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Simple Minds - Street Fighting Years (1989)

Posted By: Designol

Date: 18 May 2025 10:38:37

Street Fighting Years is the eighth studio album by Scottish rock band Simple Minds, released in May 1989 by record label A&M. Produced by Trevor Horn, the album reached the top of the UK album chart. Produced by Trevor Horn and Stephen Lipson, it was a major stylistic departure from the previous album, 1985's Once Upon a Time. While still maintaining the epic arena rock sense of scale and drama which the band had developed since the mid-1980s, Street Fighting Years also moved away from the American soul and gospel influences of its predecessor in favour of soundtrack atmospherics and a new incorporation of acoustic and Celtic/folk music-related ingredients including fretless bass, slide guitar and accordion. The lyrics built on the more political themes which the band had introduced with "Ghost Dancing", moving away from the impressionistic or spiritual concerns of earlier 1980s Simple Minds songs and covering topics including the Poll Tax, the Soweto townships, the Berlin Wall and the stationing of nuclear submarines on the Scottish coast.

Michael Jackson, Bon Jovi and even Genesis may sell more records and tickets than Simple Minds, but with Street Fighting Years the band has arrived at that coveted place in the superleague constellation that is reserved for the act which can burn with the brightest sense of mission.

Jim Kerr has become a master at talking up the business of making music, never wasting an opportunity to describe his trade in terms of spiritual and mystical reference points to which the tag of greatness can be readily attached. Now, over three years after their last studio album, Once Upon A Time, the bond has finally produced a collection to justify that attitude.

The first thing that strikes you about Street Fighting Years is how quiet much of it is. The album starts with the sound of a solo upright bass leading into the rolling piano chords of the title track. In various songs, especially the slow, reflective refrain of Let It All Come Down, Jim Kerr pitches his vocal in a new, silky low register. The full-length version of Belfast Child and Peter Gabriel's Biko only gather momentum after wistful, meandering intros, while even among the teeming shoals of sound that propel the uptempo Wall Of Love or Kick It In, there are placid eddies where Jim Kerr's singing slips from a yell to a whisper. But there's no mistaking the iron fist at work within the velvet glove. The utterly beguiling melody of This Is Your Land, featuring a deadpan Lou Reed, cloaks a stinging rebuke on the issue of the environment while gently leading the listener up towards the panoramic splendour of the instrumental coda. Everything is right about the album.

Charlie Burchill has discovered the joys of slide guitar, and his judicious contributions season the production with a modish dash of roots-rock flavouring. Lyrically, the switch from the vague impressionism of the past to a questioning manifesto embracing the popular international issues of the times - Mandela Day, Biko et al-seems both natural and timely. Even when the music takes off into the vast dramatic sweeps that will roll like huge breakers to the back of the stadiums of Europe this summer, there is little that could fairly be described as bluster. Simple Minds have done more than make a landmark album. They have assumed the mantle of authority.

Review by David Sinclair, 'Q' Magazine - June 1989 (UK)

Their first proper new release since the commercial breakthrough of Once Upon a Time (a live album intervened) and Simple Minds makes a decidedly, noncommercial follow-up. Street Fighting Years is a moody, dark affair. The music is yearning and most of the songs are politically charged lyrically. It was a move that could (and did) bring commercial failure. However, Street Fighting Years is an artistic and elegant album that might lack immediate choruses but draws in the listener. The title track takes some dramatic turns that give the gentle melody added thrust. "Take a Step Back" pulsates and "Wall of Love" rocks with conviction. Slower tracks like the brooding "Let It All Come Down" and a spirited run through the traditional "Belfast Child" are well done. Other noteworthy tracks include a version of the Peter Gabriel classic "Biko" and the soaring "Mandela Day." It might not have satisfied the band's newly won fans, but Street Fighting Years is an interesting, enjoyable album with some truly lovely moments.

Review by Tom Demalon, Allmusic.com

Simple Minds at Allmusic
Simple Minds at Wiki

Tracklist:

01. Street Fighting Years (6:26)
02. Soul Crying Out (6:08)
03. Wall Of Love (5:20)
04. This Is Your Land (6:22)
05. Take A Step Back (4:23)
06. Kick It In (6:11)
07. Let It All Come Down (4:57)
08. Mandela Day (5:45)
09. Belfast Child (6:42)
10. Biko (7:35)
11. When Spirits Rise (2:02)

EAC log

Exact Audio Copy V1.0 beta 3 from 29. August 2011

EAC extraction logfile from 18. January 2014, 1:56

Simple Minds / Street Fighting Years

Used drive : PLEXTOR DVDR PX-810SA Adapter: 2 ID: 0

Read mode : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No

Read offset correction : 48
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes
Used interface : Installed external ASPI interface

Used output format : User Defined Encoder
Selected bitrate : 1024 kBit/s
Quality : High
Add ID3 tag : No
Command line compressor : C:\Program Files (x86)\Exact Audio Copy\Flac\flac.exe
Additional command line options : -8 -V -T "Date=%year%" -T "Genre=%genre%" -T "COMMENT=ripped by bvstudio®" %source%

TOC of the extracted CD

Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-
1 | 0:00.00 | 6:26.18 | 0 | 28967
2 | 6:26.18 | 6:07.65 | 28968 | 56557
3 | 12:34.08 | 5:20.35 | 56558 | 80592
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7 | 34:51.13 | 4:56.45 | 156838 | 179082
8 | 39:47.58 | 5:45.35 | 179083 | 204992
9 | 45:33.18 | 6:41.72 | 204993 | 235139
10 | 52:15.15 | 7:34.58 | 235140 | 269247
11 | 59:49.73 | 2:01.70 | 269248 | 278392

Range status and errors

Selected range

Filename F:\1989 - Street Fighting Years\Simple Minds - Street Fighting Years.wav

Peak level 97.7 %
Extraction speed 8.0 X
Range quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 3025A89A
Copy CRC 3025A89A
Copy OK

No errors occurred

AccurateRip summary

Track 1 accurately ripped (confidence 12) [EFE92018] (AR v2)
Track 2 accurately ripped (confidence 12) [83558DF2] (AR v2)
Track 3 accurately ripped (confidence 12) [8CD60131] (AR v2)
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Track 10 accurately ripped (confidence 12) [B04EAB9C] (AR v2)
Track 11 accurately ripped (confidence 12) [F672BE0F] (AR v2)

All tracks accurately ripped

End of status report

–– CUETools DB Plugin V2.1.5

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Submit result: 8fL0aovIg5SE4DXpSDpZ9rM9SAU- has been confirmed
Track | CTDB Status
1 | (8/8) Accurately ripped
2 | (8/8) Accurately ripped
3 | (8/8) Accurately ripped
4 | (8/8) Accurately ripped
5 | (8/8) Accurately ripped
6 | (8/8) Accurately ripped
7 | (8/8) Accurately ripped
8 | (8/8) Accurately ripped
9 | (8/8) Accurately ripped
10 | (8/8) Accurately ripped
11 | (8/8) Accurately ripped

==== Log checksum 351808A86B51E62602BB890661C937936AC7204534C3E969B61DAB891DE3E916 ====

DR log

foobar2000 1.2 / Dynamic Range Meter 1.1.1
log date: 2017-07-27 15:35:43

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Analyzed: Simple Minds / Street Fighting Years
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

DR Peak RMS Duration Track
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
DR12 -0.20 dB -15.28 dB 6:26 01-Street Fighting Years
DR13 -0.20 dB -15.82 dB 6:08 02-Soul Crying Out
DR11 -0.20 dB -13.35 dB 5:20 03-Wall Of Love
DR13 -0.20 dB -15.61 dB 6:22 04-This Is Your Land
DR12 -0.20 dB -13.99 dB 4:23 05-Take A Step Back
DR12 -0.20 dB -14.55 dB 6:11 06-Kick It In
DR12 -0.24 dB -15.89 dB 4:57 07-Let It All Come Down
DR13 -0.20 dB -15.85 dB 5:45 08-Mandela Day
DR12 -0.20 dB -17.00 dB 6:42 09-Belfast Child
DR12 -0.55 dB -15.23 dB 7:35 10-Biko
DR11 -5.90 dB -19.72 dB 2:02 11-When Spirits Rise
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Number of tracks: 11
Official DR value: DR12

Samplerate: 44100 Hz
Channels: 2
Bits per sample: 16
Bitrate: 835 kbps
Codec: FLAC
================================================================================

All thanks to original releaser

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