tracks
catalogue
Virgin THEME 16
THEME-16 13 A1
format
Picture CD included in Themes Volume Four box set.
release date
October 1990
additional information
After a long wait of almost four years, Simple Minds returned in 1989 with the new studio album
Street Fighting Years. They weren’t quiet in the interim however; the
Once Upon A Time tour,
live album and occasional live appearances
kept the band in the headlines and were the first major band to sign up to the
Mandela Day 70th Birthday Tribute Concert.
They were also the only band to write a song especially for the event: Mandela Day.
Although pressured to release Mandela Day as a single in its own right, the
Minds refused, preferring to wait until the new album was ready. The first single,
The Ballad Of The Streets EP, featured
Mandela Day and
Biko (a track covered by the Minds at the
Mandela gig) and the new
Belfast Child. Such a poignant selection of tracks had no option but
to give the band their first #1 single in the UK charts.
The Ballad Of The Streets EP turned out to be a sampler of the
Street Fighting Years album, with all three songs appearing on the album.
All the singles from Street Fighting Years were also issued as CD singles
(albeit it the fiddly 3" versions) so 'CD Firsts' for the Themes were now becoming a rarity.
|
|