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Elly Roberts reviews
Rhino/simplyred.com
- Feb 2008
- Format: 2 CD & DVD set
- Rating: 10/10++++
Its not often you get Value For Money when purchasing music. This Stars: Collectors Edition is simply outstanding VFM.
Back in the early ’90s, Simply Red was arguably the biggest band in Europe andAsia, and they remain one of the best live acts ever, fronted by blue-eyedsoul boy Mick Hucknall. Stars made Mick Hucknall a superstar virtuallyovernight.
With the band set to disband next year, this comes as a poignant reminder ofthe massive contribution theyve made to the pop scene. Fusing classy jazz-soulfunk stylings, Stars was arguably their greatest studio moment, and my personalfavourite, though its predecessor A New Flame was pretty impressive too.Some might say theyve never matched Stars ever since, with a run of so-soalbums here and there.
Up until its release Id seen the band only once at Manchesters G-Mex in 1988,then followed by the Stars tour, stopping off again at G-Mex in January 1992.
Now Ive seen them 14 times and they, despite several line-up changes, remainone of the hottest live bands. In 1991, lead off single Something Got Me Started,ahead of the albums release, got the ball rolling for the best selling album(2 million copies) in October 1991, outselling U2 and Michael Jackson in the UK,but faltered at 76 in America.
The Stars CD single, 7″ and 12″ vinyl, spawned remixes and non-album trackfrom the Robert Johnson sessions. The Johnson sessions showcase Micks incrediblevoice to perfection because of the a capella nature, with Johnsons classicMe And The Devil Blues confirming to the critics that this boy can really sing, virtually anything with style.
In all, Stars lifted five top 40 singles, the highest being the title trackpeaking at 8 in November 91 shortly after the albums release. One of Hucknallsmost beautiful songs ever appeared on the album For Your Babies. Soonafter Your Mirror, the band released Montreux EP. Though not includedhere as an audio, the songs appear on the Montreux Jazz Festival DVD (Disc 3),which shows the band thrilling the French audience with a scintillating liveset of 25 songs on the shores of Lake Geneva.
Respectfully, they start with some Jazz standards like a mesmerising a capellarendition of Cole Porters Love For Sale. Its not long before thingsreally hot up with SR classics like Enough, New Flame, Shes Got It Badand later The Right Thing, Stars and Open Up The Red Box settingthe crowd wild, while heavily dreadlocked Hucknall writhed and wriggled to thefunky beats.
Above all, this 25-song setlist allowed them to expand with a more sophisticatedaspect of their repertoire. Also live, on CD, we get six live cuts from their1992 Hamburg gig, and its sensational stuff, especially the funked-up Shes Got It Bad.
For the devotees (and DJs) we get 11 remixes on disc 2. At some stage theyveall appeared on B-sides, all of which are excellent; though Thrill Me (Steppin Razor Mix) stands out in terms of overall production andre-invention. No Simply Red collection would be complete without five promovideos.
File under: Timeless classic.
For a complete list of the tracks, please check out the Amazon link above.
Weblinks:simplyred.com /rhino.com /myspace.com/simplyred
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.