Simply red to split

[gentlegreen]

They play ersatz soul music like a club band, and have a singer who has to slide up to every note before he hits it.

I was watching the Bob Dylan stuff on BBC4, and much as I respect him, he was flat.

And in the context of the Newport Folk Festival, his songs were very abstract.

With regards singing style, perhaps it's because I used to like Jon Anderson's northern (Lancashire) accent ....

Yes, I have to admit I associate SR a bit with The Lighthouse Family and the Fugees - and Jamiroquai ( his stuff is clever, but soul-less)..

They represent the limited playlist the local radio station offered me in my car that summer ..

I ended up with a Fugees Album and a spin-off ....

 

[Dubversion]

Yes, I have to admit I associate SR a bit with The Lighthouse Family and the Fugees - and Jamiroquai ( his stuff is clever, but soul-less)..

and in one fell swoop you've pinpointed 4 of the very worst acts of recent years

 

[danny la rouge]

I was watching the Bob Dylan stuff on BBC4, and much as I respect him, he was flat.

Yes, but Bob Dylan a) wrote good songs, and b) didn't claim to be the Northern Otis Redding.

 

[gentlegreen]

It's probably because the core of my musical taste these days is ambient and almost anything has its place ... like that bit of Elvis on the KLF's "Chill Out" .. ordinarily Elvis gives me the creeps.

Cliff Richard and Andrew lloyd Webber - now that's pretty well the pits for me.

 

[jbob]

Devil Woman's well edgy.

 

[DeadManWalking]

Mick Hucknell did a cover of Gregory Issac's night nurse, which sounded identical to the original, don't know what the point was unless he sold the rights to the medicine.

 

[DeadManWalking]

and doesn't he own half of blood and fire records?

 

[Paul Russell]

OK, I'm going to come out now.

Their music strikes me as pretty nondescript. Nowhere near as offensive as the aforementioned Jamiroquai.

But, I saw Mick H being interviewed a few years ago, and he came across as a thoroughly decent bloke. And not at all smug.

[ducks for cover]

Could the ridicule be due to him (1) being ginger, (2) having a face that looks a bit smug, and (3) looking like Charlie Drake (ask your parents).

 

[kyser_soze]

Mick Hucknall falls into the 'Dido' music category - music for people who generally don't like music that much, or don't want anything too challenging.

Nowt wrong with that, just keep it behind closed doors I say. If someone want's to listen to 'Ocean Drive' and have the aural equivalent of cheap and nasty chocolate poured in their ears, that's fine by me. Just so long as it's away from me...

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

and doesn't he own half of blood and fire records?

The Salvation Army owns them

 

[LDR]

I like to think I'm quite open to different music and that I don't judge it on it's popularity. I usually find something to like about a band or artist.

However, Simply Red make my skin crawl and I'm not absolutely sure why. It's nothing to do with the style of music as I can listen to similar artists without any problems.

It's nothing to do with Mick Hucknall's appearance. I'd never really been exposed to the anti-redhead brigade until I moved to the UK and I've hated Simply Red for a much longer time. I do find his voice creepy.

I find listening to them an unpleasant experience. The music I find a bit bland and insipid but I can normally live with that. It's the voice that just tips me over the edge. It genuinely disturbs me.

To be fair I haven't listened to the albums; just the odd single played on the radio. I have no interest in investigating their back catalogue any more than I would like to track down an album of differencing nail lengths on a blackboard.

 

[ohmyliver]

Yes. And he's ginger.

hes a traitor to the ginger nation actually

so does that mean we can only tell the following joke for the next year

whats the difference between a bull and simply red:
a bull has the horns section at the front, and the arsehole at the back...

 

[_angel_]

There are definitely worse acts. I reckon it's because it's perceived that 'housewives' like them.

 

[Boogie Boy]

I've never been keen on 'Simply Red' as a band, but I do think that Hucknall has an interesting voice. The problem is that Hucknall appears to think he has a great voice, an extraordinary voice, and that is where it all falls to pieces.

The backing band have released at least two albums as a 'solo' unit under the name Sweetback, some of which (certainly not all) is worth a listen. They are very good musicians who can play extremely well together, and I'd be interested in seeing how they decide to develop Sweetback after this split with Hucknall.

BB

 

[Augie March]

Isn't this the Bono factor again coming into play?

Simply Red play awful music, but isn't it made just that much worse because the guy singing the music, is such an utter, egotistical, pompus arse?

 

[killer b]

and doesn't he own half of blood and fire records?

i believe so... for that alone, i'll forgive him a hundred albums i'd never listen to...

 

[ThierryEnnui]

OK, I'm going to come out now.

Their music strikes me as pretty nondescript. Nowhere near as offensive as the aforementioned Jamiroquai.

But, I saw Mick H being interviewed a few years ago, and he came across as a thoroughly decent bloke. And not at all smug.

[ducks for cover]

Could the ridicule be due to him (1) being ginger, (2) having a face that looks a bit smug, and (3) looking like Charlie Drake (ask your parents).

This is pretty much how I see it. People in the UK can't stand seeing a ginger bloke who's a millionaire and is always being photographed with good looking girls on his arm. It doesn't fit with their image of the weak ginger child who got bullied at school. their music is shit, but so is a lot of other music, and i think at least half the flak they get is because he's ginger.

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

I thought it was a bit of a funny news item last night. It was on everything.

Breaking news, Simply Red suddenly split in a couple of years time.

 

[ohmyliver]

mebbe... But the same level of vitriol isn't/wasn't heaped on other successful gingers in the music industry, like Alan McGee, Daryl Hall, Van Morrison or Ginger Baker...

 

[Yetman]

NO!

NOOO!


NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

x infinity+1

 

[Barking_Mad]

trunks too tight to mention.

 

[Gromit]

Mick is a lurve god. Evidence below!

Holding back?

Too tight?

Hey Mickey!

 

[futha]

aw i like a few simply red songs. maybe im too young for them to have really grated on me at their peak but i think fairground, stars, holding back the years etc are great tunes. good every now and again

 

[dynamicbaddog]

aw i like a few simply red songs. maybe im too young for them to have really grated on me at their peak but i think fairground, stars, holding back the years etc are great tunes. good every now and again

I like Fairground too , and their cover of Night Nurse
ahhh I feel better now I've admitted that, confession being good for the soul and all that...

 

[rorymac]

This is pretty much how I see it. People in the UK can't stand seeing a ginger bloke who's a millionaire and is always being photographed with good looking girls on his arm. It doesn't fit with their image of the weak ginger child who got bullied at school. their music is shit, but so is a lot of other music, and i think at least half the flak they get is because he's ginger.

There were a million worse bands than Simply Red in the 80's .. ABC for example .. fackin toilet.

 

[Gingerman]

Seen as hes the only member hows he going to split SR,chop himself in half?
Not a fan tbh but I do like Holding back the Years,reminds me of my yoof

 

[upsidedownwalrus]

and in one fell swoop you've pinpointed 4 of the very worst acts of recent years

I completely concur on 3 of those - three of the worst bands ever, in fact - but I thought the Fugees were alright as chart acts go...

 

[upsidedownwalrus]

This is pretty much how I see it. People in the UK can't stand seeing a ginger bloke who's a millionaire and is always being photographed with good looking girls on his arm. It doesn't fit with their image of the weak ginger child who got bullied at school. their music is shit, but so is a lot of other music, and i think at least half the flak they get is because he's ginger.

Complete cobblers. I couldn't care less what girls he went out with. It's his awful voice which did it for me. LDR put it quite well in the post above. Very similar feelings to mine on the matter.

 

[Augie March]

He said he wanted to "invent a new form of music"

What the fuck is he going to do, decimalize it?

 

[purves grundy]

Simply red split lentils