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Simply Red Stay (2007)[FLAC EAC CUE]

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Torrent description

Simply Red - Stay - (2007)[FLAC-EAC-CUE]

Track list

Simply Red - Stay

01. Simply Red / The World And You Tonight 03:33
02. Simply Red / So Not Over You 03:50
03. Simply Red / Stay 03:04
04. Simply Red / They Don`t Know 03:40
05. Simply Red / Oh ! What A Girl 04:19
06. Simply Red / Good Times Have Done Me Wrong 05:20
07. Simply Red / Debris` 04:52
08. Simply Red / Lady 04:59
09. Simply Red / Money TV 04:05
10. Simply Red / The Death Of The Cool 03:26
11. Simply Red / Little Englander 03:06

Biography
The British soul-pop band Simply Red was formed in 1984 by singer Mick "Red" Hucknall (born Michael James Hucknall, June 8, 1960, Manchester, England) with three ex-members of Durutti Column, Tony Bowers (b. October 31, 1952) (bass), Chris Joyce (b. October 11, 1957, Manchester, England) (drums), and Tim Kellett (b. July 23, 1964, Knaresborough, England) (brass, keyboards), plus Sylvan Richardson (guitar) and Fritz McIntyre (b. September 2, 1956, Birmingham, England) (keyboards).
The group signed to Elektra Records and released Picture Book (October 1985), which featured "Money's Too Tight (To Mention)," a Top 40 cover of a 1982 R&B chart single by the Valentine Brothers, and "Holding Back the Years," a Hucknall original that topped the U.S. charts. The single caused the album to go platinum, and made the group one of the major successes of 1986. Men and Women (March 1987), which featured two collaborations between Hucknall and soul songwriter Lamont Dozier, was less popular, though it generated the Top 40 hit "The Right Thing." (In the U.K., "Infidelity" and a cover of Cole Porter's "Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye" also made the Top 40.) Richardson left in 1987 and was replaced by guitarist Aziz Ibrahim, who was replaced by Heitor T.P. (b. Brazil). The third album, A New Flame (February 1989), went gold due to the cover of the 1972 Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes hit "If You Don't Know Me By Now" that hit number one and became a gold single. (In the U.K., "It's Only Love" and "A New Flame" also made the Top 40.) By the time of the fourth album, Stars (September 1991), Bowers and Joyce had left, with Shaun Ward joining on bass and Gota on drums, and saxophonist Ian Kirkham had become a permanent member. Stars was a relative commercial disappointment in the U.S. (though it spawned Top 40 hits in "Something Got Me Started" and "Stars" and eventually went gold), but it became a major success elsewhere, especially in the U.K., where it was the best-selling album of 1991, topped the charts for 19 weeks, and spawned the Top Ten hits "Stars" and "For Your Babies" and the Top 40 hits &Something Got Me Started," "Thrill Me," and "Your Mirror." Worldwide, it had sold eight-and-a-half million copies by the second quarter of 1993. Ward and Gota were gone by the release of Simply Red's fifth album, Life (October 1995), leaving a lineup of Hucknall, McIntyre, Heitor T.P., Kirkham, and backup singer Dee Johnson. The album again proved more of a success at home than in America, topping charts all over Europe, as did its leadoff single, "Fairground," while spending only three months in the U.S. charts. Blue followed in 1998, and a year later Simply Red issued Love and the Russian Winter. After establishing their simplyred.com label, Home was released in 2003. Two years later, the band released Simplified, a collection of old tracks and new songs.

Review
Given his long history of smooth, classy blue-eyed soul, it's easy to forget that Mick Hucknall was inspired to make music by the Sex Pistols. While it's true that Hucknall's Simply Red has never, ever sounded like the Pistols -- or any punk for that matter -- there is an obstinate independent streak that runs throughout his music that's led him to such strange detours as Love and the Russian Winter, as well as his position as an independent artist in the new millennium, releasing Simply Red albums via his own label, Simplyred.com. That independent spirit also surfaces on some of the songs on 2007's Stay, his third release on Simplyred.com, but it's subtle and buried toward the end of the album. For the first half of Stay, Hucknall remains in his trademark upscale blue-eyed soul territory, sounding smooth and stylish whether he's singing ballads or snappier songs like the effervescent "Oh! What a Girl!" Although this sounds familiar, it sounds fresher than it has in a few years: Hucknall isn't trying to compete with such modern U.K. retro-soul phenoms as Amy Winehouse or Joss Stone, but he's looser and lighter than he was on 2003's Home, which is quite welcome. Just as the vibe feels just a bit too comfortable, Stay takes a couple of sly left turns. First, there's a quite wonderful and unexpected cover of Ronnie Lane's "Debris" that's understated and a bit rougher than the norm from Simply Red. After this, the album opens up a bit. There's one more standard soul song in "Lady," but it's a stronger, tighter, sexier single than much of the rest of the record, and then there comes a trio of angry, social comments that offer strong reminders of Hucknall's past as a punk. Not that they sound punk -- apart from the school children's choir that sings along on the closer, "Little Englander," they're recognizably Simply Red -- but with "Money TV" and "The Death of the Cool," he strikes out at the commercialization of culture. Now, some could argue that swaddling these sentiments in such smooth soul undercuts their power, but there's a palpable anger to Hucknall's message and a sly subversiveness in his method that makes this half of Stay interesting -- and when combined with the solid soul of the first half, it adds up to one of his strongest latter-day records.

Enjoy.

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