Simply Red
Life

THE REVIEW

"'Life'? What a terrible experience. Mick was a dictator in the recording studio. No one could stand him anymore. Yes: I really have an awful memory of 'Life'". Ouch! These words are from Ian Kirkham, the long-time saxophonist who has been in the Simply Red orbit since the "Man And Woman" tour (1987).

Mick Hucknall started to get on Stewart Levine's nerves to co-produce as early as "A New Flame" (1989). Levine: "Yes, production is something Mick has always been fascinated by. He likes being at the desk, but I say... with that voice, with the voice you have... why worry about production? You can't do both well, it's impossible".

Elliot Rashman, the manager who, coincidentally, left right after the "Life" experience (1995), adds: "Mick overdid it. At a certain point, Stewart Levine left the project; I had to do a lot to bring him back....".

Levine again: "I was clear from the start: Mick on composition and vocals, me on production. But at some point, the foundation was gone. And then this hip-hop craze... really, I never understood it....".

Exactly. "Life", Simply Red's fifth studio album, was not born in exactly tranquil conditions. The legacy left by "Stars", its predecessor, was quite heavy. With its seven million copies sold, it placed considerable pressure on the good (sic.) Hucknall. Levine, who with Hucknall has produced good records in an alchemy as fragile as crystal, points out instead that it's not difficult to follow up a bestseller, but rather a flop. Can't blame him.

I apologize for the generous preamble, essential for delving into an album that, in the opinion of its writer, lowers the bar compared to "Stars", which already lowered it compared to "A New Flame". Nothing to criticize about the band's quality, which saw for the last time the mastery of Fritz McIntyre on keyboards, Heitor T.P. on guitar, the aforementioned Kirkham on saxophone, and Sly Dunbar on drums (Gota Yashiki left not due to incompatibility with the combative Hucknall but to focus on solo projects; we will find him on the next album, "Blue" of 1998). On bass, Robbie Shakespeare and Bootsy Collins alternated. The most significant change was the stable inclusion of programmer Andy Wright, who gave an even more electronic imprint to the already quite synthetic sound of the band, taking directly the base of the track "Give It Up" by the Goodmen, which became an essential sample for the first Simply Red single to go to number 1: "Fairground".

For the rest, "Life" drags on quite wearily. The opening track, "You Make Me Believe", flows away quietly, in a low voice: "Sometimes you are my girlfriend, other times my baby, occasionally my whore" ==> written and pronounced by Mick directly in Italian. Wow, careful count, your sword has moved! "So Many People" is a serene examination of the world's situation at that time: "We are so many people, living different lives in difficult times". Indeed. Musically nice, calm, it doesn’t break the soft atmosphere of the previous track. "Lives And Loves" is also appreciated, a tormented reflection on the subject with a crescendo final where Mick demonstrates and confirms that no, he does not lack a soul voice. Really beautiful. "Fairground" sharply spikes the album: a track to dance to, musically light but impactful, radio-friendly in its DNA. It fits, come on.

"Never Never Love" must be one of the moments that ticked off Levine: la-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la-la. Eh well: Mick Hucknall is the incarnation of a famous Piedmontese refrain: "This is my command here, and this is my house...."; if that’s what he felt at the time, he merely followed his instinct. Both "So Beautiful" and "Hillside Avenue" are insignificant, lacking personality, syrupy to the point of distracting the listener.

We go back to tapping the feet with "Remembering The First Time", excessively pathetic in its lyrics but at least musically captivating. "Out On The Range" represents the high point of the album: melancholic and funky at the same time, driven but reflective enough, it suffers a bit from monotony especially towards the end, but remains a substantial track. "We're In This Together", recycled for Euro '96, is mainly an anthem to boredom.

What legacy does this "Life" leave us, where does it lead us? The feeling is that perhaps three and a half years of waiting, also due to the exhaustive tour supporting "Stars", is too much. Another feeling is that Hucknall was tired to the point of becoming unbearable. Not by chance, after the "Life" project, the following left: Rashman (the manager), Fritz McIntyre (argh! what a loss....), and Heitor T.P., while after "Stars", trumpeter/keyboardist Tim Kellet, who would find fortune with the dance project called Olive, and bassist Shaun Ward had already abdicated.

"Life" is a mediocre album, uncertain, with little personality and many, too many, pretensions. It is not heterogeneous; it is the result of ideas pursued only in part, and to the listener, the fragility of concept where the cover, whose carefreeness is well revealed by a calmly walking Hucknall, does not find confirmation within the album is evident.