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Simply Red Album: “Stay”
| Album Information : |
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Release Date:2007-03-12
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Type:Unknown
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Genre:Pop, Soft Pop, Quiet Storm
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Label:Simply Red
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Explicit Lyrics:Yes
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UPC:829410659260
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| Track Listing : |
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| 1 |
World and You Tonight |
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| 2 |
So Not Over You Video |
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| 3 |
Stay Video |
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| 4 |
They Don't Know |
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| 5 |
Oh! What A Girl! Video |
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| 6 |
Good Times Have Done Me Wrong |
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| 7 |
Debris |
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| 8 |
Lady |
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| 9 |
Money TV |
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| 10 |
Death of the Cool |
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| 11 |
Little Englander |
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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. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
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