Simply Red - Simply pop

Manchester, Free Trade Hall, 20 July 1976. It's the second date of the Sex Pistols in the English city (with debutants Buzzcocks as support) just over a month after their first gig. Two nights that would go down in history for their influence on the English rock scene: among the handful of spectators at both events are, in fact, future members of Joy Division, the Fall and the Smiths, who would be left marked by the energy unleashed on that stage. Also in the crowd is a sixteen-year-old redhead, born in the town of Denton, by the name of Mick Hucknall. He too wants to become a musician, he's gifted with an extraordinary voice for a white kid, and, like so many other young people, he's fascinated by the new musical language that's revolutionizing rock; however, he's also a huge fan of Van Morrison and at home devours LPs of rhythm'n'blues, soul and funk, imitating the great names of black music... and such a background will obviously end up shaping his musical evolution, even if at first he'll prefer not to make that influence too obvious.

1979-84: from post-punk to soul, a one-way ticket

He would then form a band, Frantic Elevators, with whom he released just four singles (a dozen songs in total) but no album. Post-punk, skiffle and blues made up the sonic coordinates with which the group tried to make a name for itself in the thriving Manchester scene of the early '80s, but without success. Hucknall, almost unrecognisable on some of the recordings, seems trapped in a role that wasn't his own, a lion in a cage; his exuberant stage presence and his powerful, vibrant voice were better suited to rivalling Rod Stewart and George Michael than to expressing post-punk decay. Frustrated by the lack of attention paid to the group, Hucknall disbanded it after four years of activity, just as the last and most pop-oriented of their singles, "Holding Back The Years" (dedicated to his mother, who left the family when Hucknall was three), was starting to stir some interest in the local indie scene. Encouraged, however, by the growing interest surrounding the new English blue-eyed soul scene, with its nods to the rhythm'n'blues and jazz of the past, Hucknall decided to form a new band, this time better suited to his vocal cords and more respectful of his teenage idols. He was joined by pianist and backing vocalist Fritz McIntyre, guitarist Sylvan Richardson, two former members of the first Durutti Column line-up (which never made it into the studio), drummer Chris Joyce and bassist Tony Bowers, and trumpeter/keyboardist Tim Kellett, who had instead been an official member of Column since 1983. First christened World Service, then Red (a clear nod to the singer's hair) and finally Simply Red ("Red, simply Red" Hucknall replied to the organiser of an event who asked what name should go on the poster), they made a name for themselves in a short time, and thanks to the help of their friend/manager Elliot Rashman they landed a deal with Elektra/Warner, which sent them straight into the studio to record their debut album.

1985-86: proletarian funk

Preceded by a few months by the singles "Money's Too Tight (To Mention)" (a cover of a little-known song by the Valentine Brothers) and "Come To My Aid", the debut album Picture Book came out in autumn 1985, showcasing a compelling yet distinctly white pop-funk, tinged with synths and the odd new romantic echo ("No Direction"). The sequence of catchy melodies is highly effective and well-crafted for climbing the charts (even though the album's success would come slowly and gradually). But what struck listeners most, and jarred in such a pop context, were above all the themes tackled by the songs: poverty, survival and urban marginalisation, broken dreams and vanished social retribution: almost a concept album railing against the socio-economic plight of the poorer classes during the Thatcher years, much like "Our Favourite Shop" by Style Council had been just a few months earlier, albeit with an aristocratic detachment. Even the look adopted by the band in the singles' videos underscored this intent, with Mick Hucknall decked out almost like the grown-up version of Chaplin's little tramp, or a latter-day Oliver Twist.

Unlike Style Council or Sade, in fact, very little room is left for musical intellectualism or cooler atmospheres: the Simply Red of the debut don't play with nuance, their attitude is decidedly more rock, visceral and "working-class", just like Hucknall's impassioned delivery, which catches fire on the most sweeping numbers like the aforementioned singles and "Look At Your Hands", or turns accusatory on the bitter, more muted "Jericho". There's also room for softer moments that never slip into gratuitous romanticism or clash with the album's guiding themes: "Sad Old Red" is the jazz number played in a smoky suburban pub, the title track is a desolate synthetic ballad reminiscent of contemporaries Talk Talk, while "Heaven" by Talking Heads is here transformed into a slow number loaded with Otis Redding-style soul. But it would be the re-recording of "Holding Back The Years", in a version made even more nostalgic by Hucknall's masterful delivery, that—released as a single almost a year after the success of "Money's Too Tight"—would explode on a global scale: number one on the American singles chart and, as a result, million-selling status for the whole album, which until then had only enjoyed modest success in Europe, albeit alongside excellent reviews.

And as a result of this escalation, Mick Hucknall's head swells, he throws himself into the high life and, taking a cue from Buddy Guy, one of his teenage heroes, who used to flash a diamond when he smiled, he has a red ruby fitted into one of his upper incisors. "Between 1985 and 1987, I was sleeping with about three women a day, every day. I never said no. This was what I dreamed of when I wanted to be a pop star, and I was living my dream. My only regret is that I hurt some really nice girls," he would state twenty-five years later.

1987-88: dry runs in yuppie-dom

The red-headed singer's new lifestyle would obviously have serious repercussions on Simply Red's musical output and, above all, on their subject matter, to the point that, upon the release of the second album, it seemed as though one were dealing with a different band entirely—not so much because of the sound adopted, but because of the lightness and carefree mood running through every track. No more social accusations in the lyrics, but troubled relationships, sex and infidelity; no more new wave bands to reinterpret, but rather a Cole Porter classic like "Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye" to showcase Hucknall's golden pipes; no more proletarians lined up against the Iron Lady, but almost Reaganite yuppies.

Men And Women smooths out every rough edge of the debut; the funk on offer here is airier and glossier ("I Won't Feel Bad"), at times a bit too plastic-sounding (as the fashion of the moment dictated), and tracks like "Move On Out" suffer somewhat for it. The few ballads become romantic, and a touch cloying, and there's even a reggae excursion, Bunny Wailer's "Love Fire", which from here on would become a fixture on every one of their albums. Despite its acquired flaws, though, the album works: Simply Red, and above all Mick Hucknall, once again prove capable of writing excellent pop-soul songs, and lending a hand on a couple of tracks (including one of their most underrated singles, "Infidelity") is none other than Lamont Dozier, of the renowned Holland-Dozier-Holland stable, who had previously worked with Marvin Gaye, Martha & The Vandellas and the Four Tops, among many others.

The intent is clear: to maintain and build on their American success by delving deeper into the soul and party side of their sound, yet not everything would go as planned. Anticipation for the new album is high and the reviews are positive, but the sparkling single "The Right Thing" (which would nonetheless become one of their most popular and most requested live songs over time) stalled at number 11 in the UK and an even more disappointing number 29 in the States. The following singles fared even worse, but despite this, perhaps thanks to the lingering wave of Picture Book's success, intense touring and solid returns in several European and South American countries, Men And Women managed to sell reasonably well over the course of the year, ensuring that Simply Red's name wasn't written off as a one-hit wonder and that the label kept its faith in them. Guitarist Sylvan Richardson, however, threw in the towel.

1989-90: adult-oriented money

Called upon to take action, Simply Red proved remarkably clear-headed about what needed to be done, and their commercial instinct would prove just as sharp as their knack for the perfect melody. Stylistic and sonic restraint would be the guiding principles for the new album, A New Flame: great attention paid to the arrangements, more polished than ever, with the horns always well to the fore, and the atmospheres even more soulful and refined. A new guitarist (Brazilian Heitor Pereira), production entrusted for the second time to Stewart Levine (the same producer as Picture Book), Lamont Dozier's songwriting once again lending support to the group on a couple of tracks, and alongside him another old lion of jazz-soul, Joe Sample of the Crusaders, who would co-write the lovely, sinuous "Enough", among the finest moments together with the equally lean "Turn It Up". What would mostly be lost is the spontaneous drive of their early days, smoothed over in favour of a more studied, classy and decidedly adult-oriented pop, though one that would highlight the melodic quality of the songs and Hucknall's vocal prowess; this, together with a solid handful of excellent singles (including the joyful synth-tango of the title track and the elegant sax ballad "You've Got It"), would be the album's strong point and the main reason behind its massive success.

Simply Red as they would usually be pigeonholed from then on (often with a negative connotation)—that is, romantic, somewhat mannered, and perhaps ideal listening for Patrick Bateman—are born with this record... even though on the track "She'll Have To Go" they go back to sharply criticising the British Prime Minister, and "Turn It Up" paints a far-from-rosy political and social picture.

To introduce and open the new record, a cover was chosen, "It's Only Love", a reworking of a minor Barry White song titled "It's Only Love Doing Its Thing"; where once there was a typical, smooth erotic ballad for foreplay, Simply Red manage to draw out of it an impassioned love song, bringing out the refrain and turning it into a surefire hit single. They essentially make it their own, adapting it completely to their style, and the track would become one of their most fondly remembered classics. Yet the success of the first single and of the album (for the first time reaching number 1 in the UK) is still nothing compared to what the second single, another cover, would achieve: "If You Don't Know Me By Now" by Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes. This time the reinterpretation is far more faithful to the original, but the red-headed Mick's voice holds its own without fear of comparison, introducing the rather forgotten, intensely romantic ballad to millions of people nearly twenty years on.

For the second time, Simply Red top the best-selling singles chart in the United States, a feat achieved by only a very select elite of English artists: Queen, David Bowie, John Lennon and... Tears For Fears. Unfortunately for Simply Red, the fate of their success and impact overseas would follow more closely in the footsteps of the Bath duo, and they would soon realise that breaking through again on the American market would be a vain effort. However, the main problem for the group would be something else entirely: perhaps unprepared for a second wave of success of such proportions (A New Flame would go on to sell almost seven million copies), Mick Hucknall let himself be swept up by the comforts and luxury afforded to superstars and, nursing an outsized ego, would go so far as to declare that Simply Red was nothing more than a solo project, effectively relegating everyone else to the rank of session musicians. Chris Joyce and Tony Bowers didn't take kindly to this and left (more or less of their own accord) the band before recording the new album; only three of the original members remained, and from this point on, various musicians would float in and out around the Simply Red name, taking turns on subsequent albums.

1991-92: champions of Europe

Despite internal troubles, the Simply Red machine was by now racing at full speed toward even greater success, and confirming his earlier statements, Hucknall's compositional effort on the new album, Stars, would be greater still: no covers this time, eight tracks written solely by him and two co-written with McIntyre, whose voice would for the first time take a prominent role, on the track "Wonderland". The sweet ballad closing the record, surprisingly, isn't about love at all, but is a bitter reflection on the state of Britain after the fall of Margaret Thatcher's twelve-year government — and perhaps it's her again, that protagonist of masculine femininity sucking up the spilled blood, in the dry funk of "She's Got It Bad". With Thatcher gone but the Tories still in power, Hucknall's lyrics return to themes of yearning for a comeback and a desire for renewal, as in the spiritual-tinged, restless rhythm of "Freedom" or the delightful pop divertissement of "Your Mirror", which plays with sudden, constant rhythmic shifts and melodic openings.

But if the themes once again become weightier, even if less literal than in the past, the atmosphere one breathes while listening to the album is anything but austere — indeed, Stars is without doubt their most carefree, varied record, and pop in the purest sense of the word. "Something Got Me Started", the lead single, rattles off a tongue-twister of a chorus and winks at the new-jack swing movement, between dance beats and jazzy piano, which in the US was all the rage among Black popstars; overseas, however, they don't make much of an impression, while back home the single narrowly misses the top ten. No matter — in the UK the album flies to number 1, and its success will be bolstered by the release of the title track as the second single, an agile, perfect pop ballad that would become one of their most famous songs, played on radio stations across Europe.

Another top-ten single, a romance-drenched cheek-to-cheek slow number like "For Your Babies", and the job is done: Stars would go on to shatter numerous records, some of which still stand unbeaten: 12 non-consecutive weeks at the top of the UK chart (134 weeks on the chart in total), best-selling album of the year in the UK and in Europe for both 1991 and 1992, the sixth best-selling album of all time in Britain (ahead of it, at the time, only two other albums of new material, "Brothers In Arms" by Dire Straits and "Bad" by Michael Jackson), a Brit Award for Album of the Year and even a Mercury Prize nomination (won, however, by Primal Scream for "Screamadelica"). Only the United States seem immune to such success: Stars produces no hit single on Billboard, Hucknall's vaguely androgynous new look doesn't go down well with MTV USA, and although the album will reach gold certification, the seven hundred thousand copies sold there look rather modest next to the eight million copies sold across the rest of the world.

A long, triumphant tour will follow, along with a memorable appearance at the Montreux Jazz Festival, during which a live EP, aptly titled Montreux, will be recorded, containing covers of Cole Porter, Bill Withers, and a reworking of one of their own old 1987 b-sides, "Lady Godiva's Room"; Jerry Hall will be cast to play the famous noblewoman in the accompanying video. But, as has by now become tradition, Simply Red lose another member: this time it's Tim Kellet, who leaves to dedicate himself to his electro-pop project Olive (which would shortly after enjoy just one big hit with the single "You're Not Alone" before landing, with little success, at Maverick, the label founded by Madonna).

1995-96: simply cool

Stars's success proved so long-lasting that, for the first time, Hucknall could afford to let more time pass before presenting new material. Meanwhile, in Britain, new genres such as acid jazz and trip-hop were flourishing, bands like Jamiroquai were successfully shifting the coordinates of black music as reworked by white artists, and for Simply Red the time had come to update themselves to the new trends. Life arrived four years after its predecessor and did indeed present the band in an unprecedented sonic guise, more modern and sophisticated. Although the backbone of the songs is, if anything, even more soul-inflected than on Stars, the arrangements become more electronic and layered, and the reggae track "Hillside Avenue" takes on an almost dub tint thanks to a collaboration with the legendary duo Sly Dunbar & Robbie Shakespeare.

With such a sonic framework, this time it's Hucknall's powerful voice that is held somewhat in check, but it proves a winning move, and if anything his interpretive class benefits from it, on supremely stylish tracks like "So Many People" and "Out Of The Range". Life does however have one flaw, and not a minor one given who made it: a shortage of singles. Because while it's true that the lead single, the frenetic "Fairground", with its dance beats and samba rhythms (sampled from "Give It Up" by Good Men), was a foregone triumph (taking them to number 1 on the UK singles chart for the first time, and into dancefloors across Europe), all the other singles would fall well short of repeating that feat. Big ballads are missing this time round: "Never Never Love" and "So Beautiful" (a measured stroll through Hucknall's romantic side) are too muted to grab listeners looking for strong emotions, more easily found in "If You Don't Know Me By Now" or "Stars". Only one other single received greater attention, but for purely extra-musical reasons: "We're In This Together" was commissioned from Hucknall as the anthem for the 1996 European football championship, held in England; bombastic, pompous and banal, it rattles off every cliché imaginable for a sports anthem. It's probably the ugliest single Simply Red ever recorded. Still, the band were omnipresent across Europe, their now extremely expensive and flashy videos, like the look they'd adopted, flooded music television, and in the end Life proved a thoroughly respectable success, even if it sold little more than half the copies of Stars.

Time for a new reckoning, though: Heitor Pereira decided to pursue his solo career (his self-titled 1994 album had featured Hucknall himself as a guest on the track "Manchester"), which would lead him to score several Hollywood soundtracks, and after more than ten years in the band, Fritz McIntyre also left the fold: Mick Hucknall found himself the sole original member, Simply Red having by now effectively become just a brand name, as the red-headed singer had announced years earlier.

Late in 1996 came their first, concise Greatest Hits, containing their most successful singles and just one new track, a cover of "Angel" by Aretha Franklin recorded together with the Fugees, probably the hottest group of the moment. Despite the star-studded guest spot, the US turned away once again while Europe applauded, but from that point on Simply Red would turn into an old institution of British radio pop, unable to connect with a younger audience or to keep pace with the times in any spontaneous way.

1997-99: from stars to rags

The effects were not long in coming: in the second half of 1997, a cover of Gregory Isaacs's "Night Nurse" appeared on the market, credited to Sly & Robbie featuring Simply Red. Hucknall also starred in the video, but the track only managed to stir up a modicum of interest, and only in Britain. Meanwhile, rumours spread of a new Simply Red album in the works, made up entirely of covers... That wouldn't turn out to be entirely true; Hucknall eventually changed his mind, and Blue would be made up half of new material and half of other people's songs. What wouldn't change, in the writing and recording process, was a shortage of fresh ideas: having largely disowned the turn taken on Life, Hucknall preferred to return to the purer pop of Stars, but that freshness and vitality were by now gone. Blue, as its title suggests, is a more melancholy and reflective album than its predecessors, but uneven in its results and made almost on autopilot by Simply Red, by now reincarnated as the production trio AGM (alongside Hucknall, drummer Gota Yashiki, already a collaborator on Stars, and programmer Andy Wright, who had joined for the previous album).

Hazy and evocative is the cover of Neil Young's "Mellow My Mind" that opens the record; many will cry foul, but Hucknall will once again prove he can make even songs far removed from soul tradition convincingly his own. Also pleasant (and reasonably successful) is the reworking of the Hollies' version of "The Air That I Breathe", unfortunately also present in a disastrous remix version, where it was crossed with the backing track of John Mellencamp's "Jack And Diane". The already-released "Angel" is also revisited, in a new and inconclusive version. The greatest disappointments, however, come from some of the songs written by Hucknall himself, including the prefabricated, generic title track and a mawkish song written specifically for Italy's Mina ("Someday In My Life", which had already appeared as a duet on her album "Leggera"); standing out instead are the gentle "Love Has Said Goodbye Again" and, paradoxically, the reworking of an old '87 b-side, "Broken Man". Despite everything, Blue would earn a decent success, especially in Britain: Hucknall's fame and fanbase were still considerable, and the sugary but professional "Say You Love Me" was too effective a single not to make an impact on European charts.

And yet this time the king seems naked, the critics are no longer on his side, and it would be Hucknall himself who dispels any remaining doubt on the matter when, barely a year later, he releases another album, entirely new, with the curious title Love And The Russian Winter. Although the title evokes frozen landscapes, the album's mood is actually warmer and less gloomy than that of Blue, but decidedly no more inspired. Probably intrigued by the excellent commercial results recently achieved by Cher venturing into more danceable sounds, Hucknall has the terrible idea of reforging Simply Red in a dance mould: the results are a club-friendly single such as the cover of Sam & Dave's "Ain't That A Lot Of Love", not indecent but already dated by the time of release, and, worse still, "The Spirit Of Life" and "Back Into The Universe", with their flat beats straight out of a bargain-bin remix.

Elsewhere the pace slows and it's all one long quotation from previous albums, but without any memorable melodic sparks, and with an air of tedium seasoning the whole thing (take for example the single "Thank You", which tries, and fails, to repeat the formula of "Stars"). Only "Man Made The Gun", which retains a certain funky verve, the fresh "Words For Girlfriend" and a refined "Close To You" rise above the average, but overall Love And The Russian Winter is a toothless record that never takes off. Attempts to salvage its fortunes with an expensive, cinematic video (inspired by Doctor Zhivago) for the second single, the rather unremarkable "Your Eyes", would prove entirely useless: single and album alike would be an unprecedented flop for Hucknall, who in the meantime would also see his contract with Warner expire, never to be renewed. From that point on, one loses count of the compilations of singles and love songs released in time for the holidays and Valentine's Day.

2003-05: coming home

Three years would pass before Simply Red returned to the market, and surprisingly without the backing of a major label. Home was in fact entirely self-produced through the label Mick Hucknall founded, Simplyred.com, and, contrary to expectations, it turned out to be a huge success. Having abandoned every clumsy attempt to keep up with the latest musical trends, the band decided to return to the guiding principles that had defined A New Flame: stripped-down, classy pop (well represented by the title track), airy melodies, big-band swagger ("Fake" and "Lost Weekend"), a full-blooded cover of the soul classic "You Make Me Feel Brand New" by the Stylistics, and an even more curious one: a soulful transfiguration of Bob Dylan's "Positively 4th Street". Of course the freshness of the early days is no longer there, and it shows: Hucknall and co. are by now honest journeymen giving their best on stages all over the world, where thousands still flock to hear the old hits. And yet the first single, "Sunrise", which heavily samples Hall & Oates' "I Can't Go For That (No Can Do)", brought Simply Red back onto European radio (and beyond), and the album's sales were the best since the days of Life - a real record for a self-produced release.

However, Home would prove to be their dignified swan song. Aiming to capitalize on their regained success and cash in on their old catalogue (which remained Warner's property), Simply Red decided to release an album of reworked hits in an acoustic, Latin-tinged style, titled Simplified. Alongside it came a handful of new tracks, including a faithful cover of Leon Russell's classic "A Song For You" and the single "Perfect Love", more suited to a Cuban tourist resort dancefloor than to climbing the charts. An elegant but also cloying and sterile operation, seemingly designed for distribution as the perfect, generic Christmas gift for the undecided. The plan was to soon release a companion album of new material, Amplified, but the base project sold below expectations, so the real test was postponed.

1997-10: the death of the cool

The long-announced album of new material finally arrived a year late, preceded several months earlier by the single "Oh! What A Girl!" (essentially today's Simply Red breathlessly redoing early Simply Red, stirring a mix of tenderness and approval among longtime fans) and bearing a new title, Stay: there's no real hit single here, the ballad "So Not Over You" is too bland to rival those of the past, and the title track sounds so dated it could pass for an outtake from Blue.

The rest of the album has a more bluesy-rock, less soul-leaning feel than usual, and Hucknall's delivery proves rather convincing on "Good Times Have Done Me Wrong" and on the cover of the Faces' "Debris". Yet it's only on "The World And You Tonight" and "The Death Of The Cool" that the melodic freshness of the best Simply Red resurfaces, in a record that too often sounds like a collection of coarse, geriatric pop-blues.

It would be Simply Red's final album of new material. The following year saw the release of a new double compilation, Simply Red 25 - The Greatest Hits, accompanied by a forgettable cover passed off as a new track ("Go Now" by the Moody Blues), and Hucknall embarked on the band's long farewell tour: two years of concerts culminating in the show on 19 December 2010 at London's O2 Arena, at the end of which the story of Simply Red was brought to a close for good.

Why not do it sooner? After all, the group had been falling apart for some time, and for fifteen years it hadn't even really been a group anymore, just a name behind which Hucknall hid. The comfort of success later turning into a commercial nightmare too heavy to sustain at certain levels? Perhaps... The fact remains that Hucknall now declares himself finally free to make the music he wants without too much pressure; and yet when, a couple of years ago, he released, almost under the radar, a decent tribute album to blues singer Bobby Bland (aptly titled Tribute To Bobby), the sound wasn't all that different from that of Stay, despite the intention to make a more old-fashioned record. He's probably just grown tired of being a pop star, preferring instead to devote himself to his family, to wine production on his Sicilian estate, and to planning a 2011 tour alongside the reformed Faces, stepping in for Rod Stewart.

With a staggering fifty-five million copies sold worldwide, Simply Red remain one of the most successful bands in British pop, yet neither the massive media exposure nor the initial goodwill from music critics ultimately earned them much artistic credibility over time; even their style, despite having contributed to the evolution of British soul in the late '80s, seems to have influenced little more than a few fleeting, far less incisive British pop phenomena. They may well be remembered in the collective imagination as the standard-bearers of English easy-listening, yet, at least during their first decade of activity, no other group in Europe managed to bring so-called blue-eyed soul to the ears of so many people with no background in black music whatsoever, doing so with a sobriety (vocal included) and a respect for classic soul that so many American pop divas and wannabes of the era rarely showed.

Special thanks to Alessandro Liccardo for his suggestions.

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