Empires and Dance

1980 studio album by Simple Minds

Empires and Dance

Studio album by

Simple Minds

Released| 12 September 1980 (1980-09-12)[1]
Recorded| May – July 1980
Studio|

* Rockfield (Rockfield, Wales)
* Rolling Stones Mobile

Genre|

* Post-punk[2]
* art rock[3]
* new wave[3][4]
* dance-rock[4]
* Eurodisco[5]

Length| 45:33
Label| Arista
Producer| John Leckie
Simple Minds chronology
| Real to Real Cacophony
(1979)  | Empires and Dance
(1980)  | Sons and Fascination/Sister Feelings Call
(1981)

|
|

Singles from  Empires and Dance

1. "I Travel"
Released: 17 October 1980[6]
2. "Celebrate"
Released: February 1981 [7]

Empires and Dance is the third studio album by the Scottish new wave band Simple Minds. It was released on 12 September 1980 through Arista Records.[1]

## Background

[edit]

The album was influenced by the band's experience of travelling in Europe on their previous tour. Prior to the album the band demoed several of their new songs, including "Capital City" and "I Travel" that had appeared on that tour. "Room" was first recorded as a John Peel session in December 1979 together with three songs from Real to Real Cacophony. (These recordings were all later released as part of the 2004 box set Silver Box).[8][9]

## Music and lyrics

[edit]

Associated with the British postpunk-scene at the time along with bands such as Joy Division and Echo & the Bunnymen, on Empires and Dance Simple Minds also took influence from disco and electronic music by artists such as Donna Summer, Kraftwerk and Grace Jones they heard in German nightclubs. The album includes lengthier, structured songs such as "I Travel", "This Fear of Gods" and "Thirty Frames a Second", as well as a number of more experimental tracks, such as "Constantinople Line", "Twist/Run/Repulsion" and "Kant-Kino". Jim Kerr's lyrics are written from the perspective of a character travelling in central Europe and observing. The lyrics to "This Fear of Gods" was partly inspired by a story by Jorge Luis Borges Kerr recently had read. "Twist/Run/Repulsion" features Chantalle Jeunet reading from a French translation of Nevsky Prospect by Nikolay Gogol.[10]

## Recording and release

[edit]

Empires and Dance was recorded from May to July 1980[11] in Wales at Rockfield Studios[12] and the Rolling Stones Mobile Studio.[13]

When first released it was priced at £3.99 (equivalent to £22 in 2023).[1][14] While more successful than its non-charting predecessor (Real to Real Cacophony), Empires and Dance charted relatively poorly, peaking at only number 41 in the UK Albums Chart.[15] According to AllMusic, this was primarily because Arista Records only released a small number of copies at a time before each batch sold out. This had the effect of limited availability for fans.[2]

The opening track "I Travel" was released as a single in October 1980 to coincide with a UK tour. It was backed with the track "New Warm Skin" recorded during the album sessions, and the initial release also included a flexidisc with the tracks "Kaleidoscope" and "Film Theme Dub". A 12" release backed with "Kaleidoscope" and the original version of "Film Theme" were also issued, but the single failed to reach the UK chart. The track however gained a popularity in the American club scene and subsequently entered the Billboard disco chart at no.80 in February 1981.[16] "Celebrate" was chosen as the second single coupled with "Changeling" from the previous album Real to Real Cacophony. However, it was only released after Simple Minds had left Arista. John Leckie created the single edits and an extended 12" version of the A-side, but this single too sold poorly and failed to chart.[17]

Following the release of the album, Simple Minds transferred to Virgin Records, where they met with much greater commercial success. Arista tried to capitalise on this success by re-releasing "I Travel" as a single in 1982, along with the compilation Celebration. In 1983, Virgin re-released "I Travel" on 12", to coincide with the acquisition of the band's Arista catalogue. Both times, it still failed to chart.

## Critical reception

[edit]

Professional ratingsReview scores

Source| Rating
AllMusic| [2]
The Great Rock Discography| 8/10[18]
Pitchfork| 8.1/10[19]
Record Mirror| [20]
Smash Hits| 9/10[21]

Empires and Dance received enthusiastic reviews in the British music press by contemporary critics. Ian Cranna in Smash Hits gave the album a 9 out of 10 rating, praising "one of Britain's most gifted and imaginative young bands" for moving into a more dance-orientated synthesizer dominated style "without losing any of their melodic instinct or emotional impact. The result has the dance rhythms of disco, the energy of new wave, haunting melodies with fleeting lyrical glimpses of a troubled modern Europe (but minus the usual "modernist" posing) - and a touch of genius at its very human heart."[21] Writing for NME, Paul Morley called it "a weird, agitating record" . He highlighted "I Travel" as one of "the great disco-rock songs" and "the magnificent" "This Fear of Gods" as the band's "most impressive work to date", and concluded: "Simple Minds have invented their own ways, melodramatic yet modernist. An authentic new torch music. I'm dancing as fast as I can."[22] Simon Ludgate of Record Mirror praised Empires and Dance as "one of the few classic albums of 1980."[20] NME ranked it 19 on their "Albums Of The Year" list.[23]

## Legacy

[edit]

In a retrospective review, Andy Kellman of AllMusic described Empires and Dance as a "post-punk dance classic".[2] Trouser Press said that despite its inconsistency, Empires and Dance was an "extremely atmospheric and promising" album, "with good dance tunes and a few more quasi-psychedelic ones."[24]

John Foxx has praised the album and Jim Kerr as a "unique" lyricist.[25]

The album cover's faux Cyrillic typeface was emulated for the cover of Manic Street Preachers' third album The Holy Bible, released in 1994. (While the former album reversed all Rs and Ns to resemble Cyrillic letters, the latter album, in contrast, reversed only the Rs.) Twenty years later, Empires and Dance would be cited as a key influence on Futurology, the Manics' twelfth album. It remains one of singer and guitarist James Dean Bradfield's favourite records.[26] He said of Empires and Dance in a 1995 Melody Maker article on his favourite albums:

> "I've always liked records which are completely misinformed and displaced. They were aware that they were Scottish, and trying to shun it. [...] Anyway, that's why they tried to become really European, this dark, unemotive, industrial band, but in demographic/geographic terms they were really confused, and that can produce brilliant records. I don't think the British look towards Europe in the rose-tinted way Americans do. We see it in Basil Fawlty-ish terms. I remember reading Jim Kerr going on about the Baader-Meinhof gang, and the Red Brigade, and trying to make sense of all these conflicting ideologies. On musical terms it really does make sense. The best bands manifest their lyrics into their music, and it really fucks me off when people don't realise that."[27]

Imagery in Patrik Sampler's novel The Ocean Container[28] was inspired by "Thirty Frames a Second".

## Track listing

[edit]

All lyrics are written by Jim Kerr; all music is composed by Simple Minds.

Side ANo.| Title| Length

|
|

1.| "I Travel"| 4:00
2.| "Today I Died Again"| 4:36
3.| "Celebrate"| 5:03
4.| "This Fear of Gods"| 7:03

Side BNo.| Title| Length

|
|

1.| "Capital City"| 6:15
2.| "Constantinople Line"| 4:43
3.| "Twist/Run/Repulsion"| 4:31
4.| "Thirty Frames a Second"| 5:02
5.| "Kant-Kino"| 1:52
6.| "Room"| 2:28

## Personnel

[edit]

Adapted from the album's liner notes.[29]

Simple Minds

* Charlie Burchill – guitar, saxophone
* Derek Forbes – bass guitar, fretless bass guitar
* Jim Kerr – vocals
* Mick MacNeil – keyboards
* Brian McGee – drums

Technical

* John Leckie – production, engineering
* Hugh Jones – engineering
* The Artifex Studio – artwork
* Michael Ruetz – front cover photography[30]
* Richard Coward – photography[31]

## Charts

[edit]

Chart (1980–81)  | Peak
position

|

New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[32] | 47
UK Albums (OCC)[33] | 41

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c Burbeck, Rodney, ed. (30 August 1980). "News" (PDF). Music Week. London: Morgan-Grampian. p. 2\. Archived (PDF) from the original on 11 September 2024.
2. ^ a b c d Kellman, Andy. "Empires and Dance – Simple Minds". AllMusic. Retrieved 9 February 2013.
3. ^ a b Reynolds, Simon (1 January 2005). "New Gold Dreams 81-82-83-84: The Peak and Fall of New Pop". Rip It Up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978-1984. Faber & Faber. p. 407\. ISBN 0-571-21570-X. Retrieved 18 December 2024.
4. ^ a b Peters, Mathijs (2020). "Futurology". Popular Music, Critique and Manic Street Preachers. Springer Nature. p. 362\. ISBN 978-3-030-43100-6. Retrieved 19 December 2020.
5. ^ Huey, Steve. "Simple Minds | Biography & History". AllMusic. Retrieved 2 July 2021.
6. ^ "dream giver redux | press releases | empires and dance | it travel release". www.simpleminds.org. Retrieved 19 June 2022.
7. ^ "Celebrate".
8. ^ "empires and dance". Dream Giver Redux. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
9. ^ Simple Minds sessions Dream Giver Redux
10. ^ Graeme Thompson (27 June 2023). ""A nuclear reactor of music": The Story of Simple Minds Classic Album Empires and Dance". The Guardian.
11. ^ "timeline". Dream Giver Redux. Retrieved 2 January 2019.
12. ^ Kerr, Jim (17 July 2008). "Rockfield". simpleminds.com. Retrieved 19 December 2020.
13. ^ "Record News". NME. 30 August 1980. p. 5.
14. ^ UK Retail Price Index inflation figures are based on data from Clark, Gregory (2017). "The Annual RPI and Average Earnings for Britain, 1209 to Present (New Series)". MeasuringWorth. Retrieved 7 May 2024.
15. ^ "Simple Minds". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 24 November 2020.
16. ^ "I Travel". Dream Giver Redux.
17. ^ "Celebrate". Dream Giver Redux.
18. ^ Strong, Martin C. (2004). "Simple Minds". The Great Rock Discography (7th ed.). Canongate Books. ISBN 1-84195-551-5.
19. ^ Tangari, Joe (15 April 2004). "Simple Minds: Reel to Real Cacophony / Empires and Dance". Pitchfork. Retrieved 9 February 2013.
20. ^ a b Ludgate, Simon (13 September 1980). "All in the Mind". Record Mirror. p. 18.
21. ^ a b Cranna, Ian (2–15 October 1980). "Simple Minds: Empires and Dance". Smash Hits. Vol. 2, no. 20\. p. 29.
22. ^ Morley, Paul (13 September 1980). "Awe and Terror from the Inner Minds". NME. Retrieved 9 February 2013.
23. ^ "NME's best albums and tracks of 1980". NME.
24. ^ Schlosberg, Karen; Robbins, Ira. "Simple Minds". Trouser Press. Archived from the original on 22 August 2011. Retrieved 12 May 2016.
25. ^ Electrospective John Foxx interview Youtube
26. ^ Price, Simon (3 July 2014). "A Masterpiece: Simon Price On Manic Street Preachers' Futurology". The Quietus. Retrieved 15 July 2014.
27. ^ "Rebellious Jukebox". Melody Maker. 7 January 1995. Retrieved 17 December 2019.
28. ^ Patrik, Sampler (16 June 2017). The ocean container (First ed.). Rome, GA. ISBN 9780979132049. OCLC 1032773267.`{{cite book}}`: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
29. ^ "Studio Albums: Empires and Dance". Simple Minds official website. September 1980. Retrieved 21 April 2021.
30. ^ "Empires and Dance". Dream Giver Redux. Retrieved 21 April 2021.
31. ^ "Simple Minds Album Cover". Richard Coward website. Retrieved 21 April 2021.
32. ^ "Charts.nz – Simple Minds – Empires and Dance". Hung Medien. Retrieved 19 December 2020.
33. ^ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 19 December 2020.

## External links

[edit]

* Empires and Dance at Discogs (list of releases)

* v
* t
* e

Simple Minds

* Jim Kerr
* Charlie Burchill
* Ged Grimes
* Sarah Brown
* Gordy Goudie
* Cherisse Osei

* Brian McGee
* Mick MacNeil
* Derek Forbes
* Kenny Hyslop
* Mike Ogletree
* John Giblin
* Mel Gaynor
* Catherine AD

Albums|

* Life in a Day
* Real to Real Cacophony
* Empires and Dance
* Sons and Fascination/Sister Feelings Call
* New Gold Dream (81–82–83–84)
* Sparkle in the Rain
* Once Upon a Time
* Street Fighting Years
* Real Life
* Good News from the Next World
* Néapolis
* Our Secrets Are the Same
* Neon Lights
* Cry
* Black & White 050505
* Graffiti Soul
* Big Music
* Acoustic
* Walk Between Worlds
* Direction of the Heart

Live albums|

* Live in the City of Light
* Real Live 91
* Sunday Express – Live (Volumes 1 & 2)
* 5X5 Live
* Acoustic in Concert
* Live in the City of Angels
* Live in the City of Diamonds

Compilations|

* Themes for Great Cities 79/81
* Celebration
* Glittering Prize 81/92
* The Promised
* The Best of Simple Minds
* Early Gold
* Silver Box
* Celebrate: The Greatest Hits

Singles|

* "Love Song"
* "Promised You a Miracle"
* "Glittering Prize"
* "Someone Somewhere (In Summertime)"
* "Waterfront"
* "Speed Your Love to Me"
* "Up on the Catwalk"
* "Don't You (Forget About Me)"
* "Alive and Kicking"
* "Sanctify Yourself"
* "All the Things She Said"
* "Ghostdancing"
* "Belfast Child"
* "This Is Your Land"
* "Kick It In"
* "Let There Be Love"
* "See the Lights"
* "Stand by Love"
* "She's a River"

Promo singles|

* "Mandela Day" (US)

Themes series|

* Themes – Volume 1: March 79–April 82
* Themes – Volume 2: August 82–April 85
* Themes – Volume 3: September 85–June 87
* Themes – Volume 4: February 89–May 90
* Themes – Volume 5: March 91–September 92

Related articles|

* Discography
* Concert tours
* Lostboy! AKA Jim Kerr
* Ex-Simple Minds

Authority control databases |

* MusicBrainz release group

|

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