Simple Minds - Life In A Day

Immediately, there's no real indication of the Glaswegians' past as Johnny and the Self Abusers. Life In A Day – Simple Minds' 1979 debut – owes an undeniable debt to Roxy Music and the David Bowie of Station to Station and Low, mixing curt piano lines and glam rock but also hinting at a sense of fun that would in later years be wiped clear. Chelsea Girl even sounds like the hit that would nevertheless elude them for the next three years.

Simple Minds' astonishingly rapid ascent from humble and derivative post-punk to platinum and transcendent art pop is just as remarkable as the descent that followed it. More remarkable is the fact that a fair portion of the band's fans have such a strict discographic line drawn in the sand (right at the chart-crashing masterpiece that is New Gold Dream) where both sides overlap but don't dare cross. While fans of the band's earlier work essentially drop off with that record (and choose to live in blissful denial that the band existed after that), those on the other end are more or less oblivious to what's on the other side. So what's on that other, earlier side? Five studio albums released within the span of three years. Five studio albums that range from safe to bold, from impenetrable to accessible, from strange to puzzling, and from good to pee-your-pants phenomenal. Life In A Day, the first of the five records released during this fascinating pre-fame period of Simple Minds' career, is easily the least of the first five. Despite the growing pains, this is a skilled and assured assemblage of guitar-heavy post-punk, with Jim Kerr's over-caffeinated voice taking the lead role. The arrangements are full, direct, and sharply executed. The high points: the teeter-tottering title track and the J. Geils Band like swagger (honestly!) of "Someone." The low point: "Pleasantly Disturbed" an epic Velvet Underground inspired limp that lasts eight very long minutes.

Simple Minds’ debut album “Life In A Day” was originally released in 1979 on “Zoom Records” (the label run by their then manager Bruce Findlay), and distributed by Arista Records. The album was produced by John Leckie, and spawned the singles “Life In A Day” and “Chelsea Girl.”

Taken from the 2012 X5 box to MP3

Simple Minds; Life In A Day

1.      Someone

2.      Life In A Day

3.      Sad Affair

4.      All for You

5.      Pleasantly Disturbed

6.      No Cure

7.      Chelsea Girl

8.      Wasteland

9.      Destiny

10.   Murder Story

11.   Special View

12.   Garden Of Hate