Blue

As the title suggests, Simply Red's sixth studio album finds Mick Hucknall in reflective mode--pondering the vagaries of fame, love and friendship. On "Say You Love Me" he likens himself to a grain of sand, being blown all around the world. "What I think of it?" he asks himself, "Oh it's so-so." Such ambivalence towards the day-job may have something to do with the failed relationship that had preceded the recording of Blue. The strains of touring, said Hucknall, made it impossible to find a suitable life-partner. Such domestic unrest, though, acts as a fine creative lubricant, and ballads such as "Love Has Said Goodbye Again" and the Gerschwin-tinged "Someday In My Life" rank as two of Mick's finest vocal performances. In fact, only the soaring funk of "To Be Free" truly evokes the carefree stridency of the band's earlier albums. Blue is the sound of man approaching 40 and pondering his options. --Peter Paphides

Almost concurrent with the attempted credibility boost of Rod Stewart's When We Were the New Boys comes Mick Hucknall's nod to roots as diverse as Neil Young and reggae crooner Gregory Isaacs, along with a fistful of originals, on the sixth Simply Red album. Blue is the lifestyle music Hucknall was born to make, but given such high-flown material, it's hardly the embarrassment it might have been. Certainly, a recasting of Young's "Mellow My Mind" as boudoir fodder is more convincing than past missteps like the group's massacre of "If You Don't Know Me By Now." He should probably leave Aretha Franklin's catalog alone, though. --Rickey Wright