Empires and Dance
| Empires and Dance | ||||
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| Studio album from Simple Minds | ||||
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Publication |
September 1, 1980 |
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admission |
1980 |
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| Label (s) | Arista Records | |||
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Format (s) |
CD, record |
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Title (number) |
10 |
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running time |
45:33 |
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Empires and Dance is the third studio album by the Scottish rock band Simple Minds .
history
Despite the lack of commercial success of their predecessor Real to Real Cacophony , the band members remained true to the course they had taken on experimental music at the interface between rock and pop. Empires and Dance , recorded again in the summer of 1980 under the production of John Leckie , sounds more mature without sacrificing the experimental parts. Leckie made the use of effects a little more cautious, giving the recording a smoother sound . In the meantime, the Simple Minds had earned a very good reputation as a live band through frequent appearances.
The album laid the foundation for the next two albums, which were to continue the path that Empires an Dance had embarked on. The artistic collaboration, in which Kerr wrote the lyrics and the entire band contributed musically to the songs, had solidified and remained unchanged on the following albums. The sound of the album also remained trend-setting for the following years.
publication
Initially planned as the third UK release by Zoom Records, the band separated from the label before the release and turned to Virgin Records . The album was instead released directly by Arista, the distribution company of Zoom Records, and re-released unchanged by Virgin in 1982. A CD version was also released in 1985 by Virgin, which also released a digitally remastered version in 2002 . In 2012 the album was re-released in the X5 box set from Virgin Records with 3 bonus tracks.
Track list
- I Travel (4:00)
- Today I Died again (4:36)
- Celebrate (5:03)
- This Fear of Gods (7:03)
- Capital City (6:15)
- Constantinople Line (4:43)
- Twist / Run / Repulsion (4:31)
- Thirty Frames a Second (5:02)
- Kant-Kino (instrumental) (1:42)
- Room (2:28)
Bonus tracks
- 11. New Warm Skin (4:35)
- 12. I Travel (Extended) (6:14)
- 13. Celebrate (Extended) (6:47)
occupation
- Jim Kerr (vocals)
- Charlie Burchill (guitar, violin, background vocals)
- Derek Forbes (bass, background vocals)
- Brian McGee (drums, percussion, backing vocals)
- Michael MacNeil (keyboards, background vocals)
Chart success
Empires and Dance placed in the British album charts up to position 41 in September 1980.
reception
According to Christian Graf, the NME described the album as "a violently agitational album" because of the political content. Graf rates the music production “between disco and experimental new wave”.
Dave Thompson compares the band's attempts to bridge the gap between rock and pop in his review with the Odyssey : "caught in the eddies between the Scylla of proto-industrial dance and the Charybdis of the lush gloom of post-punk proto- Goth. "(" Caught between the Scylla of pre-industrial dance music and the Charybdis of the pronounced melancholy of post-punks early Gothic ")
Web links
- Empires and Dance at Allmusic (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Empires and Dance in the Official UK Charts (English)
- ^ A b Christian Graf: Rock Music Lexicon . Europe / Vol. 2, L – Z. Taurus Press, Hamburg 1986, ISBN 3-922542-22-0 , p. 435-866 . , P. 662
- ↑ Dave Thompson: Alternative Rock . Miller Freeman, San Francisco 2000, ISBN 0-87930-607-6 . , P. 789