Empires And Dance - Simple Minds

[lbworshiper]

Time for another review...

Simple Minds may have won over American audiences in 1985 with a hit album and soundtrack smash, but the band’s earlier days seem more like a European version of Talking Heads on some major depressants. Thus, I harken back to the band’s third album from 1980, EMPIRES AND DANCE.

Before the album surfaced in September 1980, the band had released their post-punk debut, LIFE IN A DAY, in 1978, and immediately followed it up with the more unconventional (and ballsy) REAL TO REAL CACOPHONY. When the band toured around Europe, Cold War tensions were rising to boiling points, and the band drew from these grim fears (as well as some political conflicts in Britain) to create some really tense, dread-filled material. In fact, prog rock legend Peter Gabriel, who made his own dark masterpiece in 1980 with his third eponymous album, heard the CD and invited the band to tour alongside him, which they happily did.

EMPIRES AND DANCE was the last release on Arista Records in 1980, when the band’s more progressive dark side caught the fire of their record company's golden stature. REAL TO REAL CACOPHONY was dubbed the most uncommercial Arista release of all time (and now they release CDs by Avril and Pink), and the two singles from the LP, “I Travel” and “Celebrate,” failed to make an impression. But Simple Minds made their best album of their post-pop period with this one, which was pressed by Arista in limited copies (a crisis to be apologized by manager Bruce Findlay) only to be reissued by Virgin Records in 1982. It’s 2003, and now Virgin Records have re-released the album in a stellar reissue.

As part of the complete Virgin Records relaunch of Simple Minds’ back catalog from 1978 to 1998, limited edition copies are now available for purchasing from your local merchant/music store. I got my copies from Amazon.com. If you like Simple Minds a lot or are curious about their more diverse musical moments, pick this album up! The album has been given the 24-bit remastered treatment for optimal sound quality, and the packaging kicks a**. It’s a gatefold replica of the original LP packaging, with a slipcase that mirrors the original inner LP art (including lyrics and photographs) as placed in a pouch which displays the original front and back cover art and visual designs. As for the band itself, this line-up includes permanent mainstays Jim Kerr (vocalist/lyricist) and Charlie Burchill (guitar/saxophone), as well as Derek Forbes (bass), Mike McNeil (keyboards) and Brian McGee (drums/percussion).

The single release I Travel is energetically rampant a new wave/disco rave-up, rising from a flurry of keyboard textures to a hard-charging 4/4 beat punctuated by kicking percussion beats, wailing and sizzling electronic touches and slick bass/guitar riffs. Jim Kerr has also a neatly deadpan vocal delivery, an antidote to his more focused and confident later vocals, and at one point mirrors Peter Gabriel’s “No no no” chant (as heard on “Not One Of Us” from the third album). Lyrically, it’s what happens when you travel round the world and notice the crumbling physical and lingual control from Asia to Europe and America.

“Europe has a language problem
Talk, talk, talk, talk, talking on
In central Europe, men are marching
Marching on and marching on
Love songs playing in the restaurants
Airport playing "Bi Some Lo"
Travel round, I travel round
Decadence and pleasure towns
Tragedies, luxuries, statues, parks and galleries.”

When the band get moody, they create some genuine sonic treats, as with the case of the nightmarish Today I Died Again. Percussions keep a thumping rhythm for queasy bass lines and Arabian-style keyboards to wrap around, as Jim Kerr offers up an ominous vocal delivery that suits the disillusioned instrumentation, which reach a droned apex in the whirling chorus. And in one point, he utters a line which gives this album its title. The song’s lyrics lace black humour with a mild reprehension toward the American monarchy (this was 1980 and these guys are Scottish and dealing with Cold War feelings, nothing to protest about).

“The human drum beats a rhythm of life
The clothes he wears date back to the war
He talks a lot, often to himself
She don't say much, just cuts his hair
She can't remember before the heat
He can't remember his wife's Christian name
Paint me a picture, towers in sand
America can fall
Today I died again, I died again, I died today
Today I died again, I died again, I died today.”

Celebrate embraces pop sensibility with a beat kept in time by hand-claps and melodic bass lines, with tinkling percussions and the occasional synth effect popping up. The music still has its quirks, despite the fact that it seems more accessible than previous tracks. The lyrics on this number lay on the bleak imagery and pungency with precision.

“Act of love is a luxury, the suit he wears belongs to me
The road is long, seven thousand miles, soldier talk and uniform
We can live, I can live
Celebrate, celebrate
We can live, I can live
Celebrate, celebrate.”

This Fear Of Gods is seven minutes of some really dense, disturbing sounds, but all the more the merrier. Electronics edge with feedback and atmospheric waves as a drum-and-bass rhythm punches it all home throughout, making it as inspired as any great 12” mix. Kerr’s vocals are just as discordant and edgy as the instrumentation, which goes from funereal to soaring and back again. And the lyrics are a grim symbolism of fear and faithlessness.

“I hear a voice and hear no angel
I hear a voice and hear no angel
Hero see no, hear and see no
Hear a voice and see no angel
Violence and vivisection
Violence and vivisection
Lust…lust…lust
Violence and vivisection
Gods…Gods…This fear of Gods.”

Capital City has a rumbling bass line intro kicked into a warped slow-tempo groove punctuated by range-shifting keyboard doodles and jangling guitar chords. When the first chorus ends, this dynamic repeats itself again, before it fades itself out following the second chorus. The title place sums up what Jim Kerr sings about, with lyrics such as this:

“Nerve and nerve, this coastline swerves
To a city that they live on
I walk on by, animals cry
To a city that they live on
To a city that they walk on
To a city that they live on.”

Constantinople Line pushes on with a skittering rhythm made up of the usual drum/bass/electronics that are steady and syncopated, but not truly boring. Jim Kerr summons up the ghost of Adam Ant in most of his vocal delivery here, and like in the last song, he finds himself in a strange land in which he sardonically feels at home at.

“Hey Waiter, I'm first class
Hey Waiter, what state is this?
These reptiles scream a violent party
All art and jazz and League of Nations
I see a land as we crawl by night
I see a face in the window in front
The east is calling, I'm feeling nervous
I love the western style and change.”

The main melody of Twist/Run/Repulsion is a melee of vocal samples (in particular a French woman) set to a slinky bass line which runs head first into a queasy brass section, and the sung vocals consist of one single passage repeated three times with the title words interwoven inside. This passage summons up feelings of dread, disgust and claustrophobia, all delivered in a thick monotone by Jim Kerr.

“Switch the light on, we can think it's dawn
Oh push along, pray along, play a long song
I'm laughing at marines, the marines laugh back
Don't like those boys, toy soldier boys
I'm lying in bed, you can play me fear
You can play me fear, only rhythm I hear
You cut me up with your joys of life
I'm going somewhere, I'm going someplace
If caution is life, then caution is sin
Contort, contort, contort, I'll win
These walls that close, close in on me
Seductress shout, seductress scream
Switch the light on, we can think it's dawn
Oh push along, pray along, play a long song.”

Thirty Frames A Second is another essential example of the style known as “mutant disco,” with Derek Forbes’ sharp bass line and Mike McNeil’s pulsing electronics playing host to an underlying paranoia and despair. Jim Kerr details the odd life of a man whose life parallels the film he saw, and it’s being reversed, thirty frames a second, to total loss and poverty.

“Today I saw a film going backwards, thirty frames a second
Is a man I recognize, say who you are
I lost my job, security, self confidence, bank account, identity
The league of youth is coming backwards to me
At thirty frames a second, say who you are
Go back to father, father where's my food?
Your food’s on the table
But this can't be food, it's dirt.”

The end of the last song segues into a brief instrumental called Kant-Kino, which energizes itself from jarring electronic effects, a powerful keyboard track, and a percolating electric guitar rhythm.

The album concludes with Room, which contains thumping synth-bass lines given heft by clacking percussion beats and distant sounds of guitar. The song echoes noble isolation from the lyrics given, and the eerie musical backdrop lasts 2:30, providing a quick, yet deft close to this album.

“City red, city red
Wear the mask, wear the mask
A private hell, a secret sin, a friend of mine
Waiting for a western man
Waiting for new kind of glory
A view of glory from this room.”

EMPIRES AND DANCE did not heavily appeal to the masses, but it remains the best album of Simple Minds’ 25-year career, and offers up plenty of fascinating musical stylings that keep it apart from previous and successive LPs. Even when faced with the terror of identity crisis, fallen empires and cultural clashes, these Scottish rockers find a way to keep you dancing.

[Frau_Blucher]

Very excellent as usual LBW. And I appreciate your editorial opinion at the end. I think more of that would add to the more journalistic elements of your style. I love this stuff but I also love some opinion and passion! Thanks again.


PS. I know it's passe to do so, but I'm still gonna take the popular New Gold Dream as their best. [:D]

[WolverineSyr]

Excellent review - I'll have to check the album out beyond I Travel. Simple Minds are one of my favorite bands.

[avcool4u]

Always liked I travel,
and personally like the Once Upon A Time lp the best.
I'd never been able to find much of their older stuff.
I'll have to look further.
-Tobes

[bowiestation]

Real to Real Cacophony has been one of favorite albums since 1979.Simple Minds early material was absolutely the best.

[Rubbeet921]

[quote][i]Originally posted by avcool4u[/i]

...and personally like the Once Upon A Time lp the best.

[/quote]

Yeah, me too![8D]

[obs]

My favourite Minds album is "Sons and Fascination" + "Sister Feelings Call". While I love their later stuff too (up until "Once Upon a Time"), I prefer their older sound too. "I Travel" and "Celebrate" are great.