★★★★★
The path to redemption continues apace for Simple Minds. The band are very much out of the period where they were regarded as a substitute for U2 and now find themselves in an era where their influence is not only admitted but wilfully encouraged. The transformation has been aided considerably by the reissue two years back of their first five albums, regenerating them as a once-edgy band capable of turning the heads of LCD Soundsystem and The Killers - and ensuring Jim Kerr's musical legacy may...
- www.musicomh.com
2014-11-12
★★★★★
Simple Minds' last album,
- recordcollectormag.com
2014-11-06
★★★★★
Never more comfortable than on an arena stage, this CD+DVD (or Blu-ray) set, filmed at the end of last year, captures Scotland's celebrated sons in glorious form, easing through a setlist that frames their 80s commercial peak and the earlier material that edged them into the mainstream.
- recordcollectormag.com
2014-08-14
★★★★★
Simple Minds are best known for their huge hit "Don't You (Forget About Me)" from The Breakfast Club's soundtrack, and with good reason. It's a great song from a classic film. Of course, this was far from their "debut single" (the band had been around for eight years prior to that 1985 release) and their strong following from the late 1970s forward showed a bit or resentment toward the band's Top 40 success, as opposed to their "post punk" origins...
- www.popmatters.com
2013-06-22
★★★★★
Recorded live throughout Europe on Simple Minds' triumphant 5×5 tour - a showcase of their vital 1979-1982 material - this live double-album really captures the magic of those shows. As RC said of the studio box set that spawned the tour, it offered an opportunity to revel again in their wilful obscurity, gossamer melodies and frankly strange lyrics. Live, they brought all of their stadium muscle to these 31 songs, which leap out of the speakers...
- recordcollectormag.com
2013-04-02
★★★★★
Jim Kerr is nothing if not canny. After years of being told how much people adored Simple Minds' early years, and trying to recapture that sound with their last album, Graffiti Soul, they have gone the whole hog and packaged their first five(-and-a-half) albums in paper sleeves, in a presentation set with some rare-ish bonuses and 12" mixes. This release will accompany a short series of concerts, playing only this material...
- recordcollectormag.com
2013-04-02
★★★★★
Unlike U2 and Depeche Mode, Simple Minds couldn't survive the 90's. They're mainly remembered for their Eighties hit "Don't You" from the Breakfast Club soundtrack. Following the release of a succession of rather unnoticed and forgettable albums, the band is back with Cry, its most satisfying work since the Street Fighting Years back in 1989...
- www.plume-noire.com
2013-04-01
★★★★★
To anyone bemoaning Simple Minds' second life as U2's little stadium-rock brothers, the aficionado would point to their early albums when they were experimentalists, their heads unturned by the US dollar. Now as recent releases like The Horrors' Skying are compared favourably with formative Minds efforts, there's a chance for everyone to appreciate the fuss...
- www.bbc.co.uk
2012-02-20
★★★★★
Ten years ago, I'd probably have had to preface this review with some pugnacious assertion along the lines of 'yes, I know Simple Minds are awful these days, but they actually used to be really good!!!'. But it's 2012 now, and Jim Kerr and co's empire has long since fallen into rust, their legacy almost shocking negligible...
- drownedinsound.com
2012-02-16
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