Who would have guessed that the band known as Simple Minds would start out as an obscure electronic outfit? Their debut showed some promise, but certainly wasn\u2019t a predictor of the grand arena-ready sound they would be known for in the mid-1980s. <\/p>\n
No, the Simple Minds of 1979 were more Ultravox than U2. But that\u2019s not necessarily a bad thing; it\u2019s really just a matter of personal preference which style you prefer. Honestly, for me, I could just flip a coin, because I love all incarnations of Simple Minds. (I became a fan more recently though, so don\u2019t ask me to recite verbatim all the line-up changes that have occurred over the years.)<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve also been picky and choosy about which of their albums I should add to my collection, as there\u2019ve been almost too many to mention. I have the first three, skipped Sons & Fascination <\/i>and Sister Feeling Call<\/i>, stopped at Once Upon A Time<\/i> in 1985 and then there was a long gap, until I discovered the retro-sounding Cry<\/i> in 2002. That\u2019s the extent of my \u201cfan worship.\u201d Sporadic, true, but still a fan nonetheless.<\/p>\n
As far as their electronic trio goes, Life In A Day<\/i> and Empires & Dance<\/i> are the strongest. The former opens with something of a siren\u2019s wail and a dance beat that would make Roxy Music proud. \u201cSomeone\u201d almost has a pub rock feel and I can just imagine some punks slam dancing to it with loud, drunken abandon. It\u2019s a fun way to introduce Simple Minds to the masses, for sure. The sound of the whole album is a bit self-contained, but that\u2019s due to the production values of the period. Producer John Leckie no doubt did the best he could with what he had. As the liner notes state, \u201cAlbum was recorded at a very low temperature<\/i>.\u201d At least he kept his sense of humor (if not his sanity) intact.<\/p>\n
The title track, while set to a slightly warped marching beat, is too monotonous to make much of an impression. Jim Kerr is one of those singers where you almost need a lyric sheet to understand what he\u2019s singing. The words and music all tend to blur together, but then again, rock music is more about attitude than anything else. Things get punched up a notch for \u201cAnother Sad Affair,\u201d even if it sounds like he\u2019s singing \u201cAnother Sad Film<\/i>.\u201d Simple Minds attempt a ballad with \u201cAll For You,\u201d which only left me with a bad aftertaste. Kerr should\u2019ve at least tried <\/i>to sound intelligible on that one.<\/p>\n
My choice for best song on Life In A Day<\/i> has got to be \u201cPleasantly Disturbed.\u201d It takes you back to the days of Andy Warhol\u2019s Factory when the Velvet Underground were all the rage. As a drone rock number, it simply glows and takes the album to an unexpected, darker and exciting place. Hmmm, maybe Simple Minds is onto something here. There just might be more to this band than initially thought. At least, that\u2019s what I think<\/i> critics might have been saying to themselves at the time. Another slight nod to the Velvets comes in the form of the utterly charming \u201cChelsea Girl,\u201d which is likely in reference to the town of Chelsea in England, not the legendary hotel in NYC (though it could go either way). The call-and-response ending is a particular highlight and must\u2019ve been something to hear when performed live.<\/p>\n
The ultra-fast guitar playing of Charlie Burchill makes \u201cWasteland\u201d another winning tune, before the band takes a thrilling left turn with the brilliant closer \u201cMurder Story.\u201d Now the band has clearly hit their stride. It\u2019s rare indeed to find an album that gets better and better as it goes along, but Life In A Day<\/i> is certainly one of them. Consider this critic impressed, even if this review is 35 years too late.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":57,"featured_media":32001,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[9423],"rating":[5617],"class_list":["post-43737","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-simple-minds","rating-rating-b-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/43737","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/57"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43737"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/43737\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32001"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43737"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=43737"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=43737"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}