Simple Minds Production

[steins]

I´m watching a Top-Ten feature on VH1 Europe....10 Simple Minds videos from the 80´s.. Wow, those productions sound fantastic! Can anyone give some insights on who produced and engineered these tracks? They sound like the 80´s, but in some strange way they still sound contemporary in 2007. I´m impressed.

Stein Tore

[Meriphew]

"New Gold Dream" is a phenomenal album.

[jomo1234]

Steve Lillywhite produced 'Sparkle In The Rain'.

[Tubthumper]

Peter Walsh did New Gold Dream.

Didn't Bob Clearmountain mix some of their later stuff??

[macleod]

i could be wrong but im sure that someone told me that they owned / own castle sound studios in Bonnie Scotland.

K

[steins]

Originally Posted by jomo1234

Steve Lillywhite produced 'Sparkle In The Rain'.

Ahhh ;-). Of course, he has also produces some of my all-time favourite albums from the 80´s. Big Country (What is Stuart Adamson doing these days???), Talking Heads and Annifrid Lyngstad from ABBA fame....

I´m off to iTunes store for the next hour ;-)

Stein TOre

[gsqd]

This is a well timed thread as I was listening to their Best Of album only yesterday and marveling at Charlie Burchill's fantastic guitar sounds. The depth and width of some of those tracks is amazing.

As for Big Country, isn't Stuart Adamson dead now? Another great pop/rock band that deserve much higher praise for their writing, musicianship and production than they ever get.

Oh, the memories!!

<GM>

[Skip Burrows]

This is perhaps one of the best sounding rock albums of the last 20 years. Mixed by TLA, that basterd. Listen to the tones of the guitar, the drums slam. a bit verby for todays stuff but freaking amazing. Just when i think i'm getting good at my craft I listen to that record and think perhaps I should sell shoes. See ya.

[steins]

Originally Posted by gsqd

As for Big Country, isn't Stuart Adamson dead now? Another great pop/rock band that deserve much higher praise for their writing, musicianship and production than they ever get.

Yes, I did a search and discovered this.... I just remembered him from the 80´s....a great loss.....

Stein Tore

[drBill]

I'm pretty sure Bob Clearmountain mixed some of thier records.

[79_Limited]

Yes I believe Stuart hung himself in a hotel room in Hawaii about 6 years ago. He was in Nashville playing music and was getting back together with Big Country. He went AWOL for a few weeks and was found later in Hawaii.

At least this is how I remember the article from the paper I read back when it happened.

[bcgood]

I have Simple Minds greatest hits. That CD has some songs and production on it that just sound simply awesome!

[sleestack]

80's synth are usually synonymous with DX fm. the 70's were the glory days for thick synths. I do agree the 80's were very synthy though and they did use analog but analog is not what I think of when I think 80s..Ok, im being anal

[drBill]

Originally Posted by sleestack

80's synth are usually synonymous with DX fm. the 70's were the glory days for thick synths. I do agree the 80's were very synthy though and they did use analog but analog is not what I think of when I think 80s..Ok, im being anal

The prophet5 came out in.....78 maybe. I got mine early in the fray and it was 1980. Then the OBX, Jupiters, etc. Jupiter 6 & DX7 were the first of the MIDI synths from what I can remember. I remember NAMM with a JP6 and maybe it was a Prophet600 midi'd across the floor to each other. Mindboggling back then. To me the heyday of analog synths was the 80's....and the ubiquitous DX7 rhodes patch.

but back on topic...I totally love Simple Minds. Great drummer too.

[sleestack]

You can rewrite the past all you want. The 80's were all about DX synths and new fangled samplers. Look at the used prices of analog synths in 80's keyboard mags.

[bcgood]

My band used to play this song at parties. Good times man, good times!

[Brad_Wood]

I am blown away by the production of Sparkle In The Rain. Seriously aggressive drum sounds and their cover of Lou Reed's "Street Hassle" is awesome. New Gold Dream still is a great reference for me for keys & atmospherics, but Sparkle In The Rain just kicks my ass- still.


Best- Brad

[Cellotron]

To my ear the real great and shamefully overlooked masterpiece that Simple Minds did was the "Sons & Fascination" & "Sister Feelings Call" twin albums that they did in 1981 with Steve Hillage producing. Stripped down, minimalist, killing drum bass synth and guitar sounds. A big step up from their earlier stuff (although I got to admit "Premonition" off of "Reel to Reel Cacophany" is pretty happening) After this they definitely went way down hill in terms of being actually creative and edgy.

After "Sparkle In the Rain" to me they really became embarrasing - when I saw them in 1985 in Boston they were pretty lame and were in fact completely blown off the stage by openers Shriekback (another shamefully overlooked 80's band that featured Barry Andrews from XTC and David Allen from Gang of Four).

Best regards,
Steve Berson

[Brad_Wood]

Originally Posted by Cellotron

I saw them in 1985 in Boston they were pretty lame and were in fact completely blown off the stage by openers Shriekback (another shamefully overlooked 80's band that featured Barry Andrews from XTC and David Allen from Gang of Four).

Don't get me started on Shriekback. Too late. Their 1st album, Care, is almost perfect. Funny, both they and Simple Minds didn't fare the mid-80's British-Big-Hair-and-Brocade-Jacket era very well. Both bands were more effective in their earlier, edgier beginnings. If anyone cares, Shriekback's The Y Years is a near complete collection of their early years on Y Records, including all of Care. Anybody that likes the Williamsburg dance rock needs to hear "My Spine (Is the Bassline)".

Best- Brad

[juniorhifikit]

Originally Posted by Brad_Wood

"My Spine (Is the Bassline)".

Best- Brad

That was actually in heavy rotation in Detroit when it came out!

[Meriphew]

Originally Posted by gsqd

This is a well timed thread as I was listening to their Best Of album only yesterday and marveling at Charlie Burchill's fantastic guitar sounds.

Highly underrated guitarist IMO.

[Fred67]

Yeah, shit..! Simple Minds were one of my top bands in the eighties.
When me and my friends were out partying and we heard the bassline on "Waterfront"...man...we jumped right out on the dancefloor.

Good memories, for sure...

/Fred

[gollumsluvslave]

"Live In the City of Lights" is still one of my favourite albums

Oh, and I loved their name prior to changing it to Simple Minds:-

'Johnny and the Self-Abusers'

[marcan]

Also "Street Fighting Years" in 1989 was produced by Trevor Horn. Very produced (à la Horn) with Manu Katche at the drums. Sonically impressive.

[longfade]

Originally Posted by sleestack

You can rewrite the past all you want. The 80's were all about DX synths and new fangled samplers. Look at the used prices of analog synths in 80's keyboard mags.

No pun intended (really), but that's a really simple minded reply. What kind of 80s music are you talking about? Ultravox? Depeche Mode? Cocteau Twins? Duran Duran? What period of the 80s are you talking about?

Posts like that just totally rub me the wrong way. Complete misinformation presented as absolute fact.

BTW, does anyone know what kind of synth Mick McNeil was playing on most of New Gold Dream? In particular, I'm thinking of the pad on Somebody Up There Likes You. God, I love the synth tones on that tune.

[manofsong]

Something that adds to the great productions of Simple Minds is the players. The following has been mentioned in many other threads: if you have a great player, you're usually going to get a superior sound. From the way sticks are hit on skins, to the perferct finger touch on a bass, putting all of those guys together is a big part of that "great production".

[Benjy King]

Mel Gaynor. Great drummer!

[DEVA]

The rythym section were seriously good musicians, derek forbes was a brilliant bass player, when i listen to new gold dream now it seems so much more simplistic, charlie was an "interesting" guitar player, i saw them in '86 which was the tour that live in city of light was from, and we indulged in a shit load of smoking and... Well suffice to say we were on our feet for well over 12 hours, supported by big audio dynamite, lloyd cold and the commotions, and the waterboys, great day that! I had the sound of the crowd in my head all the way home, 3 hour car ride. I played a session as a bass player for steve "barney" chase, who engineered half of the tears for fears album "songs from the big chair" and he had some number one singles with phil collins, george michael, tina turner, he produced a lot of stuff in the 80's and was a really lovely bloke, i did my bass track in ten minutes, two takes, and then spent two days just sitting in the studio and asking him questions about production and he was totally happy about that, he answered every question, i learned quite a bit from him, top geezer, he'd just bought twenty odd telefunken monoblocks for his own studio that he was building at the time, one for every channel. He had a massive dog, it was like a small cow.

[carlheinz]

Originally Posted by Cellotron

To my ear the real great and shamefully overlooked masterpiece that Simple Minds did was the "Sons & Fascination" & "Sister Feelings Call" twin albums that they did in 1981 with Steve Hillage producing. Stripped down, minimalist, killing drum bass synth and guitar sounds. A big step up from their earlier stuff (although I got to admit "Premonition" off of "Reel to Reel Cacophany" is pretty happening) After this they definitely went way down hill in terms of being actually creative and edgy.

After "Sparkle In the Rain" to me they really became embarrasing - when I saw them in 1985 in Boston they were pretty lame and were in fact completely blown off the stage by openers Shriekback (another shamefully overlooked 80's band that featured Barry Andrews from XTC and David Allen from Gang of Four).

Best regards,
Steve Berson

I SO AGREE!!!.About 5 years ago,I actually chatted with JimKerr via Telephone via radio show during the commercial break.I asked about Derek Forbes absence and he says He mssed Derek very much.I asked about .. the guy on keyboard?Micheal Mcneil?)...his departure etc and Kerr said he inhereted alot of money and didn't want to be in the biz anymore.

I just recently got into "reel to reel"..the first listen I did not like it but now it's like really interesting and fresh although you could hear the the spirit of Joy Division's experimental ethics..etc... it is crafted into something more catchy or melodic if you like.

They're USA Label decided not to put out their latest offering and gave them the boot.I think they only tour Europe for the most part.

[creegstor]

Great band who became a total embarassment. Think what happened with Bowie in the 80s after Let's Dance and then imagine if he stayed that way to this day. That Breakfast Club song ruined them and they never recovered. On their day they really were one of the great live rock bands. They blew U2 off the stage at various festivals around Europe back then. No mean feat considering how toweringly awesome U2 were at the time. New Gold Dream was one of the main influences on the latter's Unforgettable Fire.

I think the best albums are the ones with John Leckie, specifically Real to Real Cacophony (think Kid A in 1979), and Empires & Dance, and also the double album with Steve Hillage. These albums have been massively influential on the likes of Radiohead and really were groundbreaking and different both from one another and from any other band. Simple Minds practically invented industrial music as we know it with Empires and Dance. Both Ministry and NIN owe their careers to that one album IMO. Then they just went and pretty much invented electro-rock with 'Sons & Fascination' laying the template for everyone from New Order and Depeche to Bloc Party and Franz Ferdinand. A lot of this early music is very awkward and hard going which is why it was never popular but much of it really is sublime.

Oh and Derek Forbes was a phenomenal bass-player.