The Best of Simple Minds (CD - 2002)

Additional personnel: Raven Maize.

Producers include: Keith Forsey, Peter Walsh, Steve Lillywhite, Bob Clearmountain, Jimmy Iovine.

Includes liner notes by Billy Sloan.

All tracks have been digitally remastered.

Over the course of two discs, THE BEST OF SIMPLE MINDS chronicles all the phases of the Scottish band's eclectic career. They began as a gritty young post-punk outfit in the late 1970s. But by the turn of the decade, they had incorporated a precocious mix of punk, dance beats, and synthesizers, for a sound that helped create the template for much of what followed in UK pop for the next several years. This golden age of the group is represented by percolating, synth-laced tunes such as "I Travel" and "Sweat in Bullet."

By the mid-'80s, Simple Minds had become worldwide stars by expanding their sound to stadium size, a la U2 or Peter Gabriel. Epitomized by "Alive and Kicking" and "Promised You a Miracle," this period is the one with which casual observers most frequently associate the band. The collection continues further still, following Simple Minds into more organic-sounding territory, during a phase where they'd earned their stripes as elder rock statesmen. From edgy punks to gilded popsters, Simple Minds are comprehensively captured on this collection. minimize