Simple Minds “Life in a Day” 1979. Zoom Records. Post-punk’d bright bleep bloop’d new wave, Simple Minds’ debut record. It went to no. 30 on the UK album chart. Though their stated influences include the Velvet Underground (Simple Minds’ track “Chelsea Girl” a direct, stated VU/Andy Warhol muse; that track was released as a single but failed to chart), it sounds more like The Cars (not a bad thing! just leans more pop than artsy, with the exception of “Pleasantly Disturbed” which is almost a dead-ringer for “Venus in Furs”). My top picks include the title track “Life in a Day” which went to #62 on the UK singles chart, the aforementioned “Pleasantly Disturbed” and “Chelsea Girl,” plus the swirly, upbeat “No Cure.”