Albums: Simply Red - Time

Simply Red - Time
Better With You; Just Like You; Let Your Hair Down; Shades 22; It Wouldn’t Be Me; Never Be Gone; Too Long at the Fair; Slapbang; Hey Mister; Just Like You (Part 2); Butterflies; Earth in a Lonely Space

Warner: Catalogue Number 5054197429972

Releasing their thirteenth studio album with Time, Simply Red has thankfully decided to go straight for a set of new songs as opposed to including any cover versions, which has sometimes been the case in the past.

Part of the reason for this was Mick Hucknall coming to terms during lockdown that he is a songwriter, so why not write some songs about himself?

The result is an album of the usual ballads you expect from Simply Red, mixed with dashes of soul, funk, and R&B further along the way.

Just Like You floats along underpinned by a funky backbone; the track could even be related to Thrill Me, one of the band's earlier hits. The track is revisited later, with the song getting a jazzier makeover, including a big crescendo, as Simply Red go back to their earlier roots and sound all the better for it.

Hucknall has lost none of his bite either, as heard on Hey Mister as he sings: "Hey Mister, when you’ve stopped complaining, do something about our system failing." Likewise, political references appear on Too Long at the Fair.

The album will not win Simply Red any new fans, though the faithful will not be disappointed with what is on offer here.