Once Upon A Time

It's hard to believe that this album was criticised as selling out to the big time. True, it does have a grand "stadium rock" feel to the production but, if anything, it enhances the nature of each song.My personal favourites are the title track, All The Things She Said &, best of all, Alive & Kicking. The build-up to the climax of that song still sounds amazing nearly 40 years on

In my mind Simple Minds made three stunning albums, New Gold Dream (1982), Sparkle In The Rain (1983) and this one which came out in 1985, Once Upon A Time. Sure they had their moments on Empires and Dance and earlier albums but I really couldn't care for it much, it was all a bit nouveau kitsch and repetitive proto electronica for me. The I Travel single being a prime example and I looked elsewhere for my thrills.It was only by New Gold Dream and its lead off single Glittering Prize with its infectious bassline that I started to pay attention, because here was a band that you could dance to and could play their instruments to a high standard (something of a rarity today!). All this and then you had Mr Jimmy Kerr whose Berlin-esque good looks and commanding voice would lead them into glory but sadly it wasn't to last. And nor did bassist Derek Forbes who quit/was sacked after Sparkle and sadly his absence is noted here but for some mysterious reason it didn't seem to matter because the production of Jimmy Lovine and Bob Clearmountain really brings out the best in the group.From the lead off song and title track you are taken into their magical world where there are no boundaries and everyone is welcome and as the glorious keyboards and drums make the hairs stand up on the back of your neck you remember your youth and why you had it so good then. DANCE! DANCE! DANCE!. So who cares they sound like U2, a band i care very little for anyway, maybe Bono realised they were being beaten at their own game, which explains why they changed their styles so many times! Who cares when every song makes you wanna DANCE! DANCE! DANCE!Indeed every song makes you forget your worries and relieve a past so full of wonder and imagination and the first love of perfect strangers running through summer fields, building fires, snogging and camping up for the night with a spliff and guitar and bottle of wine with the sound of a festival and sea not far away. Oh Jimmy you were always there somewhere!Standouts are many and along with the title track , All The Things She Said with its enticing guitar lines, the sexy drums of Come A Long Way, the passion and poetry of Oh Jungleland and the gracious power and splendour of Sanctify Yourself which is a stonking kick ass tune they never bettered since. Jimmy really found his words and voice on this album and although not quite as cutting edge as New Gold Dream which is probably my fave I loop this album often on MTB rides as it allows me to shut the world out and remember just how good things used to be. A time before Facebook and mobile phones, a time when romance and intrigue was alive.

In my view, this marked the end of their peak, as it was the last of their three greatest albums. The top yellow mixes here are different from the original vinyl or CD album. But fortunately, I purchased it from one of Amazon's cheap sellers, as I did not think it was worth around £20. These mixes are interesting, as occasionally some instruments which you could only previously hear faintly show out more here, while on other occasions, it was the other way round. The middle and bottom mixes are more similar to the album mix, with thinner stereo separation on most tracks, but with the vocals upfront, and the backing further in the background, but seem to differ little from each other, although I noticed with the opening track here, some of the vocals are missing on the fade-out on these mixes. With all three color mixes, where some of the tracks overlap on the original album, here they are all separate.All the mixes sound clearer and crisper here, as there is none of that overdubbed echo or reverb or even snippets of overdubbed instrumentation here. All these mixes are superior. The music here was all great. But by the time they got to their next studio album, they lost their fire.

Ignore all the Simple Minds v U2 bickering and listen to this album and marvel at the sound of one of the UK's finest ever bands. In my view the U2/Simple Minds comparisons do a disservice to Simple Minds because Simple Minds are by far the better band and have a much more varied back catalogue. The standout tracks on the album are tracks that many will familiar with because they are rightly still played heavily on the radio. Tracks that don't get played as heavily include Once Upon a Time and if you want every hair on your body to stand up put that on in the car and crank up the volume....that track positively crackles. A superb album.

I loved this album as a teenager and played it all the time. I think it was their best, and still sounds as good as it did in the 80s.

put this album in a decent hifi and bingo ! you have piano, female vocals and drums mixing in a way you have never heard before ! For me the result is sensational. The remastering gives this album a new lease of life and is brilliant. 8 tracks only ( as per the era ) and only 2 tend to get overly repetitive and irritating.. the other 6 are superb , 3 are classic. Not as good as sparkle in the rain musically but production value are miles better on this album so I guess this is technically their best album.. RECOMMENDED for the price !!

Compare this to 'Empires and Dance' 5 years previously- a different band? no it's not! This is the band U2 wishes they were. A Fantastic, upbeat, all round Rock album. Just great track after great track, even stronger than 'Sparkle in the Rain'. My question is what influenced this extreme radical change in music direction. If this band were an animal they would be a Chameleon, totally unpredictable and exciting. This album was their peak. I highly recommend it for fans of mid 80's stadium Rock and die hard 'Minds' fans :)

It's hard to believe it's nearly 30 years old this album, damn am i really that old ... I wanted this album for ages on CD and hadn't heard it for a while and nearly forgot how great every single track is... thankfully i heard them on BBC Radio 2 recently doing a live performance and couldn't believe how fantastic they sounded and reminded me of this album.Basically it takes me back to the eighties, great memories and i love it and that's all that matters :)

Cd bien reçu merci momox toujours au top

Il cd usato è in ottime condizioni. Finalmente un usato conservato bene e spedito celermente, infatti l'ho ricevuto prima della data prevista. Eccellente qualità e servizio.

PEste es un disco para los nostálgicos de los 80.Quizá Simple Minds no sea la mejor ni la más conocida banda de esa época,pero tiene calidad de sobra.Yo estoy disfrutando mucho este disco.

Very good!

Die beiden Vorgänger - Sparkle in the Rain und New Gold Dream - die vor allem in England Platz Eins und Platz Drei der Albumcharts erreichten, warfen ja bereits aus kommerzieller Sicht ihre Schatten voraus. Nichtsdestotrotz setzten die Simple Minds mit ihrem Album - Once Upon A Time - noch eins drauf. Da nahezu gleichzeitig auch der größte Singlehit - Don't you forget about me - veröffentlicht wurde, und auch das Live-Aid-Konzert für großes Aufsehen sorgte, waren die sympathischen Schotten natürlich bei sehr vielen Musikfreunden in aller Munde.Once Upon A Time - haute auch mich damals buchstäblich vom Hocker, und das Album drehte sich dadurch 1985 fast pausenlos auf meinem Kassettenrekorder. Acht ausgefeilte, mitreißende und hervorragend produzierte Popsongs, die nebenbei bemerkt auch noch absolut zeitlos sind, erfüllen das ganze Herz des Musikfreundes, und lassen dabei keine Wünsche offen. Auch wenn - Once Upon A Time - für viele zu kommerziell oder überproduziert war, gehört dieses Album nach wie vor zu meinen absoluten Lieblingsalben der Band, und dreht sich bei mir auch heute noch des Öfteren, allerdings jetzt auf dem CD-Player, vor allem dann, wenn ich mich mal wieder ein bisschen in meine Teeny-Zeit zurückversetzen möchte.