Track Listing

1. Someone Somewhere In Summertime
2. Colours Fly And Catherine Wheel
3. Promised You A Miracle
4. Big Sleep
5. Somebody Up There Likes You
6. New Gold Dream (81 82 83 84)
7. Glittering Prize
8. Hunter And The Hunted
9. King Is White And In The Crowd

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1884 in Music
• Released on: 2003-01-06
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered
• Dimensions: .22 pounds

CD Description
Simple Minds began their career indebted to Roxy Music, David Bowie and Magazine, but over successive releases emerged as a distinctive act. On New Gold Dream the group's ambitions came to full fruition, the awkward dissonance of early recordings replaced by a warm, textured sound. The content ranged from brash stadium rock to melodic ballad, but a singleness of purpose ensured such contrasts enhanced the set's overall cohesion. The quintet had never sounded so confident or assured and the resultant lush textures launched them into the international arena, fulfilling their undoubted promise. On "Promised You A Miracle", did Kerr really sing "guinea pigs are guinea pigs?"

Customer Reviews

Decadent beauty
Despite my fondness for this album's successor, I'd say this is the last 'must have' Simple Minds album. Certainly it is the one that garnered the greatest critical acclaim, scoring highly in all of the critics' end of year polls, but it should sit behind Sons And Fascination/Sister Feelings Call and Empires And Dance on your shopping list.
Its release, presaged by the very popular - although I thought rather lumpen -Promised You A Miracle, was accompanied by some odd interviews given by Jim Kerr, who described it as a "coffee table album". His uncertainty is understandable, since the album's polished surfaces and largely amicable material was well removed from the challenging - but, ultimately, more satisfying - fare to be found on its predecessors.
Perhaps this is due in part to the band's ongoing development as musicians, signalled by some almost jazzy leanings in places, but it must also be a by-product of Brian McGee's departure, hobbling the dynamic rhythm section that served as the engine room to the previous three albums. For the first time since their debut, Derek Forbes' bass is conventionally placed in the mix, almost concealing some of his best work, notably on Someone, Somewhere in Summertime. (In fact, he was invited back to overdub this part on the band's later live album, since John Gibling - an accomplished session player - couldn't play it properly.)
The album's high points are the title track and ever evolving King Is White And In The Crowd, caught here in its slowest form, but Simple Minds' high standards of quality are sustained, even if they themselves rapidly grew tired of Glittering Prize.
Once again, the band brought their songs to life on stage, exercising their established ability to take even the most precious moments of their carefully crafted songs and revamp them into hardy rock performances. On the tremendous bootleg, All Kings Are White, Jim Kerr announces that the concert is being recorded for official release and it's a shame that it never was, since the gig is excellent and superior in every way to the later live album, In The City of Lights, not least in terms of the songs the band play.
As a matter of interest, the band seem to have become close to U2 on the European festival circuit following this album's release, with Bono and Jim Kerr each joining the other's band on stage. It's tempting to think that this may have influenced the genesis of Simple Minds' next album, Sparkle in the Rain.

Quite simply the essential album of the early 80's
I came to New Gold Dream quite late in the day. Just after Simple Minds had released Once Upon A Time in fact. It could not be more different, however. NGD has an amazing quality that even Jim Kerr admits could not be repeated now. This album has had such a profound effect on my life it's difficult to know where to begin. From the opening chiming bars of Someone Somewhere, to the closing refrain of King Is White, every track is a classic. There are very few albums released nowadays that do not have the occasional duff track, NGD has none. The album is about as complete a record as you are likely to find. Okay, so Simple Minds nowadays might be as hip as fluorescent socks, but in 1982 they were lauded by the likes of NME and Melody Maker as the coolest band in the world, the saviours of art-house rock. Kerr ponced around in frilly white shirts and heavy eye make-up, band photos were moody; atmosphere was the key and this brought pop music as close to Mahler as it's possible to get. Big Sleep, easily the stand out track, is a liquid hum, a golden treasure with resounding bass and spine-chllling vocals to match. The instrumental, Somebody Up There Likes You is, quite possibly, one of the most uplifting pieces of music ever committed to tape. Simple Minds never reached these dizzying heights again. Let this album reach for your soul - this is an essential addition to your collection!

Staggering Ambition
New Gold Dream first came to my attention when a friend played me the opening track, "Someone, Somewhere in Summertime" and asked me to try and follow the bassline. Immediately, I was hooked - not just on the bassline, but on the overall feel and structure of the song and the great drum part, which only resorts to the usual 4/4 bop-tish on the chorus, after teasingly introducing it during the preceding verses. Brilliant.

So,I bought the album (on a rather duff vinyl pressing by Virgin, it has to be said) and the rest of the tracks more than lived up to the promise of the opener. A beautiful atmosphere pervades all the tracks here, with Forbes' basslines constantly innovating and lifting the songs. "Big Sleep" transports the listener off to some musical heaven where - hey! slick link, chaps - "Somebody Up There Likes You".

The title track is incredible in its ambition - truly ground-shaking bass and drums underpin the rest of the band and the vocal spiralling ever higher. "Hunter and the Hunted" is a biting psycho-analysis of boy-meets-girl-boy-chases-girl romance, again set to the most opulent, lush music imaginable. Someone said Mahler or Brahms and, yeah, I know what they mean. If this is a "coffee table" album, as Jim Kerr once commented, then his coffee table is clearly a much more exciting place than mine.

22 years on (is it really that long), the sound has weathered exceptionally well, and doesn't sound like a horrible eighties throwback at all (try listening to Madonna's album from '83, which was cutting-edge production at the time but sounds dreadfully dated now). This CD remaster has got rid of the clicks, pops and scrunch that bedevilled the vinyl version, so this is the definitely the place to start if you want to sample pre-bombast Simple Minds. They never got better than this.

My only (minor) grumble would be the exclusion from this re-issue of B-sides such as "Soundtrack for Every Heaven", which continued the soaring, lush sound of this album.