ESTABLISHED artists coming back long after their heyday is rarely a recipe for a classic album.

It can be embarrassing, like Bowie with Tonight or, God forbid, Tin Machine.

Under such circumstances an “OK” album is viewed as a triumph.

Eighties monsters Simple Minds don’t seem to have succumbed to such pitfalls and after relative chart obscurity in the early 2000s returned with the more than passable Graphitti Soul in 2009.

Big Music is their 16th studio album and a return to big tunes, big synths and some big beats.

Midnight Walking is probably the biggest sounding track on the album – driving synth patterns are underpinned by a four to the floor beat and some rather large Adam Clayton-style bass vibes. Unbelievably this borders on being a dance-rock anthem.

Honest Town kicks off with a dark keyboard sequence before being pulled back into more familiar realms by Jim Kerr’s heartfelt vocals, the song inspired by memories of his now departed mum.

Although lyrically somewhat corny, Big Music does start like it was culled straight out of a session for New Gold Dream and is trademark Simple Minds.

This is as bold an album as anything released in their heyday, it would seem Kerr & co are still Alive and Kicking.

Judge for yourself as the Big Tour calls in at Portsmouth Guildhall on April 15, 2015

Stewart Dennis