Simple Minds Announce ‘Once Upon a Time’ Box Set
The 5CD collection includes b-sides, rarities, and the era-defining hit ‘(Don’t You) Forget About Me.’
40 years ago, the Scottish rock band Simple Minds released their chart-topping seventh record, Once Upon a Time. Now, the triumphant release is being celebrated with a 5CD box set. The collection includes the original remastered album, single edits, b-sides, extended mixes, unreleased tracks, rarities, and the 2-disc Live in the City of Light concert. It also arrives with a 36-page booklet featuring rare photos, new interviews with Jim Kerr and Charlie Burchill and a track-by-track guide. The vinyl version contains the band’s mega-hit “(Don’t You) Forget About Me.”
When Once Upon a Time was initially released back in October 1985, the band decided not to include their global smash single “(Don’t You) Forget About Me” on the tracklist. Just a few months prior, the track topped the Billboard 100 after being featured in The Breakfast Club. The band had been hesitant to record the song in the first place. As frontman Jim Kerr told The Guardian in 2016, “My wife at the time, Chrissie [Hynde], who was older and wiser, kept badgering me.” Last year, the song reached one billion streams on Spotify.
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Once Upon a Time contains the hit singles “Alive and Kicking,” “All the Things She Said,” “Sanctify Yourself,” and “Ghost Dancing.”
Recorded live mainly on 12 and 13 August 1986 at Le Zénith in Paris, 1987’s Live in the City of Light captures the band during the momentous Once Upon a Time tour. The double album included early fan favorites like “Waterfront,” “Promised You A Miracle,” “Love Song,” and “New Gold Dream (81/82/83/84).” The live record only reached No. 96 in the US, but back in Britain, it became their third UK No.1 album in a row.
Simple Minds followed up Once Upon a Time with Street Fighting Years, becoming their fourth No. 1 album in the U.K.
