Author:Graeme Thomson, Jim Kerr, Charlie Burchill
A companion piece to Graeme Thomson’s excellent “Themes for Great Cities: A New History of Simple Minds”, this takes the form of first-person interviews with the founding (and still current) creative hub of the band.
Each short chapter tackles a subject. Jim writes an intro, Graeme transcribes solo interviews with both Jim and Charlie. It’s all very conversational in tone and covers everything you could want to know about the rise, fall, and rise again of the post-punk-Euro-art-stadium-rockers, their backgrounds, personal lives, and the passage of time as they face turning 70.
With short chapters, it is an easy read, easy to put down and pick up, and gallups along over 300+ pages. My PDF copy had no pictures, which was a shame.
Length of Read:Medium
Might appeal to people who enjoyed…
Whereas “Themes for Great Cities: A New History of Simple Minds” covered the how from Graeme’s point of view. This one covers the why from Jim & Charlie’s POV.
One thing you’ve learned
The inspiration for their signature tune, ‘Themes for Great Cities’, was the Tornados / Joe Meek’s ‘Telstar’
Graeme Thompson’s previous book was an excellent read so will look out for this. Kind of get the Telstar link!
I’m delighted to say that Graeme’s 10,000+ word essay for the forthcoming Dick Gaughan box set is fantastic.