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BUY THE CD
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In the early ‘80s, there was a Manchester punk band called Frantic Elevators (which, if you ask me, is a wonderful name for a band). Once the group disbanded, a short while later, the band’s founder, Mick Hucknall, decided to try something different. And I don’t think he could have ended up much further from his Frantic Elevator days—because, in case you’re not familiar with the name, Mick Hucknall is the curly-haired redhead from the band Simply Red. Not long after Hucknall’s punk days, my young friends and I sat in my basement, singing along with “If You Don’t Know Me By Now” on the radio and shedding a tear or two for relationships that only ever really existed in our minds. And not long after that came “Stars,” a song that you’ll still find stored in my MP3 player.
Simply Red’s latest release, Stay—the group’s tenth since their 1985 debut—is another beautifully written album, full of songs about love and loss, that mixes the talented musicians’ smooth jazz and adult contemporary style with the occasional touch of pop or blues.
When I first opened up my copy of the album, I popped it into my car’s CD player to give it a listen—but I quickly realized that this isn’t a behind-the-wheel kind of album (unless, perhaps, you’re out for a leisurely Sunday afternoon drive, like the ones my parents and I sometimes took when I was a kid). It’s not something that I could appreciate while rushing off to an appointment or navigating through traffic on my way home. For a while, I actually thought I didn’t like the album—until I took it home.
Though it doesn’t begin with its strongest song, the smooth and romantic “The World and You Tonight” leads into a number of spectacular songs—like the first single, “So Not Over You,” the album’s title song, and the edgier “Good Times Have Done Me Wrong.” While I did find that the latter half of the album sometimes suffers from a lounge-y quality—not to mention the occasional puzzling or somewhat cheesy lyrics—before finishing with the intriguing “Little Englander” (which is sure to generate a few gossipy rumors about Brit-star feuds), the first half is filled with all the talent you’d expect from Simply Red, both musically and lyrically. They’re best enjoyed on a warm spring night, while you’re having drinks with friends out on the patio.
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