News

A reconfigured version of a Simple Minds box set released a decade ago will be released this fall to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the band’s biggest international success, Once Upon a Time.

Available October 17, this 5CD edition offers the original 1985 album (featuring the singles “Alive and Kicking,” “Sanctify Yourself,” “All the Things She Said” and “Ghost Dancing”) alongside two discs of single edits, remixes and B-sides and the 1987 concert album Live in the City of Light. The discs will be packaged in three gatefold wallets alongside a booklet of liner notes featuring interviews with band members Jim Kerr and Charlie Burchill, all housed in a clamshell box smaller than the 2015 release. (The set also does not include the DVD from the previous set, featuring a 5.1 surround mix of the album and a host of music videos.) Additionally, a ruby red gatefold vinyl pressing will be released on the same date, adding “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” – the band’s chart-topping hit from the soundtrack to The Breakfast Club – to the end of the first side.

After a surge in popularity in the U.K. following the albums New Gold Dream (81-82-83-84) (1982) and the chart-topping Sparkle in the Rain (1984), the Scottish rockers struck out on one of their most ambitious releases yet. Working with producers Jimmy Iovine and Bob Clearmountain, the group (singer Jim Kerr, guitarist Charlie Burchill, keyboardist Mick MacNeil, new bassist John Giblin and drummer Mel Gaynor) went for a rafter-shaking dance-rock sound that reached the mark with a trio of Top 10 U.K. hits that also reached the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100. (“Don’t You (Forget About Me),” which the group did not write but performed the hell out of for the sublime closing of John Hughes’ teen drama The Breakfast Club, primed the pump for Once Upon a Time‘s success, reaching No. 7 in England and No. 1 in America, finally breaking the band overseas.) With vocalist Robin Clark – whose backing vocals infused soul into the soaring “Alive and Kicking” – the band would tour in support of the album; a 1986 gig at Le Zenith in Paris became the basis for Live in the City of Light, their third straight chart-topping album in England.

Amazon links for both the box set and vinyl are live. As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases.

Once Upon a Time (40th Anniversary Edition) (originally released as Virgin/UMC 4722072 (U.K.), 2015 – reissued Virgin/A&M/UMe, 2025)

5CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
Ruby Red LP (with “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” as bonus track: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada

CD 1: Original album (released as Virgin V2364 (U.K.) / A&M SP-5094 (U.S.), 1985)

1. Once Upon a Time
2. All the Things She Said
3. Ghost Dancing
4. Alive and Kicking
5. Oh Jungleland
6. I Wish You Were Here
7. Sanctify Yourself
8. Come a Long Way

CD 2-3: B-Sides and Rarities

1. Don’t You (Forget About Me)
2. A Brass Band in Africa
3. Don’t You (Forget About Me) (Extended Version)
4. A Brass Band in African Chimes (Extended Version)
5. Alive and Kicking (Edit)
6. Alive and Kicking (Instrumental)
7. Up on the Catwalk (Live At Barrowlands Ballroom, Glasgow, Scotland – 1/5/1985)
8. Alive and Kicking (7″ Remix / Edit)
9. Alive and Kicking (12″ Remix)
10. Alive and Kicking (Kevorkian 12″ Remix)
11. Sanctify Yourself (Edit)
12. Sanctify Yourself (Instrumental)
13. Sanctify Yourself (Alternative Edit)

1. Street Hassle (Live At The Ahoy, Rotterdam, The Netherlands – 12/3/1985)
2. Love Song (Live At The Ahoy, Rotterdam, The Netherlands – 12/3/1985)
3. Sanctify Yourself (Extended Mix)
4. Sanctify Yourself (Dub Version)
5. All the Things She Said (Edit)
6. Promised You a Miracle (U.S. Remix)
7. All the Things She Said (Extended Version)
8. Don’t You (Forget About Me) (Live At The Ahoy, Rotterdam, The Netherlands – 12/3/1985)
9. Ghost Dancing (12″ Remix)
10. Ghost Dancing (Instrumental)
11. Oh Jungleland (12″ Remix)
12. Oh Jungleland (Instrumental)

Disc 2, Track 1 from The Breakfast Club (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) – A&M Records SP-3294, 1985
Disc 2, Track 2 from “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” single – Virgin VS 749 (U.K.)/A&M Records AM-2703, 1985
Disc 2, Tracks 3-4 released as “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” 12″ – Virgin VS 749-12 (U.K.)/A&M Records SP-12125, 1985
Disc 2, Track 5 from “Alive and Kicking” single – Virgin VS 817 (U.K.)/A&M Records AM-2783, 1985
Disc 2, Track 6 from “Alive and Kicking” U.K. 12″ – Virgin VS 817-12, 1985
Disc 2, Track 7 from “Alive and Kicking” U.K. 12″ and U.S. single – Virgin VS 817-13 (U.K.)/A&M Records AM-2783, 1985
Disc 2, Tracks 8-10 and 13 first issued on original edition of this release
Disc 2, Tracks 11-12 released as “Sanctify Yourself” U.K. single – Virgin SM 1 (U.K.), 1986
Disc 3, Tracks 1-2 from “Sanctify Yourself” U.K. double 7″ – Virgin SMP 1, 1986
Disc 3, Tracks 3-4 released as “Sanctify Yourself” 12″ – Virgin SM 1-12 (U.K.)/A&M Records SP-12172 (U.K.), 1986
Disc 3, Tracks 5 and 8 released as “All the Things She Said” single – Virgin VS 860 (U.K.)/A&M Records AM-2828 (U.S.), 1986
Disc 3, Track 6 from “All the Things She Said” 12″ – Virgin VS 860-12 (U.K.), 1986
Disc 3, Track 7 from “Promised You a Miracle” U.S. 12″ – A&M Records SP-12057, 1982 and “All the Things She Said” U.K. 12″ (see above)
Disc 3, Tracks 8-12 released as “Ghost Dancing” U.K. 12″ – Virgin VS 907-12, 1986

CD 4-5: Live in the City of Light (released as Virgin SMDL 1 (U.K.)/A&M Records SP-6850 (U.S.), 1987)

1. Ghost Dancing
2. Big Sleep
3. Waterfront
4. Promised You a Miracle
5. Someone Somewhere (in Summertime)
6. Oh Jungleland
7. Alive and Kicking

1. Don’t You (Forget About Me)
2. Once Upon a Time
3. Book of Brilliant Things
4. East At Easter
5. Sanctify Yourself
6. Love Song/Sun City/Dance to the Music
7. New Gold Dream

All tracks recorded live at Le Zenith, Paris – 8/12 and 8/13/1986 except Disc 4, Track 5, recorded live at the Sydney Entertainment Centre, Sydney, Australia – 10/24 or 10/30/1986