Customer Reviews

Once Upon a Time

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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!

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

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.

I can remember the first time I bought and listened to this albumn.I was 19,just graduated from high school,and was just wrapping up military boot camp.I was looking for one I thought contained the single,"Don't You Forget...",and ran across this one at a record store.I bought it,rushed back to my barracks,and popped it into my walkman.Well I found out,to my dismay,that the single wasn't there.Yet listening to all those songs on that albumn,I was literally swept away by its sounds,lyrics,and voices.What songs stood out most to me was...well...none of them really stood out,because they all were great.That made "Once Upon a Time",really great.I honestly feel that this was the Minds's best work yet.Of all the albumns they produced,if we were to hold a sort of countdown chart of all their works,"Once Upon..."would be #1,followed by "New Gold Dream",then "Sons and Fascination",and then "Sparkle In The Rain".For any serious Minds fanatic like myself,you must get this albumn.Listen to it again and again.All the tracks are upbeat,melodic,and technically innovative.All in all...a must listening.

I own a lot of simple minds albums, but this is simply the best one of them all. It would have been perfect if it included Don't you(Forget about me). Still is one of the best albums I own.

This one one the the top 5 best recording of the 1980s.

I bought this a year later in 1986 and was so mezmerized by the strange sound to it. It sounded like a recording from choirs boys educated in music who matured into skilled adult musicians who took some LSD and recorded this in a some medieval cathederal.

Really cool strange sound. This was one the the top 5 best sounding recordings of the 1980s in my opinion.

The politics & preaching of Simple Minds I could do without though.

It is hard to imagine a better album from Simple Minds. Indeed, as another reviewer put it, the only other great song from the band not found in here is "Don't You (Forget About Me)". Still, the album is loaded with solid tracks, including the title track, "Alive and Kicking" and "Sanctify Yourself".

With "Once Upon a Time", Simple Minds contributed to mold the sound of the eighties along with others like U2, Peter Gabriel, The Smiths and Tears For Fears. Indeed once upon a time, they used to make albums as good as this one.

This is maybe the kind of album that should come along later in a band's career when everyone is paying attention to them. Though a big hit when released, I'm not sure how many people are aware of it now or the band. To my ears it has aged very well in that some 80's music has too much synthesizer for today's tastes. There are several brilliant songs and every song is enjoyable. The bridge for "Alive and Kicking" is one of my favorite moments on the album.

Like many others looking for the track 'dont you forget about me' i stumbled upon 'once apon a time', having heard the track 'alive and kicking' i didn't expect for one second that the whole album would turn out to be such a gem, 'dont you forget about me'was massive on both sides of the atlantic and tracks like 'all the things she said','ghost dancing' and 'oh jungleland' come from the same top drawer. after hearing this album it just might start you of on a simple minds obsession but whatever you do make sure and buy this first.

There was a time where U2 and Simple Minds were compared to each other in style as well as stature. This release is one of the reasons. It a huge commercial success, and one of their greatest achievements. Great production and song writing abound here. Everyone remembers the hits off this album, but no one should overlook solid tunes such as "I Wish You Were Here" and "Come A Long Way."