• Simple Minds
  • Celebrate
  • Virgin Records

I LOST count of the number of times I stood on the dancefloor of those cavernous disco sheds in the mid-1980s shouting ‘hey, hey hey, hey’ after hearing the first few bars of Don’t You (Forget About Me). I knew it was dumb but the hook was so upbeat I just couldn’t help myself.

The days of boom before bust probably turned most of the discos I visited into flats but Simple Minds’ songs still sound surprisingly fresh.

A 3CD version of their greatest hits is a perfect reminder. CD1 recalls the band’s art-rock beginnings with the sensitive, catchy singles Promised You a Miracle, Glittering Prize and Someone, Somewhere (In Summertime) reminding fans how the singalong numbers catapulted them into the mainstream.

As well as Don’t You (Forget About Me), CD2 includes Alive and Kicking, Sanctify Yourself, and All The Things She Said, anthems that lend themselves perfectly to the group’s sometimes bombastic brand of stadium rock.

But the compilation contains more subtle numbers too. Belfast Child is a ballad with a distinct political purpose, and Mandela Day and Biko are in the same mould.

This 50-song Virgin Records collection is a comprehensive, always entertaining overview of the band’s career spanning 35 years, and the hits will be prominent in the current 33-date tour of the UK, arriving at the New Theatre in Oxford tonight.