Back when I was courting L, in November 1985, we would sit in her room with a box of cheap white wine, and a packet or two of fags, and talk until 3 or 4 in the morning. That's because my seduction technique was far from swift. It was then that I learnt the trick, when you run out of cigarettes, of retrieving the butts from the ashtray and working your way through that last quarter inch of tobacco. She had a cassette with New Order's Power, Corruption and Lies on one side, and Sons and Fascination on the other. We'd play both sides through, turn it over, and start again. That's about three listens for each album in a typical evening/morning session.
After my heart got broken, I couldn't listen to either album for a few years because of the memories they carried with them. It was Sons and Fascination that made its way back to my hi-fi first, because it is such a stunningly good record. To recognise how wonderful it is, you do have to erase from your consciousness the legacy-soiling that Simple Minds indulged in from 1985 onwards. But, having done that, I stick by the opinion I've held for nearly 20 years, that this is head and shoulders above every other new wave/new romantic album of the period, and even surpasses the Neu/Can influences that it draws on. Each part of it is outstanding, and the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.
 MusicBrainz entry for this album
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Agree 100% It's tragic that they went on to suck so much because no-one believes me when I say what a great album this is. Empires and Dance is pretty stonking as well.
Posted by: Andy Baker | 27 February 2007 at 02:15 AM