Recorded 2014 - 2015 Artist Simply Red Label East West Records Producers Andy Flag, Mick Hucknall | Length 43:15 Release date 29 May 2015 Genre Pop music | |
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Released 29 May 2015 (2015-05-29) Similar Simply Red albums, Pop music albums | ||
Big Love is the eleventh studio album by British pop group Simply Red. The album was released on 29 May 2015 by East West Records. It is their first studio album since Stay (2007), and the first album to only feature original material since Life (1995). Big Love is also the first album to be released under a new recording contract with East West Records, a label Simply Red previously were signed to until April 2000.
Contents
Simply red shine on
Background
On 3 November 2014, Simply Red announced they would be reforming in Autumn 2015 for a 30th anniversary European tour, the "Big Love Tour 2015".
On 19 April 2015, on their official Facebook page, the band announced that they would be releasing a new studio album containing 12 new tracks.
Lead singer Mick Hucknall said of the album: "Once I began wondering how Simply Red were going to sound, I started writing songs. With ‘Stay’ I was running away from Simply Red. But now I'm comfortable with the notion of us as a blue-eyed soul group. I had to stop myself fighting that idea. Our sound is original too. I honestly don't know of another band that has pulled so many musical strands together". Hucknall has said he wanted to make an album like Stars with a consistent theme: "And the theme here is life from a family viewpoint. It’s an album that deals with birth, love, death, and all the stuff in between".
Critical reception
At Metacritic, which assigns a "weighted average" rating out of 100 from selected independent ratings and reviews from mainstream critics, the album received a Metascore of 58, based on 7 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Harriet Gibsone of The Guardian gave Big Love three out of five stars and wrote that, "a wizened nostalgia hangs above this blue-eyed soul – the songs are smooth and sentimental, like easy-listening epitaphs. Wistful laments are nothing new for the group, and their unbridled sincerity remains consistent." The Telegraph's Helen Brown also gave the album three out of five stars, and commented that "Hucknall appears to have got some of his mojo back, with added sincerity."
Track listing
All tracks written by Mick Hucknall.
Songs
1Shine On3:12
2Daydreaming3:38
3Big Love4:09