New Direction for Astringent 'Minds'

Good News From The Next World

Simple Minds

released by Virgin Records

In the eighties, pop duo simple Minds issued one of the classic hits of the decade, "Don't You Forget About Me." With the release of their new album, Good News From the Next World, that song now proves prophetic. Many thought that Glittering Prize, their 1992 greatest hits compilation, signaled an end to their inspiration. Yet, just when they had almost faded from recent memory, Simple Minds make a comeback with a newer, fresher sound.

Apparently Simple Minds learned a thing or two from the likes of U2 and the Cranberries during their three years of soul-searching. Gone is the lush, synthesized sound of their previous hits, such as "Alive and Kicking" or "Belfast Child." Filling out the arrangements with more guitar work and complex rhythms, the newer, more astringent style strikes the listener, whereas before it merely made for harmless listening. Vocalist Jim Kerr and guitarist Charlie Burchill self-consciously acknowledge this change in their opening track, "She's A River":

Shadow let go

There's something you should know

I just found my new direction.

Harsher, more urgent and more coherent, the duo aims to convey the uneasiness of contemporary times. As the millenium draws inexorably towards a close, the two project the current generation's ambivalence into their music.

Simple Minds set themselves the task of writing the musical equivalent of T. S. Eliot's The Wasteland. They try to capture the same vision of a bleak present mixed with a hopeful future. Drawing on the confidence they find in their rejuvenated sound, their attempt is at once captivating and convincing.

The first track, "She's A River," not only reflects the change in their musical direction, but also pulls the listener immediately into the album's spirit. This song's forceful rhythms, effective riffs and strong melody come together to grab the listener's attention. Kerr sings of his "spirit of creation," his muse, that will carry through the songs that follow.

But to take that journey with his muse, Kerr needs to find strength. He mentions this need for courage in the next track, "Night Music:"

When I hear the strange night music

It's a warning signal there's a bridge to cross.

No fear here--only an awareness of the present stagnation and the future possibility of better times.

The first stop on Kerr's journey is love, the theme of the album's third track, "Hypnotised." Built over a persistent bass, the song's fervor enthralls. Together with its soulful guitar counterpoint, Simple Minds express the obsessive quality of an unrequited love.

Like "Hypnotised," each song on the album each focuses on some aspect of the search for a spiritual truth in postmodern times--redemption ("Great Leap Forward" and "My Life"), faith ("This Time") and courage again ("And The Band Played On").

The insistent bass line and intensity of the last song, "And The Band Played On," convey the need to press on despite the distractions and worries of today's world.

Though it attempts to take the listener on a spiritual odyssey, Good News From The Next World does not become a collection of cheesy anthems. Simple Minds continually zoom in on the many difficulties in the way, such as the temptations acknowledged in "7 Deadly Sins."

Taken together, the songs coalesce into a contemporary musical statements that aspires to universal relevance. Simple Minds chose not to rest on their laurels, and the result is a new voice for the present times.