If I had to pick a band who was likely to make a huge comeback, I wouldn\u2019t pick Simply Red. While they had a few hits back in the day and lead singer Mick Hucknall is one of the best vocalists of blue-eyed soul since early Daryl Hall, I would think by now they\u2019d be playing rodeos and county fairs. <\/p>\n
Just goes to show you, my prognostication skills are nowhere near perfect; having had a small reversal of fortune involving sold-out concerts in their native England, Simply Red is back, trying to return to the American success it enjoyed with songs like \u201cHolding Back The Years\u201d and \u201cIf You Don\u2019t Know Me By Now.\u201d<\/p>\n
The part of me that always roots for the underdog (you know, the part that watches Chicago Cubs games) wants to like Stay<\/i>, the latest offering from Simply Red. And to be fair, there\u2019s a good deal on Stay<\/i> to like. Mick Hucknall\u2019s voice has aged incredibly well; he\u2019s still smooth and talented, his voice alternatively slick and gritty. The musicianship on Stay<\/i> is excellent, and perfect for the genre represented; Simply Red is a soul band, has always been a soul band, and they do that one thing very well. So you get understated jazz guitar, choral background vocals, fuzzy and fat rhythm guitar, and an occasional sweet, sweet touch of strings.<\/p>\n
Where Stay<\/i> sometimes stumbles is the songs themselves. There are some great songs on this CD: the first single, \u201cSo Not Over You,\u201d is easily the best thing there, heartfelt and wistful without being maudlin. \u201cStay\u201d is a great dance tune with some delightfully retro background vocals that almost hearken back to disco. \u201cOh! What A Girl\u201d is dripping with rich, lush horns and some truly wicked guitar licks. <\/p>\n
But for every song that works, there\u2019s one that doesn\u2019t quite make the mark; \u201cGood Times Have Done Me Wrong\u201d isn\u2019t quite bluesy enough despite Hucknall\u2019s best efforts, \u201cLady\u201d has lyrics that combine the groovy lounge lizard nature of Jefferson Starship\u2019s \u201cMiracles\u201d with bad freshman English poetry, and \u201cThe Death of The Cool\u201d\u2019s funky Hammond organ can\u2019t quite save a fractured social commentary. Stay<\/i>\u2019s weakest quality is its lyrics, and about half the time the musicianship and Hucknall\u2019s brilliant vocals can\u2019t save the songs.<\/p>\n
So is Stay<\/i> a major comeback? I wish it was, and I wish that Simply Red has the time to record another CD after this one; I think they\u2019re close to something great. However, Stay<\/i> isn\u2019t it; it is, instead, an equal share of flaw and promise.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":28774,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[7948],"rating":[5615],"class_list":["post-40270","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-simply-red","rating-rating-b"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/40270","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40270"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/40270\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28774"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=40270"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=40270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}