Street Fighting Years [Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered, Import]

Simple Minds | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 27, 2003)
• Original Release Date: 1989
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered, Import
• Label: EMI Europe Generic
• ASIN: B0000793ZD
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #15,241 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #98 in Music > Alternative Rock > New Wave & Post-Punk > Post-Punk

Track Listings

1. Street Fighting Years

2. Soul Crying Out

3. Wall Of Love

4. This Is Your Land

5. Take A Step Back

6. Kick It In

7. Let It All Come Down

8. Mandela Day

9. Belfast Child

10. Biko

11. When Spirits Rise

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Masterpiece, February 18, 2005

By 

Steven Reynolds (Sydney, Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Street Fighting Years (Audio CD)

"Street Fighting Years" was the moment when an intermittently interesting post-punk art rock band of the 80s, responsible for a few classic singles (the most popular of which - "Don't You Forget About Me" - they didn't even write), suddenly produced one of the most daring, heartfelt and extraordinarily beautiful albums ever to emerge from the slag heap of contemporary pop. It was a commercial failure, of course, and some reviewers still decry it as "blatantly political" - as if intelligence, emotion and making an argument are alien concepts to art. When it comes to popular music they often are, which is all the more reason to treasure albums like this one. It's a glorious epic about love, loss, trampled innocence and murderous injustice from the opening bars to the uplifting instrumental conclusion. Even setting aside the politics, this is still 61 minutes of astonishingly beautiful music: rich, complex, superbly engineered and executed. Just listen closely to the percussive opening of "Mandela Day", or the care with which the layers of "Belfast Child" are orchestrated. It was twelve months in the making and sounds every bit of it. It was also the basis for what is, even after 15 years, still the best concert I've ever been to: no fancy light shows or on-stage antics, just Jim Kerr's yearning voice, Charlie Burchill's soaring guitars, and 12,000 gobsmacked fans. While their next recording effort, "Real Life", continued in a somewhat similar vein, Simple Minds have never quite reached these heights again. Their later works have mostly been competent stadium rock or electronica-influenced experiments. Still, it matters little - if they'd existed only to produce this one album, it would be enough.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars So what if it's political?, June 29, 2005

By 

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

This review is from: Street Fighting Years (Audio CD)

It's crazy. There are millions of songs about I love you and about sex and meeting a girl and losing her and getting her back and no one complains. But sing about Mandela or Soweto and everyone complains.

Lyrics aside (not that I have any complaints), the title track SFY is one of the best post New Wave Simple Mind Songs, period. The opening bass got me right away. I disagree with the other reviewer about Soul Crying Out, the softer edged songs like this and Let It All Come Down are some of the highlights of the album. It's got these great tracks, and plenty of kicking action for those who like Simple Minds Raw - Kick It In is one hell of a thumper.

And Mandela Day simply demonstrates how effective a simple riff can be, something Simple Minds discovered from the start with Promised You A Miracle. Here they still have it. I can listen to the opening hook over and over again, and basically the song is built that way. Is it repetitive? Wasn't Waterfront, Up On The Catwalk etc, but weren't they just fab?

And Once Upon A Time was also an excellent album, and Robin Cook only made it even more attractive. The fantastic pop appeal of Alive and Kicking aside, Ghostdancing shows they have real rock in them, as does Santicy Yourself and All The Things She Said. All the remixes from this album are fantastic, too.

I can't say the same about what happens after Street Fighting Years, but as a fan from New Gold Dream days these two albums are definitely tops. Diehard fans of early Simple Minds may not like this but there is no cause to diss it.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent Album!, July 21, 2006

By 

Derek E. Land (Rochester, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Street Fighting Years (Audio CD)

I bought this album (my 7th SM album), and immediately liked "Soul Crying Out", "Take A Step Back", and "Mandela Day". These are the best tracks, backed up by other almost equally stirring songs like "Belfast Child" (one of my favourites songs SM did) and Peter Gabriel's "Biko." Every track on this CD is very listenable, making it one of the rare albums where you can listen to *every track* from start to finish and not get tired of it.

This album shows that Simple Minds is capable of producing excellent (though critically underacknowledged) rock hits, and then turning around on the same album and making songs that are slower but equally stirring. I much prefer SM to U2, if you're lookig for a comparison.

This is one of my favourite Simple Minds albums. On a couple tracks they even get 'back to their Scottish roots' and include bagpipes ("When Spirits Rise" & "Biko"...the bagpipes in no way overpower the music but are very evident).

While the CD does have some political themes, it's easy to just get into the music and listen for the sake of enjoying the sound.

It's a must for any Simple Minds fan, and a great CD to add to any collection.

I give this album 5 stars.