Direction of the Heart Simple Minds

• 1Vision Thing04:39
• 2First You Jump04:23
• 3Human Traffic04:17
• 4Who Killed Truth?03:58
• 5Solstice Kiss05:23
• 6Act of Love04:00
• 7Natural03:26
• 8Planet Zero04:10
• 9The Walls Came Down03:54
• 10Direction of the Heart (Taormina 2022)04:55
• 11Wondertimes04:54
• Total Runtime47:59

Info for Direction of the Heart

Simple Minds return with eighteenth studio album Direction of the Heart, set for release on 21st October 2022 and including lead single ‘Vision Thing’. Direction of the Heart is Simple Minds’ first album of new material since 2018’s outstanding UK Top 5 album Walk Between Worlds. Throughout its nine tracks, Direction of the Heart finds the band at their most confident, anthemic best on an inspired celebration of life, and which manages to perfectly encapsulate the essence of past and present Simple Minds, a band whose reascent over the past 10 years has seen them, once again, capture the magic and critical praise of their early days.

Simple Minds have been musical pioneers for 40 glittering years. Catching the mood of the post-punk era, when the angry sounds of 1977 were splintering into a thousand different shapes, they emerged with a style rooted in the art-rock of David Bowie and the electronic dance of Donna Summer.

They went on to become one of the great bands of their generation, deploying rousing choruses and booming atmospherics to provide a soundtrack that has endured. They topped the American chart with Don't You (Forget About Me) and followed suit in the UK with the Ballad Of The Streets EP (featuring Belfast Child). In selling over 60 million records, they have seen three of their 20 studio albums reach number one in the UK – Sparkle In The Rain, Once Upon A Time and Street Fighting Years – a chart-topping feat equalled by their live album Live In The City Of Light and the compilation Glittering Prize. A spellbinding touring band, they have graced the world's biggest stadiums. They starred at Live Aid and played three momentous London shows in honour of Nelson Mandela. The past decade has also seen a remarkable resurgence, their world-class credentials acknowledged by a Q magazine Inspiration award in 2014 and an Ivor Novello in 2016. They are now marking their 40th anniversary with a world tour, live album and career-spanning compilation.

"A remarkable forty-five years on, find Simple Minds – Jim and Charlie – choosing an apt title in Direction Of The Heart; it could have been ‘The Italian Job’ , but they’re following a path, a destiny, avoiding the same old scene. With a smattering of stone-cold classics, Simple Minds, as ever, make their statement with the same aplomb and conviction they’re done for those decades past."

Jim Kerr, vocals
Charlie Burchill, guitars, keyboards, programming
Gordy Goudie, acoustic guitar
Ged Grimes,bass
Berenice Scott, keyboards
Cherisse Osei, drums
Sarah Brown, backing vocals

Simple Minds
Best known in the U.S. for their 1985 number one hit "Don't You (Forget About Me)" from the film The Breakfast Club, Scotland's Simple Minds evolved from a post-punk art rock band influenced by Roxy Music into a grand, epic-sounding pop band along the lines of U2. The band grew out of a Glasgow punk group called Johnny and the Self-Abusers, which featured guitarist Charlie Burchill and lead singer Jim Kerr. The inaugural 1978 lineup of Simple Minds featured a rhythm section of Tony Donald on bass and Brian McGee on drums, plus keyboardist Mick McNeil; Donald was soon replaced by Derek Forbes. Their early albums leaped from one style to another, with Life in a Day consisting mostly of dense, arty pop songs; critical acclaim followed the darker, more experimental art rock of Reel to Real Cacophony and the Euro-disco of Empires and Dance. The group began a transition to a more accessible pop style with the albums Sons and Fascination and Sister Feelings Call, originally issued together and subsequently split up. New Gold Dream (81-82-83-84) became their first chart album in the U.S., and the tour-shy McGee quit owing to burgeoning popularity, eventually being replaced by Mel Gaynor. Following the Steve Lillywhite-produced Sparkle in the Rain, Jim Kerr married Pretenders lead singer Chrissie Hynde (the two groups had toured together).

After Bryan Ferry rejected the opportunity to sing "Don't You (Forget About Me)," Simple Minds almost did so as well; Kerr was dissatisfied with the song's lyrics, which he regarded as formulaic. His change of heart gave Simple Minds their only American chart-topper, and the song later became an international hit as well; however, Kerr's feelings about the song remained ambivalent, and it did not appear on the follow-up album, Once Upon a Time. This album went gold and reached the U.S. Top Ten, in spite of criticism for its bombastic, over-the-top approach. A live album and the uncompromisingly political Street Fighting Years squandered Simple Minds' commercial momentum, however. By the time the group returned to more personal themes and its straightforward, anthemic rock on 1991's Real Life, personnel changes and audience loss left the group's future viability in doubt. But they weren't totally deterred, however. Kerr and Burchill trudged on, releasing Good News From the Next World in 1995 while the single "She's a River" received moderate airplay. A short tour of North America soon followed, but Simple Minds' direction also quickly faded. They needed a break to clarify their own personal stance in music. Derek Forbes returned for 1998's Néapolis, but that, too, wasn't strong enough to sustain Simple Minds' newfound creativity. Their famed pop songs had diluted a bit; however, the new millennium proved poignant. Jim Kerr and Charlie Burchill signed to Eagle Records in early 2001 and constructed their first covers album, Neon Lights, later that fall, paying tribute to Patti Smith, Neil Young, David Bowie, and others. In summer 2002, Kerr and Burchill issued Cry, Simple Minds' first batch of new material since 1995's Good News From the Next World. Our Secrets Are the Same, an album that was intended for release in 2000, saw official release in 2003. An extensive reissue program and live recordings followed. Black and White, a new studio album, appeared in 2005, and the charting Grafitti Soul in 2009 (which saw the return of original drummer Mel Gaynor to the fold). Simple Minds accepted a spot at London's iTunes Festival that year and issued a digital EP of their performance. After a global tour, Simple Minds returned with Big Music in 2014, an album that included two songs co-written with Chvrches' Ian Cook.

This album contains no booklet.