Artist: Simply Red
Release: 2007
Where are the days when Simply Red effortlessly topped the charts with hits like “Money’s Too Tight To Mention”, “If You Don’t Know Me By Know”, “Holding Back The Years” and later also “Thrill Me” and “Stars”, among others. Somewhere along the way it all got a bit watered down, as tends to happen, no matter how hard someone tries to hold back the years.
Mick Hucknall is still the same guy, which may be exactly the problem, and Simply Red are still what they’ve always been: simply red. The only difference is that the red is a lot paler these days than it used to be, though still more intense than on some of their earlier albums (Life (1995), Blue (1998), Home (2003)).
The latest studio album Stay carries on with the dreamy pop atmosphere and the obligatory ballad outpourings you can find on every release by the band, but the songs here are a notch stronger and indulge a little less in the often unnecessary, over-the-top pathos. Not that Simply Red have reinvented anything, except for what they’ve always been best at: simple pop songs with a seductive melody that practically whistle themselves.
At moments the album feels like it knows the band’s brightest moments are already behind them, but unlike on those earlier records, it no longer sweats about it. You can sense a looseness in Mick’s singing that was missing before, replaced back then by a tension that fought tooth and nail to keep the band in the pool of the most popular acts, even if by force. Mick still grumbles a bit, though: “I drank a lot, spent too much time, gave a lot, screwed up alot. Now good times, you’ve done me wrong…”, in the song “Good Times Have Done Me Wrong”, and in “The Death Of The Cool” he even vents his anger at false prophets, saints and saviors offering instant salvation. The anger is obviously aimed at the Hollywood way of life, which clearly left Mick deeply disappointed. Despite its loaded title, which of course brings to mind Miles Davis’ first truly groundbreaking album “The Birth Of The Cool”, the song has nothing to do with it apart from the name.
Overall, Stay could definitely have been a bit more thought out and polished, maybe a touch more innovative too, but let’s not forget it could also have been a whole lot worse!
Lineup
Mick Hucknall: Vocals
Ian Kirkham: Keyboards and saxophone
Kenji Suzuki: Guitar
Dave Clayton: Keyboards
Pete Lewinson: Drums
Steve Lewinson: Bass
Chris De Margary: Flute and saxophone
John Johnson: Trombone and percussion
Kevin Robinson: Trumpet and flute
Sarah Brown: Backing vocals
Dee Johnson: Backing vocals
Production
Mick Hucknall and Andy Wright
Track list
01. The World And You Tonight
02. So Not Over You
03. Stay
04. They Don’t Know
05. Oh! What A Girl!
06. Good Times Have Done Me Wrong
07. Debris
08. Lady
09. Money TV
10. The Death Of The Cool
11. Little Englander
Album length: 44:18
