Record Rack: A round-up of the week’s new albums, expanded reissues and/or box sets, appearing each Monday on Slicing Up Eyeballs. All releases due out this Friday unless noted. This week: Alison Moyet, Ride, Simple Minds, Big Star, Can, Matthew Sweet and Jason Loewenstein.
This week’s new releases include multi-disc box sets from Simple Minds, Alien Sex Fiend, Roxy Music and The Farm, new albums from Shriekback, The Rezillos and The Monochrome Set, a reissue from Game Theory, and a compilation of late-’70s and early-’80s post-punk tracks.
The spate of hugely expanded box-set reissues continues next year with Simple Minds’ breakthrough sixth album Sparkle in the Rain — featuring the singles “Waterfront” and “Up on the Catwalk” — set for re-release a a five-disc set featuring B-sides, remixes, BBC sessions, a previously unreleased concert.
This week’s new releases include a brand-new studio album from Simple Minds, plus a collection of BBC recordings by The Chills, a reissue of A Certain Ratio’s second album, a box set collecting studio albums from Ian Dury with and without the Blockheads, and a new Alphaville best-of.
Simple Minds this morning announced the release of Big Music — the band’s first new studio album in five years, and 17th overall — on Nov. 3, plus plans to spend much of the first quarter of 2015 on the road in support of the record, with a nearly 60-date tour of Europe and the U.K. planned from February into May.
Simple Minds have finished recording their first new studio album in five years — and 17th overall — and while details of the record’s release aren’t yet known, the band had debuted a new song that presumably will appear on the forthcoming LP. You can stream that track, “Blindfolded,” right here.
This week’s new releases include a live CD/DVD combo from Simple Minds, a new best-of from The Dream Academy, vinyl reissues of classic debut albums from Tears For Fears, ABC and Soft Cell, a live album from The Specials reissued on vinyl, and a new best-of set of 2 Tone ska.
For this week’s installment of Vintage Video we return to that treasure trove of quality early ’80s concert footage, the West German TV show “Rockpalast,” for this New Gold Dream-era performance by Simple Minds. Here, you can watch the full 90-minute performance by Jim Kerr and Co. filmed on June 6, 1982.
This week’s new releases include expanded reissues, on both CD and vinyl, of Bob Mould’s solo debut ‘Workbook’ and Morrissey’s ‘Your Arsenal,’ plus brand-new studio albums from Neneh Cherry and The Woodentops, and vinyl reissues from Peter Gabriel and The Afghan Whigs.
This week’s new releases include new Beggars Archive ‘5 Albums’ box sets from Bauhaus, Fields of the Nephilim and Gene Loves Jezebel, plus reissues of Peter Murphy’s ‘Love Hysteria’ and Soundgarden’s ‘Screaming Life’ and ‘Fopp’ EPs, plus a vinyl box set of The Jam albums and a CD box of Simple Minds records.
The pleading must have worked: With Simple Minds having just wrapped up their first North American tour in 11 years — a short run of just seven dates this past month — frontman Jim Kerr says “there are already discussions taking place to hopefully bring Simple Minds back for more shows next summer.”
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