This song’s dominating force is the intertwining of Burchill’s guitar and MacNeil’s keyboards, which open up a myriad of opportunities that the band is not afraid to take into account. New Gold Dream is inaugurated by the commencing notes of “Someone Somewhere in Summertime,” which carries the listener in the mid of a spatial endeavor with no intentions of descending to reality. Thus, those individuals with the above claim ought to stand by their audacity. Nonetheless, the questions still manage to arise in the minds of fans regarding how commercial market overseas continue to overlook the band. Perhaps one may have the audacity of claiming the US had entirely missed out on iconizing a band duly deserving of that status.

In hindsight, it took the United States until the Breakfast Club before people began noticing the thunderous drumming of Mel Gaynor (then merely a session musician in 1982), the reverberating virtuosity of Mick MacNeil’s keyboard prowess, the inescapably powerful bass performances of Derek Forbes, the reverb-drenched soars of Charlie Burchill’s guitar proficiency, and finally the shaman-esque voice of Jim Kerr. The level of mastery evident in the music that makes up Simple Minds’ breakthrough merited them high praise in their native continent, but failed to stir much reaction overseas. While the US market was feeding off of the recent U2 release, the American public, clearly, was not ready for the music by the band that influenced their counterpart, U2, like no other. However, a common trait exists in Simple Minds’ releases in that this record, and the large majority of their discography, failed to make a dent in the US commercial market. New Gold Dream (81-82-83-84) is both widely considered the band’s breakthrough and their most successful record at the time. 1982, as fans and critics would profess, was the band’s most fruitful year, despite their coming years of success and fame. For Scotland’s own Simple Minds, their breakthrough arrived three years and fives albums into their professional career. Breakthroughs come in many different and unpredictable forms. For many, this regretfully never occurs, but for the vast number of bands exposed to the light of fans and fanatics, the transition is monumental. The usual requirement for such a conversion is reliant on the band’s breakthrough into commercial markets.

The moment every aspiring band dreams of is the instance of their transition from ‘struggling act’ to a newfound musical sensation.

Review Summary: Simple Minds’ 1982 opus rewrote the rules for the grandiose 1980s sound that went on to influence countless bands throughout the remainder of the decade.

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