Empires and Dance

Recording, release and reception

Empires and Dance was recorded in Wales on the Rolling Stones mobile.

Empires and Dance charted poorly, peaking at only number 41 in the UK Albums Chart. According to AllMusic, this is primarily because the record company Arista only released a small number of copies at a time before each batch sold out. This had the effect of limited availability for fans.

The opening track "I Travel" was released as a single in 1980, but failed to chart. "Celebrate" was chosen as the second single due to popularity amongst fans. However, it was only released after Simple Minds had left the label. As a result, the single sold very poorly, and the picture sleeve 7" is amongst the hardest of the band's singles to find.

Following the release of this album, Simple Minds transferred to Virgin Records, where they met with much greater commercial success. Arista tried to capitalize on this success by re-releasing "I Travel" as a single in 1982, along with a compilation "Celebration". In 1983, Virgin re-released "I Travel" on 12", to coincide with the acquisition of the band's Arista catalogue. Both times, it still failed to chart.

Empires and Dance has been well-received critically.

NME called it as "a weird, agitating record". AllMusic described the album as a "post-punk dance classic".

Legacy

The album cover's Faux Cyrillic typeface was emulated for the cover of the Manic Street Preachers' third album The Holy Bible. (While the former album reversed all Rs and Ns to resemble Cyrillic letters, the latter album, in contrast, reversed only the Rs.) Twenty years later, Empires and Dance would be cited as a key influence on Futurology, the Manics' twelfth album. It remains one of singer and guitarist James Dean Bradfield's favourite records.

Track listing

All lyrics written by Jim Kerr; all music composed by Simple Minds.

Personnel

Technical