This compilation album is fascinating in that it tracks the dramatic artistic decline (and parallel commercial rise) of one the most successful groups of the post-punk era. "Love Song", "Promised You A Miracle" and "Someone, Somewhere In Summertime" see Jim Kerr and co. teetering like a cat poised on a fence, their sound a skittering, graceful interplay of glittering keyboards and adrenaline guitars, with Kerr's lyrics epic yet ambivalent on top. Then around the mid-1980s, Simple Minds fell from the fence into lumbering stadium rock rifferama. "Alive And Kicking" and "Sanctify Yourself" were big scarf-waving anthems but lacked the tantalising panache of their earlier work. As Jim Kerr sank further into megastardom, the music suffered further as he indulged in piously cumbersome ballads like "Belfast Child" and "Mandela Day". But while critics sighed, the Minds' audience swelled regardless--their "New Gold Dream" had come true.

• Artist: Simple Minds
• Format: Audio CD
• Genre: Rock, Pop Rock, Classic Rock
• Label: EMI

1. Don't You (Forget About Me)
2. Up on the Catwalk
3. Promised You a Miracle
4. Someone Somewhere in Summertime
5. Love Song
6. Alive and Kicking
7. Sanctify Yourself
8. Belfast Child
9. Mandela Day
10. New Gold Dream (81–82–83–84)
11. Sparkle in the Rain
12. Once Upon a Time
13. Street Fighting Years
14. Real Life
15. Themes for Great Cities
16. Glittering Prize

• Country: United Kingdom
• Release Type: Compilation

• Media: CD
• Packaging: Standard Case