Something of a brief interlude this week.
As mentioned before, Arista Records still held the rights to the back catalogue of Simple Minds and having looked with some envy at the sales generated by Sons and Fascination/Sister Feelings Call, the decision was taken to have the ultimate of cash-in with the release, in February 1982, of the compilation album Celebration, ten tracks lifted, for the most part, from the first three studio albums.
The album even came with a very cheeky peel-off sticker on the front of its sleeve stating it was ‘The Very Best of Simple Minds – includes I Travel, Chelsea Girl, Life In A Day’
I Travel was re-issued as a single to promote the album, with previously unreleased live tracks on the b-side of the 7” and 12”. The source of these live recordings was never revealed by Arista, but it is likely they came from the Hammersmith Odeon gig of 25 September 1981; if so, it shows that Virgin Records, who held the license for the recordings from that gig, were equally as guilty of any accusations of trying to cash-in.
mp3 : Simple Minds – Thirty Frames A Second (live)
mp3 : Simple Minds – I Travel (live)
The single, again, didn’t trouble the charts (which probably came as a relief to the band as they more or less disowned this particular 45 from the word go).
THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN 
It’s still the ultimate Simple Minds song, though. If any single of theirs deserved to be issued three times in two years, this was it! “Celebrate” was a good compilation. I especially enjoyed getting to hear “Kaleidoscope” on something other than a flexi-disc!
…and it wouldn’t be the last time it was released as a single…
It’s always an issue for fans to heed the wishes of the band and not put down any money on releases they don’t approve of or have no control over or give in to the shiny vinyl or silver discs.
I didn’t By Celebrate because I had everything, including a French 12″ single of I Travel that I found in Bleeker Bob’s which had Kaleidoscope on the B-side. Years later I found it on CD released by Virgin, in a second hand bin in the West Village.