Once Upon a Time

Simple Minds | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 25, 1990)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: A&M
• ASIN: B000002GH1
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  DVD Audio  |  Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #197,940 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Once Upon a Time

2. All the Things She Said

3. Ghost Dancing

4. Alive and Kicking

5. Oh Jungleland

6. I Wish You Were Here

7. Sanctify Yourself

8. Come a Long Way

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Spacious, Full 5.1 DTS Audio Mix!, June 21, 2007

By 

Jason W. Bellenger (Byron Center, Michigan, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Simple Minds: Once Upon a Time (DVD Audio)

This DVD Audio/Video disc is absolutely stunning. I'm somewhat new to 5.1 audio mixes, so perhaps I'm not the best judge since I've only started listening to music this way recently. Nonetheless, I am amazed at how amazing 1985 era audio sounds by today's standards. I cannot tell any difference between something mixed in 5.1 today versus this Simple Minds 'Once Upon A Time' 5.1 mix from 1985. It is truly a gem!

The music is spacious, crystal clear, and crisp. The vocals and music soar all around. The discrete 5.1 DTS mix makes use of the center channel, which is where the majority of the lead vocals are heard. Background vocals are scattered throughout the channels. It's amazing hearing Jim Kerr's voice come through just one speaker. It really allows one to hear the true dynamics of the original studio recordings, and the quality production that accompanies throughout. I'm hearing pieces of music that I've never heard before in the original stereo recordings.

Included on this DVD Audio/Video Disc:

The original 8 tracks in both 5.1 Surround Sound (DVD-A 96/24 + DTS 96/24) and PCM 2.0 Stereo (48/16).
01 Once Upon A Time
02 All The Things She Said
03 Ghost Dancing
04 Alive And Kicking
05 Oh Jungleland
06 I Wish You Were Here
07 Sanctify Yourself
08 Come A Long Way

Note that some songs are actually a few seconds longer than the original CD/vinyl versions.

Bonus features include:
Lyrics
Videos - All The Things She Said + Alive And Kicking
Discography
Weblinks

This DVD Audio/Video is a Virgin/EMI 2005 release made in the EU.
UPC: 7 2438-13016-9 2
NTSC
All Regions

The original 24-track analog master tapes were used to create this release. The mix was mastered by Simon Heyworth at Galaxy Reference Mastering.

My only complaint regarding this release is Virgin/EMI not including all promo videos for the album. Notably missing are promos for "Sanctify Yourself" and "Ghost Dancing". Additionally, although this is a minor complaint, perhaps it would have been wise to include "Don't You (Forget About Me" as a bonus 5.1 track and video, simply because it belongs with this project and will probably never see the light of day on a future Simple Minds 5.1 DVD-Audio album release.

On a brighter note, I was pleasantly surprised to hear that both music videos presented in this package play in the discrete 5.1 audio as well.

Highly recommended!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Their Most Fully Realized Artistic Studio Statement!!, January 3, 2006

By 

HE WHO FUNKS BEHIND THE ROWS!! (Seattle & San Diego) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Once Upon a Time (Audio CD)

This was the first Simple Minds album that I bought
and I loved the whole thing from start to finish!
My introduction to them was of course, 1985's
"Don't You Forget About Me", but Jim Kerr's
"Morrisonesque" voice was so compelling that I had
to dig deeper and low and behold, due to this album and
their other great masterwork "Simple Minds:
Live In The City Of Lights", I was turned out and
transformed by this european group's orchestral synths,
soaring crying guitars, power-rock drumming and the
voices of both Jim Kerr and Robin Clark, who were
putting it down in a big way!
Love this album here!...And if you like this,
then check out "Live In The City Of Lights"
and you will get the whole gist of
what Simple Minds was about!

The Tracks That Still Stand Up Today Are:

All The Things She Said
Ghost Dancing
Alive & Kickin'
Oh Jungleland
Sanctify Yourself
Come A Long, Long Way

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Rocks From Start To Finish, June 29, 2005

By 

CH "CH" (Malaysia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Once Upon a Time (Audio CD)

There aren't many albums today that you can listen to from start to finish and love every song - Simple Minds shows how. It's certainly different from the previous albums - but then if it were the same people would complain about it anway. All that hot air about their bombast is rubbish. Once Upon A Time in its own right is one hell of an album, that if you like the sound you'll love it all the way through, and if you didn't then you'd save a couple of bucks so good on you.

Ghostdancing, Oh Jungleland, Sanctify Yourself - I could be listing all the tracks but these are simply alive and kicking. And Robin Cook adds a touch to this album that makes it special, you want to hear her in every track. She did for Simple Minds what Oleta Adams did for Tears For Fears in Sowing the Seeds - another revolution but that's another story. And rightfully they have her winding up Alive and Kicking during the Amsterdam tour, I wish that was on record (sadly it's not the same one as that captured in the Live in the City of Light double album)

I only wish they'd release this complete with all the B Sides and extended versions - the extended version of All The Things She Said is an absolute gem - they simply don't make them like this anymore.