New Gold Dream (81-82-83-84)

Writing began at Rockfield, with arrangements and demos at The Old Mill in Fife, and Kerr's vocals mostly at The Manor. Burchill recommended Peter Walsh after his remix of "Sweat in Bullet"; Walsh had little prior production experience, with an assistant credit on Heaven 17's Penthouse and Pavement and his first full credit on China Crisis's debut. Burchill told Classic Pop that Walsh took a ton of stuff out, and for the title track Walsh set two drummers facing each other. He disliked Mike Ogletree's drumming, so Mel Gaynor finished the album and became the official drummer; Kenny Hyslop drums on one track, Sharon Campbell sings backing vocals on two and Herbie Hancock plays a keyboard solo on "Hunter and the Hunted". All songs are credited to Burchill, Forbes, Kerr and MacNeil.

Singles were "Promised You a Miracle" (13), "Glittering Prize" (16) and "Someone Somewhere in Summertime" (36). It reached 3 in the UK (53 weeks on chart, platinum), 69 on the Billboard 200 and 2 in New Zealand. AllMusic gave 4.5 stars, Record Collector and Uncut 5, and NME's Paul Morley said it robs me of my breath. Dave Gahan named it his best album of 1982 and U2 cited it as an influence on The Unforgettable Fire. Kerr said on Instagram in August 2023 that it is the record when Simple Minds really became Simple Minds. A 2016 six-disc deluxe box set followed, and a re-recording from Paisley Abbey for Sky Arts came out on October 27, 2023.