- Simon Cornwell: "When you've been interviewed in the past, you've always said "I look forward to the future,
I always look towards the songs I'm going to write." Now with this anniversary of twenty years of
Simple Minds, are you going to look back and say "Yeah. We've done a lot of
good stuff. Maybe we'll release some of the old stuff." Or are you going to continue looking
towards the future?"
- Jim Kerr: "Both. I think we're a lot more both relaxed and protective
of the past now. We were a lot more dismissive of it before. A lot more protective of it
because we realise: not only do we see it differently but we realise someone's going to make a
mess of it if we don't get involved in all that stuff."
- Jim Kerr: "Of course, we don't own this stuff. This is the
thing. But it's lying there and we have to get an overwrite. ... We really want to start
with the Abusers' demos and put them out.
I think they're of interest even if it's only the genetics and the genesis of the
band. And we're trying to scrape everything available together and do it in as credible
way as possible, not tawdry. But we have to get permission from
Milarky and
Alan McNeil and all these people. They seem
to think 'This is worth millions!'"
- My conversation with Jim took place after the
VH1 gig in February 1998. Little did I know that I'd have the
Abusers' demos in my hands a month after
our conversation.
- The Johnny And The Self Abusers and
early Simple Minds
demos had become legendary. Bad quality cassette copies were being regularly swapped, but hardcore fans
hankered after the real-deal.
- After several false rumours, the first recordings by the seminal Simple Minds
were finally released in this package.
- Two sets of demos were collected for this
retrospective: the final Johnny And The Self Abusers
demos (recorded as
Simple Minds)
and the first Simple Minds
demos.
- None of these demos had been officially released previously in full (although parts of
Subway Sex,
Cocteau Twins and
Pleasantly Disturbed had appeared as part
of The Street Fighting Years documentary).
- The album was put together by Voiceprint, a label experienced with
reissues and archival releases. Voiceprint also offered fan club services,
which were also taken up by Simple Minds and lead to
three issues of the fanzine Travelling Man.
- Whilst Voiceprint handled all the CD manufacturing, marketing and
distribution, the recordings were owned by Mindmood, the
Minds' first step in releasing their own archival
material through their own label.
- The artwork was purposely 'trashy' and included many previously unseen pictures of the
band. The booklet included
sleeve notes written by
Billy Sloan (which were reproduced in the first
issue of Travelling Man.)
- Copies appeared the same week as Neapolis. Then, as suddenly as it appeared,
it was withdrawn. Those fans who ordered copies from mail-order companies received their orders, but the album
wasn't readvertised, and the album disappeared from all mail-order listings after a month.
- It later became apparent the CD was withdrawn.
- No official reason for the CD's disappearance was ever given. It would seem that ownership of
the first recorded demos was part of the problem: no-one could remember, or agree, who financed the
first demos, and so their ownership was called into question. Until that's resolved,
this release
will remain unavailable.
- Hardcore collectors would be interested in the two, slightly different CDs currently circulating. One
features the Mindmood logo whilst the other doesn't.
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