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Rating: Simply Red, who were they? Indeed, for almost anyone who has listened to the English "band" at least in the last 5-6 years, the feeling of facing a semi-group good for competing with the likes of Blue and similar probably wouldn’t have seemed far off. But (oh yes) in the 80s Mick and his mates (because back then and for the following ten years they really formed a group) were one of the iconic bands, led by their leader and frontman red "both in hair and political ideas".
And the album I am about to review represents our intense debut: "Picture Book" contains tracks that are 80s classics, like "Money's Too Tight (To Mention)" or "Holding Back The Years", both on the second side. There are two covers, the aforementioned "Money's Too Tight", by the Valentine brothers, and the delicate "Heaven", by David Byrne and Jerry Harrison; a fact not unusual for a debut band, but that in the long run will lead the group towards a musical identity loss compared to their beginnings. Which are characterized by a sound never banal, ranging from the jazz of "Sad Old Red", to the funk of "Come To My Aid", "Look At You Now" and "No Direction", up to the superb closure with the song that gives the album its title.
Certainly, this record is not recommended for detractors of funk-blues or even the 80s in general, as it oozes the spirit of that era from the first to the last second: not only with Fritz McIntrye's keyboards (second voice, songwriter, and a prominent personality of the group: not coincidentally he was the last of the original composition to leave, in '95), but also Tim Kellet's trumpet make a great impression in the general picture. One last curiosity: "Holding Back The Years," one of the most inspired moments of the entire album, is co-authored by a certain Moss, whose name unfortunately I do not know; this is because the song was composed by him and Hucknall during the Redhead's stint in the Punk group The Frantic Elevators, in the early 80s before forming Simply Red.
After "Picture Book" will follow other episodes, not always very happy, but this one, extracted from the context of today’s band, increasingly lost in the odious quagmire of the worst kind of pop, remains one of the cornerstones of the English group’s over twenty-year career.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Come to My Aid (04:03)
(M Hucknall/F Mcintyre)
come to my aid you're sweet as everything
come to my aid i'd give you anything
i feel so betrayed by the people i love
come to my aid it's you i'm thinking of
prouder than wild
sad enough to sing
come to my aid and care for social living
Why are we liable to die for survival?
why is our nation divided?
come to my aid..
in the poverty stakes see just what it means
when welfare decimates you'd better care
about your fellow people
why are we liable to die for survival?
why is our nation divided?
come to my aid...
come on board
03 Look at You Now (03:02)
Right from the start you tried to hurt me,
But look at you now, behaving like a fool.
A long time ago you treated me so mean but
Chorus:
Look at you now.
Look at you now.
You threw me away like litter in the gutter.
I had to pick my self up and find something better.
-chorus-
I looked so hard, I'm looking hard now
Looking at your head.
Don't talk about birthdays, that don't mean a thing to me.
Don't throw it in my face, it's too sweet to sting.
-chorus-
I kept on looking hard (repeat)
Looking at your head, head!!!
04 Heaven (04:32)
Ev'ryone is trying to get to the bar.
The name of the bar,
The bar is called Heaven.
The band in Heaven,
They play my favourite song.
They play it once again,
They play it all night long.
Chorus:
Heaven,
Heaven is a place,
A place where nothing,
Nothing ever happens.
-chorus-
There is a party, everyone is there.
Everyone will leave at exactly the same time.
It's hard to imagine that nothing at all
Could be so exciting, could be so much fun.
-chorus-
-chorus-
When this kiss is over it will start again.
It will not be any different, it will be exactly the same.
It's hard to imagine that nothing at all
Could be so exciting, could be so much fun.
-chorus-
05 Jericho (06:06)
Listen boy, I'll tell you a thing.
I'll make you a career in the business I'm in.
I'll make you rich, I'll make you a toy,
I'll make you turn over into my little boy.
Y'see I'm going somewhere.
I don't know what I'm gonna do when I get there.
I know money's a thing - your only inspiration
And your only meaning.
You must think that all I do
Is spend my time making pretty pictures of you.
You can fall when I will climb,
But I'll be falling over just by having you in mind.
1st. chorus:
Mend that fight - oh listen to them
Kickin' up a ball inside a Jericho wall.
Mend that fight - it's all twisted through them.
If you ain't rich then you won't go to the ball.
Having mercy and licking up love,
And moving through your ocean like I've never had enough.
Y'see you ain't all I want,
You're everything and more that I have ever hoped for.
You must think that all I do
Is spend my time making pretty pictures of you.
You can fall when I will climb,
But I'll be falling over just by having you in mind.
-1st chorus-
2nd chorus:
You won't go to the ball.
You won't go to the ball.
You won't go, you won't go,
You won't go to the ball.
(repeat)
You must think that all I do
Is spend my time making pretty pictures of you.
You can fall when I will climb,
But I'll be falling over just by having you in mind.
Mend that fight - oh listen to them
Kickin' up a ball inside a No.10 wall.
Mend that fight - it's all twisted through them.
I'm rich, you ain't, so you won't go to the ball
No more!
-2nd chorus-
Outro:
Yeah, if you ain't got nothing
You'll never go there
(Repeat)
I tried to make you see
I tell you, I'd had enough.
Money was a thing, money was a thing,
Money was a thing that I believed in.
(Repeat)
06 Money's Too Tight (to Mention) (04:13)
I been laid off from work
My rent is due
My kids all need
Brand new shoes
So I went to the bank
To see what they could do
They said son - looks like bad luck
Got-a hold on you
[Chorus:]
Money's too tight to mention
I can't get an un-em-ploy-ment ex-ten-sion
Money's too tight to mention
I went to my brother
To see what he could do -
He said bro-ther like to help you
But I'm unable to
So I called on my fa-ther fa-ther
Oh my fa-ther
He said
[Chorus:]
Money's too tight to mention
Oh mo-ney mo-ney mo-ney mon-ey
Mo-ney's too tight to mention
I can't even qual-i-fy for my pension
We talk a-bout rea-gan-on-ics
Oh lord down in the con-gress
They're passing all kinds - of bills
From down cap-it-ol hill - (we've tried them)
[Chorus:]
Money's too tight to mention
[spoken] cut-back!
Mo-ney mo-ney mo-ney mon-ey
We're talk-in' a-bout mon-ey mon-ey
We're talk-in' a-bout mon-ey mon-ey
We're talk-in' 'bout the dollar bill
Now what are we all to do
When the mon-ey's got a hold on you?
Mo-ney's too tight to mention
Oh mon-ey mon-ey mon-ey mon-ey
Mo-ney's too tight to mention
A-mero - mon-ey oh yeah
We're talk-in' a-bout mon-ey mon-ey
We're talk-in' a-bout mon-ey mon-ey
We're talk-in' a-bout mon-ey mon-ey
We're talk-in' a-bout mon-ey mon-ey:..
07 Holding Back the Years (04:30)
Holding back the years,
Thinking of the fear I've had so long.
When somebody hears,
Listen to the fear that's gone.
Strangled by the wishes of pater,
Hoping for the arms of mater,
Get to meet her sooner or later,
Holding back the years,
Chance for me to escape from all I know.
Holding back the tears,
Cause nothing here has grown.
I've wasted all my tears,
Wasted all those years.
Nothing had the chance to be good,
Nothing ever could, yeah.
I'll keep holding on,
I'll keep holding on,
I'll keep holding on,
I'll keep holding on.
So tight.
I've wasted all my tears,
Wasted all those years.
And nothing had the chance to be good,
Cause nothing ever could, yeah.
I'll keep holding on,
I'll keep holding on,
I'll keep holding on,
I'll keep holding on
So tight.
That's all I have today
It's all I have to say.
09 No Direction (03:41)
Singing hymns on road and pavements.
Hungry Jims, no one saves them.
Walkin' north, talkin' south
With firm intention.
And I don't know what I'm talking about,
It's firm intention.
Chorus:
In this dreary life, with no direction,
What this cause says about my life
And no direction, no direction!!!
To enter a place like an alien.
To leave a place like an alien.
What's this calling? What's this calling?
Firm intention.
Better feel it, better believe it.
Firm intension.
-chorus-
Watch that feeling, watch that feeling
Or I'll grab it, or I'll grab it.
Watch that feeling, watch that feeling
Or I'll grab it, or I'll grab it.
-chorus-
10 Picture Book (05:49)
Many types came to see the picture.
Many types came to see the picture.
Only he had the right to come.
Only he is long gone.
Will or win or wicked, it's written in it.
(repeat)
Quivering in mutual agression,
Women sing remembering affection.
Only he had the right to come.
Only he is long gone.
Will or win or wicked, it's written in it.
(repeat)
Here by the side of the book.
(We beseech thee, we beseech thee.)
Here by the side of Piero's spirit.
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Other reviews
By Abraham
Simply Red stopped pleasing me the moment Mick was no longer hungry.
'Holding Back The Years' remains their everlasting trademark.
