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I almost forgot to do this one. Or maybe that was just wishful thinking, Simple Minds being one of the bands who rank lowest on my likeability scale. I was briefly hopeful, because I thought I hadn't heard this song before, and I knew that they were one of those acts who (like UB40) had had a more interesting pre-history before their biggest success. However, once I'd found the track it didn't take long to realise that I had heard it before, that it hadn't made much of an impression on me and that it wasn't part of their experimental period.
Even if you ignore the video, 'Waterfront' is very clearly the birth of Simple Minds as a stadium rock act, the proverbial loud-sounding nothing. Big booming drums, that relentless one-note bassline, clanging guitars and all manner of huffing and puffing from Jim Kerr all of which tells us that, er, they're going to stand on a waterfront in a million years' time. Why wait Jim? It's possible that this is intended as some sort of metaphor for something else (Scotland?) but the whole thing rings so hollow it's difficult to care one way or the other. It's not even as catchy as, say, 'Alive And Kicking'
Also appearing on: Now 5, 6, 7, 14, 15, 23, 30
Available on: The Best of Simple Minds
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