Thursday, September 10, 2020

The 1980 Listening Post - Simple Minds - Empires and Dance

Simple Minds - Empires and Dance


#358

by Jim Shanman
Simple Minds
Empires and Dance 
Genre: No effing clue
Allen’s Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Jim’s Rating: 2.5 out of 5

10 songs: 2 I could listen to a few times, 3 are over 5 minutes, most are a monotonous dregs. 

The first track, I Travel, took me back to my Capital Records swap meet/New Wave and penny loafers days and was thinking maybe I'm in for a hidden gem treat with a solid groove and vocals. 

The next 2 tracks are forgettable and then This Fear of Gods gives me new hope which the next 6 tracks crushed. Not sure where the band was coming from or aiming at, but you know how when you mix a pallet of colors together you get a brown muck? This is kind of like that but instead of paint it's a mash up up of Spandau Ballet, Adam Ant, Sparks, Devo and Romeo Void, and instead of something magical or mystical or even rhythmic, we get this brown-what-the-hell mess. Jim Kerr sounds as good as usual, but the production is unexceptional and the music is unremarkable, bordering on boring.

https://open.spotify.com/album/2zIkPkN2rO6Ph1nD07f10N?si=QTJQ22A6R5eRbcbf_XcAbw

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