POP STARS ***** Great Balls of Fire **** Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door *** Good Vibrations ** Maybe Baby * Ain’t That a Shame

SIMPLE MINDS “Street Fighting Years.” A&M; **

As a unit, Simple Minds is a kinder, gentler and generally more pacifist band than were the Stones circa ‘69, so what sort of street-fightin’ men can we expect in “Street Fighting Years”? Stick around for the last few songs, and Jim Kerr and crew offer two songs about South Africa (“Mandela Day” and a ponderous remake of Peter Gabriel’s “Biko”) and one about Northern Ireland (“Belfast Child”).

The rest of the album, though, is more street than fight . As in mean streets, as in streets of fire. As in lyrics like “Listen to the rhythm, listen to the beat / There’s a cold wind blowing up through the street.” As in cliches.

Kerr is a thoughtful humanitarian, a good interview, a gentleman and a scholar. He’s also a woefully lax lyricist. He mumbles through this effort, and though his pleasant, rumbling voice used to be just another instrument, nowadays it’s mixed far enough up to show that more often than not Kerr has next to nothing to say.

“Street Fighting Years” is, musically at least, somewhat a return to form, if not greatness. Unlike the group’s last studio album, 1985’s atypical “Once Upon a Time,” this one eschews standard song structure for long, rambling compositions that sound born out of band jams. And the reheightened ambience all but guarantees there won’t be any American hit singles this time around. It sounds like a Simple Minds record again, and for small favors we can be grateful.