TH3MINDS

It is one of those December evenings in 1986 when I sit in my attic room in the Pauwenlaan in The Hague, The Netherlands. That year I went to a Simple Minds concert for the first time. Having received Once upon a time the year before as a Sinterklaas present, I immerse myself in the albums before that. I am immediately captivated by the second, third and fourth albums (Real to real cacaphony, Empires and Dance and the “double album” Sons and Fascination/Sister feeling call) from 1979, 1980 and 1981 respectively. Especially the darker numbers, for example, Sister feeling call grab me, by the throat, by candlelight. It is miles away from Once upon a time from 1985. These are the primal sounds. Brilliant primal sounds. Above all, they are: not yet produced songs that are supposed to sound a certain way. Pure basalt and not polished marble. That pure basalt withstands all storms and tidings.

An obscure cassette tape of a Simple Minds performance in Paradiso, Amsterdam on August 13, 1982 – that date is etched in my head – bought at a record store in the Schoolstraat in The Hague, does not make things any better. Someone in the audience shouts at one point: “Únpleasant!” and an initially very expectant and reserved atmosphere hangs over the audience. But the band, then with original bassist Derek Forbes and original keyboardist Mick MacNeil, can never be broken with me. Premonition, Celebrate, Sons and Fascination. It will never get better. I play the tape until it wears out, although it still sounds just as good in 2024, by the way.

Second week of December 2024. Simple Minds, reduced for years to singer Jim Kerr and guitarist Charlie Burchill, release a – not very striking – new song. At the same time – and this has a long lead-up – original members drummer Brian McGee, keyboardist Mick MacNeil and bassist Derek Forbes are launching something else: a real website about them, TH3MINDS A long lead-up. These members from the beginning have come together before, in varying compositions. I saw Brian McGee and Derek Forbes perform together more than a decade ago as XSM (Ex Simple Minds) and was already overwhelmed by the powerhouse and rhytm that showed the original rhythm section. In earlier years Mick MacNeil was there, and in later years Derek Forbes performed here and there with his band. As Four Good Men there was even talk of a new album by Brian, Mick and Derek around 2008. Immediately followed by the – very short-lived – reunion between the three of them and Jim and Charlie.

All those years, certainly since 1985, I have had an unbroken hope and desire that at least Brian McGee, Mick MacNeil and Derek Forbes would do something together again someday. This now, seems, to be coming true. With the launch of their own website, a few songs they re-recorded together are also coming. Nothing new yet, but that can change. What is there? An incredibly exciting re-working of Careful in career (from Sisters feeling call, ed.). I put it on and immediately got the same kind of goosebumps as on those December evenings in 1986 in my attic room. Almost forty years later.

What is immediately noticeable is the enormous “presence” of each. Brian McGee immediately shows what was already lost when he left – in 1982: an enormously creative drum sound from a drummer who doesn’t have to hit anything big to be big. Derek Forbes with his irreplaceable way of playing bass – dark and funky, left Simple Minds in 1985. Mick MacNeil with his all over the place Machinery with so much heart – who left in the late 80s. Each is an orchestra in itself and produces a sound that – I can’t think of another word for it – gives me goosebumps and gives me a huge kick in the ass. Careful in career is even richer in terms of sound, even deeper in terms of experience. Film theme is also surprising. Are we missing a singer or guitarist? Well no, I would put it the other way around. Singer and guitarist are missing from this power trio. A power trio that rises miles above current Simple Minds after their departure. They present what has always been the basis of the music: the instrumental. It doesn’t need more, on the contrary. Purely instrumentally performed without vocals or words, it pulls you straight to the core, without textual.

Film theme is further proof that this trio is Simple Minds. The meat version, if you will. What the vegetarian version is, I leave to your imagination. And above all: more than that. It’s all much more exciting, subtle and richer than… well, I’ll leave that up to the reader.

Probably born out of a sense of urgency – to break through “the Jim and Charlie show” – and because it comes from themselves to create something together again – comes, at the eleventh hour, perhaps the best musical news of 2024 for me. So sign up on their website to see everything and support them.

The Heart, Soul and Motor of Simple Minds are back together and make me feel 17 again at 55.

Brian, Mick and Derek: you are the most unexpected and most welcome December gift.