- Title: UK: SIMPLE MINDS MARK THEIR 20TH YEAR WITH A NEW ALBUM "NEAPOLIS"
- Date: 24th February 1998
- Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (FEBRUARY 24, 1998) (RTV - ACCESS ALL) (SOUNDBITE ENGLISH) KERR SAYING, "FOR A BAND THAT DIDN'T THINK THEY'D LAST 20 WEEKS, 20 YEARS DOES SEEM SOMEWHAT MONOLITHIC, SORT OF CARVED IN STONE ACHIEVEMENT BUT HAVING SAID THAT I THINK WE'RE IN THIS RATHER AWKWARD STAGE WHERE WE'RE OBVIOUSLY TOO LONG IN THE TOOTH TO BE THE NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK BUT A LOT OF THE PEOPLE THAT WERE DOING IT WHEN WE WERE KIDS ARE STILL DOING IT, SO I THINK WE'RE IN THIS UGLY DUCKLING, MIDDLING PERIOD AND IN ANOTHER FEW YEARS, MAYBE WE'LL TAKE OURSELVES, HOPEFULLY WE WON'T, BUT MAYBE WE'LL TAKE OURSELVES SERIOUS AS ELDER STATESMEN BUT WHEN YOU LOOK AT ELTON AND THE ROLLING STONES AND PINK FLOYD AND LOU REED AND DAVID BOWIE, 20 YEARS, STILL THINK WE'RE A WEE BIT WET BEHIND THE EARS." (ENGLISH)
- Embargoed: 11th March 1998 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM
- Country: United Kingdom
- Topics: Entertainment
- Reuters ID: LVA4SR28Y2UXZXAGK7KSPAHA15UA
- Story Text: - In a self-described act of coming full circle, Simple Minds are back with a new album, 20 years after they first set out.
Scotland's biggest rock act will release "Neapolis" next month.It's their first since 1995's "Good News From the Next World" and sees founding members Jim Kerr and Charlie Burchill reunited with original bassist Derek Forbes and drummer Mel Gaynor.
After two decades, more than 25 million in record sales and five international Number 1s, Simple Mind's latest offering is swathed in synths and has echoes of their earliest influence, Krautrock.
The first single, "Glitterball", was chosen to launch the album because according to Kerr, it embodies the "new" sound.
"In that new sound you can both hear flashbacks of Simple Minds but there is something fresh about it," Kerr said.
"You're always tempted to say with a new record 'this is brand new' but on this record I think there is a level of inventiveness that perhaps hasn't been on the previous one or two." Rather than return to old glories, the band's frontman says "Neapolis" is "more of a circle coming round because we don't really beleive it's possible to go back".
Going back would mean returning to 1978 and the creation of the band from the ashes of post-Punk outfit Johnny and The Self Abusers.
It would mean returning to "Empires and Dance" and "Sons and Fascination" -- the turn of the 80's albums that put Simple Minds on the cutting edge of British music.
Eventually, it would lead to breakthrough in America with "Don't You Forget About Me", the theme tune for 1995 bratpack movie "The Breakfast Club".
The song transported Simple Minds into the big league, selling by the millions and fuelling the theory that the band was head to head in the race with U2 for world domination -- a contention the band say they were never interested in.
From the start, the band was ambivalent about "Don't You Forget About Me", mainly because it was the first song they recorded that they didn't write.
Kerr says they only agreed to record the song after cutting a deal with the American promoters to push the then- current album "Sparkle in the Rain".
What happened next is history.
"We thought we'd do the song and it'd be on some obscure movie and it's never be heard of again and it goes all the way to number one," Kerr said.
"So we refer to it now as the 'black hit from space'.
The song that arrived from nowhere and took over the world." From the heights of critical acclaim in the early 80s, critics then deemed the period from 1985-1991 as the years that the band lost its way.
But for a group of men who didn't think they'd "last 20 weeks", it was always about being in it for the long run.
Now signed to EMI after their 1995 break with Virgin, Kerr says the new album avoids the bombastic drums and "obvious" rocky elements of some of the band's earlier material.
In "Neapolis", rhythmic sequences mix with bass riffs and sequenced patterns that get back to the "real" Simple Minds.
What the fans think will become apparent when the single, "Glitterball" is released on March 2.The album follows on March 16.
After that, it'll be back on the road -- the place where this album first started to come to life. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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