About me/this blog

How this site came to be.

2006: I am getting into Spotify, exploring new musical horizons and rekindling old flames. Simple Minds are among those “old flames”. Having said that, I was only ever a “fair weather” fan. One that just on the odd occasion listened to compilation “best of” albums. One time doing this, I found myself thinking “Simple Minds are just so great. Why have I not explored their music more? Why do I just keep sticking to ‘the hits’? This has GOT to change!” And so, I gave Life In A Day a couple of listens, and although there was a few songs I liked, I wasn’t really bowled over. That was that.

The odd listen to a compilation album through the years continued.

2014: July. I am having one of those Minds ‘hits fix’ sessions when I start thinking “That time I tried listening to their back catalogue…a shame it didn’t gel. I’m sure I probably just didn’t give them enough of a chance. I mean, heck, I listened to ONE album, and that was it! Think about it. You owned a copy of Once Upon A Time back in the day. You know you like ONE whole album of theirs. Let’s give this thing a try again.”

And so, I try again. Life In A Day…at first still…meh…but unlike before, this time I thought “Yeah, I hear something. It’s not setting my world on fire…but there’s a spark of something.” And I moved on to listen to Real To Real Cacophony. And I heard a BIGGER spark of something. On again, still listening to these two, but moving on to Empires And Dance. And that was it! That’s what needed to happen! For me to reach EAD. I was completely won over.

I then started to look for old footage – to view old gigs and/or TV performances. I wanted to see visuals. How they looked together. How they performed. The first few clips I watched was the Hurrah’s Club in New York – recorded for Old Grey Whistle Test on the BBC. I was astounded by how tight they were – and floored by Jim. I watched slack-jawed and awestruck. “THIS was how Jim Kerr used to be? Holy cow dung!” The first ignition of infatuation started from those clips.

The rest is pretty much history. And a good chunk of the past four or more years have been played out via this blog. The collecting of music in various formats, particularly more rarified stuff and in particular vinyl, memorabilia – in the form of magazine – whole and article clippings, books, photos, badges, clothing, etc. The beginnings and expansion of the fan art and my artistic pursuits beyond Simple Minds. The concerts and the growing love of live music and “gigging”. I’ve been to (as of the time of writing) 21 Simple Minds gigs with hopefully many more to come.

The blog is my own personal form of expression. Done semi-professionally, it is run solely by me. And it is not monetised. Anything that I may recommend here comes with a personal endorsement and not via product placement or kickbacks. It is my personal space, but I try to provide loads of info on SM both past and present. Sharing articles through my memorabilia collecting that I feel may be of interest, as well as reviews (not only of SM gigs, but of all gigs I attended), info of side projects by band members as well as relevant info on acts linked musically to Simple Minds.

My own art features as well. Mostly Simple Minds and Jim Kerr oriented, but I do also paint and draw.

The site is quite a mishmash of things. It doesn’t try to take itself too seriously. I try to have fun with it. I am prone to swear and of course there is a high emphasis on Simple Minds – and there is that sub-header on the blog that states “may contain a heavy dose of Jim Kerr” – it certainly does that!

Thank you for visiting and reading. I hope you find the site both informative and entertaining.

Priptona
January, 2019

Comments (28) on “About me/this blog”

  1. Hi Larelle. I tried to post this comment yesterday, but it got lost somewhere, I just saw a black screen and it’s not there. So I’m writing again, what I remember…A bit about my personal experience and opinions. I’m afraid it’s a bit too long. I’ve been reading several of your posts with great interest, during the last days. I discovered SM in my teens, still at school. It was the time of Real life. I was in a music shop and unexpectedly (I live in South America) they had the old records. I think that the voice of JK had touched me because I bought them all, from Life in a day to New Gold Dream. I loved them so much, I felt so identified with their music and lyrics (as much as I could understand then, without internet to find the exact words, being English a second language to me). And of course I fell in love with Jim’s pale face, dark hair, eyelined blue eyes, and the way he used his voice. Then, as time passed and my life changed, I didn’t listen to them as frequently. In fact, I think I hadn’t listened to them for years, but I don’t know how I came across some old videos on youtube. They were amazing in those wild days, and JK was a very charismatic frontman. I searched some more info about their beginnings, and read short extracts from a book called Themes for great cities, which had wonderful stories and testimonies about their travels and inspirations. I had read about the recording of New Gold Dream somewhere, time ago, which was fantastic. That’s how I found your blog, and searched for more info. I also searched for recent interviews and live videos. And well, to me SM was the four (or five, but the drummers changed) of them. I agree with other people that their best period was until New Gold Dream (I know many disagree with this). Later, they became something different. I still like some songs of Sparkle in the rain, Once upon a time, Street figthing years, and even Real life, but my favorites are still Real to real cacophony to New God Dream period (Life in a day, I love it for what it means). I cannot feel anything about more recent songs I’ve heard. I’ve read a bit about Derek (a great bassist, it’s clear he enjoyed so much live performances) and Mick (have you seen him playing New Gold Dream on accordeon?), and I’ve seen Charlie and Jim in interviews and playing. I don’t like much the band they have today (just personal opinion, of course), but I loved some unplugged concerts they had some years ago, particularly one at Dingwall’s, where Mark Kerr (you have such beautiful pictures of the two brothers) was present. I also like that JK is not pretending to be young and handsome anymore. He is a very nice 60+ year old person, and he’s a good performer too. Congratulations for all the research you’ve done, and thank you for sharing such interesting information and your impressions. I’ll probably comment in the future on some of your posts about specific albums or songs, if you don’t mind. Regards!

    Reply

    1. Hello Ximena,
      I am sorry that you thought your previous comment did not get through to me. I have my comments set for approval (I used to get a lot of spam and probably still would do if I set the comments to being open and without approval) so it may take a day or two for me to see the pending comments and approve them. I did received your previous comment but have decided to approve just this one as you have written more in this one than your previous one.
      Thank you so much for getting in contact and leaving a comment. I’m really happy to read that you have enjoyed reading the blog and have liked the information that I have available to look through on here. I also feel much more emotionally taken with the earlier work of the band. I still like some of the more recent work but it doesn’t really have quite the same emotional impact for me (with a few exceptions here and there). There are lots of reasons behind that. Anyway, I feel we are of like minds enjoying the early work.
      I remember the Dingwall’s performance well, as I’m sure a few places were offered for fans to go and see them play in John Dingwall’s livingroom. I did get to meet him in 2022. He was the host of a talk that Graeme Thomson (the writer of Themes For Great Cities) had at the Mitchell Library in Glasgow. He was also at White Hot Day, the fan convention. He’s a lovely man. The photos I have of Jim and Mark were taken by Virginia Turbett. There almost a whole roll of film just of the two of them on the sofa together, in various states of expressions.
      Anyway, I just wanted to say thanks and say that it’s great to have you visiting the blog. I look forward to future comments from you.
      All the best,
      Larelle

      Reply

      1. Thank you so much for your reply. And I’m sorry for the insistence, I’m glad you eventually read my comment. Have a good weekend!

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  2. Hi Larelle. I’ve been reading with great interest several of your posts during the last days. I discovered SM in my teens, when at school. It was the time of Real life, which I listened in the radio. At that period, I was in a music store and unexpectedly (I live in South America) they had the first records… I bought Life in a day and Real to real cacophony, Empires and dance and New gold dream. All of them jewels, which you describe so well on your posts. I think that JK’s voice had touched me. And of course I fell in love with his pale face, dark hair, light blue eyes, eyeliner, and voice. Their music helped me a lot during those days, and then the time passed. I lived in London on 2008, but I wasn’t listening to them anymore. I saw they had a gig in Glasgow that year, but sadly I didn’t go. I listen to their songs very rarely now, but I can’t remember how or why, I came across old videos of them on youtube, and I think they were fantastic in those wild years, and JK was so charismatic. I read extracts from a book called “Themes for great cities’, which I loved. It’s so interesting to find out about the inspiration for their themes, that JK is not a musician at all, but he has a great instinct and musical sense, how fantastic musicians are Charlie, Derek, Mick (and some of the drummers, but I know less about them). By the way, I guess you have seen Mick playing New Gold Dream in accordeon. I used to love Once upon a time too, even some songs of Street fighting years. I still like them, but my heart is from Real to real to New gold dream. I feel that’s SM, and the rest onwards is something else, not necessarily bad, although not of my taste. I saw a half an hour video at Dingwalls, which I loved. It was Mark with Jim and Charlie (what lovely pictures you have of the brothers). Nowadays, I like that JK is not trying to look or act as a young guy. He is a very nice 60 and plus person. We are all older, and those SM records are wonderful memories of youth to me. Congratulations for your research, and thank you for sharing your impressions about music and books. I’ll probably comment one day on specific songs or records.

    Reply

  4. Hey, came to your Blog because I saw you on Facebook and Instagram and was curious. It’s a great side and I really like to read your Blog. Nice videos also…you seem to be a nice person…greetings from Germany…

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      2. L, apologies ? I was replying to the person that said ? Hi ? I?ve just came across your Minds Blog ? Smutty mind

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        1. Lol. No worries. The reply came directly to me, so there was no context with what you’d said when I got the notification of your comment. Thus, I had assumed you were still responding to me about the new theme and layout of the blog.

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          2. For some reason emojis are coming out as question marks. I tried to sort it out today but it caused an even worse problem with images becoming broken over the site. So?I dunno how to sort the emojis thing. Will just have to go ?old skool? with them :-/

  8. Just randomly decided to listen to hunter and the hunted and that got me listening to some of the back catalog and I stumbled across your site by virtue looking for their Hacienda gig (Having read about it in Peter Hooks book). Unfortunately I was slightly too young to have been there as the set list is something else. I’ve seen them on numerous occasions since but for me anything pre-street fighting years is top drawer. Kudos to you for the site too.

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    1. Thanks for getting in touch, Jason. For the kind words and feedback. It?s great to know people are visiting and finding the site useful. Thank you ???

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  9. Hey great site! Really enjoyed some of the isolated vocals. I might have a few bits you’d be interested in if you’re interested? All the best

    Reply

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