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release date: Sep. 12, 1982
format: cd (1983 reissue)
[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,86]
producer: Peter Walsh
label: Virgin Records - nationality: Scotland, UK
Track highlights: 1. "Someone Somewhere in Summertime" - 3. "Promised You a Miracle" (4 / 5) - 4. "Big Sleep" - 5. "Somebody Up There Likes You" - 6. "New Gold Dream (81-82-83-84)" - 7. "Glittering Prize" (5 / 5) - 8. "Hunter and the Hunted"
5th studio album by Simple Minds and the band's second studio album on Virgin. Musically, the band has made a more distinct turn into mainstream pop / rock and composed a collection of pompous melodic synthpop anthems. Tracks #1, #3, #7, and #8 have all become Simple Minds staples at live concerts and the album became the band's international break-through album. It peaked at number #3 on the UK albums chart list and became the band's first multi-platinum selling album. None of the album's three singles (tracks #3, #7 and #1 - release order) became top-10 singles with "Promised You a Miracle" as the highest faring single at number #13 on the national singles chart list.
The album is the only by Simple Minds to be enlisted in "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die". Overall, I find it Simple Minds' most cohesive and best album with a fine balance of synthpop artistry, new wave roots and original pop / rock, and "Glittering Prize" is the band's best single track - if forces to pick just one.
