Riding the coattails of the John Hughes flick The Breakfast Club, Simple Minds finally broke into America with their theme song "Don't You Forget About Me," and their 1985 release Once Upon a Time captured the heart-wrenching excitement found in bands such as U2. They were now one of the biggest names in music, and Jim Kerr's thirsting vocals became the band's signature. Once Upon a Time, featuring producer Jimmy Iovine (U2, Stevie Nicks, Bruce Springsteen), showcased more of a guitar-driven sound. The band's heavy synth pop beats had relaxed a bit and Charlie Burchill's charming playing style was most noticeable. Also enlisting the choir-like beauty of Robin Clark, Simple Minds' popularity was expounded on songs such as "Alive & Kicking" and "Sanctify Yourself." This album was one of their best, most likely leading the pack in the band's album roster, because it exuded raw energy and solid composition not entirely captured on previous albums. [In 2015, 30 years after the album's initial release, Once Upon a Time was reissued in a five-CD/one-DVD Super Deluxe Edition box set. In addition to the original album on the first CD, the set featured two bonus CDs of B-sides, remixes, and edits, including 7" and 12" versions of "Don't You (Forget About Me)." The double live album Live in the City of Light was featured on the fourth and fifth CDs
A 50-track anthology, Celebrate: Greatest Hits covers Simple Minds from the band's 1978 debut through 2009's Graffiti Soul. There's also a pair of decent exclusive tracks, "Blood Diamonds" and "Broken Glass Park," recorded specifically for the set. Fanatics could pick apart the track selections, but this provides a high-quality overview of the band's output. Their rapid development from 1978 through 1982 -- a period represented with the likes of "Chelsea Girl," "I Travel," "Love Song," "Promised You a Miracle," and "Speed Your Love to Me" -- was unlike that of any of their peers. The assortment of material taken from the band's later albums is evenhanded, including "Alive and Kicking," "All the Things She Said," "Belfast Child," "Let There Be Love," and "She's a River," all of which reached the Top Ten in the U.K.
It should be no surprise to many that the early work of Simple Minds has aged far better than the breast-beating rock band they were to be come in the late 80's/early 90's period. Common consensus has it that 'New Gold Dream (81-82-83-84)' is the true classic but spare a moment for 1981's ambitious double-set of 'Sons And Fascination/Sister Feelings Call'. It is an 80-minute opus of electronic music with a decidely European sound following on neatly from the early Ultravox albums. 'The American' and 'Love Song' gave the group their first hits since 'I Travel' and although this recording is considering more commercially viable than the first three long players - they had just signed to Virgin Records after all - there is a high standard of artistic merit on show. A cursory listen to '70 Cities As Love Brings The Fall' is like listening to a space-age elevator opening and closing and the first title track brings an unlikely case for marrying together slap bass, Oriental keyboards and Jim Kerr's gothic vocals. 'Seeing Out The Angels' is an indication of the prettier textures incorporated on their next album whilst 'Careful In Career' proves that they had not totaly discarded their post-punk routes. Admittedly the slap bass use becomes wearisome after a while but this is a highly presentable example of what Simple Minds thought the future would sound like from 1982's perspective.