Simple Minds - Sparkle In The Rain (1983) (vinyl Lp) - €20,00

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"Sparkle in the Rain" is the sixth studio album by Scottish rock band Simple Minds, released on 6 February 1984 by record label Virgin in the UK.

Sparkle in the Rain is a generally rock-oriented album, a departure from the new wave aesthetic of its critically acclaimed predecessor New Gold Dream (81/82/83/84). 

Kerr, before its release, described the forthcoming Sparkle in the Rain as an "art record—art without tears with masses of muscle". 

The band's new drummer Mel Gaynor, who had contributed for some tracks on the previous record, agreed on the album's aggressiveness: "On this album I'm getting a few of my ideas across, not only in the drumming field but in other fields as well. 

It's a lot different from New Gold Dream, both sound-wise and material-wise. 

The last one was very smooth, very polished. This album's got a bit more dirt in it." 

Regarding the role of producer Steve Lillywhite, Brian Hogg wrote that Sparkle in the Rain "captured the bravura of their in-concert sound" and Lillywhite "introduced a dynamic, often contrasting, perspective quite unlike the panoramic standpoint of its predecessor, but there was no denying the resultant brash excitement." 

Adam Sweeting described how, during the recording process of "Up on the Catwalk", "Forbes and Gaynor had combined to create a steamrolling rhythm track which came hammering out of the opening chorus like a runaway train."

The record was produced by Steve Lillywhite (U2, et al.), and it's a perfect match-up: Simple Minds aspire to music of a trancelike otherworldliness, and Lillywhite has the knack to lead them up that proverbial stairway to heaven.

The sound is Roxy Music-gone-2001, and it works remarkably well (one exception: their unlikely choice of an outside song in Lou Reed's "Street Hassle," which doesn't bear covering by anyone). 

Initially, vocalist Jim Kerr might seem like just another Bryan Ferry clone, but as he stokes his inner fires with some private perception of the emerald beyond – reaching an absolutely feverish pitch on "The Kick inside of Me" – he emerges as an obsessive visionary in his own right. 

The band, meanwhile, weaves a complex web of sound from the unlikeliest parts: churchy, staccato keyboards; lacelike, arpeggiated guitar lines and soaring wisps of feedback; and metallic-sounding drums.

Sparkle in the Rain is filled with potent images that can be read as religious emblems: baptismal immersion or death ("Waterfront"), redemption on the Cross ("East at Easter"), the Word ("Book of Brilliant Things"). 

Simple Minds find religious illumination in the vertigo of their fertile imaginations, and it comes out as psychedelic testifying – all fast movement and kaleidoscopic repetition – that builds to a crescendo of ecstasy and release. 

When Kerr sings, "Someday, some of them say that our hearts will beat like the wheels of a fast train" (from "Book of Brilliant Things"), you know you're in for a wild ride.

Side one
1. Up On The Catwalk - 4:45
2. Book Of Brilliant Things - 4:21
3. Speed Your Love To Me - 4:24
4. Waterfront - 7:26
5. East At Easter - 3:32

Side two
1. Street Hassle - 5:14
2. White Hot Day - 4:32
3. “C” Moon Cry Like A Baby - 4:19
4. The Kick Inside Of Me - 4:48
5. Shake Off The Ghosts - 3:57

Simple Minds

• Jim Kerr – vocals
• Charlie Burchill – acoustic and electric guitars
• Derek Forbes – bass, vocals
• Mel Gaynor – drums, vocals
• Mick MacNeil – keyboards, vocals

Additional personnel

• Kirsty MacColl – voice on "Speed Your Love to Me" and "Street Hassle"

Production

• Producer – Steve Lillywhite
• Engineer – Howard Gray
• Assistant engineers – Paul Cook and Gavin McKillop
• Studio equipment – Matt Dunn and Paul Kerr
• Sleeve production – Assorted Images
• Coordination – Gemma Corfield

Notes
Release: 1983

Format:  LP, Vinyl
Genre:  New Wave
Label:  Virgin Records
Catalog#  205913

Vinyl:  Goed (Excellent)
Cover: Goed (Excellent 

Prijs: €20,00