3 January 2013 - Sing Some Not So Simple Songs

“It’s Hot.  Damn Hot!”

Robin Williams’ character from Good Morning Vietnam is on repeat in my mind today.  It is appropriate as it is a dry 36 degrees Celsius.  By the time “M” and I have returned from an early morning shopping excursion to stock up on fluids, the heat has drained me of the will to do much other than drink, nap and watch movies.    I finally get around to watching the Danny Boyle directed 28 Days Later, its sequel 28 Weeks Later and, for reasons that defy rational analysis, Never Say Never Again.

The latter film was Sean Connery’s belated return to playing James Bond.  I decide its not quite as dire as the last time I watched it but with different actors playing M, Q and Moneypenny, no Bond theme and mediocre opening titles, I feel unfilled.  It looks like a Bond film and has a Bond in it but, in the end, I know its not a Bond film.  A Bond lite as it were.  This makes my subsequent choice of music appear either inspired, ironic or just plain ridiculous – you decide.

5 X 5 – Simple Minds

The first five SM albums contain some of the more adventurous music from the first half of the 1980’s.  I don’t think there has been a live album released recorded from this period (if it was, I don’t know about it – I really should check the SM website). A handful of tracks from New Gold Dream as well as Love Song made it onto Live In The City Of Light but this was played by the version of band at their commercial zenith.  The same thing applied the only time I saw them live in November 1989.  That was to be expected because by then SM was already on their third or fourth Australian tour and continue to be regular visitor.  Indeed, they played Melbourne just last month headlining over Devo and The Church.
I was excited by the news of this double disc’s recent release.  Its title comes from a European tour earlier this year where the band played 5 tracks from each of those first 5 albums.  I have no problems with the track selection or the performances.  The second disc, showcasing the mighty Sister Feelings Call/Sounds And Fascination albums is really solid; Simple Minds, after all, have never lacked anything as a live outfit. 

The problem is that the band hasn’t really tried to do much with them, apart from speeding up the tempo of New Gold Dream’s title track.  Perhaps, as inferred by some of the band quotes in the accompanying booklet, they were of the opinion that the achievement was by playing the tracks in the first place.  I suspect this album came out rather too early.  An extended period of playing the tracks might have led them taking more liberties with the strong source material to create something more befitting than a tour souvenir.   Here’s hoping that this occurs and, unlike Never Say Never Again, is not consigned to history as a strange one off.