Classic Pop - UK (2019-11)

© Gus Stewart/Redferns

SIMPLE MINDS

40: THE BEST OF

UMC

★★★

It’s a cliché to suggest “their

earliest stuff is the best” but, with

Simple Minds, there’s little way

around it. No one would suggest

they’ve not enjoyed a late period

renaissance, of course: 2014’s

Big Music delivered the dark,

determined Blindfolded, though

its nugatory Honest Town is

less persuasive, and last year’s

Walk Between Worlds offered

plenty, represented here by the

pounding Magic and Sense

Of Discovery.

boasts mysterious instrumental

drama, Life In A Day and

Changeling channel Bowie

and Numan, and Waterfront is

monumental. A new tenacious

and extravagant cover of King

Creosote’s For One Night Only

also suggests they’ve fi nally

embraced just how good they

can be. WW

That rip-roaring Once Upon

A Time period, however,

predicted the end of the essential

Simple Minds. In spurning

a chronological approach,

40 attempts to hide their

consequent, slow descent, but

it’s not hard to spot songs written

for stadium crowds rather than

redemption. 1989’s Belfast

Child feels like being poked in

the eye by a tin whistle, and

This Is Your Land oozes glutinous

sincerity while while Mandela

Day – which, admittedly, is

better than memory suggests –

would persuade most political

prisoners to choose prison as

well as principles.

All three are from Street

Fighting Years, and it took them

some time to fi nd their voice

again, as 1991’s Let There

Be Love’s tin whistle revival,

the wailing guitars of 1995’s

Hypnotised, the unconvincing

baggy stomp of 1998’s War

Babies, 2004’s earthbound

Jeweller To The Stars and

2009’s Stars Will Lead The Way

all highlight.

But just look at those classics

from their fi rst eight albums:

Chelsea Girl offers a reminder

of their early, jerky new wave

sound, like The Cars playing

Sparks, Theme For Great Cities

VARIOUS ARTISTS

FACTORY: COMMUNICATIONS

1978 -92

WARNER

★★★★

It’s what comes in between

that tells the real story of

Factory, though. A more

traditionally focused label

could have done more with

The Names’ melodic power,

the proto-Underworld techno

lurking in Quando Quango

or The Railway Children’s

lyricism. Equally, it’s doubtful

many other labels would have

dared give a home to politically

charged reggae outsiders

X-O-Dus, art-rockers Crispy

Ambulance and Section 25

and still fi nd time for novelty

single Art On 45 by Royal

Family And The Poor. On

disc eight, Cath Carroll is the

last great Factory near-miss,

before it ends with Lionrock

trying to turn Happy Mondays’

car-crash Sunshine And Love

into something listenable. The

further we get from Wilson’s

passing, the more heroically

odd Factory Records seems. JE

Compiled with typical insight

by Jon Savage, Factory

Records’ de facto Best Of was

initially released on CD in

2009. Reissued on streaming
      services and an 8-LP boxset
      with sleevenotes by Paul
      Morley and Factory biographer
      James Nice, you’ll fi nd the big
      songs by Joy Division, New
      Order, Happy Mondays and
      Electronic, plus early OMD and
      James. Perennial Tony Wilson
      favourites A Certain Ratio, The
      Durutti Column and Cabaret
      Voltaire are naturally here, too.

TUBEWAY ARMY

AND GARY NUMAN

REPLICAS / THE PLEASURE PRINCIPLE:

THE FIRST RECORDINGS

BEGGARS ARKIVE

★★★

After they were initially released

with the expanded editions of the

albums on their 30th anniversary

in 2009, Gary Numan and

Tubeway Army’s demos for

Numan’s two 1979 LPs are

released separately, including a

fi rst-time appearance on vinyl.

A couple of the demos lost a

decade ago are now found and

included but, in truth, The First

Recordings are releases that only

the hardcore Numan fanbase

need to investigate further.

Ironically, the reason The

First Recordings feels routine is

because Numan’s vision was

so clear in 1979 that the vast

majority of the demos remain

essentially unchanged in their

fi nished versions. Cars is a

little longer and anyone would

have made the same edits in

hindsight. The Tubeway Army

recruits on Replicas are as well-

honed on the demos as they

would be for the fi nal versions of

The Machman.

You can get lost in the

minutiae of differences and it’s

great the demos exist, but they

made more sense packaged

with their parent albums. It’s hard

not to think Beggars looked at

the 40th anniversary date and

fi gured, “Well, we’d better do

something...” JE

REISSUES