"Silver Box" - Simple Minds

Promotional Release

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Full Track Listing:

CD One:
Life In A Day [Live] (3:51)
Chelsea Girl [Live] (4:52)
Here Comes The Fool [Live] (4:32)
Changeling [Session] (3:59)
Premonition [Session] (5:37)
Citizen (Dance Of Youth) [Session] (2:53)
Room [Session] (4:18)
I Travel [Demo] (3:52)
Celebrate [Demo] (4:24)
Thirty Frames A Second [Demo] (5:30)
Twist/Run/Repulsion [Demo] (4:08)
Capital City [Demo] (5:33)
New Warm Skin [Demo] (4:20)
Constantinople Line [Demo] (4:41)
Careful In Career [Demo] (6:18)

CD Two:
The American [Demo] (4:03)
Life In Oils [Demo] (4:19)
Sweat In Bullet [Demo] (4:33)
Love Song [Demo] (5:00)
Promised You A Miracle [Session] (4:24)
In Trance As Mission [Session] (4:27)
Someone Somewhere (In Summertime) [Session] (5:19)
Glittering Prize [Session] (4:22)
Hunter And The Hunted [Session] (5:53)
The Kick Inside Of Me [Session] (5:56)
New Gold Dream (81,82,83,84) / Take Me To The River / Light My Fire [Live] (12:32)
Don’t You (Forget About Me) [Live Aid Rehearsal] (7:25)

CD Three:
Waterfront [Live] (10:48)
Ghostdancing [Live] (7:57)
Book Of Brilliant Things [Live] (7:27)
Once Upon A Time [Live] (8:07)
All The Things She Said [Live] (5:46)
Alive And Kicking [Live] (7:39)
Sanctify Yourself [Live] (5:56)
Mandela Day [Live] (5:10)
Real Life [Live] (5:05)
See The Lights [Live] (4:52)

CD Four:
Travelling Man [Live] (5:13)
East At Easter [Live] (4:22)
Banging On The Door [Live] (5:38)
Stand By Love [Live] (4:35)
Oh Jungleland [Live] (7:00)
King Is White And In The Crowd [Live] (4:20)
Big Sleep [Live] (5:18)
Let There Be Love [Live] (5:42)
Ghostrider [Live] (4:03)
Belfast Child [Live] (9:02)
She’s A River [Live] (4:40)
Up On The Catwalk [Live] (4:40)
Hypnotised [Live] (6:43)

CD Five:
Swimming Towards The Sun (4:32)
Jeweller To The Stars (3:27)
Space (4:15)
Death By Chocolate (3:35)
Waiting For The End Of The World (3:25)
Neon Cowboys (3:51)
She Knows (4:07)
Hello (3:23)
Happy Is The Man (4:23)
Sleeping (4:30)

Background Information

“Silver Box” was a 5-disc box set released by Simple Minds on October 18, 2004. Several months earlier, in August 2004, these promotional discs of the box set began to circulate to drum up interest in the box set. That box set was a collection of unreleased demos, radio and television sessions, and various live recordings. Included in amongst the live material on the second CD is a 12:33 version of “New Gold Dream (81, 82, 83, 84)” which was recorded live in Glasgow, Scotland at the Barrowlands Ballroom on January 5, 1985. A that performance, Bono had joined Simple Minds on stage for the song, and can be heard on this track. While singing “New Gold Dream” the band would also include pieces of “Take me to the River” and “Light My Fire” stretching the entire performance out to over 12 minutes in length.

This promotional release was put together by Virgin EMI. It featured copies of all five discs, pressed to CDR. The text on the CDs is black only. The only artwork is a card stock insert with black text printed on it. The discs were then placed into plastic slipcases, and distributed with a press release:

In their 25 year career, there are few things Simple Minds have not done. They have sold tens of millions of albums, filled stadiums all over the world, received critical adulation and achieved extraordinary success. At their peak they were arguably the biggest band in the world and to this day they are still touring, writing and recording new material. However it is long overdue for the band to receive the retrospective Box Set treatment, and this 5 CD set, comprised of demo, live, studio and session material collects what Simple Minds are all about, remarkably containing not one previously released track.

Discs 1 & 2 focus on early session and demo material and highlight just how experimental the early Minds were. Far from the stadium stomp that symbolised the band’s middle period, much of the band’s early work had an edge which set them apart from most other post punk wannabes. Here BBC session recordings and live versions of classic singles like Chelsea Girl and Life In A Day capture the energy of the band at that stage in their career.

Discs 3 & 4 are comprised of live material from a series of triumphant gigs between 1985 and 1995. Arguably when the band were at their peak, classic tracks such as Waterfront, Alive & Kicking and Sanctify Yourself are delivered with such gusto that it is hard not to have your breath taken away by Jim Kerr’s vocal and the chiming power of Charlie Burchill’s guitar work.

Disc 5 contains the “lost” album Our Secrets Are The Same. Recorded in 1999 the album was stuck at the bottom of a legal dispute, but finally it is to be available to the fans as part of this Box Set. The Box Set’s sleeve notes will contain a commentary written by Jim Kerr on the tracks on Our Secrets Are The Same.

All tracks on this set are previously unreleased. For more detail on specific tracks please see tracklisting.

Packaged in a long box, the 76 page booklet contains many previously unseen photos from record company and band member archives. Also included is a companion essay to the music written by Simple Minds expert Alfred Bos which includes new interview material from band members and some of the amazing producers that have worked with the band. There is also a commentary to Our Secrets Are The Same, written by Jim Kerr.

The press release also contained a track listing for the set.

Liner Notes

New Gold Dream (81, 82, 83, 84) / Take Me to the River / Light My Fire:
Live at the Barrowlands with Bono – 5/1/85
Written by Derek Forbes / Mike McNeil / James Kerr / Charlie Burchill / Al Green / Mabon Hodges / Jim Morrison / John Densmore / Robby Krieger / Ray Manzarek

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