Empires and Dance

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Empires and Dance
Studio album by Simple Minds
Released September 1, 1980
Recorded 1980
Genre Post-punk
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)
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic 4/5 stars....[1]
Pitchfork Media (8.1/10)[2]
NME (very positive)[3]

Empires and Dance is the third studio album by Simple Minds, released in 1980. It charted poorly, peaking at only #41 in the UK Albums Chart.[4] According to the Allmusic review of the album, this is primarily because the record company Arista only released a small number of copies at a time before each batch sold out. This had the effect of limited availability for fans.

The opening track "I Travel" was released as a single in 1980, failing to chart. Following the release of this album, Simple Minds transferred to Virgin Records, where they met with much greater commercial success. Arista tried to capitalize on this success by re-releasing "I Travel" as a single in 1982, and again in 1983. Both times, it still failed to chart.

The song's lyrics refer to European politics, as well as Brian Eno's first Ambient series' record, Music for Airports:[5]

Europe has a language problem,
Talk, talk, talk, talk, talking on.
In central Europe,
Men are marching,
Marching on and marching on.
Love songs playing in the restaurants,
Airport playing Brian Eno.

Contents

[edit] Track listing

All songs written and composed by Simple Minds

Side A
No. 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 B
No. 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" (instrumental) 1:52
6. "Room"   2:28

[edit] Personnel

[edit] Musicians

[edit] Other

  • John Leckie – producer, engineer
  • Simon Heyworth – mastering
  • Hugh Jones - engineer
  • Coward – photography
  • Ruetz – photography

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Kellman, Andy. "Simple Minds: Empires and Dance > Review" at Allmusic. Retrieved 23 October 2011.
  2. ^ Tangari, Joe (15 April 2004). "Simple Minds: Empires and Dance". Pitchfork Media. http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/reviews/albums/11840-reel-to-real-cacophony-empires-and-dance/#review-album-7628. Retrieved 23 October 2011. 
  3. ^ Morely, Paul (13 September 1980). "Awe And Terror From The Inner Minds". NME (IPC Media). ISSN 0028-6362. http://www.simpleminds.org/sm/reviews/ead/pr1.htm. Retrieved 23 October 2011. 
  4. ^ "Empires and Dance". ChartStats.com. http://www.chartstats.com/release.php?release=39385. Retrieved 23 October 2011. 
  5. ^ "I Travel". simpleminds.org. http://www.simpleminds.org/sm/songs/rtrc/it1.htm. Retrieved 23 October 2011. 

[edit] External links

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