Customer Reviews

Street Fighting Years

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

"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.

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.

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.

The Simple Minds may have changed direction with this album, but by no means did they head down a one way street in the wrong direction; rather, they chose the path less traveled. Where many bands before and since have clung to a style only to later regret it, the Minds explored uncharted territory on this recording. The title track, Street Fighting Years, contains beautiful and complex guitar tracks and rhythyms, mixed and blended perfectly with lead singer Jim Kerr's vocals. Soul Crying Out creates alluring melodies with a mix of guitar and organ, again with intense rhythmic pulses. This is music with sincere passion behind it, and I'm not talking about the kind below the waist. Perhaps that is why the Minds have not been popular in the states - complex music for simple minds?

One overriding characteristic of this album is the unusual rhythym and drumming. Take A Step Back is a good example of how a drummer can take the lead in a song and make it work. Some call this stadium rock, whatever that means, but that is an unenlightened and jaded view of complex musicianship. Early Minds fans seem to lament over the death of "the real Simple Minds" from the early 80s. Hey, they were great then as well, don't get me wrong. It's just that this album sounds completely different, and that is not a bad thing.

Listen to this album once and you'll be unsure. The second time you will start to get it. By the fourth and fifth listenings, you'll be hooked. This album belongs in any serious music collection not just for the issues it speaks to that are still important, but also for the beautiful way it tells the story of troubled peoples.

One of the other reviewers, Steven Reynolds, gave a spot-on review of Street Fighting Years by Simple Minds. Quite simply, it is a masterpiece--and with absolutely amazing sonics to boot. I'm a huge fan of all phases of Simple Minds' amazing career, and this is their finest moment bar none. From the absolutely brilliant start of the CD, the deeply moving Street Fighting Years, to the sonic shock-waves of Wall Of Love, to the powerful and heartfelt This Is Your Land, and to the emotional summit of the CD Belfast Child, this CD reaches heights that most bands can only dream of but will never attain. And to end it with such an uplifting instrumental as When Spirits Rise....it's just all too overwhelming. This is a contemplative CD, and is anything but background music. And frankly, it is one of the greatest CDs of the last 50 years of rock music. It's that good. The two CDs that followed this one, "Real Life" and "Good News From The Next World," are also exceptional CDs that form a perhaps unintentional but musically valid trilogy that is this band's greatest work in an overall phenomenal body of work.

In my opinion Street Fighting Years ranks in the triarchy of this bands greatest album-length achievements. There have been other diamonds in rough by Simple Minds to be sure: a couple from Real to Real Cacophony, Sparkle in the Rain, and Good News from the Next World - and even three PHENOMENAL gems from Real Life (sadly, on an other wise crap album). Street Fighting Years however, ranks up there alongside New Gold Dream & Once Upon a Time as their best work. So what's the criticism? Its always about it being overly political and self-righteous. Sure, right. Anyone ever listen to U2? Talking Heads? Sex Pistols? My God - ONE of those tracks was originally recorded by Peter Gabriel. This album is truly a well crafted masterpiece by Scotland's brother to Australia's INXS & Ireland's U2. Unless you are deaf, you can hear how much work has gone into its production and texturing/balancing. The emotional intensity of Let It All Come Down and Belfast Child. The powerful lifting of your spirit that comes from listening to Kick It In and Take a Step Back. The self-titled epic intro Street Fighting Years itself accomplishes both. But best of all - is the all to often overlooked non-vocal finale When Spirits Rise.. complete with bagpipes and layered synthesizers.. this is a track that MANY friends & family that have never even heard of Simple Minds (or given them a second thought if they did) simply fall in love with from the first time they hear it.

Coming after their breakthrough album ONCE UPON A TIME (which followed their big breakout single "(Don't You) Forget About Me"), STREET FIGHTING YEARS was virtually commercial suicide. It was a step toward a more earnest, "adult" sound with more easy going tunes although it does rock in places. Instruments from their native Scotland (bagpipe, penny whistle) color the arrangements and several of the songs are overtly political. By the time it was released, SM were reduced to a core trio (Jim Kerr - vocals, Charlie Burchill - guitars, Michael Macneil - piano, keyboards, accordion) although one time Simple Minds Mel Gaynor (drums) and John Giblin (bass) contribute.

some notes:

"Street Fighting Years" - starts off with a stand-up bass sounding a bit like a song Van Morrison might do. Soon becomes very grand and epic sounding. This one really soars. ****1/2

"Soul Crying Out" - possibly the best track. A soulful organ and a soulful vocal delivery from Jim Kerr in top form. *****

"Wall of Love" - a powerful song, cool bass guitar, but somehow less convincing - still good, though. ***1/2

"This is Your Land" - great song, great melody, especially the vocal melody from Kerr. Features a small vocal contribution from Lou Reed. *****

"Take a Step Back" - Rocks in its own way in typical SM fashion, i.e. - finesse instead of banging you over the head with power chords, distortion and the like. ****

"Kick It In" - starts off easy then rocks out, but like "Wall of Love" doesn't make a total connection. Despite perhaps less convincing themes, both these songs have some great lyrics in there. ***1/2

"Let It All Come Down" - This one's rather easy going and majestic too, courtesy in particular of Burchill's heartfelt performance. From here the album gets more subdued and enters that sort of "adult" territory, if you get my drift. ****1/2

"Mandela Day" - truly majestic - predicted the release of Nelson Mandela (anti-apartheid activist, political prisoner for 30 years who became president of South Africa) by a year or more. *****

"Belfast Child" - I read somewhere this is based on an old traditional (which I assume falls into the "public domain" category and therefore didn't require Simple Minds to get permission to copy it), this is a very moving song with a powerful climax. *****

"Biko" - great and rather unusual cover of Peter Gabriel's salute to the South African journalist and martyr. Very heartfelt. A different rhythm delivered with bagpipes and Scottish style. I really love that line, "You can blow out a candle/ But you can't blow out a fire." Kerr adds, "You gotta wake up, you gotta face up/ You gotta open up/ Never turn away." *****

"When Spirits Rise" - features more bagpipe and stands as a grand coda for the album. *****

This recording certainly deserves 5 stars, but to be perfectly honest, I just don't listen to it very often. For perspective, I currently own about 1200 CDs with a wide range of styles (trip-hop, krautrock, classic, death, goth, grunge, etc.) In the final analysis, I'm more likely to pick up, say, SPARKLE IN THE RAIN or REAL TO REEL CACOPHONY when I reach for Simple Minds - it just depends on the mood I'm in. But STREET FIGHTING YEARS is great music and you certainly don't need to be an oppressed Scot or Irish native to be able to appreciate it.

Incidentally, Simple Minds is not a self-effacing name as some on this forum would have it. To put it simply, it alludes to a sensible, less stressful way of looking at life.

Simple Minds are great, and this album is too, but this is one case where Kerr is over the top with the politics, and where that happens, the music suffers. "Biko" has already been done too well to be covered. "Mandela Day", given the magnitude of the event it celebrates, deserves a lot more than a repetitive riff with downright silly lyrics. They're better when they're oblique. The title track and "Soul Crying Out" are great examples of this. The conviction is apparent, but it could be applied to almost any situation where people are downtrodden and oppressed. And the music is phenomenal on both. "Let It All Come Down" is the album's highlight-- even when you've heard the song a thousand times, the chord changes are the kind that make you want to listen for what comes next. And lest we forget Belfast Child, which is great probably because you could listen and not know about "The Troubles," but just know that people hurt in Belfast and a new day, 10 years later, would dawn if everyone pulled together. Overall, not a great album for first time fans, but worth a listen or two.

OK, i admit it... I was one of those who expected Sparkle in the Rain part 2 when I purchased this the day it was released. I was disapointed when I first heard the CD... expecting more of a Synth attack. However this CD has grown into one of my favorites. The CD is still sweeping and majestic like their earlier work.. just more guitar based than synth based. This is a GOOD thing, Charlie Burchill is one of the most urderated guitar players of the 80s. His playing is the centerpiece to this CD... reminding me of something Dave Gilmour of Pink Floyd once said... something like "It is not how fast you can play, it is about the melodies you write." Well the guitar melodies are beautiful on this CD. Street Fighting Years and Sould Crying Out are masterpieces. I could have done without their cover of Biko (Just my preference, I don't generally like cover versions unless they are vastly different than th original).

This is now quite an old CD it was written before Nelson Mandella's release from imprisonment and the end of Apartheid. The songs are strongly political with one being about the troubles in Northern Island and two about South Africa.

Some musicians when attempting a message can sacrifice the quality of the music. This CD is however one of Simple Mind's best. Despite the fact that the battle against Apartheid is long since one and the problems of Northern Island nearing a resolution the music lasts.

The song Mandella day is one that longs for his release. I have now played it hundreds of times but it still moves me even today. The image of a man who spent some 20 years imprisoned for struggling to build a just a democratic society, and who on his release and assumption of political power did not hold on thought of revenge for his treatment is conveyed so eloquently by the music in a way that no other medium could.