Simple Minds - Live In The City Of Light (1987)

EU Import

Note: this release was originally purchased as a cassette tape, later replaced by the 2012 remastered edition CD. Disc two previously featured during "Thinking Out of the Box Set Week" (March 8 - 14, 2020)

From the band's website:

Live In The City Of Light is the first (double LP / CD) live album by Simple Minds. It was released in May 1987 to document their successful worldwide Once Upon a Time tour, and charted at No. 1 in the UK. The album spawned one chart single release, a live version of “Promised You a Miracle”.

The album was recorded mostly at Le Zénith, Paris in August 1986, with one track recorded in October 1986 in Sydney, Australia. (Although the album was not recorded there, the inside of the gatefold sleeve features a photograph of a concert from the 1986 tour which took place in a square in Locarno, Switzerland). It features the band’s 1986 touring lineup, which included second vocalist Robin Clark and percussionist Sue Hadjopoulos. Lisa Germano (at the time, a John Mellencamp band member who would perform on Simple Minds’ next studio single, Belfast Child), contributed studio-overdubbed violin on “Someone Somewhere in Summertime” and former Simple Minds member Derek Forbes contributed (uncredited) bass guitar overdubs.

The single mentioned above, a live version of Promised You A Miracle, didn't chart in the US, but placed a respectable #19 on the UK chart.

Press of the time:

Billboard, July 25, 1987, p. 23

• Billboard: "packs a larger punch than more manicured studio versions"
• Rolling Stone: "lively, if a bit predictable"
• RPM: "should create intense anticipation of their follow-up"
• Smash Hits (6 out of 10): "faithfully reproduces a typical performance"

"Lively, if a bit predictable" pretty much mirrors my thoughts, but there's a bit of truth to all the above blurbs.

Remastering is good, but the liner note booklet is fairly light on content consisting mainly of photos of band members not taken in Paris and a few concert pics. In other words, no 5,000 word essay from rock journalist/fanboy. Disappointing.

Album chart peaks:

• US Billboard Top 200: #96
• CashBox: #114
• Rolling Stone: #36

Tracks:

Disc 1: the better of the two discs - my problem here is the sequencing. If you start off with a great tune like Ghostdancing, I would think you need to ratchet it up a notch on the second tune, but the band opts to kill momentum with Big Sleep. Don't get me wrong, Big Sleep is a decent enough tune, but just not second on the playlist. (According to the band's website, Big Sleep was actually 7th on the playlist at these concerts, which would make more sense to me.) Love the live versions of Waterfront (which should have kicked off the album), Someone Somewhere In Summertime, Oh Jungleland and Alive And Kicking. Lot of energy, lot of focus. Promised You A Miracle is a touch too fast for my tastes but still worth your time.

Disc 2 (recycled from previous post): Of the 7 tracks here, my favorites are Don't You Forget About Me, Once Upon A Time, and the medley of Love Song/Sun City/Dance To The Music. I've been to many shows where the band trots out the Sly Stone warhorse Dance To The Music as a way to introduce the band, so there's nothing new there, but I like the way the medley flows and they get their jabs in at apartheid, so I dig that, too. Tracks 3 & 4 - lackluster versions of Book Of Brilliant Things followed by East At Easter are unfortunate show killers.

As mentioned above about the LP gatefold sleeve, this ad features the photograph taken
at another show from the same tour in a square in Locarno, Switzerland.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: I'm not a huge fan of live rock albums, but I bought these pre-recorded cassettes on the cheap from a resale shop in summer 1988. They then spent a lot of time in my car's deck that summer. Faithful readers of this blog may remember that I usually refer to the summer of 1988 as the Lost Summer of Mark (those not familiar with the personal particulars of that long, hot summer can click here for further info). For some reason, my memory is thinking this album soundtracked a visit that summer to Lake Tawakoni State Park.

The girl I dated that summer lent me a Simple Minds concert tee, similar to the one pictured below. As of this writing, that was the softest shirt I've ever worn so I wore it as often as I could before the inevitable break-up. I dig the graphics, too.

I went to a Ticketmaster box office to get tickets to the band's Dallas stop on the tour on which this album was recorded (April 9, 1986 - Bronco Bowl with The Call opening). Being an unemployed college student living on the generosity of my parents, however, I just didn't have the funds to afford the ducats and walked away empty-handed. (This was back when you had to actually go to a Ticketmaster location simply to see what the ticket prices were. We've come a long way, baby.) Epilogue: a Home Depot now occupies the lot where Bronco Bowl once stood.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Acoustic (2016)
Glittering Prize (1992)
Real Life (1991)
Live In The City Of Light, Volume Two (1987)
Once Upon a Time (1985)
Sparkle in the Rain (1984)
New Gold Dream (81-82-83-84) (1982)
New Gold Dream (81-82-83-84): Deluxe Box Set
Sons and Fascination/Sister Feelings Call (1981)