| Author | Message | ||
     Jerry Clark Member Username: Jerry Post Number: 1083 Registered: 08-2004 |
http://thequietus.com/articles/07828-rox y-music-prepare-box-set | ||
| skulldisco Member Username: Skulldisco Post Number: 1560 Registered: 10-2008 |
I don't really need anything after the first two albums. And even then I just barely tolerate the greasy Bryan Ferry. I know he might be the main attraction for some but he ruins Roxy for me, and after Eno left, well say no no more! Box sets really are all the rage just now, the last days of the record companies trying to squeeze every last penny from us before they go under. I see those well known Roxy fans Simple Minds also have a box set coming out featuring the first 5 albums, and I've noticed recently that they are being name dropped by other artists as an influence. I stuck on Empires and Dance earlier and it sounded terrific, even if obviously derivitive of Iggy's The Idiot and Bowie's Lodger amongst other influences. I then put on Reel To Reel Cacophany and it didn't sound as bad as I imagined it might, although it does sound very dated and just highlighted how quickly they matured into a great act (if only for 2 years or so :-)) Magazine were a big influence on that album too. Unfortunately they were then a band who got sucked into the stadium void, and seemed to let their quest to be bigger than U2 take over to the detriment of the music which became stodgy and bloated and anthemic. What a waste. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 2835 Registered: 03-2005 |
People have tried to interest me in the Simple Minds repeatedly. I can't see it at all. | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 2304 Registered: 10-2004 |
I like early Simple Minds quite a lot, particularly from about 80-83. Empires and Dance is an excellent album, and it was the start of an awesome run of albums. Sister Feelings Call and Sons and Fascination are really quite good as well. Really creative, artsy, moody post-punk. I have the CD that joins both albums, and I've listened to that quite a lot over the years. New Gold Dream is poppier, but still quite good to these ears. Sparkle in the Rain was kind of the first transition into stadium-vapidity, but even that had a few good songs on it. After that, things deteriorated rapidly to the point where you wouldn't even want to admit to having *ever* been a fan! As for Roxy Music - I have all the LPs of theirs that I want, and I'm happy with that. No need for a box set. I like some of what they did after Eno left, though. My favorite two Roxy Music albums are the debut and the post-Eno Country Life. But yeah, eventually Bryan Ferry's schmaltzy lounge lizard shtick just got to be too much. Once Eno left, his musical trajectory was infinitely more interesting than Ferry's. | ||
| Michael Bachman Member Username: Michael_bachman Post Number: 2329 Registered: 01-2005 |
Although I like a number of Roxy Music songs in each of their early to mid 1970's albums and a couple from Avalon, I never though they released a solid stem-to-stern album in their entire career. Certainly nothing that I would rate above or even close to Another Green World, Before and After Science or Taking Tiger Mountain. | ||
| Stuart Wilson Member Username: Stuart Post Number: 521 Registered: 10-2006 |
Darn it, Michael, I'd have to say Stranded is as near to perfect a record as has ever been made, with Ferry caught on the magic cusp between early experimentalism and later conventionality, still putting wit and craft into his words and benefiting from tune help from Phil and Eddie while writing beautiful stuff of his own like Just like you and Sunset. It sounds like a sort of, well, Brian dear boy, see what we can do without you... They never reached such heights again, I think, but stemmer-to-sterner than this I find it hard to imagine... | ||
| Jerry Clark Member Username: Jerry Post Number: 1084 Registered: 08-2004 |
I'm a big fan of Stranded too. An oddly maligned album. After Stranded the output was a little hit & miss as they inadvertantly inspired the best & worst of New Wave. Simple Minds legacy would have benefitted from an early retirement just like Japan. Up On The Catwalk was the end of their best, urgent quality, really. The Roxy box set is a bit lacking. They weren't very big on B-sides or extras it seems. Not sure either if there is any remixing of the sound on the original albums, or if any was required. | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 2305 Registered: 10-2004 |
I'm one of those people who could never totally get into Stranded. It has its moments, but I think Country Life is miles better. When I look at Stranded, and then look at what Eno did with his debut (and much more so with Taking Tiger Mountain and his subsequent albums), it's clear to me that Eno was leaving Roxy Music in the dust! I think that the best, most consistent Roxy Music album from stem-to-stern is the debut. It bristles with energy, excitement, and ideas. The songs are adventurous, fun, brooding, edgy, strange, and sometimes beautiful. Roxy Music never quite sounded this fresh and alive again. | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 1635 Registered: 08-2006 |
The lack of B-sides was the first thing I noticed about that Roxy set, Jerry. I guess I wouldn't have expected anything different, but it leaves this set with little bait for anyone who owns more than one or two Roxy CDs. | ||
| skulldisco Member Username: Skulldisco Post Number: 1567 Registered: 10-2008 |
I've seen some corking reviews of this Simple Minds box set, looks like they have suddenly become cool again. I have been playing Empires and Dance repeatedly for the last week and its a revelation. While obviously in debt to various Krautrock bands, Eno, Magazine and Bowie I reckon its up there on a level par with with anything these guys put out in the 70's. I never thought I would ever say something like that, but to me this album sounds even better than it did 30 years ago. Randy, have you heard this album, or was it the later "stadium" stuff you've heard? You should give it a try, I reckon you might be pleasantly surprised. | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 2309 Registered: 10-2004 |
Kevin have you given Sons and Fascination and Sister Feeling Call a spin lately? Those - which came out right after Empires and Dance - are quite good as well. It is funny thing that Simple Minds were once, you know, artsy, a bit challenging, and good. | ||
| skulldisco Member Username: Skulldisco Post Number: 1573 Registered: 10-2008 |
Geoff, I have and its a good album(s) but falls well short of Empires and Dance. The first 4 or 5 songs on S and F are a bit stodgy for my tastes and you can feel them almost teetering on the verge of the stadium. However the latter tracks are much better and I also think the songs that make up SFC are far more interesting than the bulk of S and F. If we take it as one album, and I think we should because all the songs were recorded at the same time and were packaged together eventually, it is a sterling effort. However it is a bit one paced, and you could also see the cracks appearing and the inevitable quest for big arenas and hit singles was just over the horizon. I also wonder if choosing Steve Hillage as a producer was a bad move, but without knowing who else was under consideration(if indeed there was anybody else) I guess we'll never know if this collection of songs might have ended up even better at the hands of a more skilled and adventurous producer. | ||
| skulldisco Member Username: Skulldisco Post Number: 1574 Registered: 10-2008 |
That should be Jeff obviously, and not Geoff. These nightshifts are killing the last of my few remaining brain cells! | ||
| skulldisco Member Username: Skulldisco Post Number: 1575 Registered: 10-2008 |
... and Theme From Great Cities is heavily in debt to Dave Formula circa Real Life. | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 2310 Registered: 10-2004 |
Yeah, I do think that if you shaved off a few tracks and stuck the two albums together, you'd have one, much stronger effort. Still, I suppose that's what forward buttons are for. The slower, moodier tracks from those two albums tend to be my favorites. | ||
| Andrew Kerr Member Username: Andrew_k Post Number: 690 Registered: 04-2005 |
Re : Simple Minds. Easy to forget how great live the band was in their heyday. I saw them twice in Tiffanys in Glasgow in the early 80s and Derek Forbes' bass was trance-inducing (even without drugs). A friend once described Jim Kerr (no relation) as the 'human stick insect'. He was indeed a curious mover. A rapid fall from grace after 'Empires and Dance', but I am not sure that I could enjoy listening to them today...will dig out my 12" single of 'I Travel' tonight... | ||
| Jerry Clark Member Username: Jerry Post Number: 1087 Registered: 08-2004 |
'I Travel' is quite a standout song & would be for anyone. I think their Roxy/Disco sound was also a marriage of early Japan & Magazine. | ||
| Geoff Holmes Member Username: Geoff Post Number: 800 Registered: 05-2005 |
Still haven't ventured earlier than Sons/Sisters. New Gold Dream is nearly perfect to my ears - so intangible and summery. After that it was downhill with every release. I remember buying the next 3 hoping there would be some echoes of the Dream but being sadly disappointed. Oddly enough, Coldplay's "X&Y" album after "Rush.." reminded me of "Sparkle..." after "...Dream" when it came out - seemingly trying to top a perfect album, being big and getting bigger but misfiring somehow. A mate looked up the 5(?) earlier Simple Minds albums and recommended them. Would it be worth my while? Sons/Sister has a lot of nostalgia attached to it (first year Uni) but I don't know whether I could listen to albums like that today and appreciate them. | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 2314 Registered: 10-2004 |
Geoff - I think you'll find the consensus is that Empires and Dance is Simple Minds' undisputed masterpiece. It's artsy, moody, and edgy while still managing to be catchy and sometimes even kind of pretty. The first Simple Minds album is kind of boring. I don't even own it. The band was still finding itself, while sounding extremely derivative of its 70s influences. It's a throw-away album. Real to Reel Cacophony, on the other hand, saw them turn into arty weirdos. The album is fun and bizarre, but sometimes the weirdness comes at the expense of good tunes. But on Empires and Dance they got the balance just right. Comparisons to later Japan and Magazine are apt, but Empires is harder than Japan and more stripped down than Magazine. I agree with you - New Gold Dream is a great album. Very atmospheric and moody for a high charting pop record. It was their last truly good album. | ||
| skulldisco Member Username: Skulldisco Post Number: 1604 Registered: 10-2008 |
Simple Minds are officially hip again. Quietus, of all places, has an interview with Jim Kerr, thats one interview I never thought I'd see at that publication. http://thequietus.com/articles/08040-sim ple-minds-jim-kerr-interview-5x5 I have ordered the new box set which has the first five albums remastered ( although there are 6 CD's because Sons&F and Sister F C are given individual discs), can't say I'll play the debut or New Gold Dream as often as the others mind you. I think they were teetering on the verge of the stadium at that point if I recall it properly. Although maybe I'll surprise myself and look at NGD in a totally new light, I certainly got a pleasant surprise playing Empires and D, Reel To Reel, and SAF/SFC recently. They sounded shockingly good! | ||
| cosmo vitelli Member Username: Cosmo Post Number: 393 Registered: 05-2005 |
Waterfront and Up on the Catwalk have been on rotation in my car, the review of Skying by The Horrors last year was right when it said that the album sounded like Simple Minds but that it wasnt the cool eurosound of the early albums but the bombastic transitional stuff (before they went stadium crap). Sparkle in the Rain and New Gold Dream for me, I also have Early Gold which is an almost perfect compilation of stuff from the first five, doesnt have Theme for Great Cities but otherwise ticks the boxes. I wont be buying the box set as I dont need or want it (until next week) | ||
| skulldisco Member Username: Skulldisco Post Number: 1606 Registered: 10-2008 |
Cosmo, I wouldn't have entertained the idea of buying the box set if it had been 20 or 30 pounds - eg The Smiths box was £33 if I remember which is the going rate for a box. But £12 is an incredibly low price for what it technically 6 albums. From the Quietus interview I picked out this line which I think is 100% on the money, and sums up Empires and Dance perfectly. "1980 saw the Minds release Empires And Dance, a defining achievement, an album greater than the sum of all that it had clearly absorbed" But what the hell was the author on about here, talking about tracks from NGD, the old phrase about swallowing the "pretentious" dictionary comes to mind "It teeters arrhythmically, glitters and starts, breaks out in distant showers of tinsel and manna. It conjures not just possibilities for a better pop but a better life, to which music could act as some sort of wormhole. The title track, with its auric, chariot momentum, trailing clouds into the future" | ||
| cosmo vitelli Member Username: Cosmo Post Number: 394 Registered: 05-2005 |
Yes Kev it's definitely a bargain! I was half joking and really only trying to make the point that I already knew that some of the early stuff was great (Jeff accurately summed this up in earlier entries) and that my experience of the Simple Minds critical renaissance was in an enjoyment of an album that I hadnt previously thought was 'cool'. | ||
| Jerry Clark Member Username: Jerry Post Number: 1094 Registered: 08-2004 |
I think New Gold Dream is rightly held in high regard still. Just like with Sparkle In The Rain, they were still experimenting, pushing the form in a way. Maybe Waterfront was where they stopped being New Wave & hinted more at the stadium. NGD's status as the album that made them in a commercial sense, does come across as a watershed. I wonder, Kev, if you would feel differently, if that album had had no hit singles or major sales in it's own right? For my sins I listened to Live In The City Of Light a couple of weeks ago, with gritted teeth. It wasn't as bad as I'd remembered. They were my 1st love as a band & we all know "1st love's never die". | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 2326 Registered: 10-2004 |
I'm listening to Real to Real Cacophony right now, and like I mentioned above, it's a playfully bizarre album and nowhere near as good or focused as Empires and Dance, but it does contain at least a few solid tracks: Factory, Premonition, and Reel to Real. | ||
| cosmo vitelli Member Username: Cosmo Post Number: 395 Registered: 05-2005 |
and Changeling Jeff, I love that song | ||
| Andrew Kerr Member Username: Andrew_k Post Number: 695 Registered: 04-2005 |
Interview with my dad here http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2012/feb /23/simple-minds-rock | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 2866 Registered: 03-2005 |
I have three Simple Minds songs in my iTunes library, sent by I know not who. They are "All For You", "Life in a Day" and "Chelsea Girl." They make me think of the Stranglers. | ||
| skulldisco Member Username: Skulldisco Post Number: 1612 Registered: 10-2008 |
Randy, they are from the crappy debut album. No wonder you said Simple Minds did nothing for you. I'll hopefully rectify that by sending you something far more interesting. | ||
| skulldisco Member Username: Skulldisco Post Number: 1616 Registered: 10-2008 |
The Simple Minds hip again bandwagon rolls on. Mojo have a large feature article on the band this month. Wisely its all about the pre-stadium years. "SIMPLE MINDS: They were the Scottish poser neds who conquered the mid-’80s with epic stadium rock. But what got lost in the process? Keith Cameron revisits the straight-edged European cool of those pre-mullet years" | ||
| skulldisco Member Username: Skulldisco Post Number: 1618 Registered: 10-2008 |
Reading the Mojo article, it seems Charlie Burchells favourite album is SAndF/SFC. Very interesting, just assumed it would be EAndD given that is Jim Kerr's favourite. An interesting snippet from the article, apparently Iggy was making his Soldier album at the same time as Simple Minds were making Reel To Real, and Iggy was never out the Minds studio trying to score weed off them, and hitting on their girlfriends. | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 2328 Registered: 10-2004 |
Randy, that debut Simple Minds album really is crappy. They definitely had no business making an album at that stage in their development. (Although, as an avid Stranglers fan, I don't think those songs you mention sound like the Stranglers). | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 2329 Registered: 10-2004 |
Cosmo, "Changeling" is indeed a good song. I love how although the title of this thread refers to Roxy Music, we've mostly been talking about Simple Minds, unbeknownst to anyone who hasn't clicked on it. It's like hiding a trashy porno magazine inside an issue of Dwell. | ||
| skulldisco Member Username: Skulldisco Post Number: 1621 Registered: 10-2008 |
Played New Gold Dream this afternoon. While not dreadful its very dated, with their more obvious prog influences to the fore on some songs. Plus Jim Kerr had been studying at the Bono school of front man w*nkery. "Shine a light, shine a light on me..." has always been a corny line, it sounds cringeworthy now. I don't think its any co-incidence that they couldn't sell any records before New Gold Dream, the general public found them too weird/unpalettable, the general public lapped up stuff like New Gold Dream though, its a typical MTV, Pre Live Aid, polished production. I only lasted 5 songs in to Life In A Day earlier on today, no chance of that getting any more plays. Looks like Real to Reel and Empires and Dance hold the most interest for me, SAF/SFC will get some serious listening as well. |