With "Holding Back the Years", so the very beginning of Simply Red, it started for me and then it never went away. I have been fortunate enough to see Mick Hucknall's band live twice.
Simply Red
Simply Red is a British band consisting of lead singer Mick Hucknall and various backing musicians. The group was formed in the mid-1980s and scored many hits worldwide, such as "Holding Back the Years" (1985), "The Right Thing" (1987), "If You Don't Know Me by Now" (1989), "Something Got Me Started" (1991), "Stars" (1991), "Fairground" (1995) and "Sunrise" (2003).
The band's name ("Simply Red") partly comes from Hucknall's passion for the football club Manchester United. The name is also a reference to Hucknall's curly red hair, as well as his left-wing political preference. The band's debut single, called "Money's Too Tight (To Mention)", was released in 1985 and became a hit in various European countries. Later that year, the debut album Picture Book was released, which was an international success and topped the album charts in the Netherlands for weeks.
In 1986, the single "Holding Back the Years" reached number 1 in the United States, a feat the group repeated in 1989 with "If You Don't Know Me by Now" (a cover version of Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes). Both singles brought Simply Red worldwide popularity.
In October 2007, singer Hucknall announced that Simply Red would stop after the 2009 tour. He indicated he wanted more time for a solo career and felt that after 25 years, it was time to move on from Simply Red. "The World and You Tonight" became the last released single. On 18 November 2007, Simply Red gave their last television performance in the Netherlands on the programme Life & Cooking. On 9 March 2010, it was announced that they would come to the Netherlands one last time on 3 December 2010 at the Gelredome, as part of The Farewell Tour (although the advance announcement had already been made during the band's performance in Amsterdam's Westerpark in July 2009).
In early November 2014, the band announced they had reunited and planned a tour in 2015 to celebrate their 30th anniversary. The tour took the group to Antwerp and Amsterdam, among other places. In 2015, a completely new album titled Big Love was also released.
In the autumn of 2017, Simply Red gave three concerts at the Amsterdam Ziggo Dome as part of the tenth edition of Symphonica in Rosso. The recording of this was released in 2018 on CD and DVD.
Top 2000
In the 23rd edition of the Top 2000, Simply Red is listed with:
Sunday Morning Classics: Picture Book
On 27 December 2020, Simply Red was our Sunday Morning Classic with the album Picture Book.
Picture Book carries an infectious and soulful attitude that gives the album the feeling it has something to prove. That fighting spirit embodies their debut, which certainly makes it an excellent achievement.
Come To My Aid sets us off nicely, with a great bass and Nile Rodgers-like guitar that makes this a damn groovy starting point. Hucknall's vocals are blended with the instrumental background that helps create this fantastic funky wall of sound running throughout the album. Sad Old Red serves as the recovery point from that energetic opener and nicely slows things down to offer something more rhythmic and traditional. The minimalist guitar and piano combined with Hucknall's clear vocals make this quite a jazzy tune that wouldn't be out of place in a Parisian jazz club.
Look At You Now immediately speeds things up again, with that up-tempo drumming and trumpet interlude perfectly characterising the song. The guitar solo in the last third of the track also helps to bring its funkiness wonderfully to the fore. Heaven again turns to the more emotional side of Hucknall, allowing him to produce one of the album's best vocals with some brilliantly held notes and something Fats Domino would be proud of.
Jericho continues this rhythmic and relaxed sound. The addition of an electric piano sound helps bring the song to life, as do Hucknall's vocals and the light drums. Money's Too Tight returns to the funk seen on the first side of the record, with some pounding drums and distinctive piano. It is a cover of a song originally released about three years earlier by The Valentine Brothers.
Holding Back The Years is perhaps Simply Red's signature song, as it has been associated with Mick Hucknall since his art school days. Open Up This Red Box sees a return to this soulful sophisti-pop for which Simply Red is known all these years later. No Direction is perhaps one of the deeper songs on Picture Book.
The six-minute title track greets us to round off this brilliant album and offers something colder and darker that nicely contrasts with its predecessors.
It is certainly more than justified to praise Picture Book for what it is: an absolutely fantastic record.
source: Jan Liebregts, NPO and Wikipedia photo: Marco Rosanova and Payayita
http://www.simplyred.com/
