As evidenced by their sixteenth album, Simple Minds are alive and kicking with admirable verve and commitment, over 30 years on from their heyday.
The single, Honest Town, would have been a mega-hit in 1985, building to a mesmeric coda, sequencers and things glimmering away into the fade-out, as the pounding rhythm makes an exit.
Midnight Walking, is gritty yet slick, rueful and knowing, and, of course, expansively epic. The title track, Big Music, pulses onward dynamically, and there is something comforting about the way Simple Minds just do their thing without any fuss.
Blood Diamonds is regretful about a failed relationship, but that doesn’t mean that things get quiet - the loud, propulsive beat goes on and on through the pained introspection.
Sometimes the thing gets a bit too epic and visionary and Let the day Begins doesn’t work. It's not even theirs anyway, being a cover of a 1989 song by The Call. But straight after, the more personal (if perhaps too lyrically sketchy) On the Rooftop brings things back on an even keel.
Imagination is a cracker and the wonderfully arranged Kill or Cure soars heavenward to sublime beauty.
Something tells me there could never be a Simple Minds Unplugged - Kerr, Burchill et al would get very restless and suffer withdrawal symptoms. Big Music indeed.
Paddy Kehoe
