Simple Minds - Speed Your Love to Me / Book of Brilliant Things (Demo)

[vamborooolz]

Excellent......love the version of 'Speed Your Love', sounds like Kraftwerk getting a kick up the ass. Makes you wonder just how more influential they would have become if they'd followed the New Gold Dream road-map. Even the 'Brilliant Things' demo sounds like it could've fathered the House/Acid sound.

[MrOrdinar]

@vamborooolz This road-map was diverted by two mishaps: Bono and Chrissy Hynde.

[cadburyenglishman]

Amazing version of already beautiful songs! Are these really the minds?

[AngelicGunrunner]

(2/2)Whatever the issues and flaws of "Sparkle" the album has some of Jim's strongest singing, some really good songs and great, punchy performances from all the others. It's nowhere near as bland as "Real Life" or the Paris live double album.

So many British 80s band never even attempted to make it in America - The Smiths, Prefab Sprout, New Order etc. The Minds at least made a determined attempt to get thru to the big audiences without giving up all the complexity and lifeblood of their music.

[AngelicGunrunner]

(1/2)Interesting alternatives. I always liked McNeill's keyboard style and agree the band tumbled downhill fast from the mid-eighties (Jim Kerr once said "Don't You" the song that really brought them to arena status in the US, was an inane single, and he was essentially right) but this really sounds very much like "Theme For Great Cities" and "Trans Europe Express": same motorik beat. They could do this in their sleep by 1983, a repeat of SAF would have been stylish but in the end irrelevant.

[MrOrdinar]

@AngelicGunrunner Indeed. The good thing is that SM are recording again with Steve Hillage (the producer from their best era, Sons and Fasciantion/Sister Feelings Call). The bad thing is that Michael McNeil is gone, and the existing keyboard man, is far far away from these sounds.

[AngelicGunrunner]

@MrOrdinar On their best records in 1980/82 they managed to be both ambient and funky, that's what makes SAF/SFC such a great album. They found a really organic, subtle sound, both deep and catchy. The greatest thing about Sparkle is, Kerr's vocals and Burchill's guitar are more passionate than ever. The released version of Speed Your Love To Me works for me, it's very youthful, hungry, gleaming with pride, and funky. And the same with Street Hassle. By 1987 they had mostly lost that edge.

[DuranFan09]

@MrOrdinar I don't know, the current keyboard player (Andy Gillespie) does a fabulous job of emulating early 80s MacNeil on 'Broken Glass Park' (studio version to be released as part of Greatest Hits box set later this year). Check it out, they've played it live quite a few times.

[MrOrdinar]

@DuranFan09 Mick was fabulous on keyboards, it's hard for everyone to play like he did in the '80s. I know very well the live versions of Broken Glass Park, but I would give the whole credit for the sound to Charlie. In my oppinion Andy Gillespie is a disciplinated musician, but not more than that.

[bendaviskate]

stop talking - it's simple minds

[PMCcty]

I also wished that they used the demo's for the final version...But the producers decided otherwise...

Mick MacNeil and Charlie Burchil gave the tracks a temporary shape...

In one of the recordings you can actually hear the comment of Jim Kerr at the end because these demo recordings were done with a microphone...

[marcoilbiauto66]

fantastic video and song .......

[huthut91]

wish they'd recorded it this way

[tommypsue]

@huthut91 hell yes

[SciFiAssasin]

Imagine if Sparkle In The Rain had gone with this sound...No comparisons with U2.

[cadburyenglishman]

@SciFiAssasin. Apparently Jim Kerr was not happy with the final sound of Sparkle In the Rain and Lillywhite's final product. It was thought as sounding too U2'ish, well Lillywhite did U2, but in truth it was Bono who was onstage at an SM concert singing New Gold Dream, and he once counted the SM's as his favourite band, thus SM's were so far ahead in their sound and abilities, but not fully expressed enough in mass recordings with Virgin. What a sound this one, thank you for sharing.

[Alun53]

Much darker and, quite frankly, much better than the subsequent album versions. Its sad to think that up until Sparkle In The Rain they were seen as real innovators. There decline into stadium friendly bombast seemed so unnecessary. I strongly believe they had the real potential to have both commercial success and artistic worth. Their subsequent decline reflects for me just how they managed to snatch failure from the jaws of success.

[Chacanger]

The Speed Your Love To Me version on this is excellent, it's got a really dark feel to it, strangley enough it reminds me of thunder storms.

[plopperator]

why is there a debate about who this is? do a search for "simple minds speed your love to me" and you'll know who this is.

[ittaiman]

@plopperator EXACTLY....Of course it's Simple Minds...

[iproxi]

run, till you come home, till ya be, speed your love to me

Michael McNeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee­eeeeeeeeeiL

sms (simple minds stupid)

[toptonychick]

Thanks for uploading this!

[spaceface1970]

This IS simple minds it's off a bootleg cd SPARKLE IN THE RAIN demos........I know this as i have the cd has loads of bits of all the songs off sparkle in the rain on it, it's like a jamming session.................very very good

[baldmindsfan]

It's Simple Minds. Speed Your Love To Me demo .

[theswedex]

@baldmindsfan

There`s a bit of Book of Brilliant Things about half way through too

[FuellingObsession]

I'm 100% sure that it's not Depeche Mode. And this sounds very 80'ies, but Moby wasn't active in the 80'ies yet, so I don't think it was him either. I was thinking, maybe it's from Jean Michel Jarre? And if it's not him, my second guess would be Kraftwerk.

[MrOrdinar]

@FuellingObsession Depeche Mode are also an 80's band!

[FuellingObsession]

@MrOrdinar I know, and it kinda does sound like something that Depeche Mode could have made. But I'm an obsessive Depeche Mode fan (just take a look at my youtube channel if you don't trust me), and I can tell you that this is not Depeche Mode. Really, you have to trust me! If this was DM's work, I would have known about it. So it simply has to be someone else.

[MultiVomit]

@FuellingObsession Definetely not Depeche mode indeed. Tangerine Dream could also be a choice.

[MultiVomit]

Very good anyway!

[MrOrdinar]

@MultiVomit U2 are not electro

[MultiVomit]

I guess it's U2.