Simple Minds – Glittering Prize 81/92

Simple Minds – Glittering Prize 81/92

Biography
Simple Minds are one of the UK’s most successful bands, having achieved six No.1 albums in the UK as well hitting the top spot in countless other territories including Germany, Italy, France, Spain, Australia and New Zealand.

“One of the things I’m most proud of is that people say to me what Simple Minds are you talking about? The avant-garde, the art-rock, the pop, the ambient, the instrumental group, the political, the folk, the stadium band? We’ve been on one hell of a journey. To play all those different styles but at the same time be quintessentially Simple Minds is an amazing thing.” Jim Kerr.

Taking in the innovative sheen of Promised You A Miracle and Glittering Prize, the anthemic sweep of Waterfront and Sanctify Yourself, the firebrand strand of Belfast Child and Mandela Day and the singalong wonder of Don’t You (Forget About Me) and Alive & Kicking, right up to date with 2014’s phenomenal Big Music album, Simple Minds have been creating a sound-scape for almost 40 years.

Simple Minds have been many things to many people: sound scapers, sound-shapers, soundtrack makers, serial chart-toppers. They have influenced acts as diverse as the Manic Street Preachers, Primal Scream, Moby and The Horrors. They have been sampled by Nicky Minaj, David Guetta, Joey Negro and Freddy Bastone. They have provided memorable movie moments for directors Christian Carion (L’Affaire Farewell), Gregor Jordan (The Informers), Cameron Crowe (Elizabethtown) and, of course, John Hughes (The Breakfast Club). They have topped the British charts half a dozen times, with the studio albums Sparkle In The Rain (1984), Once Upon A Time (1985) and Street Fighting Years as well as the Ballad Of The Streets EP (both 1989), the concert recording Live In The City Of Light (1987), and the compilation Glittering Prize 81/92, and returned to the UK Top Ten with latest albums Graffiti Soul & Big Music.

Named after a lyric – ‘So simple minded’ to be exact – from David Bowie‘s seminal 1972 single The Jean Genie, Simple Minds evolved out of Johnny & the Self Abusers, the ‘rank and file’ punk group Jim Kerr and Charlie Burchill had formed in April 1977. By the time Saints And Sinners, the sole Abusers single, was issued on Chiswick six months later, Simple Minds, featuring bassist Derek Forbes, drummer Brian McGee and keyboard-player Mick MacNeil, were already moving towards a darker, broodier sound that owed a debt to the Velvet Underground but also the Krautrock of Can, Kraftwerk and Neu!

Following their chart debut with the Life In A Day album in April 1979, Simple Minds recorded some of the most beguiling, inventive, adventurous music of the post-punk period and set the standard for the British alternative scene with the albums Real To Real Cacophony (also 1979), Empires And Dance (1980) and the pioneering ‘twin’ releases Sons And Fascination/Sister Feelings Call (1981). The most prolific and fast-evolving band of a generation that also included The Cure, the Psychedelic Furs and Joy Division/New Order, in 1982 they went on to make the landmark New Gold Dream (81–82–83–84), which marked the debut of drummer Mel Gaynor and served as the template for U2’s The Unforgettable Fire two years later. Success was cemented by the bombastically anthemic Sparkle In The Rain in 1984.

Simple Minds went stratospheric with Once Upon A Time and became a band with a mission, the first to commit to the Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute concert held at Wembley Stadium in July 1988, an event for which they wrote Mandela Day, included on Street Fighting Years the following year. Following Mandela’s release, Simple Minds also played the Freedom Concert, again at Wembley Stadium, in April 1990, and the Nelson Mandela 90th Birthday Tribute in Hyde Park in 2008. In the intervening years, they have graced the Top 20 with the shimmering singles Let There Be Love, See The Lights, Stand By Love, She’s A River, Hypnotised and Glitterball, and the album charts with Real Life (1991), Good News From The Next World (1995), Neapolis (1998) and Black & White 050505 (2005), and covered material by many of the artists who have influenced them on Neon Lights (2001). The regeneration was initiated by Graffiti Soul (2009) and completed by the critically acclaimed Big Music (2014). More to follow…

…When Simple Minds interrupted the recording of a new album of original songs to embark on an unscheduled acoustic project, the rewarding detour they took fundamentally changed their attitude to music. The band were already on a high following the enthusiastic response to 2014’s Big Music, a swaggering collection that reiterated the Glaswegian group’s world-class credentials. But it was the reaction that greeted 2016’s Simple Minds Acoustic, an organic revamp of hits such as Promised You A Miracle and Don’t You (Forget About Me), that prompted frontman Jim Kerr and guitarist Charlie Burchill to reassess how they went about their business.

‘The positive reaction to that album energised us considerably, and we were keen to get straight back on the creative horse,’ says Jim. ‘We worked on two songs and, at first, it was looking like being more of the same. But, as we went on, and particularly after the acoustic tour, the new album took on its own identity. ‘Walk Between Worlds’ Simple Minds’ seventeenth studio album was released on the 2nd of Feb, 2018 and hailed as ‘..the band’s best album in decades‘ by The Sunday Times and ‘…their best music of the century‘ by Classic Rock. The rise and rebirth of Simple Minds continues…

Simple Minds are Jim Kerr, Charlie Burchill and a selection of very talented collaborators including Mel Gaynor, Ged Grimes, Andy Gillespie, Sarah Brown, Gordy Goudie, Catherine AD and Cherisse Osei.

Notes
At first glance this seems a particularly silly compilation, not least of all because “Glittering Prize” isn’t actually on it, and neither are any of Simple Minds’ releases from 1981 or 1992. So forget the misleading title. And forget, too, that a lot of your other favorite songs aren’t here. How could they be? This compilation only contains a measly 12 tracks. Back in 1992, Virgin released a 16-track compilation entitled Glittering Prize 81/92; it was a U.K. chart-topper, and permutations of this set, with slightly altered track listings, have appeared across the globe ever since. This truncated version, however, might well be the best of the batch. Apparently put together by a serious fan and experienced DJ, not only does it brilliantly showcase the band’s oeuvre, it also beautifully captures the feel of their music and the core of their sound. But what makes this set stand apart is the sequencing, which is phenomenal. “Alive and Kicking” is an inspired choice to open, as it highlights both the band’s dreamy, yearning quality and their dramatic flair. Six years separate that song from 1991’s “See the Light,” but the pair are wed by U2, whose ubiquitous chiming sound provided inspiration for both. Simple Minds own epic qualities were in a more understated vein, as “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” beautifully illustrates. Kicking it up a notch comes “Sanctify Yourself,” followed by the emotive “Belfast Child,” its Irish air echoed on the celebratory “Stand by Love,” whose own driving rhythm offers a perfect link into “Up on the Catwalk.” “Let There Be Love” here is a bit of a misstep, the set’s only one, and probably should have followed “Belfast,” but it does mold nicely with “All the Things She Said,” which itself melts perfectly into “Someone Somewhere (In Summertime).” If this was recorded live, “Waterfront” would be the encore; in a club set, this is the point where the crowd mass rush the dancefloor with excitement. As a greatest-hits album, this Glittering Prize is not one, but as a one-disc set that captures the band’s soul, it can’t be beat. —Allmusic.com

EC1083	Simple Minds – Glittering Prize 81/92
Label:	Virgin Records
Catalog#:	smtvd 1 | 0777 7 86486 2 8
Format:	CD [Compilation]
Made in:	UK & Europe
Released:	October 8, 1992
Barcode:	0 77778 64862 8
Style:	Pop Rock, Synth-pop

============================================================================ Simple Minds – Glittering Prize 81/92
============================================================================
01. Waterfront
02. Don’t You (Forget About Me)
03. Alive And Kicking
04. Sanctify Yourself
05. Love Song
06. Someone, Somewhere In Summertime
07. See The Lights
08. Belfast Child
09. The American
10. All The Things She Said
11. Promised You A Miracle
12. Ghostdancing
13. Speed Your Love To Me
14. Glittering Prize
15. Let There Be Love
16. Mandela Day Total Time: 01:12:55

Companies, etc. ▼
Phonographic Copyright (p) – Virgin Records Ltd.
Copyright (c) – Virgin Records Ltd.
Published By – EMI Music Publishing Ltd.
Published By – MCA Music Ltd.
Remastered At – Abbey Road Studios
Glass Mastered At – EMI Swindon

Credits ▼
Art Direction, Design – Stylorouge
Bass Guitar – Derek Forbes, John Giblin, Malcolm Foster
Drums – Brian McGee, Mel Gaynor, Mike Ogletree
Guitar – Charlie Burchill
Keyboards – Charlie Burchill, Michael McNeill
Liner Notes – Brian Hogg
Piano – Michael McNeill
Remastered By [Digital Remastering] – Chris Blair
Vocals – Jim Kerr
Written-By – Simple Minds (tracks: 1, 3 to 6, 9 to 14, 16), Charlie Burchill (tracks: 7, 15), Jim Kerr (tracks: 7, 15), Forsey (tracks: 2), Chiff (tracks: 2)
Producer: Bob Clearmountain, (tracks: 3, 4, 10, 12), Jimmy Iovine (tracks: 3, 4, 10, 12), Keith Forsey (tracks: 2), Peter Walsh (tracks: 6, 11, 14), Stephen Lipson (tracks: 7, 8, 15,16), Steve Hillage (tracks: 5, 9), Steve Lillywhite (tracks: 1, 13), Trevor Horn (tracks: 8, 16)

Notes ▼
Cat# on CD: SMTVD 1 & 0777 7 86486 28
Cat# on inlay/booklet: smtvd 1 & 0777 7 86486 2 8
Cat# on spines: smtvd 1

This compilation ℗ 1992 Virgin Records Ltd.
© 1992 Virgin Records Ltd.
All tracks published by EMI Music Publishing Ltd. except track 2 published by MCA Music Ltd.
Similar 1992 version without SID Codes: Simple Minds – Glittering Prize 81/92

Barcode and Other Identifiers ▼
Barcode (Scanned): 077778648628
Barcode (Text): 0 77778 64862 8
Rights Society: BIEM/STEMRA
Label Code: LC 3098
Matrix / Runout: 2100001579784 7864862
Mastering SID Code: IFPI LK97
Mould SID Code: IFPI 9R95
Distribution Code (France): F: pm 527
Distribution Code (Germany): D: 263 160