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DVDfever.co.uk – Simply Red: 25 The Greatest Hits CD reviewElly Roberts reviews
SimplyRed.com
- Released: November 2008
- Rating: 10/10
- Vote and comment on this album:View Comments
Glorious band career comes to an end. Sadly.
In an interview on the Stars tour in Hamburg Germany in the late 80s, Mick Hucknall said he wanted to be around a long time, like Frank Sinatra.
Few could have imagined, maybe even him, that that ambition would actually be realised. The job is done.
Love him or hate him, Mick Hucknall and his evolving band Simply Red (theres been 28 members), they have been one of Britains best musical exports of alltime, racking up 50 million album sales (not all great – Life, Love And The Russian Winter, Blue),30 Top 40 singles, two Ivor Novello awards bagged, a MOBO, and three Brits.
His musical journey began with neo-punksters The Frantic Elevators in the early 80s, but he found his voice and mojo when he went back to his love of 60s soul music, in particular Bobby Blue Bland. And so emerged a pulsating cover of Moneys Too Tight To Mention by The Valentine Brothers in 1985.
As we wave goodbye to Old Red and his soul-jazz-reggae-pop templates, we can now sit back and admire, or not, the back-catalogue chart entries that won him legions of fans in Europe, Japan, Australia and Latin America: the States werent so smitten.
Like it or not (Ive seen them 14 times since 1988 and hope to again on their farewell tour 2009) Simply Red are one of the most consistently best live acts ever, and if anything, Hucknalls tubes are better than ever at 48 years.
We mustnt forget, that 25 is just a celebration of charting, and not necessarily the best of.
First three albums Picture Book, Men And Women, New Flame were sensational. After Stars, it was slowly down hill. He lost his mojo, releasing unbelievably bland material, and his sharpness and bite, resulting in a move away from East West Records. He re-emerged with a solid Home (on his own label SimplyRed.com), and he was beginning to blossom once again. So, as with many greats, (Elton John suffered a similar wobbly period in the early 80s) its been an up and down affair, and a lot of jealousy from the media towards his success the British way?
On 25, theres a fair representation of his hits, the best being Stars, A New Flame, The Right Thing, Fairground (sampling The Goodmens Give It Up), Something Got Me Started (ah.. memories of a mad night in Fortezza Nightclub in Rhethymnon Crete 1992), Moneys Too Tight.., the biggies. When Huckers really got his teeth into something, it was nothing short of magical, but when he didnt get it right which wasnt often, it was a disaster.
Vocally, his finest moment ever, is the incredible Angel where he gives a performance un-matched by any blue-eyed soul pretender. Bravely, he covered jazz standard Evry Time We Say Goodbye and nailed it. Even better was Harold Melvins 70s classic If You Dont Know Me By Now, which if truth be told, was better than the original: that took some doing. Holding Back The Years, a song usually reserved for show encores, will always be his signature tune, though his last offering (remember disasters?) the Moody Blues Go Now is a very very disappointing final curtain to a magnificent career.
File under: You gotta ave it!
Weblink:simplyred.com
The full list of tracks included are :
Disc 1:
1. Sunrise
2. Stars
3. A New Flame
4. Holding Back The Years
5. Its Only Love
6. The Right Thing
7. Your Mirror
8. For Your Babies
9. The Air That I Breathe
10. Night Nurse
11. Aint That A Lot Of Love
12. Fake
13. Evry Time We Say Goodbye
Disc 2:
1. Youve Got It
2. Say You Love Me
3. So Not Over You
4. Angel
5. Never Never Love
6. Home
7. You Make Me Feel Brand New
8. Something Got Me Started
9. Moneys Too Tight (To Mention)
10. Fairground
11. If You Dont Know Me By Now
12. Go Now
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Elly Roberts passed away in 2011, but he was a man who was so passionate about all types of music and loved meeting his musical heroes, such as Mick Hucknall at a book signing at the Trafford Centre, Manchester in 2007.
A former teacher and also a music journalist, DJ and radio presenter on local community station Calon FM, plus appearances on BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Cymru and BBC Radio 2, Elly started doing reviews for DVDfever.co.uk in 2004 and he did the majority of the CD and concerts reviews on the website.
I know also that he loved getting away for the summer to Spain and I hope that wherever he is now he is enjoying the hot sunshine and, as one of his friends has said on his Facebook page, that he is interviewing his musical heroes.