Album Review

Simply Reds final hoorah? Who knows?

Songs Of Love, Love Songs, theyre all the same to this reviewer.

Released just in time for Mothers Day, this 12 tracker continues the protracted demise of Simply Red, who later this year embark on their Farewell The Final Tour, which was supposed to finish last year.

Anyway, blue-eyed soul boy Huckers has always had a keen ear on appealing to the ladies, which has grown more and more over the past two decades.

Its not gone un-noticed that Simply Red, who appear to have become more of a backing band for Manchunian Mick, have released some patchy albums since the phenomenal success of Stars in 1991.

To his credit, despite some seriously below-par songs (theres a few here by the way), Mick now 49, has arguably been one of the greatest singers (certain soul wise) this country has ever produced.

In fact, the older hes got, the better his voice has become, and I can substantiate that, having seen him around 15 times, the last time on 29 March 2009 at NEC Birmingham when he was on top form.

In the past 10 years, weve had compilations, The Very Best Of Simply Red, Simply Red 25 : The Greatest Hits, oh and, Its Only Love : The Best Of Simply Reds Love Songs (along side other releases of course) and now they (?) have come up with Songs Of Love with tracks culled from original albums, or/and those comps.

But, once again, you simply cannot ignore some of the vocal performances on most of the 12 tracks here, along with some classic songs like their signature tune Holding Back The Years, possibly the biggest of many crowd-pleasers, 25 years after its release.

It still gives me goose-bumps (like right now).

Then we have the anthemic Stars from 1991, possibly the peak of his songwriting powers and the sad/tender observational quality of Babies, beautifully constructed, and sung.

From the very start, with a cover of The Valentine Brothers Moneys Too Tight (To Mention) their debut single in June 1985, we all knew Hucknall had a knack of turning someones elses song on its head and making it all of his own, mostly better than the original as it happens, such as Harold Melvin & The Bluenotes If You Dont Know Me By Now (1989), The Stylistics You Make Me Feel Brand New, which matched the vocal gymnastics of Russell Thompkins Jr. any day.

There was another hint at the possible future of Mick turning into a loungy crooner, when he released single, Evry Time We Say Goodbye from their second album Men And Women (1987), brilliantly done by the way, written by Cole Porter, included here.

Another classic, comes from 1998s A New Flame, the stunning Youve Got It, a collaboration with Lamont Dozier of Holland- Dozier-Holland writing fame, and a personal favourite.

Then we get the duffers, like the limp Smile (arrgghh), and the simply awful double single bundle of I Have The Love / Beside You, released on 28th February. Incidentally, its nowhere to be seen on this weeks Top 100 singles chart, which speaks volumes.

After 25 glorious years, maybe the game is finally up, and its the right time to bow out.

The verdict Thanks for the memories Mick.