Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Re: Business as usual, July 25, 2001
A reviewer here has mentioned that this collection misses Simple Minds' first seven albums, but in fact it misses the first five: Album #6 which is called "Celebration" is a compilation of the songs from their first five releases. Glittering Prize picks up tracks starting with the "New Gold Dream (81 82 83 84)" (album #7), which coincidentally was their debut in the U.S., and ends with "Real Life" (1991), including only one song (Belfast Child) from the highly politically themed "The Street Fighting Years" (1989). The retrospective was issued in Europe with 16 tracks, but the US version was somehow stripped down to 12 cuts only. In any case if you think about it, Celebration put together with Glittering Prize is a more definitive greatest hits package. However in contrast to some of their 80's era contemporaries (Ultravox, Talk Talk, The Human League, Thompson Twins, OMD, Tears for Fears, Howard Jones, etc.) the Scottish Simple Minds or Australian Icehouse have hardly had any career-spanning hit compilations which are easily available stateside. To do justice is to issue a decent and comprehensive two-disc anthology for S.M. so that the younger generation who cannot or don't want to purchase all of their previous releases could have a quick overview of what Simple Minds has to offer. Below I am including the main album discography for the band to date.
[Update in 2009] Interestingly enough, just a few months after my review was first published in July of 2001, S.M. issued a record of cover songs, followed by a two-disc comprehensive anthology much like the one I had requested. There has also been a series of digital remasters of all of their albums up to 1998's Neapolis. What we now need is an affordable 2xCD set of some selected 12-inch remixes, B-sides, and rarities!
1. Life In A Day (1979) 2. Real To Real Cacophony (1979) 3. Empires And Dance (1980) 4. Sons And Fascination (1981) 5. Sister Feelings Call (1981) 6. Celebration (1982) 7. New Gold Dream (81 82 83 84) (1982) 8. Sparkle In The Rain (1984) 9. Once Upon A Time (1985) 10. Live - In The City Of Light (1987) 11. Street Fighting Years (1989) 12. Real Life (1991) 13. Glittering Prize (1992) 14. Good News From The Next World (1995) 15. Neapolis (1998) 16. Neon Lights (collection of cover songs) (2001) 18. The Best Of (2xCD) (2001) 19. Cry (2002) 20. Our Secrets Are The Same (2003 - recorded in the late 1990's) 21. Black & White 050505 (2005) 22. Graffiti Soul (2009 - the deluxe edition contains a bonus disc of cover songs)
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Not Just A "One Hit Wonder" 80's CD: So Much More!, July 29, 2000
By A Customer
Like many 80's songs, you find that song you were looking for forever, you buy the actual album with that song by the artist(s), and you get that "one hit wonder" while the other music just all sounds the same and makes you wish you could have found it on an 80's compilation CD instead. Well, I was more than stunned to find this album's complete list of tracks more than outstanding and all sounding different! I would describe the CD as Alive and Kicking, just as the CD first kicks off with the song "Alive and Kicking" and leads into the ever popular "Don't You (Forget About Me)" track. I had assumed at first when I popped the CD in for the first time that since the two famous hits started it out that the rest would be all plain and monotone slow. However, every song has it's own sparkle and twist in it from different melodies and amazing lyrics. What makes the lyrics so amazing is the fact this band knows a lot about love that many can take lessons from just by listening to the words. Simple Minds music is anything but "Simple", it's very deep worded lyrics prove that along with the combination of many instruments and sounds used to produce it, even if most was a keyboard. I can only compare it to one band, "Mister Mister", and only for the fact that their music cds are more than one hit wonders. Unlike Mister Mister, Simple minds has more upbeat tunes and puts you in the mood to dance or relax. I took it with me camping on several occasions and dubbed it for my car. Never gets boring. So give a little "simple" money to Amazon.com to get a More than Simple Minds CD!
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Business as usual, March 21, 2000
This US compilation is somehow a grave disappointment because a lot of songs of the European edition were omitted. It's a nice overview for people who are keen on the Simple Minds' radio-friendly era with songs like "See the lights". As a complete chronicle, this album fails. There's not a single song from SM's first seven(!) albums like "Life in a day", "Sons & fascination", or "Sister feelings call", all released between 1979 and 1982. I really recommend you to check out some of these albums because they offer sharp-edged, experimental synth-rock and sound more interesting than the SM's later work. However, "Don't you.." (a song originally appearing on the soundtrack of 1985's "The Breakfast Club") makes its first appearance on a SM album. This will be enough cause for many people to buy this compilation. Despite some shortcomings, "Glittering prize" offers evidence that Jim Kerr and Charlie Burchill were good songwriters with a perfectly developed sense of the dramatic, and the band's success in the '80s was well-deserved.
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Interact With Your Music: Discover, listen to, and buy new music, all from the pages of SPIN's digital edition, free to Amazon customers.
~ Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark
~ The Bangles
~ Howard Jones
~ Tears For Fears
~ The Police
by Simple Minds 
