Once Upon a Time [Limited Edition, Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered]

Simple Minds | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 25, 2003)
• Original Release Date: 1985
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Limited Edition, Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered
• Label: Virgin Records Us
• ASIN: B000070GO0
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #241,408 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Clean, upbeat music with inspired lyrics, August 31, 2003

By 

A. Ryan "Merribelle" (Westminster, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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

After revisiting this album for the first time in eleven years, I can't imagine why I'd forgotten about it to begin with. Perhaps the fact that I had owned it on LP originally, and my record player has long since bit the dust? Anyway, now that my collection has been updated completely to CDs I have been regretting my absence; Once Upon a Time by Simple Minds is simply amazing.

Because I'm just a music fan who can't sing or play anything worth a lick, I lack the musical language to describe Simple Minds' style beyond comparing them to other bands of their time. Superficially, this collection sounds like early U2 with a little more emphasis on the synthesizers and backup singers. The lyrics even have a similar quasi-spiritual overtone, poetically borrowing phrases that could have been Praise and Worship quotes but are probably used to describe human relationships. For instance"You lift me up like the sweetest cup I share with you" is from Alive and Kicking, and from Sanctify Yourself:
"So you can't stop the world for a Boy or a Girl, Sweet victims of poor circumstances
But you can pour back the Love, Sweeping down from above, giving hope and making more chances
Well I hope and I pray that maybe someday You'll come back down here and show me the way...Open up your heart, Sanctify yourself."
The title track also refers to Love as a white dove and repeats that God Only Knows.
Honestly, I don't know if the band professes any specific faith, but as a Christian myself I find their style truthful and uplifting indeed.

If Simple Minds have been often and unfairly compared to U2, then that is a deserved compliment in my opinion. But as much as I like those other guys, Once Upon a Time has its own brand of charm and energy that makes it a great stand-alone. It almost got my complete five-star vote if not for the fact that at only 8 tracks, I felt it was a bit too scant. That may not bother everybody as much as me, however.

So, whether you're just looking to complete an `80s collection (which would be missing a great deal without at least one Simple Minds cd), or whether you like its style-brethren, Once Upon a Time has my full blessing.
-Andrea, aka Merribelle

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Listen and be uplifted: Solid from end to end!, October 11, 2004

By 

Manny Hernandez "@askmanny" (Bay Area, CA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

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

There is not a weak musical spot to this production, arguably one of Simple Minds' most solid and cohesive. This album is a tribute to a decade (the eighties) and great musicianship that never dies. Two decades after the album's release it still enjoys a current sound the survived through the musical mill of grunge, techno, post-punk and many other genres. My particular favorites are "Sanctify Yourself", "Oh Jungleland" and one of the most upbeat songs ever: "Alive and Kicking", a song that will lift an elefant out of its sleep.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very cool CD!, January 16, 2004

By 

Gilbert Noreau (Quebec, Canada) - See all my reviews

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

not much songs but at least quality in here!! Don't pay attention to the review who said it's too commercial. That one was funny to read anyway. All the songs are rich, inspired and aswell as a very great song. It's a great CD to play in the car. Simple Minds were and still the gods of the 80s. If you are open to songs who didn't reach a top 10 still thoses songs are some classics specially ''All the things she said'' and ''Alive and Kicking''. Great CD, I will never stop enjoying that original band!!