UPDATE: A second part has been posted below.
A bit of a different one for MMM this week. One I wasn’t expecting to post in all honesty. I saw this posted late last night and thought it worthy of a link.
Neil Saint of Retropopic Radio talks to Derek Forbes, Kenny Hyslop and Jim Kerr about the recording of New Gold Dream. I’ll add Neil’s blurb below…
Why does Derek think changing record label to Virgin was a great move? What role did drummer Kenny Hyslop play in the realisation of the group’s first hit single ‘Promised You a Miracle’? How did Derek Forbes get involved in the writing of that song? Why didn’t Kenny stay with the band? How does Jim Kerr remember the recording of ‘New Gold Dream’? In what ways do Jim & Derek have completely different memories about the demos in that Scottish farmhouse? How did Jim see his role with this album? What is his view on the central theme of New Gold Dream? How did the pope’s visit to Glasgow inspire Jim to write a key song on the album? Why was this album the best time for Derek?
I haven’t listened to it yet, but I have to say I am intrigued about how the Pope’s visit to Glasgow was an inspiration. It’s a new one on me! Jim loves to deal out the patter. Lol
Speaking of which…also in SM news, Big Dan has a memoir coming out, it seems. It’s already getting pre-orders a plenty. It comes out in November and…I guess it could be a slightly belated birthday present for myself. First off, if it’s a memoir, it’s surely going to be more about Derek’s story as a whole rather than just concentrating on his time with Simple Minds? Then again, the title is A VERY SIMPLE MIND – ssooo. Secondly, there’ll be a different spin of events from his side, I’m sure. Is his version of events more true than Jim’s? Despite my inert prejudices, I would tend to think Derek’s word is more “sound”. Then again, he is as much a raconteur than Jim is. They both love telling a tale and are as inclined as each other to embellish things, so who knows?
I may even spoil myself and get a signed copy! If they can be personalised, it will be interesting. If Derek sees my name, would he be able to resist the temptation of putting something scathing down for added effect? “Enjoy the TRUE story”, etc, etc?
We’ll see. He does do a good signature. I’ll give him that.
Anyway, enjoy the podcast interview.
Part two: All about Don’t You. Zzzz. The story has been told to death! But…if you’re interested. Also…is Jim going to contradict himself again? This is part of the blurb for the episode…”To what extent did Jim’s partner of the time Chrissie Hynde encourage Jim to take on the song?” If so, then, I’d like to just add this photo here…
Okay, he responded like that to my enquiry seven years ago…but the details shouldn’t have changed in seven years! I’ll have to listen to the two minutes of conversation that this second part no doubt contains.
Happy MMM!
Thanks for the info Larelle.
As Scott said earlier, very few words, but some at least from Derek & Kenny which we haven’t heard before. Why the Shalamar song from ’82? What’s that got to do with the price of cheese?
Even listening to Promised You A Miracle in 64kbs mono it sounded better than anything they’ve done in the past 10 years or so.
So wish I’d known about the band back in’ 81 and got myself into town and to see them perform at the end of the year show at Tiffany’s with Kenny on drums!!
Cannae wait for Derek’s book. Should be very interesting!
That radio clip is brutal.Must have been at most 5 minutes of chat. This was something that promised so much, delivered nothing and why we need a Pripto interview instead.
Yep. I listened to it later in the day yesterday and I can only agree with you on how disappointing it was. We didn?t need all the music filler. I mean, it was good to hear the first track but we didn?t need the other stuff?especially not Shalamar FFS! Lol. There was a second episode which I?ve posted. Neil Saint made this bold claim on this own FB page when posting about the second episode: Imho this podcast contains the definitive story on how ‘Don’t You Forget About Me’ came to be what it has now become and rather like Weller throwing ‘Down In Tube Station’ in the bin, it could so easily have never existed!?
The story has been told to death anyways! And Jim is as interchangeable as the Glasgow weather in spring so, you know?.take his tales with a pinch of salt and all that.
And you?re too kind – re: my doing an interview. I?d love nothing more! But considering I can barely speak to Jim when I?m in front of him, and Derek doesn?t have any time for me?it?s unlikely to ever happen. ??