Simple Minds Album: “Sparkle in the Rain”

Simple Minds came closer than ever before to all-out rocking on this album. They do rock here, but they still exhibit skillfully played musical shadings. Highly inventive, underrated guitarist Charlie Burchill steps forward and rocks, but not without his rhythmic subtlety. At the time, this album was criticized for being poorly mixed and sounding muddy, but I quite like that thick din of sound. I haven't heard the remaster, so I hope they haven't botched it.

"Up on the Catwalk" kicks things off with rumbling thunder and haunting keyboards. One of SPARKLE's best songs despite borrowing the already overdone U2 theme "I'll be there tonight." Singer Jim Kerr delivers a fantastically wordy vocal that moves into improvisation towards the end of the song.

"Book of Brilliant Things" is good but not my favorite, although it grows on you with that catchy guitar hook.

"Speed Your Love To Me" and "Waterfront" are the album's glorious centerpieces. Simply brilliant and uplifting (and totally rockin'!)

"East at Easter" is a slow burner that builds with subtle intensity.

"Street Hassle" is one of Lou Reed's best songs and SM actually improve on the original, giving it a smoother, more organic quality. Fantastic orchestration. And, let's face it, Kerr has a much better voice than Reed. Lou must've approved because he sings (or, rather, speaks) on SM's "This Is Your Land" from STREET FIGHTING YEARS a few years later.

"White Hot Day" - not the best, but still a good song with musings about "time."

"'C' Moon Cry Like A Baby" is another favorite. This one has an infectious swing.

"The Kick Inside Me" is the hardest rocking song on the album.

"Shake Off The Ghosts" is floating serenity. Keyboardist Michael McNeil, so integral to the whole album, really takes this instrumental to a place of wonderment. A beautiful way to finish.

It's wonderful to hear an album that rocks without banging you over the head with feedback, distortion and the like as so many bands do today. People who call this the start of their U2-style bombastic phase are really missing the point.

1984 was the year the post-punk darlings across The Pond grew up ... well, maybe not The Cure who, upon releasing its babbling, tantrum-filled "The Top" that year, would continue to waddle back toward infancy. The Psychedelic Furs came out with "Mirror Moves," adding a polish to its sneer; Echo & the Bunnymen dabbled in orchestral maneuvers on "Ocean Rain;" The Smiths arrived to fill a college-circuit Elvis niche; and U2 hired Brian Eno to babysit the band in the studio to great effect. Yet, in retrospect, perhaps the finest moment was instigated by the genre-hopping Simple Minds, who on "Sparkle in the Rain" would find their sound, then quickly be eclipsed by U2, whose frontman (future pope Bono) shared a similar singing style with Jim Kerr.

Rediscovering the album a dozen years or so since I lost my original cassette, I am blown away by how much is going on in these songs -- especially the first three tracks ("Up on the Catwalk," "Book of Brilliant Things" and "Speed Your Love to Me") -- yet how flawless and contemporary it sounds. The band's previous release, "New Gold Dream," demonstrated the band's ability to carve out emotional soundscapes, but it lacked the energy and swagger that "Sparkle" spills through the speakers. By 1984, SM was an accomplished band that had dabbled in punk, art rock, synth and disco, and already had six studio albums under its belt, so it makes sense the band should outshine its contemporaries on No. 7. Yet, it's not the musicianship alone; there is a sense of earnestness here, a Walt Whitman "yawp," if you will, that is lacking in other releases of the time, as well as any other Simple Minds release. Subsequent albums came off too grandiose; and on prior releases, Kerr either lacked confidence or purposely subdued his vocals.

If you like contemporary bands inspired by the "Eighties sound" -- The Killers, Arctic Monkeys, Bloc Party to name a few -- this is the pinnacle of what they're trying to recapture. And when you pick this up and spin it around in your mind, you'll find they're not even coming close.

As a dedicated listener of post-punk new wave music during the golden days of KROQ in Pasadena, CA (late 1970's until early 1990's), the Simple Minds stood out as the perfect balance between aggressive guitar rock and smooth synthesizer melody. Sparkle in the Rain is one of their finest, most confident works. I'd forgotten about my new wave habit for about 10 years and recently rediscovered it. Hearing this album (and also New Gold Dream) was like finding your favorite toy from childhood. Every single track was a gem. I listened to this album five times when I found it again. To the record company-- this album needs to be re-released!!!

"Sparkle in the Rain" tends to get overlooked due to the successive release and success of "Once Upon a Time", which is an enormous injustice. As good as "Once Upon a Time" was, it was a slight letdown after "Sparkle in the Rain", which contains some of the best of Simple Mind's work: "Waterfront", "Speed Your Love to Me", "East at Easter", "Shake Off the Ghosts" and the incredible "The Kick Inside of Me". If you are interested in investigating Simple Minds, start with their "Best Of", then head directly for "Sparkle in the Rain". All the roads intersect here.

Often records I one loved 20 years ago don't hold up well to the test of time. Book of Love's records, Killing Joke's "Brighter Than a Thousand Suns" and several others fall into this category. That said, I bought "Sparkle in the Rain" on vinyl when it first came out way back in the mid-1980s. After being introduced to Simple Minds via "New Gold Dream" (on limited edition gold vinyl even...) this was a welcome addition to my record collection. I remember being amazed at the driving rhythms and the powerful vocals. I hadn't listened to or even thought of the record until a few weeks ago when someone off-handedly mentioned Simple Minds telling me "I'm alive and kicking." That made me seek out and replace my long-missing LP with this CD. I'm glad I did and am enjoying it right now as I take a break from writing a thesis.