Search - Simple Minds :: Real to Real Cacophony

A Lost Classic

The Grossinator | 12/17/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This album really is a lost classic. The year was 1979. Coming off a decent enough debut album, Simple Minds needed to do something radical to avoid getting lost in the post-punk shuffle. And boy, did they deliver. Dark, melodic, pithy, and highly unusual, this record succeeds on every level. Of course, nobody bought it, but this is not about commerce. Artistically, this ranks alongside the finest work of just about anyone.



It's difficult to talk about individual tracks with something like this because of the whole sum-of-the-parts aspect of the record, but I'm gonna try.



People say that 'Real to Reel Cacophony' is an awful name for an album and in some ways they're right, but when you hear the title track it all seems to make sense. Beautiful in its stoned simplicity, it's tripped out and spacey but never indulgent. It's funny how many other acts have ripped off the vibe of this track but nobody knows. Check Zooropa, I Wanna Be Adored or Everything In Its Right Place. The influence of the feel of this track is unmistakeable.



Next up, 'Naked Eye'. To the casual listener a throwaway romp, this is rife with clever musical tricks - time signature changes you'd never notice unless someone pointed it out to you. Dub delay effects on the snare drum which only plays on the 1 of the bar. Insanely good bass playing from the great Derek Forbes. This is great stuff.



'Citizen' raises the bar again with incredible lyrics about Big Brother and some excellent drumming.



'Carnival' is a skanked up punk track with a wonderfully playful keyboard line and the most ridiculously funny rhythm/drum fill you're ever likely to hear.



'Factory' is one the greatest songs they ever recorded. It's a wonder it hasn't been played to death on underground radio.



Some might say that they could live without 'Cacophony', a short cyclical instrumental that jars on every 8th beat but I'd argue that it has its place. The off kilter feel sets you up nicely for 'Veldt'.

Well, I don't know how to describe this. Is it a song? A sound collage? The closest thing I can think of in feel is Miles Davis' 'Kind Of Blue' album. It sounds like a field recording of a trip to a swamp on Mars. If Pink Floyd had recorded this in their early years it would be feted as an all-time classic. When the bassline finally comes in full with the piano and sax, the groove is incredible.



Next up is the one-two combination of 'Premonition' and 'Changeling'. My God, these are good. The rhythm section are locked in in a way that hints at their next album (the excellent 'Empires & Dance'). The guitar and keys are inspired and the vocals and lyrics rock!



'Film Theme' is a trippy instrumental and quite brilliant. Built around a descending guitar motif, it adds layer upon layer of sound before gently fading away. Fantastic.



'Calling Your Name' is an extremely catchy power pop song with whistle swoops, classic keyboard lines galore, and a silly guitar solo that still works! (Think 'Beat It')



'Scar' closes the album on a haunting note. The intro, (not unlike the intro to 'Paradise City') gives way to a beautiful intertwining of guitar and keyboard around a natural harmonic scale. (That's a fancy way of saying it sounds Arabic)

The lyrics are economical and devastating.



You've probably noticed I haven't mentioned the vocals much. That's because it's hard to give them a place amidst all this music. For much of the album Kerr sounds almost like a monkey mastering the fundamentals of speech. That doesn't sound terribly flattering, but when juxtaposed against the impressionistic and sometimes emotional lyrics, the effect is bizarre and fascinating. The fact that it's difficult to make out what he's saying half the time only adds to the experience. As with all great albums, things which probably could have been weaknesses ended up as strengths instead, punched home by the genuine punk attitude and gung-ho spirit of the band.



Besides musicianship, sonics, arrangement, vibe, etcetera, the songwriting on this album is absolutely amazing. Just not in an obvious or traditional way. At the time it was released, the album was considered the most uncommercial record ever released by the Arista label. It might take a few spins for you to get your head around it. But it really is worth it.



If you like Can, Neu, Gary Numan, Iggy, Joy Division, Television, or any classic post-punk with a twist then you cannot go wrong with this one.

"

Edgy New Wave

tommo75 | United States | 03/25/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This 1979 release presents Simple Minds as a dark and edgy new wave band, closer to early XTC than to U2, with whom they'd be compared later. Listening to this album will bring quite a shock to fans of the "Alive and Kicking"-era group, as it did to me when I bought my first copy back in 1985 or '86. The copy I picked up then had an unusual loose and wrinkled plastic wrap that gave the whole thing an import feel. The sweeping, some might say bombastic, anthems of later Simple Minds are nowhere to be found. Instead, the songs are quirky and dark, driven by the bass and keyboards in a jumpy, rhythmic way. The remastered version brings some of the quirkiness to life. This album is not a place to start for a casual fan, but if you're becoming a more serious fan of SM, you need to pick this up to see an important stage in the development of one of the biggest groups of the 1980s."

Ground-Breaking New Wave

Kirk Lott | adrift on the seas of life | 01/02/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"On Simple Minds' second album, the Scottish quintet went into seclusion - out of earshot of its record company - and emerged with one of the most daring, ground-breaking albums of the new wave era.



As allmusic.com enthused, the album is "an achievement that's on a plane with other 1979 post-punk landmarks like Metal Box (Public Image Ltd.), 154 (Wire), Entertainment(Gang of Four), and Unknown Pleasures (Joy Division)."



The title track is a haunting and hypnotic synth meditation. The brief instrumental "Cacophony" is a discordant, angular guitar excursion. But the real highlight is the back-to-back, dark and edgy "Premonition" and "Changeling," two of the best written, best performed, and most powerful tracks of the new wave era. Truly mind blowing.



The only downside to the album is the handful of extremely dated, jerky "art music" tracks, that sound like a young David Byrne playing carnival music while on a bad acid trip.



But if you program your cd player or iPod correctly, you're in for a landmark excursion in modern music."