Excellent Collector's Edition
barry | Boston, MA United States | 08/27/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Simply Red has had a career of inventive, original high quality music under the supervision of highly gifted lead vocalist Mick Hucknall - a truly gifted jazz and blues singer. Sadly they have said no new music is to come. So we are given the gift of these collector's editions of their best works. After a huge success with their first album PICTURE BOOK they had a lull with their second. Then came this, A NEW FLAME and Simply Red came back to life. What an amazing set which provided the group the ability to showcase all their assets. Their music is truly original which is rare. Mick Hucknall takes a song and wraps his emotive vocals tenderly around the lyrics. He can swoon, he can jam, he can do it all.
Hits here are IF YOU DON'T KNOW ME BY NOW, IT'S ONLY LOVE and A NEW FLAME. There is no filler on this cd. All the songs are great. Other standouts are YOU'VE GOT IT and ENOUGH. This cd is digitally remastered and provides amazing sound quality. There are also 5 essential bonus tracks included.
As with all the collector's editions there is the great added addition of a dvd and here we have Simply Red filmed live in Manchester, England in 1990. It is an amazing set of 13 songs and again, the video and audio are superb.
Simply Red has had longevity but has also been very underrated. These editions show how great thet were and are and the stamp they have put on the history of music. Definite quality jazz/r@b here and a highly recommended must have."