Customer Reviews

Life in a Day

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"Life In A Day" was Simple Minds' debut album, originally released on Arista back in 1979 and reissued by Virgin Records in 1985. The lineup included Jim Kerr (vocals) Charlie Burchill (guitar) Derek Forbes (bass) Brian McGee (drums) and Michael MacNeil (keyboards). Already, Kerr and Burchill's writing abilites were readily apparent and the melodic sense behind such tracks as "Someone" and "Wasteland" were sound. The album spun off two moderately successful singles in "Chelsea Girl" and the title track. However, the album was not a massive hit and Simple Minds would remain a cult phenomenon until 1981.

The reason for the band's lack of initial success is perfectly clear. This album owes a massive debt to the work of David Bowie and mid-period Roxy Music. Kerr himself acknowledged as much. "Two months after "Life In A Day" came out...we realised we were drowned in influence" said Jim. "We had to try to get our own sound...we had to stop messing about." Certainly, this album bears little resemblence to the Simple Minds that would later become famous in 1982. Still, the playing and songwriting standards on this debut were very satisfactory and many music critics placed the band into the "one to watch" category.

But much experimentation lay ahead for the band in their next two albums. This is not a place for the newcomer to begin (try New Gold Dream) but the established Simple Minds fan will certainly find this album a fascinating listen.

This record is so much fun to listen to. Just pure unadulturated lively punk in the vain of early Cars with some David Bowie thrown in. I love the warm sounds of those old analogue synths of the time and Michael McNeil uses them superbly. As with all Minds records the musicianship is without equal in my opinion. Brian McGee does very formidadle rythym patterns and very good backing vocals to Jim Kerr's lively lead.

I think this record rates right up there with any record of its genre that are considered classics. Some of the stronger songs on this great sounding disc are Someone, Sad Affair, All for You, Pleasantly Disturbed and Chelsea Girl. Not one stinker here and it hints at great things to come in the form of Reel to Real Cacophony which is an outstanding electronic dance disc with the same pumped rythyms on Life in a Day. I've finished replacing all my original discs with these new remastered versions and they really help the listening experience.

I wouldn't be able to explain how much my view of Simple Minds changed after buying this album. After owning several other much newer albums I decided I wanted to hear some early Simple Minds. I got Glittering Prize since '92, but it wasn't till about '96 that I started to get a little serious, so I got Good News From The Next World, then Once Upon A Time, New Gold Dream 81 82 83 84 and Sparkle In The Rain. I got the "The Best Of" and "Cry" as soon as they came out. It was then, when I started to get curious about their earlier music, so I purchased both this one and "Celebration".

Then I said WOW!... Do you want to rock your world? Get "Life In A Day". This is astonishing "hard rock" from the seventies, great stuff. I love all the songs, although I strongly recommend: Someone, Chelsey Girl, Pleasantly Disturbed, All For You and Murder Story, then of course the song from where the album got its name "Life In A Day". My latest addition to my collection was "Real Life". And I have to admit I can't wait to get "Empires And Dance" and "Street Fighting Years", then of course I'll try to complete my collection soon after. I am not a wacko, but I do love Simple Minds, get an album to listen to why!

Way back when, we cogniscenti considered this to be one of the great fringe band premiere albums. Sneak a hair past the mildly dated sound and you'll find consistent strong songwriting all the way through this puppy. I remember it as being one of my fave LPs for several years and a lot of us back then were annoyed with the tip toward Top Forty that the band manifested.

If you like "Love" and some early "Doors" and maybe some more recent bands contemporaneous with Simple Minds you'll find these guys cool and much more consistent songwriters. the second album, "Reel to Reel Cacophany," is even better.

Regardless of any other bands' influences, this album is a brilliant and one-of-a-kind debut. Their musicianship is excellent and their energy is exhilarating; some favorite songs being the title track, "Pleasantly Disturbed", "Sad Affair", "All For You" "Someone" and "Wasteland".....actually all the songs are strong and I'm only picking out songs that are slightly more excellent than the others.....the Simple Minds have always been a vibrant band, they make me envision the stark beauty of Scotland, and they have produced many a strong instumental track, especially on their early albums. Before Amazon had it for sale, I went to great lengths to track this CD down, it's so dear to my heart. I strongly recommend this CD.

Debut album shows the greatest amount of influence for this long-running Scot band. Be Bop Deluxe and especially Doctors Of Madness figure high in the mix with a little Sparks showing up as well. "Chelsea Girl" and "Sad Affair" stick out like a big fat 1960's hits that never were, but elsewhere the mood is dark and serious. Think early Cure. This gives only a little hint of the brilliance that will soon erupt for this band, but not bad for a first time out.

I disagree with most of the reviews posted here. "Life in a Day (1979)" is an amazing album. I don't agree with the claim that this album is derivative of David Bowie or Roxy Music; there is raw talent here. This album is one of the great early Post-Punk/New Wave albums. I would rank this album along with "Real to Real Cacophony (1979)" and "Empires and Dance (1980)" as the three best Simple Minds albums.

If you like their later poppier stuff - you may not like this album. Simple Minds were very experimental on their first 4 albums - the fourth being "Sons and Fascination/ Sister Feeling Call (1981)". Anything after that is almost a different band. If you like the later, more poppier stuff - I recommend starting with "New Gold Dream (1982)."

"Life in a Day (1979)" is misuderstood by people looking for the later stuff. It is amazing how many people who like post-punk/new wave don't know about early Simple Minds either. This album is a beautiful masterpiece. Get the first three albums and they will blow your mind: "Life in a Day (1979)," "Real to Real Cacophony (1979)," and "Empires and Dance (1980)".

Once in a while you get an album that you don't like after the first listen but you stick with it and it grows on you. This is not one of those albums. In fact, I dislike it more an more everytime I hear it. At times I even doubt that it is Simple Minds. The only proof to me is that it really is them is that it sounds like Jim Kerr's voice. Obviously, they had not found there "sound" yet. I was expecting an album similar to their other early releases such as "Empires and Dance" and "Sons and Fascination" (which are two of my all time favorite albums) but this album is missing the cutting edge originality that I like so well. A previous reviewer used the word "cheesy" which is a perfect description. One song reminds me of a bad Go-Go's song. Let's all be thankful that they got better and evolved into the great band that they were meant to be.

This is a maligned album, so let me set this straight. It doesn't sound like anything else in their catalog. The guitars are raw and loud (relatively) and there's a straight-forward, rock n' roll energy that didn't carry into Real to Reel or anything after that. The songs are formulaic and rather bland compared to later records, but once I took the music at face value, I got enough good vibes off of this to enjoy it. In fact, "Someone" is a classic with a thrilling keyboard melody and chorus - feels like a new-wave answer to the Rascal's "Good Love". "Sad Affair" has the sort of "start, stop, clap, clap" verses meant more for John Cougar and is the last thing I thought I'd here on a Simple Minds album. It's sort of a sunny, psychedelic rock with a synthy new wave production.
The CD reissue I bought is packaged in a small, cardboard replica of the original LP sleeve (I assume), with the original paper inner sleeve inside holding the disc. Kerr, Burchill, Macneil, McGee and Forbes are just lanky kids on the back and there's still a side one and side two. I love it.

Back when online, Internet-based shopping was merely in a twinkle in Algore's eye, I bought this offering--Simple Minds's "Life in a Day"--in a used-CD store. I had known, from listening to KROQ, that Simple Minds had written & recorded a few gems prior to their 1982 U.S. "New Gold Dream" debut, and I was willing to gamble that "Life in a Day" would contain some of these gems.

When I skimmed the "Life in a Day" CD, however, I found that it did not contain these gems. Moreover, I found that it beared almost no resemblance to the brilliantly produced "New Gold Dream" record I'd adored. Moreover still, I found "Life in a Day" to be loud and cheesy, so much so that I couldn't bear to hear it more than a couple of times.

I concede that I might have acquired a taste for this CD had I had the motivation to spin it a few more times--that is why I rate it with 2 stars rather than 1--but I lacked that motivation and ended up giving it away at a white-elephant-gift party.