Simple Minds return with new music

Since I reviewed the long awaited return to America and been a fan since the early '80s, I can't wait to hear this...

Simple Minds will return with Big Music, their first album of new material in five years, on Nov. 3.

The veteran Scottish alternative rock band formed in the '70s and still has frontman Jim Kerr and guitarist Charlie Burchill at their creative core. 

Watch the video for the first single "Honest Town" here: http://bit.ly/1oUzHpa

Big Music, their 16th album, was made with co-writer Iain Cook (Chvrches) and producers Steve Osborne, Andy Wright and Steve Hillage (who worked on 1981's Sons And Fascination/Sister Feelings Call).

"Our songs have always been a snapshot of a moment in time and Big Music is no exception," says Kerr.

"But there are also elements of nostalgia in that a lot of the themes are the same ones that fuelled us on Empires And Dance and Sons And Fascination. We are still writing songs about great cities and the movement of people. It seems that the more things change, the more they stay the same."

New song "Honest Town" was inspired by Kerr's mum, who passed away in Glasgow four years ago. Co-written with Cook, it describes Kerr's childhood.

"Shortly before my mum died, I took her out for a drive,' says the singer. 'It was just before Christmas, and she wanted to go into the city centre to buy some new clothes, even though she was already very ill. The route we took became a journey through the past, as we drove past our old housing scheme, my old school and the factory my mum used to work in. She was talking all the time, and one phrase stuck in my mind: "This is an honest town". She died not that long afterwards, but it was a lovely way of saying farewell."

Big Music features another homage of sorts, with the anthem "Let The Day Begin" a tribute to American singer and guitarist Michael Been, who died after suffering a heart attack in 2010. Been was the frontman of Oklahoman band The Call, who toured with Simple Minds in the 1980s, and "Let The Day Begin" was their signature tune. One of the forgotten anthems of the 1980s, it was revived in 2000 when America's Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore adopted it as his official campaign song.

"The Call were a great band," recalls Kerr. "They listened to the John Peel Show every night and wanted to sound like Joy Division. But they came from Oklahoma and couldn't stop themselves from sounding like The Band."

Track list:

1) Blindfolded
2) Midnight Walking
3) Honest Town
4) Big Music
5) Human
6) Blood Diamonds
7) Let The Day Begin
8) Concrete And Cherry Blossom
9) Imagination
10) Kill Or Cure
11) Broken Glass Park
12) Spirited Away