Simple Minds have been in deep with rehearsals over these last weeks and you could feel the fruition of all that really starting to pay over these last days in particular.
New songs, new arrangements, new ideas, all of them starting to fall into place, the excitement of the work starting to become palpable.
Much as it was in October/November 1977 when "the seeds" of what to become Simple Minds - were spending our days intensely trying to work out how to put our new ideas into an exciting live set that we then planned to perform at each and every every pub (or support gig) gig we could manage to hustle throughout the foreseeable future.
Desperate to be good, even more desperate to be great.
That was the only (unspoken) remit back then, and it is our only remit now. In fact, very little changes in the essentials of how we are, and how we feel about what we do.
Sure, some faces come and go. Line - ups evolve and dissolve, mostly naturally. And certainly we've gone through periods of weakness and comparative strengths.
In doing so it is easy to think about massive changes that have occurred within our story along the way. Much like the world itself has surely changed beyond recognition since back then. Right?
But hold on a second. Has it really? Or, (technology and the effects of it apart) have many of the changes that occurred not mostly been on the surface really? Well, that is increasingly my view, or it was as I made my way to work in Glasgow this week.
Glancing around that microcosm, the atmosphere of the city has hardly changed in my view. People still throng through it at the same busy times as they did back then. The street musicians still ply their trade on the very same corners. The cutting edge teenagers still sit on the same library steps - when its not raining. People still populate the same streets for venues to go eating and dancing...the city still feels a little edgy when the rival football teams play blah de blah! And absolutely guaranteed - is that when I head in to Glasgow Central to catch the London bound early this coming Monday morning - without a doubt I will see the same packed arrival trains. All from the same surrounding suburbs, still dislodging students and workers, all mostly scurrying so as not to be late for whatever it is that brings them to the city.
Indeed then, all pretty much as it was when I took the early morning trains as a 16 year old serving apprentice, registered with what was then one of Glasgow's biggest construction companies.
But anyone reading this could correctly think "What are you trying to say? Of course there has been changes in culture, in social practices. Glasgow itself has been reinvented from a post industrial basket case to something else entirely. People have died, new people have come along. The once vibrant gone tired, the new vibrants taken their place etc?"
Certainly no arguing with that! But the view that I wish to put over is probably best summed up with the French bon mot - plus ça change. (“the more it changes, the more it's the same thing”). And likewise with Simple Minds.
40 years ago this week we would've been in a room within the Gorbals, Glasgow. Hammering out musical patterns that we would hope could thrill an audience.
40 years later and now situated about a quarter of a mile from that original room, we were still doing exactly the same thing. And still getting equally excited about what is creatively coming together.
And as for any changes that happen to us along the way? Well the idea and perceptions can sometimes be viewed as exciting, or perhaps confusing? Mystifying even? You can take your pick as you see it I suppose. After all - this is "our thing" and we don't give too much away!
But there is no getting away from the essential - and that is.
The more we change, the more we stay the same.
40 of the best years of my life. You are simply the greatest musicians to ever grace the stage your drive and passion incredible.
If it is true Jim the world has changed a lot in these 40 years, but many of us feel fortunate to have been able to live this time ..... luckily Simple Minds continue to have the same spirit as then, wishing to hear this new album soon , you have a good day 🍁
The visualisation of that hustle and bustle was very Koyaanisqatsi (a screening of which I saw once - outdoors on the other side of Sydney Harbour, by Mrs Macquarie's Chair - it was awesome). Can I ask a big favour, Sir? I know you're busy...but if you could please pop into Tantrum Doughnuts for me on Sunday and get me one of them banoffee pie doughnuts they're doing for this weekend only and bring it down with you on Monday morning? I'll meet you at Euston - just to pick up my doughnut and I'll be gone 🙂
Glasgow has changed massively over 40 years but as you said - plus ca change, plus c’est la meme chose. I was unaware of that phrase until Rush used it on the 1979 song Circumstances. But I take your point - some things never change
I'm changing tomorrow , 43 , just a new day , "A New sunshine morning " unfortunately need to work, daft bosses not giving me the weekend off 😬. Love the cryptic message, maybe a new line up perhaps ? Anyway , Roll on the new album,I'm getting impatient 😂
Central station has remained reassuringly welcome over the years, just like you playing old favourites. Hearing Chelsea Girl on the acoustic tour, felt like meeting an old friend as have generations of Glaswegians at The Heilenman's Umbrella!
So what are you trying to say Jim? is the core group of you, Charlie, Mel, Andy & Ged still intact or are you preparing us for a another change in personnel?
No doubt you are in an intensive reflection mode with the 40th anniversary approaching, Jim. I agree that some things never change in life. As I read your great post I'm listening to an 80's music mix, and so many of the songs sound as fresh and lively today as they did when I first heard them.... and old memories and feelings rush back... as if the intervening years never happened.
Agreed, Jim... but they don't build 'cathedrals to travel' like that beautifully-captured one anymore, do they? Enjoy your travels, musical or otherwise... and we'll wait patiently for you to arrive @ your destination, Sir!
The only thing that changes is our way of seeing things: it's called EXPERIENCE. I've been listening to your music, your lyrics, I've been enjoying your concerts for 27 years and I always feel like it was the first time .... thanks to all the Simple Minds \0/ \0/ \0/
I loved central station when I was wee, seeing people going places the smell of the trains, realising there was a big strange world beyond Glasgow still love that atmosphere!!! 💜
Morning Jim ciao! i got a spare ticket for Giorgio Moroder for tomorrow if you want to come :V haha! ahem... " But there is no getting away from the essential - and that is. The more we change, the more we stay the same." THIS IS IT ! and it is bellissimo!Toro has lost against Juve we can not do it Jim do not know why. TVB ciao!!! Adri
How right you are Jim my ex gran- in- law now also deceased her ambition in life was to write and have her own book published about her family her up bringing her grandchildren her marriage her life... she achieved this goal at the age of 80 she found a publisher and had the said book published al be it it was self funded by her and family- it was aptly called The Great Repeat!! Sums it all up really
A wise person told me once that history only does one thing - repeat itself, the older I get the more I see this is true, almost on a daily basis ..
Wise words Jim. I don’t live in Glasgow but travel quite regularly from Inverclyde to watch Glasgow Warriors. You see the constant evolution physically but essentially the people are still the same. That’s the same for Simple Minds. For 35 years I have followed you and while you have changed, you are reassuringly still the same. Phew! Looking forward to the new stuff soon 😁👍🏼
The big wheel keeps turning, still get a strange feeling when you see someone for the first time in years and how people age, life can be sad sometimes , when people you’ve grown up with are no longer around.Cant wait for the new simple minds stuff to come out though, that’s always a good time!
I had the card out half way through that expecting a link to some dates! I'll leave it out just in case 😊 Couldn't think of anything worse than a packed early morning train on a Monday morning! Everything is still the same in a different kind of way.....
As deep and intriguing as ever and as you said, not giving anything away. Keen to reassure those who are shaken by tales of recent changes and pique the interest of others I'm sure. Job done. Looking forward to hearing new sounds and wishing I was sat next to you on that Glasgow/London bound train 😊 ❤️
Despite I leave in Belgium, I've been falling in love with Glasgow since the first time I visited it ( and all the Scotland too). I think there's atmosphere like nowhere else in this town. And I've been loving the music of Simple Minds since the eighties... Your concert gigs are always been fabulous. Thank you for all the moments you've given with your albums and concerts... (sorry for my bad English). I'm waiting for you in Brussels ! Have a good day.🤗
To quote Johann Wolfgang von Goethe "Life belongs to the living, and he who lives must be prepared for changes" ...that's what life is about, isnt it?
So, who's with you at the rehearsals? Just reading changes, changes... And when will you play again in front of audiences? Maybe some more news the next weeks, months? Bis bald!
40 years on and you guys are still Alive and kicking so nothing has changed in that regard for Simple minds.
@Jim, will there ever be an archives release of old demos and/or video footage on the making of some of the albums? would love to see/hear some of that stuff
A lot of changes jim but any time I go into Glasgow the minute I step off the bus a can here that big Base line of a certain song and I am back in my teens years 😀 can't wait for the new songs !
You are indeed my favourite band of all time. Sublime soothing tunes. The world is a better place with Simple Minds in it 😍
Summer’s Almost Gone sang Jim Morrison in one of The Doors perhaps lesser-known songs. A tune no less beautiful within its sentiment than countless other haunting compositions that sprang out of the collective creativity of one of America’s greatest bands.
Morrison seemed to have a 'thing lyrically' about the concept of time crossing over, seasons constantly on the move, how all epoch’s inevitably come to an end – in doing so clearing the way for new life to begin.
There was often a crushing tenderness in the words he used, and whether directly or indirectly influenced, I guess I likewise gravitate towards some of the same images that are ingrained within Morrison’s visionary work.
That said, perhaps those sort of dark shadows, of a type that I also used to set the backdrop scene in our songs, are not so pronounced within our music currently. Least not on the way they were a whole quarter of a century ago? In this case I am thinking about songs like Room, Earth That You Walk Upon. Today I Died Again, for example. That last song title in particular could surely be straight out of The Doors songbook. Am I right?
Well, summer has gone in Scotland at least. But for a couple of hours a few days ago, it was still hanging on as though determined to be never ending.
I felt so lucky to be in amongst it, equally lucky to have had the 'shadowland music' of the The Doors as a soulful companion throughout my life.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZQWr7cF0eY
Sorry mate, I couldn't & still can't really relate to The Doors or Jim Morrison. At all. Don't know why. I don't consider myself all that shallow & I was born in the early Sixties, so you'd think there'd be some link but - no. What sparked me was you guys. I guess it was one of those right time, right place things. Look though, if Morrison & co inspired you to inspire us, then that's alright by me. Indeed, your words and music still stand tall & hold true. All of 'em. Not least these .... "Summer's gone, Winter's in your eyes I can feel the thunderstorms inside I wake every morning and the cold winds cover me All I've got's a ghost of what could be ...." Beautiful, tangible, meaningful poetry. Thankyou, sir. Thankyou all ....
"Summer's gone...Winter's in your eyes I can feel the thinder storms inside". Thanks Jim for these beautiful words that could have been also written by J. Morrison. And on a great album Real Life that I listened a 1000 times while walking in the countryside by autumn light.
For me there's always been a dark heart in the middle of Simple Minds' music - it's that hint of darkness that makes the light just a little brighter (if that's not too corny) - and it's something the critics consistently missed that marked you out from the likes of U2 (and all the pretenders who got the bombast bit but not the yang bit....). The existentialist bent of this morphed through the 80s into something more political.... maybe in these times JK needs to bring some of that back?
Once you were quoted as saying SM music came from a place long ago, an ancient place ....I wonder if that ancient place was a common hangout for brilliant writers/poets like you and Morrison. The Doors were years ahead of their time....i can see the resemblance...:)
Hi Jim... Music is for sure the best way to cross the seasons, it gives the "bridge" to new projects or life's moment. The three songs you've mentioned...well, great of feelings, deep of life... THANK YOU to have given us🙌🏼 Hugs..
That is the most beautiful photo I have seen in a long time. Jim Morrison always felt so shadowy to me, perhaps that's why I love The Doors so much
There is just all kinds of facets to The Doors and Mr Morrison in particular. I more often then not gravitate to the blues side of things...the bravado...the...sex (dare I say). Never really listened to them much until my good friend Steven got me into them. As for This Earth That You Walk Upon? It is BY FAR my favourite Charlie piece...and your words after his solo? It just describes that solo for me... "Screaming edge of light / shines so shines so hard"...
Morrison always felt different to me. Jim Morrison wasn't a cloak he wore onstage ,he was the otherworldly Greek philosopher god he appeared to be. I always find the story he told of witnessing a fatal car crash of native Indians as a child interesting. He often wondered if the soul of one of the dead had entered his young mind. He certainly struggled with a darkness ,an understanding ,others could not comprehend. Making him both isolated but also unique in voice and perspective. A heavy burden.
The Doors were clearly a great inspiration for SM and for you especially, it can be sooo heard in your voice, too. Awesome. Talking about influential artists for SM, Bryan Ferry turns 72 today. What a man. x
Jim Morrison. Not just a charismatic front man but surely a poet too. Riders On The Storm a favourite, as was Touch Me.
This melancholy tune is a metaphore for so many things... the seasons, age... so many things. But it's always summer when we get your posts, Jim! But it has seemed a bit autumnal here of late, so more of them, please. 🙂
So sad that JM was troubled and met such an early end. Remember he said the words 'stronger than dirt' from an Ajax commercial at the end of 'touch me'. Sometimes you want to ask the lyricist ..what the? Love the Doors, love Simple Minds.
......summer is fading, the nights longer than the days.... the cold will soon be upon us...... What we need is news of a New Album and a Tour to give us something to look forward to 😉
Love what you say about the doors. Makes me feel like listening to some of their stuff. But wait, I’ve got a better idea. I’ll play your brilliant version of Riders on the Storm, that will do the trick, mixing their talent and your own!
Summer was definitely gone this weekend during a cub camp in Fife! We carried on regardless in typical Scottish fashion. Tough cub scouts!!
Can't beat getting out into the countryside, much better to live in it . I m thinking oh no , Summer is over but autumn is lovely too now it's here ! X
The voice, The music, The lyrics, The Doors - often made and make my day and put pictures in my mind, just like "some weird scenes inside the gold mine"!
There's always the hope of an Indian summer! A Doors album for some reason I don't have, maybe put off by the Unknown Soldier. Will soon correct that.
Today I died again is so beautiful. In 5x5 live sounded so great.. now waiting the new music!!! Anxious to listen.
Good morning Jim, beautiful place .... if it seems that the summer is ending letting in step by step the autumn ..... in the room a great song totally timeless 🍁 i love it
Doors live album is one of my favourites. Does anyone out there believie in astrology? I am Sagittarius myself the most philosophical of all the star signs😃
"Winter's gone..Summer's in our eyes, I can feel warmer skies outside". Time for another tour down under😎
Great post - we are all v lucky to have had the Doors music in our lives. Beautiful photo - St Marys loch?
Saw The Doors Alive a while back. Superb tribute band using original 60's instruments used by the doors
Jim if you start with.. Summer is gone... then automatically SEE THE LIGHTS spring up into my mind!! 🔝💜
Video
Promised You A Miracle Acoustic
Featuring KT Tunstall.
Taken from the new album SIMPLE MINDS ACOUSTIC.
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