― Stacey Pollen (Andy K), Saturday, 12 June 2004 00:55 (nineteen years ago) link
Wait that reminds me I must propose to Dan. Oh wait there's a problem there...
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 12 June 2004 01:08 (nineteen years ago) link
I'd probably have more posts than you if it weren't for Tim.
― Stacey Pollen (Andy K), Saturday, 12 June 2004 01:15 (nineteen years ago) link
― Stacey Pollen (Andy K), Saturday, 12 June 2004 01:18 (nineteen years ago) link
― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Saturday, 12 June 2004 01:19 (nineteen years ago) link
Tracer your euphamisms flow so naturally.
― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Saturday, 12 June 2004 01:20 (nineteen years ago) link
― Stacey Pollen (Andy K), Saturday, 12 June 2004 01:21 (nineteen years ago) link
I know that! HMPH. I'll spare my jokes on other people!
(Baby still coming along okay?)
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 12 June 2004 01:30 (nineteen years ago) link
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Saturday, 12 June 2004 01:44 (nineteen years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 12 April 2005 03:11 (nineteen years ago) link
I cannae stand anything post-NGD. Altho, Futurama used "Dont you forget about me" to great (and sniffly) effect on one episode.
― Trayce (trayce), Tuesday, 12 April 2005 03:35 (nineteen years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 12 April 2005 03:43 (nineteen years ago) link
― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Tuesday, 12 April 2005 05:44 (nineteen years ago) link
― dave q (listerine), Tuesday, 12 April 2005 05:47 (nineteen years ago) link
― Bobby Peru (Bobby Peru), Tuesday, 12 April 2005 05:50 (nineteen years ago) link
― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Tuesday, 12 April 2005 12:40 (nineteen years ago) link
I loved New Gold Dream and Sparkle in the Rain but I remember seeing a Simple Minds concert in 84 and thinking Jim K was the corniest audience-pumper this side of Bono. "GIVE ME YOUR HONDS!"
― m coleman (lovebug starski), Tuesday, 12 April 2005 12:54 (nineteen years ago) link
What a shame he took that walk with Bono on the beach and decided to become U3.
Is their cover of "Sign 'O' The Times" the worst cover version ever?
― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Tuesday, 12 April 2005 12:59 (nineteen years ago) link
OTM
― $V£N! (blueski), Tuesday, 12 April 2005 13:14 (nineteen years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 12 April 2005 13:14 (nineteen years ago) link
did Kerr actually sing 'now he's doin' horse, it's June'? i can't remember
― $V£N! (blueski), Tuesday, 12 April 2005 13:15 (nineteen years ago) link
I saw them in 84 too and it's funny how quickly they ditched all their old material in pursuit of that stadium-appropriate sound. The whole set was Sparkle In The Rain/New Gold Dream stuff apart from 'The American' which I suppose was the one really bombastic song from the older albums.
― NickB (NickB), Tuesday, 12 April 2005 13:28 (nineteen years ago) link
― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Tuesday, 12 April 2005 14:01 (nineteen years ago) link
That's on the Celebration compilation but where did they cull that song from? I've never heard it. Is it some lost b-side, and did they put it on the first Themes compilation?
I've never weighed on this thread, to my amazement. Classic up until New Gold Dream. I love how in "Twist/Run/Repulsion" the French girl's reciting an excerpt of Nevsky Prospect by Gogol.
― Ian Riese-Moraine. To Hell with you and your gradual evolution! (Eastern Mantra), Tuesday, 12 April 2005 15:12 (nineteen years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 12 April 2005 15:17 (nineteen years ago) link
The story is about a man who sees a beautiful girl everyday on the Nevsky Prospect in St. Petersburg and falls in love with her little by little. One day, she lets him follow her (this is detailed in the text quoted in "Twist/Run/Repulsion") up to her flat and he discovers that she's a prostitute. The character becomes dangerously depressed after knowing the truth about the girl he loves and dies at the end of the text.
TWIST is about this vertigo of love, when you feel you are falling in love, you feel a bit drunk, and you're leaving earth... RUN when you rush through the girl you love, when you've dare to talk to this girl who paralyzes you... REPULSION is the disappointment. She was "his innocent, his special one" and she's just a whore. She belongs to all the men who pass...
The excerpt quoted in the song is this (but I think this excerpt continues on for where it ends in "Twist/Run/Repulsion"):Mais était-il sûr d'être bien éveillé? Se pouvait-il que celle pour un céleste regard de qui il était prêt à donner sa vie, celle qu'il tenait déjà pour une ineffable bénédiction d'avoir pu suivre jusqu'à sa demeure, se pouvait-il qu'elle fût si bienveillante et attentionnée pour lui? Il gravit à grands pas l'escalier. Ses pensées n'étaient plus de la terre; il n'était point enflammé de l'ardeur d'une passion terrestre, non, il était à cet instant pur et exempt de vice comme l'adolescent virginal qui ne respire encore que vague besoin spirituel d'aimer. Et cela même qui, dans un homme corrompu, aurait éveillé d'immodestes pensées, ne faisait au contraire que purifier les siennes. Cette confiance que lui témoignait une belle et faible créature, cette confiance lui imposait le devoir d'une rigueur chevaleresque, le devoir d'exécuter servilement tous les ordres qu'elle lui donnerait. Il souhaitait seulement que ces ordres fussent les plus difficiles, les plus impossibles à exécuter, afin de pouvoir vouer davantage de ses forces à en surmonter la difficulté. il ne se doutait pas que quelque secrète et grave circonstance eût obligé l'inconnue à se fier à lui; qu'on allait sûrement exiger de lui d'exceptionnels services, et il sentait déjà en lui la force et la résolution de tout accomplir. L'escalier montait en spirale, et ses textes se pressaient dans le même tournoiement. "Avancez prudemment!" fit une voix dont le son était celui d'une harpe et qui fit encore vibrer tous ses nerfs. Dans l'obscurité du dernier étage l'inconnue frappa à une porte, celle-ci s'ouvrit et ils entrèrent ensemble. Une femme d'aspect assez agréable les accueillit une chandelle à la main, mais elle regarda Piskariov d'un air si singulier et si effronté qu'il baissa malgré lui les yeux. Ils pénétrèrent dans la pièce. Trois figures féminines, chacune dans son coin, se présentèrent à ses regards. L'une interrogeait les cartes; une autre, assise au piano, jouait avec deux doigts le pitoyable simulacre d'une ancienne polonaise; la troisième, devant un miroir, peignait ses longs cheveux et ne songeait pas un instant à interrompre sa toilette à l'arrivée d'un inconnu. On ne sait quel déplaisant désordre, tel qu'on ne peut le trouver que dans le logement négligé d'un célibataire, régnait de toutes parts. Les meubles, d'assez bonne apparence, étaient couverts de poussière; l'araignée avait garni de sa toile les moulures du lambris; à la porte entrebaillée d'une autre pièce brillait une botte avec son éperon et se devinaient les parements rouges d'un uniforme; une forte voix d'homme et un rire féminin se faisaient entendre sans la moindre contrainte.Dieu, où s'était-il fourvoyé! Il se refusa tout d'abord à y croire et commença à considérer plus attentivement les objets qui emplissaient la pièce; mais les murs nus et les fenêtres sans rideaux ne révélaient point la présence d'une maîtresse de maison soigneuse; les visages flétris de ces pitoyables créatures dont l'une vint s'asseoir presque sous son nez et l'examiner aussi tranquillement qu'une tâche sur un vêtement, tout cela ne lui laissa point douter qu'il venait d'entrer dans le repaire infâme où élit domicile la triste débauche qu'enfantent la civilisation de clinquant et d'effroyable entassement humain de la capitale. Ce repaire où l'homme, en sacrilège, a etouffé et voué à la risée tout ce qu'il y a de pur et de sain pour faire l'ornement de la vie, où la femme, cette beauté du monde, ce couronnement de la création, s'est métamorphosée en un être étrange et ambigu, où elle a dépouillé avec la pureté de l'âme toute féminité et assumé les allures et les impudences du mâle, et cessé d'être cette fragile créature si belle et si différente de nous. Piskariov la considérait des pieds à la tête, plein de stupeur, comme s'il avait voulu s'assurer encore que c'était bien celle qui l'vait ensorcelé et entraîné dans son sillage sur la Perspective Nevski. Mais elle était devant lui toujours aussi belle; sa cheveulure avait bien la même splendeur, ses yeux toujours le même éclat céleste. Elle était toute jeune, elle n'avait guère que dix-sept ans; il était visible que l'immonde débauche ne l'avait saisie que depuis peu et n'avait pas encore flétri ses joues, qui étaient fraîches et légèrement nuancées d'un délicat incarnat... Elle était belle.
― Ian Riese-Moraine. To Hell with you and your gradual evolution! (Eastern Mantra), Tuesday, 12 April 2005 15:30 (nineteen years ago) link
When I saw them in '86 they added "Love Song" to the set and cranked up the wah-motorik factor in it but it was too little too late
― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Tuesday, 12 April 2005 16:56 (nineteen years ago) link
― fortunate hazel (f. hazel), Tuesday, 12 April 2005 17:53 (nineteen years ago) link
Anyway so I went home and played the real "Changeling" and realised that it sounds a lot like Tiefschwarz! "Thirty Frames A Second" too, though to a lesser extent.
― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Saturday, 23 April 2005 08:39 (nineteen years ago) link
― The Silent Disco of Glastonbury (Bimble...), Saturday, 23 April 2005 17:13 (nineteen years ago) link
― Ian Riese-Moraine. To Hell with you and your gradual evolution! (Eastern Mantra), Saturday, 23 April 2005 17:20 (nineteen years ago) link
To be more specific about "Changeling", it sounds like what the Tiefschwarz remix of The Rapture's "Sister Saviour" should have been (I should cross-reference this post to an electro-house thread so that Ronan would have to track it down). I'd love to hear a DJ play it in a set.
― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Sunday, 24 April 2005 02:07 (nineteen years ago) link
But even in the midst of all this, my favourite album remains
http://www.earthwaverecords.com/Pictures/AlbumImg/S/A0042107.jpg
Every few years I simply must hear "East At Easter", or "Waterfront" or "C Moon Cry Like A Baby" (that one has especially been vexing my brain over the last few weeks from time to time for no apparent reason - also remember Kirsty MacColl sang on it). And yes the first song I heard from that album was "Up On The Catwalk" and that was when I was basically a musical virgin because that song was on one of the first tapes I ever made off of college radio - the first time I realized that the likes of Echo & The Bunnymen and The Smiths even existed. Some people don't like the production on Sparkle In The Rain, but it never bothered me. Remember: Kirsty MacColl was married to him and he produced U2's "War": Steve Lillywhite.
― The Silent Disco of Glastonbury (Bimble...), Sunday, 24 April 2005 02:39 (nineteen years ago) link
― The Silent Disco of Glastonbury (Bimble...), Sunday, 24 April 2005 02:41 (nineteen years ago) link
― The Silent Disco of Glastonbury (Bimble...), Sunday, 24 April 2005 02:47 (nineteen years ago) link
Phew! I'm glad I'm not the only one who saw a connection with "Sister Saviour" and "Changeling"...in fact, I'd even venture to say the production for Echoes owes a ton to Real to Real Cacophony.
― Ian Riese-Moraine has a grenade, that pineapple's not just a toy! (Eastern Mantr, Sunday, 24 April 2005 20:17 (nineteen years ago) link
― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Sunday, 24 April 2005 21:48 (nineteen years ago) link
― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Sunday, 24 April 2005 23:38 (nineteen years ago) link
― Momus (Momus), Monday, 25 April 2005 04:40 (nineteen years ago) link
Up on the wallGoing up on the wallUp on the wallNaked Eye Naked EyeWhat do you seeAnd what's there to learnReading your booksThird diagramSomeone's in the room down belowSomeone someoneSomeone belowInsectsCherriesTo the cherriesOn the wallSpider
― Momus (Momus), Monday, 25 April 2005 04:49 (nineteen years ago) link
― The Silent Disco of Glastonbury (Bimble...), Monday, 25 April 2005 05:17 (nineteen years ago) link
― timmy tannin (pompous), Saturday, 1 July 2006 06:38 (seventeen years ago) link
If there is one Simple Minds album where they ditched all of their New Romantics roots and tried to become U3, then "Sparkle In The Rain" is it. After that they would at least gradually use synths to a somewhat larger extent again.
― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Sunday, 2 July 2006 00:05 (seventeen years ago) link
― timmy tannin (pompous), Sunday, 2 July 2006 00:29 (seventeen years ago) link
I realized in the past few days that New Gold Dream is probably one of the albums I've had the longest and still listen to regualarly. I recently got the DVD audio thing and it's great. It's got different mixes of some tracks, which makes it all the more enjoyable.
I'm not sure they had New Romantic roots. It all seemed a bit more Punk/Genesis/Teutonic to me up until New Gold Dream, which sounds unlike any other New Romantic band. I suppose they did stick a bit of slap on, though, so that might count.
― KeefW (kmw), Sunday, 2 July 2006 00:48 (seventeen years ago) link
― Vampire Business (Bimble...), Sunday, 2 July 2006 01:48 (seventeen years ago) link
― Brian Turner (btwfmu), Sunday, 2 July 2006 22:55 (seventeen years ago) link
Oh man TELL US MORE (please).
― Andy_K (Andy_K), Monday, 3 July 2006 01:06 (seventeen years ago) link
Years later, i finally got E&D and it seemed a bit dull to me, though i like the intensity of the synth textures. As though the album lacks the something-different-next charm and pace of S&F. I only got R2R a year ago and i think it's extraordinary. I'd hoped to save E&D til later in life (ie now) and have some new discoveries waiting and that didn't quite happen, so it was nice to go further back and find R2R, though i love the brooding trance-ish NGD too.
I have a friend who's equally sentimental about S&F/SFC. We didn't seem to have much in common until we "bonded" over our shared love of that lp. It seems there are others fond of this stuff; a nice thread.
― george gosset (gegoss), Monday, 3 July 2006 07:30 (seventeen years ago) link
I sort of feel like these albums are a bit underrated in terms of the UK post-punk canon, but that may simply be because I love them so much.
― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Monday, 3 July 2006 12:27 (seventeen years ago) link