Big Music | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | 31 October 2014 | |||
Recorded | May 2009 - August 2014[1] | |||
Venue | London, Bath, Ireland | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 51:44 | |||
Label | Caroline International/Universal, Sony Music | |||
Producer | Gavin Goldberg, Steve Osborne, Owen Parker, Simple Minds, Andy Wright | |||
Simple Minds chronology | ||||
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Simple Minds studio albums chronology | ||||
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Singles from Big Music | ||||
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Aggregate scores | |
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Source | Rating |
Metacritic | 75/100[2] |
Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
Allmusic | [3] |
The Daily Telegraph | [4] |
The Guardian | [5] |
Hot Press | "HotPress"[6] |
The Irish Times | [7] |
London Evening Standard | [8] |
musicOMH | [9] |
Record Collector | [10] |
Shields Gazette | 7/10[11] |
The Yorkshire Times | 4/5[12] |
MOJO magazine | [13] |
Big Music is the sixteenth studio album by Scottish rock band Simple Minds. It was released on 31 October 2014 by Sony Music.[14] "Honest Town" was released as the lead single on 10 October 2014. The album was available to stream from 28 October 2014.[15]
During the recording of Simple Minds previous studio album Graffiti Soul, Jim Kerr stated: «We really are flowing with ideas at the moment and [...] I do feel that we are possibly writing two albums simultaneously at present.» Several tracks were omitted from Graffiti Soul so that the album had more focus. Possible candidates include "Six Degrees Of Separation", "Lotus Effect" and "Shaman".[1]
According to Simple Minds lead singer Jim Kerr, Big Music has much power and passion, urgency and momentum, adding "it is energetic, it's got a raw power and a lot of vitality".[16]
Demoing of tracks for the album began in 2009. In September 2010, the first recording sessions for the album started in London with producer Andy Wright. In 2011, recording sessions with producer Steve Hillage took place in London. Further sessions in 2012 and 2013 were divided between studios in London with Andy Wright (Jim and Charlie), studios in Bath with producer Steve Osborne (Jim and Charlie) and studios in Ireland (with the whole band) during which a total of seventeen new songs were recorded. The album was completed with a final recording on 27 August 2014.[1]
The album's release campaign started on 4 September 2014 with "Blindfolded" being issued as a video teaser (not as a single).[1] The album's logo was revealed on 4 September 2014.[1]
On 23 September 2014, Simple Minds announced that Jim and Charlie would be special guests of The Chris Evans Breakfast Show on Friday morning 26 September 2014 where they'd be performing 4 tracks acoustically for the first time ever.
Previously announced for October 2014,[16] the album was released on the 31 October 2014 in Austria, Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, South Africa and Switzerland and on 3 November 2014 in other territories.
The album was released on Caroline Records in the UK and Ireland, the Embassy Of Music in Germany and by Sony (licensed from Embassy Of Music) in other European territories.
The title song "Big Music" was intended to be the first single but the idea was later dropped.[1] On 23 September 2014, Simple Minds announced that the first play of their new single "Honest Town" would have its worldwide premiere the following morning on the Ken Bruce Show on BBC Radio 2.[17] "Honest Town" was released as the lead single on 10 October 2014.[18]
Big Music received generally positive reviews from music critics. In the review aggregator website Metacritic (which assigns a "Metascore" based on the ratings and reviews of selected mainstream independent publications), the album has a score of a 75 out of 100 based on 12 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[2] The Guardian rated the album three stars out of five, commenting that "the band have managed to craft an album of pop that’s both true to their sound and interesting enough to give it a contemporary edge."[5]
In the United Kingdom, Big Music debuted at number 12 on the UK Albums Chart. The album sold 10,207 copies in its first week, and became the group's 17th top 75 album.[19]
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|---|
1. | "Blindfolded" | Jim Kerr, Charlie Burchill | Steve Osborne, Simple Minds, Andy Wright[a], Gavin Goldberg[a] | 5:23 |
2. | "Midnight Walking" | Kerr, Burchill, Andy Gillespie | Wright, Goldberg, Simple Minds | 3:54 |
3. | "Honest Town" | Iain Cook, Kerr, Burchill | Wright, Goldberg, Simple Minds | 4:46 |
4. | "Big Music" | Kerr, Burchill, Gillespie | Wright, Goldberg, Simple Minds | 4:12 |
5. | "Human" | Kerr, Burchill | Wright, Goldberg, Simple Minds | 3:42 |
6. | "Blood Diamonds" | Cook, Kerr, Burchill | Wright, Goldberg, Simple Minds | 4:21 |
7. | "Let the Day Begin" | Michael Been | Wright, Goldberg, Simple Minds | 5:10 |
8. | "Concrete and Cherry Blossom" | Kerr, Burchill | Wright, Goldberg, Simple Minds | 3:33 |
9. | "Imagination" | Kerr, Burchill | Wright, Goldberg, Simple Minds | 3:42 |
10. | "Kill or Cure" | Paul Statham, Kerr, Burchill | Wright, Goldberg, Simple Minds | 4:12 |
11. | "Broken Glass Park" | Owen Parker, Kerr, Burchill | Wright, Goldberg, Simple Minds | 4:41 |
12. | "Spirited Away" | Parker, Kerr, Burchill | Wright, Goldberg, Simple Minds, Parker[b] | 4:08 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|---|
13. | "Swimming Towards the Sun" | Kevin Hunter, Kathleen Stevenson | Wright, Goldberg, Simple Minds | 5:16 |
14. | "Bittersweet" | Kerr, Burchill | Wright, Goldberg, Simple Minds | 3:58 |
15. | "Liaison" | Kerr, Burchill | Wright, Goldberg, Simple Minds | 4:37 |
16. | "Riders on the Storm" | Jim Morrison, Robby Krieger, Ray Manzarek, John Densmore | Wright, Goldberg, Simple Minds | 3:46 |
17. | "Dancing Barefoot" | Patti Smith, Ivan Kral, Lenny Kaye, Richard Sohl, Jay Dee Daugherty | Wright, Goldberg, Simple Minds | 4:02 |
18. | "Blindfolded" (reprise) | Kerr, Burchill | Wright, Goldberg, Simple Minds | 4:23 |
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
19. | "Blindfolded" (video) | 5:23 |
20. | "Honest Town" (video) | 4:44 |
21. | "Album Interview" (video) | 22:24 |
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "Honest Town" (video) | |
2. | "Blindfolded" (video) | |
3. | "Let the Day Begin" (clip) | |
4. | "Human" (clip) | |
5. | "Midnight Walking" (clip) | |
6. | "Behind the Scenes" | |
7. | "Band Interviews" |
Editions
Notes
Adapted from album liner notes.[20]
Most of the songs have been played live by Simple Minds:
"Broken Glass Park": on 18 May 2010 at ABC2, Glasgow, UK.
"Kill Or Cure?": on 18 October 2010 at Handelsbeurs Concertzaal, Ghent, Belgium.
"Fire Fighter": on 18 June 2010 at Le Bataclan, Paris, France (just after another live debut, "Stagefright", played as the opener). "Concrete And Cherry Blossom" was planned to be debuted as part of the encore of the Bataclan show but dropped due to time constraints.
"Broken Glass Park": on 11 June 2011 at Thetford Forest (near Brandon), Suffolk, UK.
"Blood Diamonds": on 25 March 2013 at Olympia, Dublin, Ireland.
"Big Music": on 27 November 2013 at The Hydro, Glasgow, UK.
"Honest Town" and "Machines": soundchecked in April 2014 at the private ElectroSet gig at Annabel's, London, UK.
"Imagination" and "Blindfolded": on 6 June 2014 at the "Montereau Confluences" Festival, Montereau-Fault-Yonne, France.
Source[1]
Weekly charts[edit]
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Year-end charts[edit]
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