Live in the City of Light

Live in the City of Light is the first (double LP / CD) live album by Scottish rock band Simple Minds. It was released in May 1987 to document their successful worldwide Once Upon a Time tour, and charted at No. 1 in the UK. The album spawned one chart single release, a live version of "Promised You a Miracle".

Live in the City of Light
Live album by
Simple Minds
Released26 May 1987[1]
Recorded12 & 13 August (mostly), October 1986
Venue
GenreRock
Length82:22
LabelVirgin - SMDL 1
ProducerBruce Lampcov
Simple Minds chronology
Once Upon a Time
(1985)		 Live in the City of Light
(1987)		 Street Fighting Years
(1989)
Singles from Live in the City of Light
  1. "Promised You a Miracle (Live)"
    Released: June 1987[2]
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[3]
CMJ(favourable)[4]
Martin C. Strong6/10[5]
Q[6]
Record Mirror[7]
Smash Hits6/10[8]

Overview

The album was recorded live mainly on 12 & 13 August 1986 at Le Zénith, Paris, France (Paris is nicknamed "La Ville de Lumière" which means "The City of Light", hence the album title), on the last dates of the Once Upon a Time world tour, with the only track "Someone, Somewhere In Summertime" recorded in late October 1986 at Sydney Entertainment Centre in Sydney, Australia. It features the band's 1986 touring lineup, which included second vocalist Robin Clark and percussionist Sue Hadjopoulos. Additional "fixing and mixing" was done at Castle Sound Studios in Edinburgh and Bearsville Studios in Bearsville, New York. Lisa Germano (at the time, a John Mellencamp band member who would perform on Simple Minds' next studio single, Belfast Child), contributed studio-overdubbed violin on "Someone Somewhere in Summertime"[9] and former Simple Minds member Derek Forbes contributed uncredited bass guitar overdubs.

Album cover

Although the album was not recorded there, the inside of the gatefold sleeve curiously features a photograph taken at another show from the same Once Upon A Time tour: on 9 July 1986 at Piazza Grande, a square in Locarno, Switzerland.

Release details

Live in the City of Light was released as a double vinyl album with the band's logo in gold lettering over black sleeve. The package featured a 12" x 12" attached giant-sized booklet with state-of-the-art photography of the band's performance and outdoor session pictures. This art could not be reproduced faithfully on later CD releases (an original 1st pressing on double-fat jewel case and the USA version packaged in a long box on two separate discs).

Track listing

All tracks recorded live on 12 & 13 August 1986 at Le Zénith, Paris, France except "Someone, Somewhere In Summertime" recorded live on 24 (or 30) October 1986 at the Entertainment Centre, Sydney, Australia.[10][11]

Side one
No.TitleLength
1."Ghost Dancing"7:22
2."Big Sleep"4:27
3."Waterfront"5:21
4."Promised You a Miracle"4:38

Side two
No.TitleLength
5."Someone Somewhere in Summertime"5:59
6."Oh Jungleland"6:35
7."Alive and Kicking"6:27

Side three
No.TitleLength
8."Don't You (Forget About Me)"6:37
9."Once Upon a Time"6:06
10."Book of Brilliant Things"4:53
11."East at Easter"4:20

Side four
No.TitleLength
12."Sanctify Yourself"7:06
13."Love Song" - "Sun City" - "Dance to the Music"7:02
14."New Gold Dream (81/82/83/84)"5:31

Complete setlist of the shows on 12 & 13 August 1986 in Paris, France

Source[12]

  1. Intro / Waterfront
  2. Speed Your Love To Me (missing track on the live album)
  3. Come A Long Way (missing track on the live album)
  4. Book Of Brilliant Things
  5. Ghost Dancing
  6. Don't You (Forget About Me)
  7. Big Sleep
  8. Promised You A Miracle
  9. Hunter And The Hunted (missing track on the live album)
  10. Once Upon A Time
  11. Oh Jungleland
  12. All The Things She Said (missing track on the live album)
  13. Alive And Kicking
  14. New Gold Dream (81/82/83/84)
  15. Someone Somewhere (In Summertime)
  16. Sanctify Yourself
  17. East At Easter
  18. Medley: Love Song / Sun City / Thank You / Dance To The Music

Personnel

Adapted from the album's liner notes.[13]

Simple Minds
Additional personnel
Technical
  • Bruce Lampcov – producer, mixing
  • Steve Riddle – engineer
  • Douglas Cowan – computer work
  • Callum Malcolm – assistant engineer (Castle Sound Studios)
  • Tom Cadley – assistant engineer (Bearsville Studios)
  • Bob Ludwig – mastering
  • Malcolm Garrett – sleeve
  • Guido Harari – photography
  • William F. Ryan – "Claddagh" drawing
  • Mick Haggerty – original Simple Minds logo

Charts

Weekly charts
Chart (1987) Peak
position
Australian Albums (Kent Music Report)[15] 13
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[16] 10
Canada Top Albums/CDs (RPM)[17] 26
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[18] 1
Finnish Albums (The Official Finnish Charts)[19] 17
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[20] 3
Italian Albums (Musica e Dischi)[21] 6
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[22] 14
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[23] 6
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[24] 5
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[25] 5
UK Albums (OCC)[26] 1
US Billboard 200[27] 96

Year-end charts
Chart (1987) Position
UK Albums (OCC) 22

Certifications
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
France (SNEP)[28] Gold 100,000*
Germany (BVMI)[29] Gold 250,000^
Netherlands (NVPI)[30] Gold 50,000^
United Kingdom (BPI)[31] 2× Platinum 600,000^

* Sales figures based on certification alone.
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References
  1. "Index". Record Mirror. 23 May 1987. p. 6. ISSN 0144-5804.
  2. "Discography: Singles". Dream Giver Redux. Retrieved 23 April 2021.
  3. Allmusic review
  4. "Simple Minds - Live In The City Of Light - Reviews". CMJ New Music Report. Archived from the original on 10 April 2013. Retrieved 1 February 2013.
  5. The Essential Rock Discography - Volume 1: 970. 2006. {{cite journal}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  6. Rimmer, Dave. "Simple Minds - Live In The City Of Light - Reviews". Q. Archived from the original on 10 April 2013. Retrieved 1 February 2013.
  7. Culp, Nancy (30 May 1987). "Albums". Record Mirror. p. 15. ISSN 0144-5804.
  8. "Simple Minds - Live In The City Of Light - Reviews". Smash Hits. Archived from the original on 10 April 2013. Retrieved 1 February 2013.
  9. "The Official Glasgow Barrowland Ballroom - Simple Minds". Archived from the original on 28 September 2011. Retrieved 15 November 2010.
  10. Live in the City of Light (Media notes). 1987.
  11. "Simple Minds 1986". setlist.fm. Retrieved 14 June 2019.
  12. "Once Upon A Time Tour > Le Zenith, Paris, France 12th August 1986 & 13th August 1986". www.simpleminds.org (Dream Giver Redux). January 2020. Retrieved 18 January 2020.
  13. "Live Albums: Live in the City of Light". Simple Minds official website. 11 May 1987. Retrieved 23 April 2021.
  14. "live in the city of light : information" page on Dream Giver Redux (accessed 18 May 2023
  15. Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. St Ives, NSW: Australian Chart Book. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  16. "Austriancharts.at – Simple Minds – Live - In the City of Light" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved 5 February 2022.
  17. "Top RPM Albums: Issue 0834". RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 5 February 2022.
  18. "Dutchcharts.nl – Simple Minds – Live - In the City of Light" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 5 February 2022.
  19. Pennanen, Timo (2006). Sisältää hitin – levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla vuodesta 1972 (in Finnish) (1st ed.). Helsinki: Kustannusosakeyhtiö Otava. ISBN 978-951-1-21053-5.
  20. "Offiziellecharts.de – Simple Minds – Live - In the City of Light" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 5 February 2022.
  21. "Classifiche". Musica e Dischi (in Italian). Retrieved 27 May 2022. Set "Tipo" on "Album". Then, in the "Artista" field, search "Simple Minds".
  22. "Charts.nz – Simple Minds – Live - In the City of Light". Hung Medien. Retrieved 5 February 2022.
  23. "Norwegiancharts.com – Simple Minds – Live - In the City of Light". Hung Medien. Retrieved 5 February 2022.
  24. "Swedishcharts.com – Simple Minds – Live - In the City of Light". Hung Medien. Retrieved 5 February 2022.
  25. "Swisscharts.com – Simple Minds – Live - In the City of Light". Hung Medien. Retrieved 5 February 2022.
  26. "Simple Minds | Artist | Official Charts". UK Albums Chart. Retrieved 5 February 2022.
  27. "Simple Minds Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved 5 February 2022.
  28. "Les Certifications depuis 1973: Albums". Infodisc.fr. Retrieved 26 May 2019. (select "Simple Minds" from drop-down list)
  29. "Gold-/Platin-Datenbank (Simple Minds; 'Live in the City of Light')" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie. Retrieved 26 May 2019.
  30. "Dutch album certifications – Simple Minds – Live in the City of Light" (in Dutch). Nederlandse Vereniging van Producenten en Importeurs van beeld- en geluidsdragers. Retrieved 26 May 2019. Enter Live in the City of Light in the "Artiest of titel" box. Select 1988 in the drop-down menu saying "Alle jaargangen".
  31. "British album certifications – Simple Minds – Live in the City of Light". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 26 May 2019.
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