The albums title track, "New Gold Dream (81/82/83/84)", saw a limited release in Italy in March 1983 following the band's Italian leg of their supporting tour.

[13] The release of New Gold Dream (81/82/83/84) was considered a turning point for the band, who had previously failed to gather any significant commercial success with the release of their previous studio albums, with lead singer Jim Kerr claiming that "every band or artist with a history has an album that’s their Holy Grail, I suppose New Gold Dream was ours".

[15] New Gold Dream originated in Simple Minds' unexpected popular and commercial success during an Australian tour with Icehouse following the release of Sons and Fascination.

[16] In a 2012 interview, singer Jim Kerr recalled the production of the album as a wonderful time during the late spring and early summer of 1982 in which "everything we tried worked," adding: "There were no arguments.

"[16] The album was recorded over a five-month period at Rockfield Studio, The Townhouse and Oxford Manor, with preproduction at The Old Mill in Fife.

[17] Jazz keyboardist Herbie Hancock guested on the album and plays a synthesizer solo on the song "Hunter and the Hunted.

[18] [19] In the United States, A&M issued some limited-edition translucent gold with maroon-coloured marble vinyl pressings of the album.

An instrumental version of the song titled "Soundtrack for Every Heaven" had been the B-side of the "Someone, Somewhere (In Summertime)" 12-inch single and was also included in the Methods of Dance Volume 2 compilation on Virgin.

In NME, Paul Morley wrote: "My loyalty towards Simple Minds is known to be considerable, yet even I am jarred by the constant beauty of this music.

[16] In a 2016 review in Record Collector, journalist Tom Byford wrote: "New Gold Dream (81/82/83/84) stands shining and singular in the Simple Minds canon... Now it not only takes its place among the greatest future-pop albums of the 80s (Dare, The Lexicon Of Love), it sits comfortably among the greatest pop albums of all time.

"[34] All tracks are written by Simple Minds (Charlie Burchill, Derek Forbes, Jim Kerr, Michael MacNeil), except where notedAdapted from the album's liner notes.