''Walk Between Worlds'' is the eighteenth studio album by Scottish rock band Simple Minds, released in February 2018 by BMG.

Background

''Walk Between Worlds'' heralded major lineup changes for Simple Minds. After a period of relative stability since the early 2000s, only vocalist Jim Kerr, guitarist Charlie Burchill and bassist Ged Grimes remained from the previous studio album, Big Music. It was the first album since 2002's ''

Cry Crying is the dropping of tears (or welling of tears in the eyes) in response to an emotional state, or pain. Emotions that can lead to crying include sadness, anger, and even happiness. The act of crying has been defined as "a complex secreto ...

'' without keyboardist Andy Gillespie, who left the band in early 2017. Longtime drummer Mel Gaynor performed on nine of the album's tracks, but left prior to the band's 2018 tour. Longtime associate Gordon Goudie played acoustic guitar on four songs. Goudie also appeared on the following Simple Minds albums: 2001's '' Neon Lights'', 2002's ''Cry'', 2005's '' Black & White 050505'', 2009's ''

Graffiti Soul ''Graffiti Soul'' is the fifteenth studio album (of original material) by Scottish rock band Simple Minds, released in May 2009. On 31 May 2009, the album entered the UK Albums Chart at No. 10, becoming Simple Minds' first UK top ten album ...

'', 2016's '' Acoustic'' and 2017's '' Acoustic in Concert''. Sarah Brown remains the primary backing vocalist of the band. Percussionist

Cherisse Osei Cherisse Osei (born 23 December 1986) is an English drummer. Best known for her work with the band Simple Minds, Osei has also played with a number of acts, including Mantas, The Faders, Paloma Faith, Bryan Ferry, Kelly Jones, and Mika. In 20 ...

played on three songs and is the official drummer for the 2018 tour. Catherine AD aka The Anchoress provided backing vocals on two songs and was playing keyboards on tour but abruptly left the band during the 2018 tour. Also returning on the album was

Peter-John Vettese Peter-John Vettese (born 15 August 1956 in Scotland), also known as Peter Vettese, is a Scottish keyboardist, songwriter, arranger and record producer. Vettese is perhaps best known for being the keyboardist for progressive rock band Jethro Tul ...

, who played piano on two tracks and arranged string orchestra on one song. (Vettese also appeared on the album ''

Real Life Real life is a phrase used originally in literature to distinguish between the real world and fictional, virtual or idealized worlds, and in acting to distinguish between actors and the characters they portray. It has become a popular term on th ...

'' in 1991). ''Walk Between Worlds'' was performed in its entirety in February 2018 during seven concerts throughout Europe.

Artwork

The album artwork is by Brazilian visual artist Heitor Magno.

Critical reception

''Walk Between Worlds'' received generally positive reviews from

music critics Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on w ...

. On the

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website

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, which assigns a "Metascore" based on the ratings and reviews of selected mainstream independent publications, the album has a

weighted average The weighted arithmetic mean is similar to an ordinary arithmetic mean (the most common type of average), except that instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others. The ...

score of 70 out of 100 based on 9 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Writing in ''

Uncut Magazine ''Uncut'' is a monthly magazine based in London. It is available across the English-speaking world, and focuses on music, but also includes film and books sections. A DVD magazine under the ''Uncut'' brand was published quarterly from 2005 to 2006 ...

'', Graeme Thompson described it as, "an expansive, atmospheric reboot of the muscular melancholy of 1985's ''

Once Upon a Time "Once upon a time" is a stock phrase used to introduce a narrative of past events, typically in fairy tales and folk tales. It has been used in some form since at least 1380 (according to the ''Oxford English Dictionary'') in storytelling in t ...

'', and "as strangely compelling as anything they've done over the past 35 years." On 28 January 2018, a few days before its release, ''Walk Between Worlds'' was awarded "Album of the Week" by ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...

''.

Track listing

All tracks written by Jim Kerr and Charlie Burchill except where noted.

Standard edition

# "Magic" – 4:35 # "Summer" – 4:57 (Kerr, Burchill, Owen Parker) # "Utopia" – 4:15 # "The Signal and the Noise" – 5:18 # "In Dreams" – 4:16 # "Barrowland Star" – 6:23 # "Walk Between Worlds" – 5:13 # "Sense of Discovery" – 6:27 (Kerr, Burchill, Parker)

Deluxe edition bonus tracks

"Silent Kiss" – 4:57

# "Angel Underneath My Skin" – 3:43 (Mark Kerr / Erikah Karst) # "Dirty Old Town" (live) – 4:53 (

Ewan McColl James Henry Miller (25 January 1915 – 22 October 1989), better known by his stage name Ewan MacColl, was a Folk music, folk singer-songwriter, folk song collector, Union organizer, labour activist and actor. Born in England to Scottish people, ...

)

B-sides

# "Direction of the Heart" – 4:23 (B-side of the ''Magic'' 7" vinyl single) Durations: * 50:02 with the first 2 (studio) bonus tracks * 54:55 with the 3 bonus tracks

Personnel

;Simple Minds *

Jim Kerr James Kerr (born 9 July 1959) is a Scottish singer and the lead singer of the rock band Simple Minds, becoming best known internationally for "Don't You (Forget About Me)" (1985), which topped the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in the United States. Ot ...

– lead vocals *

Charlie Burchill Charles Burchill (born 27 November 1959) is a Scottish musician and composer, best known as the guitarist of Simple Minds. He is one of the founders of the group. Style During Simple Minds' early to mid-1980s period, Burchill's guitar had a dis ...

– guitars, keyboards, programming, music composition *

Ged Grimes Ged Grimes (born on 28 March 1962) is a Scottish musician, producer and composer. He is currently the bass player for rock band Simple Minds, and was a founding member of Scottish pop band Danny Wilson whose hits include "Mary's Prayer" (from ' ...

– bass guitar *

Mel Gaynor Mel George Gaynor (born 29 May 1959) is a British drummer, best known as the longtime drummer for the rock band Simple Minds. Biography Gaynor was born to a Jamaican father and an Afro-Brazilian mother. He began drumming at age 11 and had ...

– drums, percussion (on "Walk Between Worlds") with: *

– drums (on "Sense Of Discovery"), percussion (on "Sense Of Discovery" and "Dirty Old Town") * Sarah Brown – additional lead vocals (on "In Dreams"), backing vocals (on "Magic", "The Signal and the Noise", "Barrowland Star", "Walk Between Worlds", "Sense of Discovery", "Angel Underneath My Skin" and "Dirty Old Town") * Gordy Goudie – acoustic guitar (on "Summer", "Utopia", "Barrowland Star" and "Dirty Old Town") * Catherine AD aka The Anchoress – backing vocals (on "Utopia" and "Angel Underneath My Skin") *

– piano and string arrangements (on "Barrowland Star") * Owen Parker – keyboards, programming, music composition (on "Summer" and "Sense Of Discovery") * Andy Wright – backing vocals (on "Summer", "Sense Of Discovery" and "Angel Underneath My Skin"), production (on all songs) * Hatty Parker and Emily Parker – additional backing vocals (on "Sense of Discovery")

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

About the tracks

Source * After initially appearing as an idea of a melody during the recording sessions for ''

Good News from the Next World ''Good News from the Next World'' is the tenth studio album by Scottish rock band Simple Minds, released in January 1995 by record label Virgin. The album's recording started in the band's own studio in Perthshire, Scotland, in 1993, and finish ...

'' (1995) and later being recorded for '' Black & White 050505'' (2005) as "Fortune Teller", the song was then considered for ''

'' (2009) but, again, not released until it was finally rerecorded (and retitled) as "Magic" for ''Walk Between Worlds''. It was (probably erroneously) premiered on 15 December 2017 on RTL radio in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

. * "Summer" was first mentioned in June 2010 by Jim Kerr as a possible track for his second Lostboy! album. * "Utopia" was first mentioned by Jim Kerr in June 2012. Simple Minds were initially considering recording and releasing two separate albums simultaneously. The first album would have been named after this track, ''Utopia''. The second album was going to be called ''Nostalgia'' after a track of the same name, "Nostalgia", originally written by Simon Hayward for the second Lostboy! album and recorded at Sphere Recording Studios. This idea was eventually abandoned and the single album ''Walk Between Worlds'' was released instead. * "The Signal and the Noise" (music written by Owen Parker, lyrics written by Jim Kerr, starting in the morning of 17 November 2013) was initially intended for ''

Big Music Big Music (also known as Reliance Big Music) is an Indian record label owned by Anil Ambani. It is a part of Reliance Entertainment, a subsidiary of Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group. The label was started in 2005, along with several ot ...

'' (2014) as "Signal and the Noise". * An early instrumental version of the song "Barrowland Star" was originally written and recorded in 1994 and already released in 1995 as "Celtic Strings", the B-side for the single " She's a River". * "Sense of Discovery" was also first mentioned in June 2010 by Jim Kerr as a possible track for his second Lostboy! album. * "Silent Kiss" was first mentioned by Jim Kerr (as "A Silent Kiss") and first worked by the band in early January 2016 as a «kind of dark, very romantic» tune «related in style to both "Liaison" and "Bittersweet" from ''Big Music''.» * "Angel Under My Skin" was originally written by Mark Kerr and Erikah Karst during the ''

'' period (2002) and later worked on for ''Black & White 050505'' and ''Graffiti Soul'' before it was finally recorded and released on ''Walk Between Worlds''. * Written by

, the modern folk song "Dirty Old Town" was made most famous by

The Pogues The Pogues were an English or Anglo-Irish Celtic punk band fronted by Shane MacGowan and others, founded in Kings Cross, London in 1982, as "Pogue Mahone" – the anglicisation of the Irish Gaelic ''póg mo thóin'', meaning "kiss my arse" ...

Leftovers and new tracks considered for the album

Source * "Chrome Heart" (worked in the studio on 6 April 2012 with Simon Hayward) * "Fireball" (a song that Steve Eddie introduced to

around 2007/2008) * "Fire Fighter" (first demoed by

and

on May 2009) * "For One Night Only" (a song written by Kerr / Burchill which didn't make the final album; one of the most joyous and upbeat tracks from the ''Walk Between Worlds'' sessions, the song was always listed as a bonus track along with "Angel Under My Skin" and was originally going to be a free giveaway track when the album was announced; as it was just before Christmas, the song was also remixed to give it a more "Christmassy" spirit; neither version was released) * "Harmonize" (based on an idea that came out of recordings made in

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over a decade prior to April 2012 when it was ultimately rediscovered) * "Human Trafficking" (written in Hamburg during Summer 2009, first mentioned by Jim Kerr in February 2010, "not to be finished quite yet" as Jim Kerr stated on 25 November 2010) * "Love's Bonfire" (idea of the song developed by Jim Kerr during a rest in April 2012 in

Taormina Taormina ( , , also , ; scn, Taurmina) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Messina, on the east coast of the island of Sicily, Italy. Taormina has been a tourist destination since the 19th century. Its beaches on ...

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) * "Machines" (written by Simon Hayward) * "Photograph" (composed by Andy Gillespie; demoed for ''

'') * "New Light On No Man's Land" (an instrumental recorded during the ''Walk Between Worlds'' sessions which was briefly considered for the album's title but was eventually dropped from the album and remained unreleased) * "Planet Zero" (Jim Kerr (lyrics), Charlie Burchill (music); described by Jim Kerr as «an insanely catchy and thundering "space-rock" track with music written by Charlie Burchill and featuring arguably one of his best ever guitar melodies», a song «that conjures up

Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. T ...

set to the background of

Hawkwind Hawkwind are an English rock band known as one of the earliest space rock groups. Since their formation in November 1969, Hawkwind have gone through many incarnations and have incorporated many different styles into their music, including hard ...

» and «sounds like pure Simple Minds, albeit remade and remodelled»; recording started in late August 2011 during the "Greatest Hits +" Europe Tour and completed in London at the start of September 2011 with Steve Hillage producing) * "Solstice Kiss" (song first written (by

) during the ''Big Music'' sessions and mentioned several times during the recordings; re-recorded at the Sphere Recording Studio; a contender for the next Simple Minds album) * "Traffic" (unreleased song from the ''

'' sessions worked on by

Mark Schulman Mark Schulman (born September 4, 1961 in Los Angeles, California) is an American musician and corporate speaker. He performed with Cher as her tour drummer on her D2K Tour. Schulman is also a session drummer as well as a music producer, audio en ...

; unearthed by

for the '' Our Secrets Are the Same'' sessions but it didn't make the grade again; revisited for ''Black And White 050505'' and ''Big Music'' but remained unreleased) * "Tsunami" ( Iain Cook (music), Jim Kerr (lyrics); demoed for ''Big Music''; Jim Kerr worked on this new tune on 30 November and 1 December 2010, shortly after having postponed (on 13 November 2010) the Lostboy! AKA Electroset Tour 2010)

Notes

References

External links

Simple Minds
at Dream Giver Redux {{Authority control 2018 albums Simple Minds albums