sexy as him.” At that point, I elected to wear them for the entire gig. It was, after all, official merchandise. The Fluke Loop started, the crowd swelled, and picnics were rapidly packed up or trampled into the mud. I might be chilled but there was some serious gigging to get down to. Downing my last glass of Chilean red, and guided by the light of the ears, I made my way down. We’d be Charlie side for this one. Of course, once in the crowd, and surrounded by the flotsam and jetsam, the lights of the stage, and music of Simple Minds, then I was slightly less chilled. I was just expecting to be thoroughly entertained for my one gig this year (since I’d already seen this concert in 2002 and 2003) and I was not disappointed. From One Step Closer and though the rest of the night, Simple Minds were tighter, clearer and more entertaining than I’d seen them for a long time. “Let me see your hands.” The field was filled with hands, glasses of sparkly, and a pair of rabbit ears. Jim looked slimmer and leaner, sporting a tan, white shirt unbuttoned to various positions – probably depending on the song. (I could hear the voice of Bruce Findlay in my head: “Do you shirt up. Tuck it in”). Charlie hadn’t changed (he never does – the universal constant of the Simple Minds universe) whilst Eddie postured and posed, running through the whole manual of Derek Forbes’ bass playing (plus his own customised one-foot-on-the-monitor pose) and belted out Robin Clarke’s vocal lines. Whilst the boys at the front supported white shirts blue trousers, the second row was harder to spot. When Mel emerged at the end of the gig, beaming his cherubic smile, he was dressed all in black. And Andy was similarly attired, his stoic presence behind the keyboards broken by occasional jokes to someone stage right. Of course, who am I to critize? I was wearing a pair of fluffy, flashing bunny ears for the entire gig. And the songs? You know them. One Step Closer and New Sunshine Morning represented the latest album Cry. Stadium anthems were present: Belfast Child, Alive And Kicking and Don’t You (Forget About Me). And my highlights were the impossibly brilliant New Gold Dream and the return of Promised You A Miracle. I won’t go to every gig in the itinary and then moan about the set-list. That’s why I limited myself to Blickling, knowing that this band, and their repertoire, would match that of previous years. And it’s not the band’s fault – continual postponement of Secrets have left them with little new material. But I was extremely impressed – Simple Minds 2004 are new, improved and if you have any doubts, you should see them. And as I left Blicking for the dark streets of Lincolnshire, I was extremely chilled. And happy. Simon “Official merchandise rabbit ears: £3:50” Cornwell

Big Beauty by Simple Minds vs Underworld is the latest in a series of white-label, probably bootleg, remixes to hit the specialist DJ shops. This time New Gold Dream (81,82,83,84) is the subject of a cut-and-paste mix with additional drums and effects. Whether this turns up later as a legit release remains to be seen, but it should be of interest to dance fans.

You can purchase it, or just listen to a sample, at www.dancerecords.com.

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Live In Gazebo City Well what can I say? Seeing best part of 10,000 people sitting down tucking into their food before a Simple Minds gig is one thing I thought I’d never see, but it happened on Friday 16th July 2004 at Blickling Hall Nr Norwich in Norfolk. Gazebo’s all around the outside of the arena quite a sight at a Simple minds gig. What would we get from the band possibly a cool box full of goodies to shared out amongst the crowd? No something better than that a red hot performance that even a cool box couldn`t cool down. The backing tape started just before 9pm & a massive cheer filled the warm Norfolk air. We were then treated to One Step Closer. Quite interesting how many people knew the words as it really has never had the airplay it deserves or album promotion. The possy down were the front were then getting soggy muddy feet as the opening chords of Love Song rang out to the approval of the crowd .Good to see Eddie Duffy on backing vocals. Charlie gets his “And on lead guitar” from Jim to which the crowd show a massive appreciation. The possy down the front must be sinking in the mud now as Speed Your Love To Me seems to get everybody going. We then can take a breath as Glittering Prize sounds out with what sounds like a hasher bass line from Mr Duffy which seems to add an edge to it. Jim then gets the crowd to do the side to side Verona wave,well the first part of the crowd respond the other half must still be eating. The end of the song is greeted by the biggest cheer of the night so far. The next two songs Promised You A Miracle & See The Lights get great audience participation in both sing a long and clapping. New Sunshine Morning gets an airing with a “Let me see yours hands” from Jim and the whole responds. Quite a sight to see from front to back everybody must have finished eating! Eddie again on backing vocals excellent. Then were away the first few chords of Don`t You (Forget About Me) emanate across the Blicking downs. The crowd are in front of Jim with the words as the crowd sing the first lot of Hey,Hey,Hey,Hey`s. People are dancing, singing - it`s great. Then out come the mobile phones held above head ringing who ever so they can hear the gig.No wonder mobile phone companies make loads of money. The summer of 1985 is remembered for so many with this song myself included. As per usual we get the mass hand clapping in the mid part of the song & then it`s into another Verona wave which this time is going from the front to the back.The band finish playing this track and let the crowd finish the vocals off. We then get the chance to have a well deserved rest as Belfast Child is greeted with more mobile phones in the air and also the lighters this time as well. During Charlie's big guitar solo Jim is in front of Mel's drums doing some sort of dance in time with the drum beat. Mass crowd appreciation at end of song. Back to the Good News album as Great Leap Forward gets reworked slightly at the beginning. Jim asks the crowd “Everything Okay?” to which the masses reply “Yes”. The place then erupts as Ghostdancing pounds into our ear drums. The place is rocking everybody is dancing in some shape or form. There is even a bloke in front of me with flashing rabbit ears. All the band get introduced during this song apart from Mel, mind you the way he hits the drums he doesn`t need an introduction. Eddie and Charlie seem to have a great rapour on stage very often now you`ll see Charlie taking a wonder over to Eddie to have a chat. In mid song the possy down the front are singing Gloria before Jim has a chance to start singing Gloria. Can we have a rest please Jim? No chance into New Gold Dream. Place is staring to get very muddy & boggy wish I`d bought my wellies. Hang on may be I`ll be able to sell the mud on ebay, Blickling mud from the Simple minds gig? The band then go off after 70 mins just enough time to get some water drunk an anticipate what the encore will be and if I`ve got the energy. We're off again to the thunderous bass line of Waterfront. The crowd jumping up and down must register on the Richter Scale by now. Possibly not with it being a bit wet. At the start of the song a very rare moment when Jim cocks up he drops the mic to a cheer from the crowd. The last three tracks of the night to which the whole place is rocking right till then end are Someone Somewhere (In Summertime), Alive & Kicking & Sanctify Yourself. When we get into Sanctify Yourself a few people are starting to look a bit worse for wear either through a bit to much pop or they are not a fit as they used to be with all this dancing. Show done band show their appreciation to the crowd by all coming to the front of the stage. Mel must have lost his contract with the towel company as only one towel is thrown to the crowd, but half a tree by the amount of drum sticks that are showered over the crowd. Sound was great,venue was great, only down side it was the same old songs.Don`t get me wrong I liked what the band played but it would have been nice to hear some of the earlier tracks the band did in their career. Credit must also go to the people of Blickling hall who marshalled the cars in & also marshalled the cars out so there wasn`t a mass free for all with people getting irate cause they couldn`t get out. Pity other venues don`t learn from this. Hopefully we will be able to got back to Blickling in the not to distant future to see the band there again. See you in Liverpool on Saturday Shaun Tranter

Absolutely have issued a single-sided 10" single which features the new Danny McMillian remix of Don't You (Forget About Me). It's very sparce new mix which will appeal to hardcore and completists.

Jim was interviewed by Todd at 18:05 (GMT) during Some Sweet Day 2004. The main points were:

• The box set, called Silver Box, will be issued sooner rather than later. Alfred Bos is writing the booklet notes, whilst Marlin Hanlin has been in Glasgow taking pictures and tracking down memorabilia.
• Due to their record company contracts, anything recorded live and released by the band would be subject to a re-recording clause. However, the contract expires at the end of 2004, leaving the band free to release what they want. This has been the reason for the lack of a live CD/DVD in the past.
• Despite some interest in his journal writing, Jim has no plans to become a writer or publish his essays in a book.
• They're going to take their time with the new album, which will probably be released in 2005. Jim mentioned needing a landmark album, and since they'd released so much in the last couple of years, then a new studio album could wait a while yet.
• Jim said that the band were at the mercy of the promoters as to where they play. Australia was mentioned again as a possibility.
• The new album will not be released on Eagle. (Simple Minds left the label late last year).
• More new songs are expected to be unveiled during this tour: Premonition, Glitterball and a new version of Life In A Day.

Many thanks to Todd and Aaron for a superb show as always.

Here's a rough transcription:

JK: Is this the fourth or the fifth Some Sweet Day? TR: It's been around - kind of like your band! So much has gone on. And the box set has finally come to fruitition? JK: It's truly immenent. TR: What was your participation? JK: Virgin, who own the stuff, come to us occasionally; for a greatest hits, or a new compilation (such as Early Gold) and finally this rarities box set: Sessions, outtakes, live things - and the cherry on the cake is that it will feature Our Secrets Are The Same, recorded five years ago. JK: Our fans are so on the case, that little counts as a genuine rarity. But for the masses, this is all new stuff in a really nice package. Martin Hanlin, who was in The Silencers, has been trawling through Glasgow looking for pictures and memorabilia for the box set, which is called Silver Box. I don't recall the actual release date. TR: When Silver Box was announced, people thought it was something different from A History. JK: A History? That title's too boring. And with that title it would be expected to be chronological. TR: Any possibilities of a new live DVD from Simple Minds in 2004? JK: The delay is due that when you sign a record deal, there's a restriction on re-recording songs (which is what a live song is). From the end of this year, anything we record live, we can just go ahead and just release it. We can do unplugs. Orchestral versions. Banjo versions. [Laughs] We've held out on doing that. There was going to be a DVD in 2002, but the record company negotiations dragged us down. JK: Plus there will be the possibility of downloading material from a website. But, in our hearts, is the desire to move forward. TR: There's been talk of you becoming an author. You should compile your journal entries. JK: I've never looked at myself as a writer - I'm a song-writer, I like writing songs. When the idea of the website came along, I felt I should communicate the forefront of my thinking on a particular day. It's gone down well. Would I have a story to tell? I probably would. I do enjoy the writing - doing it freely is one thing, having a publisher and having to come up with juicy material - I wouldn't like that. I hope the journal gives that little bit more (but I've been skipping it recently - I will be more regular - and that's a threat!). TR: Still a new year release for the new album? JK: It won't be this year. We need a landmark album, something that's really, really good. Just to put out an album for the sake of it is one thing - but we're hanging in there. I can feel the frustration but it'll be done when it's done. We've done the covers album, studio album, Early Gold, remasters, Silver Box, greatest hits - we've toured non-stop, and we've been writing and recording - it's not the case that we're doing nothing. TR: Writing during the week and playing at the weekends? JK: Some nights I've felt the band are playing better than ever. And that comes from the continuation. So we're reluctant to disappear into the studio and not play. And we can bring some of that live energy to the record. But the point you've made is the intention. TR: Mel hurt his hand, but he's OK? JK: Last week he thought he had a fracture or an actual break. He got X-Rayed and it wasn't as bad as the doctor thought. But I could feel a couple of nights that it was affecting him. But he's over it. TR: Is there a possibility of touring the USA? JK: I hadn't been expecting that question! Unfortunately the band doesn't have a large say in it - we can't tour without promoters. They're only going to invite us to play if they get a return. But there is interest there, from a record company I like, who want to take on the next record. We do get asked to do one-off things - something in LA for K-ROCK for example. But we don't want to slip off and do one gig. But you need to be invitied - we need the promoters. For instance, there is interest in Australia as the classic stations still play us. We almost play where we're asked - but if we're not getting the calls, then we can't really initiate it. TR: The set-list this year has featured some old songs. JK: It's funny how songs reappear in the set-list and suddenly start working again. And the festivals are short sets, so it's a standard thing. I like to think about the hard-core fans, and I think we've played between 50 and 60 different songs - and then there's the 10 or dozen we always play, but we have been chopping and changing them. Some of them, like Street Fighting Years, have a heavy atmosphere - you need darkness, lights and the production - it becomes more enhanced. At a festival, it's different. TR: Any other songs to bring back? JK: We've done five or six at rehearsals we haven't played yet: Glitterball, for one. We keep revisting them. we have a new version of Life In A Day. We have a gig in Liverpool which has become our own gig - we could do some of them then. JK: We play tomorrow in Norwich in East Anglia. Probably the last time we played there was a university gig. It's a big gig - we need to be blessed with some good weather! When we played Palermo, the heavens opened during the soundcheck - it never rains in Sicily unless we play! TR: I have a copy of Live And Rare here, which is live material and new studo material. Was White Light/White Heat a recent recording? JK: It was recent. Autumn last year - Charlie and Gordon Goudie producing. I think it's a really exciting version. TR: Dirty Old Town has done well for the charity. JK: They were all done in autumn last year. TR: I like the new version of Don't You (Forget About Me). It's stripped down and takes on new character. It's a mature version of the song. JK: There are so many different versions of that. But a good pop song's a good pop song. I like the drive of it. It wasn't something I was wildly enthusiastic about it, but when I heard it on the radio in Italy, it sounded really good. Music: Don't You (Forget About Me) TR: Can you explain the collaboration with Phunk Investigation? JK: They get enthusiastic about something and they ask and we give them a few things. It's better to give people their shout and space when it's not your genre. TR: Simple Minds are getting new life with new mixes and releases. It's similar to how your songs change live. They heard songs on Live In The City Of Light and had no idea that they were alternate to how they were originally recorded. JK: Alfred Bos, a Dutch journalist in Amsterdam, he's doing the sleeve notes for Silver Box; he thinks there's a tendency for Simple Minds to get written out of the rock history, but I tend to agree with him. But when you hear, and see, and notice the amount of remixes, and as the music gets passed down through the generations, you can see that Simple Minds have influenced a lot of people. And long may it continue! TR: Exciting hearing about old songs being demoed for new sets. Is discovering new songs in the old part of songwriting? JK: Yes. We were in Spain at the soundcheck - the guys were playing a version of Sweat In Bullet. And Charlie started a new line in a chorus - which sounds like the seed of a new song. I wanted to stop him then! Sometimes you get these echoes, or branches, that grow out of an atmosphere of a song. There's a part of Great Leap Forward that recalls Wall Of Love - you feel this refrain coming through. When you're writing songs you're rarely concious of it. TR: Is Premonition a possibility in the set? JK: Some songs feel their age, some feel timeless. Premonition has a great bass line - it's a mood and a dynamic. And it feels relevant. Some of the songs feel like an old jacket that doesn't fit anymore, but other songs don't need dusting down, and they work. TR: My favourite part of Seen The Lights is the old TV footage JK: I never watch the videos - it's just too weird watching yourself. You watch them to approve them and I find it difficult to watch myself. And I thought "God, look at those hairstyles" and I looked in the mirror and the hairstyle I have now is equally ridiculous. Life goes on! TR: It's been a great joy speaking with you and catching up on Simple Minds. It's a pleasure and an honour. Anything to leave the fans with? JK: The same thing. We might not be the most forecoming but we appreciate everyone who gets off on our music. And those who have the patience to hang in there when we don't visit them, have patience, we're not going to stop. Where there's a will there's a way. And for those who travel to see us everywhere - you're amazing. We've not worthy. The gigs wouldn't be the same. Jim introduces Premonition and mentions that there's a good chance to hear it tomorrow night.

The set-list seems to have stabilised over the last couple of gigs, barely changing. Although the band have been soundchecking Premonition and Sweat In Bullet, neither have appeared at a concert yet.

Mel has injured his hand - he's still playing the gigs, but is skipping the soundchecks at the moment.

Further gigs may be planned for Spain: Probably Torremolinos in August and Madrid in October.

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It's this Thursday!

"Aaron and I are gearing up for this year's show - landing THIS thursday the 15th - 7a-1a USA EST
www.wbwc.com (listen with real audio)
www.runninglate.org/marathons/sm.html (online flyer)

We have TONS of giveaways, thanks to the early ending of last year's show (you should hear the parody we have in this year's promo!) so keep the dialing fingers ready!"- Todd

440-826-STING
440-826-2187
request@wbwc.com

I've been on holiday for the last couple of weeks. Hence the lack of updates. But enough of that. There's news to be told....

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Big Beauty by Simple Minds vs Underworld was issused as a white label at the end of June. It's a hardcore (well, very hardcore) remix of New Gold Dream. www.dancerecords.com have a few copies in stock if you're interested. My copy's on the way, so more information when it eventually turns up.

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The charity record, Dirty Old Town, eventually reached 46 in the official UK singles chart. Not bad for a single that none of the English retailers decided to stock.

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DR WHO! Having seen the Minds all over the world, this is the fist time, other than Glastonbury festival in 1995 that I have gone when they weren’t at the top of the bill. I sent an email to the festival organisers and Bryan Adams management, just to say, the acts were the wrong way round on the bill! It should have read, “Simple Minds plus special guests “Bryan Adams” still no change or reply! The festival was a fantastic success, the atmosphere and people were just how I have always found Ireland, friendly and full of character. There is such a presence of community and togetherness here, every time I leave I wish my home town was as friendly, but everyone at home is so wrapped up in their own self impotence its embarrassing and on the plane home, I often think, why I’m in such a hurry to get back. On the way to the main outdoor stage “Fitzgerald stadium” there was a huge poster, which said “live tonight 80s rock band Simple Minds”. How bizarre! This is last straw! Unless you’re a fucking time traveller what’s the point in going to see a band that was good 20 odd years ago, this is a misconception that has to stop, and it stops here. The reason why thousand of people all over the world go and see Simple Minds is because they are fantastic, the music, the vibe, the energy, the showmanship and the passion that constantly seeps from the music. Simple Minds bought the house down on Friday and the year is 2004, not 1984! This whole misconception seems to cloud the new music and new albums, simply because of unrealistic comparisons, back to an era that was just a stepping stone, every show the band give a 110%, not for money or for yesteryear, but for today! A friend of mind said recently “I see you’re off to see the Minds again! Why do you bother? When you have seen them once before” My reply was simple, but to the point. I see you have a beautiful girlfriend, you fucked her once, so why do continue in doing so? (that shut him up) Victory was mine and a valid point was made. I bet you all a ton on money, all the talentless miming bands you see on Top Of the Pops, will either be signing on in 20 years or doing TV shows like “I was in a shit band, get me out of here!” I shouldn’t get this mad, but it does make me blood boil. Anyhow back to the gig, the Minds came on stage at 7 o’clock, to the same intro as The Floating World shows, for a second I though they were going to start with New Gold Dream, it wasn’t to be, the opener was One Step Closer great uplifting song, but doesn’t work with that particular intro, in fact it seems to clash with the timing, I don’t think it would work with the Book Of Brilliant Things either, it makes the start “bitty” the set list was good, with a strong selection of great songs. Welcome back, New Sunshine Morning, Big Sleep and Spaceface. The crowd were fantastic, half the people here came because they thought it was still 1984, you wouldn’t believe the reaction when someone broke the news it was actually 2004! A few techno problems and a couple of mis-starts Ghostdancing and Don’t You you always get this at festivals, with different crew and systems its hard to find your balance when there are 4 of 5 bands, after each other. The band looked great, Jim was glowing as normal, Charlie was smiling like a Cheshire cat and Andy sporting a new haircut looked great in red, but the man was Eddie Duffy (new and improved) suit jacket, boots and sunglasses, he looked like a cross between “RoboCop and Don Johnson”. Eddie is now been invited to join the best dressed rock stars club, me being the founder member!, who would thought I be sending Malcolm Foster an email “your days are numbered Pal! Just for the record, Andy and Eddie are such wonderful players and musicians, I want to interview them both, just so we know more about them, I will get them! Everything was brilliant, the music, the show, the only slight let down (for me) was New Gold Dream, this version seems a lot more dancy, its lost its driving steam train energy, sounds very hollow and empty, not a problem, I’m sure when the boys read this they will rush to the studio and play my favourite version! Thanks to Simon for the best Simple Minds site in the world, if I wrote this review for simpleminds.com, by the time they update there site, my children would of grown up and possibly feeding me or wheeling me around garden centres. Look forward to seeing all the great people I have met over the years at all the UK gigs, coming soon. I would love to write some more, but my Tardis has been refuelled, with white socks and glow sticks and its back to the 1980s. Till next time! Up the Minds! Jamie Sinclair

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A big fan of Simple Minds, Harry Prins died last week. He was only 35. His website, with pictures of him meeting Jim and Charlie can be found here. My condolences to his family and friends.

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(Incidentally I hadn't previously linked to Harry's site - for the simple reason that no-one told me about it. Please let me know if you have a Simple Minds site and I haven't linked to you).

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White Hot Day in Sardegna, Treasure Island. Sometimes last minute decisions are the best ones...like the one to go to Sarroch...in one word a HOT day... from any point of view...thanks to a free Alitalia flight ...and a little help from some friends :Alex-Drastico (Gio') travelling with me from Rome, his friends that helped us to reach the venue and that hosted us, the really nice fans from Sardegna...thanks to a enjoying band it was an unforgottable hot day! At first we din't believe in such a gig...after arriving at the venue with 36 (and even more) Celsius degrees...we had a little delusion because of the venue, a football ground lost in a small town where we shared the first minutes at the gates with two dogs sleeping on the ground... so we decided that it was too early and we reached a bar ... there we met two fans from Mantova(Italy) with well known SM t-shirts, they were not going to attend the gig and they came just to take a look... strange things can happen since the boy recognizeed me from Montecarlo 2002 gig... Then we went again to the gates and we were able to know some wonderful fans from Sardegna...and surprise surprise : the sound checks , without Jim but with the band really full of power! We couldn't get in but even from the gates the sound was perfect!Some changes in the future set lists can be waited: Real Life, Premonition, Sweat In Bullet, Street Fighting Years .... Then at last the rush to the front row... the band was a little bit late but after the long waiting a HOt gig with a band in the best mood...Jim, Charlie, Eddie, Andy and Mel recognized me... Jim winking, Mel with a wonderful smile, a shy Andy sending greetings from keyboards, Eddie showing his tongue, Charlie saying bye-bye. At the beginning after coming to the stage Jim said : Come sta Italie, tutto a posto?Siamo qua, ogni tanto...si comincia andiamo... During Great Leap Forwards, Jim came to dance on the audio boxes that were in front of us... shaking hands (Alex this was your chance!)... Jim danced with fascinating power and joy ...the lights were better than other gigs and even the set list had some surprises... See the Lights, Let There Be Love, Theme For Great Cities... and it was during See the Lights that Jim had to speak about football: Come calcio Cagliari? Serie A? Che fortuna! A stormy Ghostdancing with Gloria (Jim: Gloria, una ragazza, e' un diavoletto, sicuro!)...the audience was involved by the power of music and the band felt the positive feeling for sure!A gossip: during the first set of songs Jim was wearing an Armani Jeans light blue-with blues stripes shirt... Italian fashion! As usual the mad photographer took a lot of shots !The next day a nice surprise : in the flight Cagliari-Roma ,while I was seated a saw a black dressed Charlie coming in the airplane! He was nice as usual and we were able to speak a little bit in Italian: I said that the gig was wonderful , and that I was going to Palermo...he said that it was so hot in Sardegna, he asked news about the venue in Palermo and I was able to inform him with some things that Rosy told me ;-)...in Switzerland he was a little bit worried about this new venue...he added that he was really tired and that he was going to London and then to Brittany... then at the end of the flight he asked me about my flight back to Trieste...see U soon Charlie! Strange things can happen in a hot day somewhere in the summertime! Paola/Bellatrix

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Despite being exclusive news on the official site, Farenheit 9-11 does not feature any music by Simple Minds.

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Another Absolutely remix of Don't You (Forget About Me) has just surfaced. The Danny McMillian remix is far more hardcore than previous offerings. Again www.dancerecords.com have copies.

Dirty Old Town was finally released on the 21st June, but many shops in England have refused to stock it as it's considered 'just another football' record in a market saturated with football records.

Obviously the fact that it's a charity record in celebration of Jimmy Johnstone is clearly lost on them.

The Internet is your friend - buy it online from HMV.

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Jam And Spoon released Tripomatic Fairytales 3003 on the 21st June. This includes Cynical Heart which featured Jim on vocals - the video can be viewed here.

For more information about Jam And Spoon then see their website.

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A collection of current tour images can be found on Paola's website.

BBC Radio Wales will again be broadcasting the Kings Dock concert from last year. Tune in this Saturday at 18:30.

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The release of Dirty Old Town has again been delayed and it won't be released until the 21st June. Whilst lengthy delays and set-backs seem to be the norm for Simple Minds' releases, it turns out that demand is so high that they're having to press more copies. There's talk of it reaching number one on pre-orders alone.

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As the release of the box set gets nearer, all the details surrounding the recording and eventual shelving of Our Secrets Are The Same has been added to Dream Giver Redux. This includes new information that hasn't been previously added to the website.

And, for the first time, details of the second aborted release has also been collected.

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Plus, all the history of the forthcoming box set has been collected and uploaded. Note that at the moment, I'm using Live In The City Of Light artwork to illustrate the pages - not a bad guess considering the style of Seen The Lights.

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As mentioned on the 25th May, Simple Minds appear on a new live compilation DVD. It turns out that they are represented by Alive And Kicking from Verona.

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The tour pages have now been updated with the latest set-lists.

Dream Giver Redux is clean now.

Don't go anywhere near Dream Giver Redux for the time being. (www.simpleminds.org). My ISP has been hit by a virus, and all the index files now will attempt to redirect you to malicious sites. This site is on a different ISP and is clean.

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Dirty Old Town's release date has been put back to the 14th June.

The set-list of the 'secret' gig has now been added to the tour page, where all the tour information is being compiled.

A MEETING OF MINDS Simple Minds put on a surprise gig for 350 fans at Glasgow's Hilton hotel on Thursday night. TV's Colin McAllister and Justin Ryan, as well as former Scotland rugby player Gavin Hastings, Deputy First Minster Jim Wallace and Glasgow Lord Provost Liz Cameron, were among the guests at a dinner hosted by airline Emirates to launch their new direct service from Glasgow to Dubai. When the meal ended, it was Scotland's own Simple Minds providing the evening's entertainment. The greatest hits set covered favourites from Love Song to New Gold Dream (81,82,83,84) and Sanctify Yourself. Meanwhile, Simple Minds' former record company Virgin Records/EMI is to release a box-set called A History, charting the band's 26-year career, from their punk origins in the late-70s to their global stardom in the mid-80s, with Top 10 hits such as Don't You (Forget About Me) and Alive and Kicking. Set for release this August, A History is thought to include a number of rarities, including live performances, radio sessions and the unreleased album, Our Secrets Are The Same. Daily Record Lee-Ann Fullerton and Beverley Lyons May 29 2004

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Early Gold has been given the Dream Giver Redux treatment.

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The “Moaning – but also happy - Review” When I think I travelled 1,400 km in 2 days and I did not do what I wanted to… Did not take my camera along, got to the place late, just at the end of The Stranglers’ set which I had not seen on stage for the last 13 years… and I barely heard the last three songs…. No comments! One remark about the crowd at the gig : the audience was rather 40ish, older than, for instance, the Parisian or Geneva audience for Simple Minds in November. And there was a kind of “hippy” atmosphere throughout this festival, while all bands featured on that day were from the Eighties.. Maybe it’s normal as we were in the Netherlands. But we were lucky enough to make it rather close to the stage, since many people left at the end of The Stranglers’ set. So two little Frogs crept in and found themselves surrounded by Level 42 fans… During this boring set… which lasted 1h20 mn… my Naughtiness remained very silent waiting for the torture to be over… Excellent musicians but not one inch of soul, or charisma. Mark King is a wonderful bass player but he does not know how to make contact with his audience… And I never liked Level 42 too much twenty years ago… so it’s not going to change now… (stubborn girl, I know…) Finally the end of this set came after the Encore (glurps!) and we patiently waited for the equipment to be installed on the stage. But the show did not start before 9.30 PM (instead of 9.15 PM) while the Naughty President’s feet were beginning to be sore… Just before Simple Minds came on stage, we got the news about Cannes… and it made us quite happy! At 9.35… finally, the boys arrive on stage but I got the awful feeling (so did my hubby) that Jim and Charlie were in a very bad mood… smiling to the audience yes, but also dark eyes sending bad vibes… Fortunately this disappeared rather quickly as the crowd gave the band a warm welcome. Starting with Book of Brilliant Things was great, but again it was a too short version… OK I love the song too much…. Then came War Babies. And I thought: “This is going to please several people from the site attending the concert”. However I found it a bit too “smooth”, but it was a good surprise. A bit of sleep for me on Spaceface and then some jumping and dancing on Up On The Catwalk (excellent version…), followed by Hypnotized and The American. One of the “jewels” then came with New Sunshine Morning. This song is a great one and was amplified during this live performance. I even called poor Cecilia (who could not make it to the gig) to share with her this excellent version. Don't You (Forget About Me) came afterwards… Where are my ear plugs???? I could just hear that Charlie had problems with his equipment… which was quickly changed by the technicians, but the problem came back later. After this extended “La la la” version (…), Belfast Child came. Very nice as usual. Our venerated Scottish gentlemen at this moment seemed to enjoy themselves on stage compared with the beginning of the show, and the Dutch audience was getting wilder. Then the surprise came with Great Leap Forward. A few seconds to recognize it, but sheer excitement among the crowd! Ghostdancing was terrific as usual, we started singing Gloria a bit in advance… and Jim decided to “croon” a bit. Where was the regular Light My Fire? Then everything gets more chaotic, the songs come out at the speed of light… She’s A River, then New Gold Dream (81,82,83,84) (more jumping!!!) but the feared “Bye-Bye” is already there. A regular encore then followed : Someone Somewhere (In Summertime), Waterfront and the two usual “American market” ones come up : Alive And Kicking and Sanctify Yourself. C’est déjà fini!!!! One hour and 45 minutes later the show is over… And the organizers start playing music pretty loud : Roxane… which is sung by the crowd as they leave the tent… OK I will see Sting in Paris later this week (if he has recovered from laryngitis) but I did not want to practice so soon… When leaving the site, we meet four British guys who want to rent bicycles (at 11.30 PM) to go back to the hotel…. And we slowly go back to our nearby hotel in the darkness of the woods. But fortunately no Dutch “wear wolf” was hanging around in the night…. Joelle Bonnet

A collection of pictures from the Hellendoorn gig can be found on the festival's website. (Click on 'Fotos' and navigate through).

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Theme For Great Cities has been used on the soundtrack of Football Factory which is currently being shown across the UK:

"The Football Factory is more than just a study of the English obsession with football violence, its about men looking for armies to join, wars to fight and places to belong. A forgotten culture of Anglo Saxon males fed up with being told they're not good enough and using thier fists as a drug they describe as being more potent than sex and drugs put together. Shot in documentery style with the energy and vibrancy of handheld, The Football Factory is frightingly real yet full of painful humour as the four characters extreme thoughts and actions unfold before us."

A History, the long awaited box-set, has been delayed until August/September. Unfortunately Virgin don't have any artwork at the moment. Or liner notes. Or, indeed, even the music. Bit of a problem then.

So A History currently remains, at the moment, a list of tracks.

The good news is that perhaps something could be done about the choices of material on discs #3 and #4?

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Forget the news of VH1 filming the band during this tour (posted yesterday). There was some leg-pulling going on between fans, and the story got a little out of control.

The rumours that Simple Minds were going to tour Australia with Blondie were true. Talks were proceeding until last Friday, but any possible Simple Minds tour down-under have been postponed until next year.

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Dischi vs Simple Minds, which is actually a cover of Endgames' Waiting For Another Chance, has now been added to the discography.

Tracklisting of the long awaited box-set:

Simple Minds: A History. CD1: 1979-1980
1.	Life In A Day	[Live]	(3:51)	[Paris Theatre, London. 8/8/79]
2.	Chelsea Girl	[Live]	(4:52)	[Paris Theatre, London. 8/8/79]
3.	Here Comes The Fool	[Live]	(4:32)	[Paris Theatre, London. 8/8/79]
4.	Changeling	[Session]	(3:59)	[John Peel, Radio One, 19/12/79]
5.	Premonition	[Session]	(5:37)	[John Peel, Radio One, 19/12/79]
6.	Citizen (Dance Of Youth)	[Session]	(2:53)	[John Peel, Radio One, 19/12/79]
7.	Room	[Session]	(4:18)	[John Peel, Radio One, 19/12/79]
8.	I Travel	[Demo]	(3:52)
9.	Celebrate	[Demo]	(4:24)
10.	30 Frames A Second	[Demo]	(5:30)
11.	Twist/Run/Repulsion	[Demo]	(4:08)
12.	Captial City	[Demo]	(5:33)
13.	New Warm Skin	[Demo]	(4:20)
14.	Constantinople LIne	[Demo]	(4:41)
Simple Minds: A History. CD2: 1981-1985
1.	The American	[Demo]	(4:03)
2.	Life In Oils	[Demo]	(4:19)
3.	Careful In Career	[Demo]	(6:18)
4.	Sweat In Bullet	[Demo]	(4:33)
5.	Love Song	[Demo]	(5:00)
6.	In Every Heaven	[Demo]
7.	Promised You A Miracle	[Session]	(4:24)	[David Jensen, Radio One, 11/2/82]
8.	In Trance As Mission	[Session]	(4:27)	[David Jensen, Radio One, 11/2/82]
9.	Someone Somewhere (In Summertime)	[Session]	(5:19)	[David Jensen, Radio One, 13/8/82]
10.	Glittering Prize	[Session]	(4:22)	[David Jensen, Radio One, 13/8/82]
11.	Hunter And The Hunted	[Session]	(5:53)	[David Jensen, Radio One, 13/8/82]
12.	The Kick Inside Of Me	[Session]	(5:56)	[David Jensen, Radio One, 11/9/83]
13.	New Gold Dream (81,82,83,84)	[Live]		[Barrowlands, Glasgow. 5/1/85]
14.	Don't You (Forget About Me)	[Rehearsal]	(7:25)	[Live Aid, 10/7/85]
Simple Minds: A History. CD3-4: 1985-1998
1.	Waterfront	[Live]	(10:48)	[Ahoy, Rotterdam. 3/12/85]
2.	Ghostdancing	[Live]	(7:57)	[Ahoy, Rotterdam. 3/12/85]
3.	Book Of Brilliant Things	[Live]	(7:27)	[Ahoy, Rotterdam. 3/12/85]
4.	Once Upon A Time	[Live]	(8:07)	[Ahoy, Rotterdam. 3/12/85]
5.	All The Things She Said	[Live]	(5:46)	[Ahoy, Rotterdam. 3/12/85]
6.	Alive And Kicking	[Live]	(7:39)	[Ahoy, Rotterdam. 3/12/85]
7.	Sanctify Yourself	[Live]	(5:56)	[Ahoy, Rotterdam. 3/12/85]
8.	Mandela Day	[Live]	(5:10)	[Wembley, London. 11/06/88]
9.	Biko	[Live]	(9:00)	[Wembley, London. 11/06/88]
10.	Real Life	[Live]	(5:05)	[Barrowlands, Glasgow. 13/08/91]
11.	See The Lights	[Live]	(4:52)	[Barrowlands, Glasgow. 13/08/91]
12.	(Simple Minds Chant)	[Live]	(0:57)	[Barrowlands, Glasgow. 13/08/91]
13.	Travelling Man	[Live]	(5:13)	[Barrowlands, Glasgow. 13/08/91]
14.	East At Easter	[Live]	(4:22)	[Barrowlands, Glasgow. 13/08/91]
15.	Banging On The Door	[Live]	(5:38)	[Barrowlands, Glasgow. 13/08/91]
16.	Stand By Love	[Live]	(4:35)	[Barrowlands, Glasgow. 13/08/91]
17.	Oh Jungleland	[Live]	(7:00)	[Barrowlands, Glasgow. 13/08/91]
18.	King Is White And In The Crowd	[Live]	(5:42)	[Barrowlands, Glasgow. 13/08/91]
19.	Big Sleep	[Live]	(4:21)	[Barrowlands, Glasgow. 13/08/91]
20.	Let There Be Love	[Live]	(5:30)	[Barrowlands, Glasgow. 13/08/91]
21.	Ghost Rider	[Live]	(4:05)	[Barrowlands, Glasgow. 13/08/91]
22.	Belfast Child	[Live]	(4:05)	[Barrowlands, Glasgow. 13/08/91]
23.	She's A River	[Live]	(4:05)	[Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow. 10/09/95]
24.	Up On The Catwalk	[Live]	(4:40)	[Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow. 10/09/95]
25.	Hypnotised	[Live]	(6:43)	[Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow. 10/09/95]
26.	War Babies	[Bascombe Mix]	(4:19)
Simple Minds: A History. CD5: Our Secrets Are The Same
1.	Swimming Towards The Sun		(4:33)
2.	Jeweller To The Stars		(3:26)
3.	Space		(4:14)
4.	Death By Chocolate		(3:36)
5.	Waiting At The End Of The World		(3:23)
6.	Neon Cowboys		(3:51)
7.	She Knows		(4:08)
8.	Hello		(3:23)
9.	Happy Is The Man		(4:23)
10.	Sleeping		(4:30)

Brand new material includes the Empire And Dance demos (super), the demo of In Every Heaven and the rehearsal of Don't You (Forget About Me) for Live Aid. The rest has all been bootlegged but it'll be good to get it mixed, mastered and released properly.

The compilers have also omitted material previously released. Hence the sessions of King Is White And In The Crowd and New Gold Dream (81,82,83,84) have not been included - they've already appeared. Nice touch. Likewise Don't You (Forget About Me) has been left off the Ahoy recording - if you want that, pick up the single of All The Things She Said.

Unfortunately a whole glut of Real Life live material has appeared - most of which was previously released on the Stand By Love, Real Life and Love Song 1992 singles. In fact, most of this section also appeared on the fan-club only Real Live 91 CD. It's also one of the most bootlegged tours; so was it really necessary?

Interestingly, none of the new tracks from Live And Rare made it to the box set; so that release has become more desirable. None of the 'remix' album tracks made it either (such as Easy, Precious, So Precious and Speed Your Love To Me). And it looks like the early years material, especially the second set of Life In A Day demos, remains in some form of legal limbo - so you'll still need to search for The Early Years 77-78.

CD1 and CD2 are excellent, proceeding through the albums in an orderly fashion. The compilation gets lost in 1986, becoming an unwielding bulk of live tracks, most heavily bootlegged, skipping major sections. Where's the coverage of Street Fighting Years? Verona? Good News From The Next World would've been better served by the sessions played on Radio One in 1995. What about the Sunset Strip show? And the afterthought inclusion of the single version of War Babies feels like space filling.

Then again, I'm a hardcore fan. Please me? Never.

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VH1 are following the band around for this tour. And following them to Australia. And Japan. Obviously some form of tour documentary is being put together, but nothing more is known at the moment.

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Cover band SaMPLE MINDS are looking for a web-designer to put together a website. All the content has been prepared (including Steve's Journal) - they just need someone to make it look lovely and put it on this Interweb thing. E-mail Simon Hayward if you can help.

SaMPLE MINDS may also be supporting Then Jerico on tour. So keep an eye out for that.

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Of course, the album which everyone is talking about, and is the current topic of every discussion, is erm... New Gold Dream (81,82,83,84). So think www.swagshop.com who are offering a rather tasty red T-shirt with the heart-and-rays design on the front with the album's title near the bottom. Far, far nicer than those Our Secret Are The Same T-shirts.

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Jim gets interviewed on Dutch TV here. And they've received an excellent review in a Dutch newspaper - saviours of the festival apparently.

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Plus a new 80s DVD compilation of live material has appeared. Simple Minds are represented by Alive And Kicking but I've got no idea which performance it is.