Simply Red back to basics

Simply Red, “Blue Eyed Soul” (BMG)

“Blue Eyed Soul”, Simply Red’s 12th album, is not innovative, groundbreaking, cutting-edge, topical or extensive. But it’s a lot of fun and its title is comfortingly accurate.

Mick Hucknall’s band, together in its current incarnation for over 15 years, has been closely identified with soul and R&B since its 1985 debut “Picture Book”. This album can be considered a sequel to Hucknall’s second solo record, “American Soul”, a 2012 collection of covers.

While the music on the two records hits many of the same cues, the 10 new songs were all written by Hucknall and reflect how deeply the icons of the genre, from James Brown and Maurice White to Curtis Mayfield and Nile Rodgers, are ingrained in his craft.

Long after his wild years, Hucknall appears to be a model of domesticity and says he wrote songs he thought the rest of the band would “like to play night after night.”

At the same time, Hucknall also provides himself a strong set of tunes to match his own talents. Recording the vocals mostly live “with one or two repairs” and placing them front and center in the mix gives them a noticeable freshness.

Clocking in at just over 33 minutes, the album fits comfortably on two sides of vinyl, though those opting for the CD get a slightly different running order. If you want to experience it as Hucknall apparently intended, the string-drenched “Tonight” should be track five, making the Latin-tinged “Chula” the closer.

With the exception boogie-down leadoff track “Thinking of You”, Hucknall’s preferred order puts the slower songs at the start, including the moving “Complete Love.”

The hot side starts with a sweet, repetitive bass line and horn accents that guide “Ring That Bell” into funky territory, while “BadBootz” features a Chic-like chink-a-chink rhythm guitar. “Don’t Do Down” clearly draws from the James Brown catalog.

“Blue Eyed Soul” is a return to basics and includes plenty of the band’s typical suave vibrations. What elevates it another notch are the grittier, lively sounds that Simply Red also excels at, when it wants. (RTRS)

Also:

LONDON: Clothes, furniture and music awards belonging to Keith Flint, the late frontman of the Prodigy, have sold for nearly $450,000 at auction, eight months after the 49-year-old singer was found dead at his home.

From body jewellery to shoes, some 170 lots were offered “to assist with the settlement of the estate’s liabilities”, according to Cambridge auctioneer Cheffins. It said the Thursday evening sale had raised just under 350,000 pounds ($448,245) “surpassing all expectations”.

“The night saw strong bidding on all of the lots and we are delighted to have achieved such a total on behalf of the estate,” Cheffins said on Twitter.

Three MTV Music Awards Flint received in the late 1990s sold for 16,000 pounds while an oak and steel bed he is said to have helped design went for 8,500 pounds. Other auction items included art and discs.

A figurehead of Britain’s 1990s rave movement, the “Firestarter” and “Breathe” singer, who often sported eye makeup and colourful hairstyles, died in March.

An inquest in May found he had died as a result of hanging and drugs in his system but there was not enough evidence to determine Flint committed suicide. (Agencies)