Recognition
In 1989 Q Magazine selected Street Fighting Years as one of the top recordings of the year. In his written commentary for the sleeve notes in the band's compilation album Glittering Prize 81/92, Brian Hogg described Street Fighting Years as arguably "the group's most controversial release." Jim Kerr remembered the album thus: "Every song seemed to be about conflict, and it describes this age of chaos, the battle to try and remain intact with all this hurricane around us.
The album's grandiose, stadium-oriented stylistic departure from previous albums has since proved controversial with critics. Martin C. Strong, writing in The Essential Rock Discography, remarked that reviewers "didn't really stick the knife in until the release of the overblown "Belfast Child", a U.K. No. 1 despite its snoozeworthy meandering and vague political agenda. The accompanying album, Street Fighting Years (1989) brought more of the same, although it cemented Simple Minds' position among the coffee table elite." Meanwhile, in a retrospective review for AllMusic, Tom Demalon described Street Fighting Years as "an artistic and elegant album that might lack immediate choruses but draws in the listener" and containing "some truly lovely moments". A review of the Themes box-set released in June 2008 from Q Magazine discussed, "if at times the preciousness of the later work sets the teeth on edge, the sheer musical skill and undoubted power of the band makes up for it", praising the "brilliant atmosphere Simple Minds made their own." Music critic David Stubbs, in a review of the compilation Glittering Prize 81/92, mourned what he found to be the "dramatic artistic decline (and parallel commercial rise)" of the band: "As Jim Kerr sank further into mega-stardom, the music suffered further as he indulged in piously cumbersome ballads like "Belfast Child" and "Mandela Day". John Aizlewood of Q disagreed, saying, "there was much to commend on Street Fighting Years and its follow-up, Real Life".
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