If you know me then you will know that I have said MANY times that I am a very slow reader. There have been very few exceptions where I am able to ramp up the pace of my reading to such a degree that I am able to devour a book in less than a 96 hour period (four days for those with bad maths) – word length of the read taken into account.
I have just completed reading Derek Forbes’ book having received a copy to review from the publishers just before midday yesterday. As I type this it’s 3.15pm the following day. The only other book that I have consumed as quickly as this is Graeme Thomson’s Themes For Great Cities.
Yes, I could have stopped where I had done yesterday (at approximately one third of the way through the book) and have known that would have been enough for reviewing purposes, but I couldn’t let it rest there. I was absolutely engrossed and wanted to read the whole thing.
The canny thing is the way the book begins. It starts with the year 1984, a whirlwind year for the band and for Derek personally. It’s the year Simple Minds achieved their first top chart position with Sparkle In The Rain claiming the number one spot in UK album charts in February. A heavily dated world tour sees the band criss-cross the globe from the Antipodes to Ireland, into the UK, across Europe, back to the UK, then onto North America, and back over to Europe for summer festivals, then back again to North America with a final stop in Japan. Derek recounts much of the year in a detail that makes one’s head spin with the frenetic pace of it all. The chapter ends at the crunch point. Derek has, in his words, been sacked from Simple Minds. It’s early 1985.
It’s the bait on the fish hook and it’s utterly brilliant!
From there, the pace slows just a little. We go right back to the beginning, before Big Dan Yer Man is a twinkle in his Da’s eye. The pace doesn’t meander at all. We’re just given time to draw a breath and to learn about Derek’s early life and how he came to get involved in music. We also learn about the way he appears to be surreptitiously ‘stalked’ (as Dan puts it) by a mysterious singer of a band, a guy called Jim (some of us wish to be so lucky!), until he is asked to join Simple Minds.
From there it’s the story of ‘The Boys Club’ and before we know it t’s 1979 and the recording of Real To Real Cacophony; touring with Magazine; the Play It Safe affair (no…’can the singer come to the front please’ embellishments here – as Kerr often tells it); 1980 and Empires and Dance and the ‘shitey shitey’ incident backstage. Some things make you wince or boak. We moved on through 1981 and the recording of Sons and Fascination/Sister Feelings Call and the touring through that year. And on and on into the mushroom haze of New Gold Dream.
At this point it becomes obvious how on earth Dan is recalling such aspects of his time with the band with such clarity – a sentence that states ‘My diary entry is a single word: Pished”’. So, it appears Dan kept a diary. It stands to reason.
If you want a deep musical recount of how the albums came to be, how the songs were formed and recorded…this isn’t really the book you’re after. If you’re looking for the recount of all the goings on during touring and recording – the “fly-on-the-wall” documented tales and anecdotes from one of the men there in the deep end, then you’re gonna LOVE this book. Told completely through Derek’s own point-of-view with his “Carry On Up The Khyber” wit and bawdy irreverence.
As we get to the composition of Waterfront, there’s a fair critique of Jim one could say. I would argue that Derek underplays Jim’s hand in it all. Yes, he isn’t a musician and that is fair to point out, but he had an ear for what worked and what didn’t. I think he steered the ship that could have very easily gone up ‘shit creek without a paddle’ without the right captain at the helm. Jim was the right captain. All five members had their role – including Jim, which Derek concedes this – but just not in those words.
Alas, I digress.
We return back to the start of 1984 but then shift to the aftermath of Derek’s departure from Simple Minds to hear about how his work with Propaganda begins. From there we progress through the mid eighties and into his meeting and eventual marriage to Wendy in 1988. There is talk of a possible reconciliation with Simple Minds at this point, but it’s no spoiler to relay that it didn’t happen until later into the 1990s.
21 July 1998 is the last time he plays with Simple Minds and states ‘unless someone can sprinkle some nostalgia dust and has the five original players to play together once more.’ Surely a sentence aimed squarely at the doors of one James ‘the bus only moves forwards, there is no reverse’ Kerr, esquire? But really disnae need the money. And besides I get the feeling that for Mick it may just be too much, but that is sheer speculation on my part.
Derek Forbes’ autobiography is a pacy, funny, staggering account of his time with Simple Minds and beyond. As entertaining as you would imagine it to be from one of the world’s most revered and loved bass players. And to be such a revered bass player transpires purely by accident. But I’ll let Derek tell you about that.
A Very Simple Mind: On Tour by Derek Forbes is published by McNidder and Grace on 9 November, 2023 and is available for pre-order from all good booksellers. RRP £22.00
Please check details below for a number of in-store signings that Derek will be doing across the UK in the coming weeks. Check the relevant store websites for details on these appearances and if any tickets are required for attendance.
