What happened, Mick? After a four-year sabbatical following the distinctly
average Love And The Russian Winter, Mick Hucknall a.k.a. Simply Red return
with Sunrise, the first single from his/their eighth studio album Home (out
next week). Since the unprecented success of 1991's Stars, which topped the
year-end bestsellers list twice in a row, the lad has basically fluffed it.
Life (1995) had the epic Fairgound to save it from total failure, while Blue
(1998) included some nice cover versions, but then came Love And The Russian
Winter; the nadir of a once imperial talent, evidence that Hucknall was in
danger of squandering all he had worked so hard to achieve. His label,
Elektra/Warners, then declined to renew his contract, and it's on his own
label simplyred.com that Sunrise and Home have appeared. Anyone hoping for a
blazing return to form will be disappointed; Hucknall's recent inability to
construct memorable tunes of his own is no nearer to resolving itself.
Sunrise appropriates the Hall & Oates classic I Can't Go For That (No Can
Do), using its unique rhythm and structure but singularly failing to place
anything so much as a proper engaging song over it, and even more
depressingly doing so in a style that De La Soul patented as far back as 1989
with their infinitely better daisy-age gem Say No Go. Is this third-hand
drivel the best we can now expect from Simply Red?
Meanwhile, Daryl Hall and John Oates make a comeback themselves this week
with the single Do It For Love. It's their first new material since 1997's
underwhelming Marigold Sky made absolutely no impression at all on the UK
record buying public. Advance reports of Do It For Love and its forthcoming
parent album are promising, however.
COUNCIL COLLECTION
It was 20 years ago this month that Paul Weller emerged from the ashes of The
Jam with his new project, The Style Council. Misunderstood and largely
underappreciated at the time, TSC notched up an impressive catalogue in five
short years, Weller's unbound creativity expressed through a variety of
musical genres and some of the best lyrics he's ever composed. There have
been many Style Council compilations since they disbanded in 1989, too many
in fact, but The Sound Of The Style Council (released this week) at least
offers something other than just another trawl through the hit singles,
magnificent as they all were.
Choice album cuts such as Man Of Great Promise, It's A Very Deep Sea and
Headstart For Happiness rub shoulders with outstanding B-sides (Ghosts
Of Dachau, The Paris Match) and the finest singles (You're The Best Thing,
Speak Like A Child, Shout To The Top). Quite who this collection is aimed
at remains a mystery, since any fan will already have all these songs on CD,
but on content alone this is the finest representation of a fascinating chapter
in Paul Weller's career.
MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING?
Britpop. A case of the Emperor's New Clothes, a cynical and exploitative
phenomenon, or a genuine era of resurgence within British music? This week
Live Forever, a new film directed by John Dower, looks back at the mid-90s
music scene in this country; a time when Oasis, Blur and Pulp ruled the
roost, and dozens of lesser lights that "rode in on their coat tails", as
Sleeper's Louise Wener candidly reflects. "They were the big three. It was
like Bagpuss. The mice on the mouse organ - that was the rest of us".
An obligatory tie-in CD - Live Forever: The Best Of Britpop - is also
available, cobbling together just about anything by home-grown acts from the
era, including bizarre choices such as Massive Attack's Protection. How
fitting that a promising wave of fresh British guitar pop, hijacked by a
greedy opportunistic industry and hyped into oblivion by an all-too-willing
media before dying through its own bloated self-indulgence, should now find
itself "celebrated" in such tawdry fashion. Furthermore, everyone connected
to Britpop seems extremely keen to distance themselves from it and debunk the
myth that it was a golden period, compounding the sense that like New
Labour's promised "Third Way", Britpop was merely a grand illusion, a mass
deception, and sleight of hand on a large scale.
TOMORROW'S HITS ARE YESTERDAY'S NEWS
The madness continues. Ever since the UK music industry hit upon the idea of
issuing new releases to radio and television stations up to six weeks in
advance, it's been only a matter of time before a high-profile single found
its popularity on the wane prior to reaching the shops. First-week sales have
long been the priority for labels keen to secure the highest possible chart
entry position, but now through their own practices they have a new problem.
The Liberty X vs. Richard X splice'n'dice Being Nobody, tipped for the #1
spot when initially premiered last month, is in danger of shooting its load
too far in advance, as blanket exposure has already dulled public enthusiasm.
The original retail release date of March 24th has already been brought
forward to this week, but even that may not be enough to help its chances.
With the Comic Relief-assisted travesty by Gareth Gates likely to continue
selling strongly, a #2 debut - followed by a precipitous tailing off - looks
the likely fate for Being Nobody.
FUTURE SOUNDS
The best music on the horizon:
THE CARDIGANS - LONG GONE BEFORE DAYLIGHT:
Eagerly-awaited follow up to 1998's Gran Turismo features a more
acoustically-based approach than the angular electronics of its predecessor.
DIXIE CHICKS - LANDSLIDE:
Belated UK release for this outstanding cover of the
1975 Fleetwood Mac song, written and originally sung by Stevie Nicks. The
Dixies do it justice, their harmonies soaring in all the right places and
Sheryl Crow's remix keeping the necessary subtlety.
DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TXW32R4 32" widescreen TV
connected to either a Creative Dxr2 DVD-ROM player or Microsoft Xbox and
played through a Sony STR-DB930 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
