Simply Red Album: “Perfect Love [US CD]”

"Perfect Love" is the first single off Simply Red's new CD "Simplified". It is Simply Red's attempt at a Latin-styled song, or a track with strong Latin influences. The problem is, with their typical blue-eyed soul style they have a very hard time pulling it off.

Simply Red's last two singles "Sunrise" and "Fake" were outstanding - and both became #1 club hits both in the U.S. and overseas. "Perfect Love" is now in the top five on the U.S. club chart as of this writing. The mixes are interesting, certainly adding some flavor to the song. By far the best is the Roger's Dirty Sanchez Mix which has a driving bassline. The only drawback to this mix is that it only some of the vocals in it. However, this is one of those songs where a remix might not work with the whole song. The Love To Infinity mixes are nice mixes, but again, do not contain very much of the vocals which make them kind of disappointing.

As you get into the later tracks on the CD is where you get into the mixes that are closer to the original version of the song. This is where you realize how almost cringe-worthy this song was at the beginning.

This track is ok, but IMO just doesn't measure up to "Sunrise" and "Fake". You probably need to be a huge fan of Simply Red to really appreciate it.

Perfect is the latest single from Simply Red's album "Simplified". It reached No. 1 on Billboard's Hot Dance Club Play Chart on 7 Jan 2006, the first number 1 of the year.

This track sees the group departing from their usual soulful and funky style to a more Latin inspired style.

The track timings are as follows:

1. Roger's Dirty Sanchez Mix (7:48) Trademark Roger Sanchez mix with plenty of electronic sounds coupled with a slow house beat. It took me a few spins to warm up to it. The female vocals can sound a bit out of place though.

2. Love To Infinity Sunset Mix (7:47) The Love to Infinity Mixes are the best among the remixes. The Sunset Mix is quite a groovy one, utilizing a classic house beat and some nice piano accompaniment and synth sounds.

3. Love To Infinity Club Mix (6:47) The Club version is clearly geared toward the dance floor compared to its cousin. Great Latino tribal and conga beat.

4. Kurtis Mantronik Vocal Mix (6:17) This is a European trance version. It's just ok with me.

5. Motivo Hi-Lectro Mix (6:31) Starts off interestingly enough and follows closely to original. Listen to the guitar riffs and horns in the middle.

6. Lee Cabrera's "Lower East Side" Dub (6:09) More trance version of this single. This one is one of the weaker remixes as it sounds a little repetitive.

7. Roger's Dirty Dub (7:48) Sounds identical to the first track with much less vocals, as most dubs are.

8. Album Version (3:11) Not a strong track.

Take a listen to the sound clips before buying. It is nothing like their earlier work, like the classic 'Sunrise' and 'Fairground'.

4/5