The second box dedicated to compiling Simple Minds' Themes series – i.e., dolled-up reissues of the group's original 12" singles – covers August of 1982 through April of 1985, which means that the A-sides originate from the New Gold Dream and Sparkle in the Rain albums…
This new 4CD / 1DVD Super Deluxe Box Set version comprises a host of bonus material including; B-sides and extended mixes; BBC sessions; a previously unreleased Glasgow Barrowlands concert; promo videos; Top Of The Pops and Oxford Road Show footage; a booklet containing sleeve notes and interviews plus track by track annotation and a reproduction concert programme…
Covering the singles released from September of 1985 to June of 1987, the third five-disc installment of the Themes boxes covers the Once Upon a Time era and stretches out to include the live-version single of "Promised You a Miracle" that was issued in support of 1987's Live in the City of Light…
After languishing for ten years in the rock wilderness, the Scottish stadium-shakers are back with Black And White 050505, which has been trumpeted by manyas a mighty return to form. And yes, Jim Kerr's vocals are still tremulously emotive, Charlie Burchill is as stirring as ever on his jangling, soaring guitar and the songwriting errs, as always, on the side of supersize anthem. But this spanking new effort, while powerful, boasts a distinctly ethereal quality, softening the stomping stridency of the Simple Minds we knew in the 1980s. Opening track "Home" flirts with an intriguing new sound, haunting yet uplifting with Kerr at his dramatic best, while "Sparkle In The Rain" shimmers with chiming glory. Packed with potential crowd-pleasers, Simple Minds may have stuck wisely with their winning New Gold Dream formula, but they've brought it rocketing up to date. Fans will be gleefully punching the air within minutes. Dissenters, well, they might just be converted.
Silver Box is mostly made up of previously unreleased demos, radio & TV sessions and various live recordings from 1979 to 1995… and is also including—as a final bonus disc—their genuine twelfth studio album (of original material), Our Secrets Are the Same, originally recorded between April and June 1999 and originally planned to be released on its own in early 2000 but delayed many times and even cancelled until its final inclusion in this very box set…
Originally released in October 1985, and coming hot on the heels of the global smash single ‘(Don’t You) Forget About Me’ , ‘Once Upon A Time’ was to prove the album that propelled Simple Minds to stratospheric heights of artistic and commercial success. Containing the classic hit singles ‘Alive And Kicking’, ‘All The Things She Said’, ‘Sanctify Yourself’, and ‘Ghostdancing’ the original era-defining Number 1 album now comes as part of this incredible 5CD / 1DVD box set…
In 1990, as Simple Minds continued to rampage full-steam into a downward slide of overwrought albums and evaporating relevance, Virgin U.K. began repackaging the group's singles as CD5s through the Themes series…