Simple Minds-Sons and Fascination

SIMPLE MINDS - SONS AND FASCINATION AND SISTER FEELINGS CALL.(1981) When I think of post punk there were many bands who were part of that scene but through their progression turned into almost the band they rebelled against. When I mention Simple Minds immediately you think back to ‘Belfast Child’ and Kerr’s late 80s hair do’s and political causes. But that would be too dismissive, they released some truly groundbreaking albums in the early 80’s. I think its safe to say there is two Simple Minds ,the 77-85 era and the 86 and beyond. What made Simple Minds lose their way ? Well letting Derek Forbes go might have been the reason. It started a series of events in which the original line up sort of fragmented and within 9 years the line up was only Kerr and Burchill. Derek Forbes bass playing its totally brilliant over the albums like 'Empires and Dance’ and New Gold Dream. The stepping stone between these albums was Sons and Fascination and Sister feelings call , they were both released in September 1981. These albums were produced by Steve Hillage and were quite raw in terms of production. The albums were released quite close together but were from the same sessions. The albums features tracks like 'Love Song’, 'Sweat in Bullet’. I personally like the songs like '70 cities’ and 'Seeing out the angel’ the non single tracks if you like, these were the tracks where they were not afraid to experiment.. Another factor on these albums is Mick Macneil’s keyboards, which are not over bearing, on albums after this period the drums and guitars were more in the mix. I also seem to recall that the album was well received, but the ,music press cast a critical eye over their choice of producer. However in the Simple Minds discography its one of those albums that gets forgotten about. They were a band that were not afraid to wear their influences if you like, influenced by Roxy, Bowie and Kraftwerk. They were part of post punk scene and they also recorded a few john peel sessions between 1979-1982 but then their sound became more slicker , better produced. I think every band has a peak and probably New Gold Dream was Simple Minds, however they were a band that made some brilliant records on the path to that album. About 2 years ago they did a tour to play songs from the first five albums which was ironically one of the better received tours. posted on 26.2.14 post punk discussion group