Jim Kerr doesn't want to be forgotten. Clearly chasing former glories, the Simple Minds frontman last year regrouped the original line-up for the first time in almost 30 years. That didn't work. So he took the current band into the same studio where 1983's classic 'New Gold Dream' was recorded.

But the result ? his 16th studio album with the group ? doesn't even come close to the "glorious noise" U2 once sought to emulate. The production is murky. Kerr and guitarist Charlie Burchill sound anything but 'Alive and Kicking'. And all but three of the eight songs seem incomplete.

Even then, repetitive lead single 'Rockets' ? seeking to recreate the raging flood of their last proper hit, 'She's A River' ? fails to lift off, leaving only two tracks to shine through. 'Stars Will Lead The Way', built on a gleaming guitar riff, is only marginally mired by an atmospheric (read meandering) middle eight. And the hypnotic 'Light Travels', flickering up from a spark to a flame, is the sole offering benefitting from the collection's spaced out sound.

Elsewhere that echo, reverb and sonic blur are simply there to disguise the lack of actual songs. They can't. 'Kiss And Fly' is a refrain in search of verses and a chorus; the title track suffers from a chronic lyric shortage; 'Blood Type O' is little more than a grimy groove; and the headlong 'Moscow Underground' has all the direction of a Russian after two bottles of vodka.

Even the live-on-the-floor "bonus" take on 'Rockin' In The Free World' ? a song so indestructible Bon Jovi can pull off a decent rendition ? falls on its face. While the musicians behind him gurn and grind like a barroom band, Kerr turns up the rasp in his voice but, try as he might, can't turn back time.