Simply Deluxe: Edsel Expands and Remasters Simply Red In New Multi-Disc Sets

Edsel has gone red – Simply Red, that is – on its recent series of deluxe CD and DVD editions from the British pop-soul band. By the time of Simply Red’s breakup in 2010, founding member and lead vocalist Mick Hucknall was the last man standing, but the legacy left behind by the group - and its songs including “Holding Back the Years” and revivals of “If You Don’t Know Me By Now” and “You Make Me Feel Brand New” - remains strong. Edsel’s new Simply Red series encompasses three 2-CD/1-DVD sets from the band’s final decade as well as two standalone DVDs. The 2 or 3-CD/1-DVD sets, housed in lavish casebound editions in the style of recent releases from Belinda Carlisle, Todd Rundgren and Everything But the Girl, expand 2003’s Home, 2005’s Simplified, and 2007’s Stay – all three of which were previously available on the band’s own label. The videos Home: Live in Sicily and Cuba! Simply Red – Recorded Live at El Gran Teatro Havana both brim with special bonus features in these new BD/DVD/2-CD combo editions. (Whew!) All CDs have been remastered by Phil Kinrade and/or Tony Cousins and feature impressively-designed booklets with new liner notes from Alan Robinson, lyrics, and more.

Simply Red’s very first album, 1985’s Picture Book, established the band that then featured Hucknall (vocals), Fritz McIntyre (keyboards/vocals), Chris Joyce (drums/percussion), Tony Bowers (bass), Sylvan Richardson (guitar) and Tim Kellett (trumpet). The album earned a 5x Platinum certification in the U.K. and a Platinum record in the U.S. aided by the strength of “Holding Back the Years,” a U.S. No. 1 hit in 1986 that only fared slightly less well in the U.K. at No. 2. (Its original U.K. issue a year earlier only hit No. 51.) That original song by Hucknall and Neil Moss wasn’t the only hit single from Picture Book; a cover of The Valentine Brothers’ “Money’s Too Tight (To Mention)” reached No. 13 on the U.K. charts in 1985 and No. 28 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1986.

Six more LPs followed, each one of which achieved at least a Platinum certification in the U.K.; 1991’s Stars was a staggering 12x Platinum smash. Hit singles also continued to arrive on both sides of the Atlantic and around the world, most notably “The Right Thing” (No. 11 U.K., No. 27 U.S.), Cole Porter’s chestnut “Ev’ry Time We Say Goodbye” (No. 11 U.K.), “It’s Only Love” (No. 13 U.K., No. 57 U.S.), “A New Flame” (No. 17 U.K.) and Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff’s “If You Don’t Know Me by Now” (No. 2 U.K., No. 1 U.S.). The band’s final album under the Warner Music Group umbrella, 1999’s Love and the Russian Winter, featured only Hucknall from the original line-up.

Four years later, Simply Red remerged, offering new music on Hucknall’s own label simplyred.com ltd. The band's line-up for live performances included Hucknall (vocals), Ian Kirkham (saxophone/keyboards), Dave Clayton (keyboards), Kenji Suzuki (guitar), Kevin Robinson (trumpet/flugelhorn/percussion), Steve Lewinson (bass guitar) and Pete Lewinson (drums). This grop of musicians featured on Simply Red's albums, too, but they were also joined by session musicians. From 2003 until 2008, John Johnson (trombone), Dee Johnson (vocals), Sarah Brown (vocals) and Chris De Margary (saxophone) also appeared on Simply Red’s albums and tours.

After the jump: a detailed look at what you'll find on Edsel's reissues, including complete track listings and order links!

Mick Hucknall primarily produced Home with Gota Yashiki, though Stewart Levine and Andy Wright both contributed key productions. That Hucknall was the driving force, however, was made clear by the fact that no other musicians were credited as band members, nor identified for individual tracks. As usual, original songs sat alongside cover versions, this time of Bob Dylan’s “Positively 4th Street,” Dennis Brown’s “Money in My Pocket” and Thom Bell and Linda Creed’s “You Make Me Feel Brand New,” a 1974 hit for The Stylistics. “Sunrise,” a Hucknall original, was indebted to the past, as well, as it was built around a sample of Hall and Oates’ “I Can’t Go for That (No Can Do),” hence its co-writing credits for Hall, Oates and Sara Allen. Home shot to No. 2 on the U.K. chart, though it only cracked the Billboard 200 in the U.S. with a No. 187 placement. Singles “Sunrise,” “Fake,” “You Make Me Feel Brand New” and “Home” all made the U.K. Top 40, with “Sunrise” and “Brand New” making the Top 10. In the U.S., “Sunrise” and “Fake” both topped the Dance chart, with “Sunrise” a Top 5 Adult Contemporary hit and “You Make Me Feel Brand New” also reaching the Top 5 Dance.

Edsel’s generous reissue of this U.K. double-platinum album adds seven radio edits to the first CD and 12 remixes to the second. The third CD features 13 live tracks, 12 of which are derived from a performance at Ronnie Scott’s in London. Finally, the DVD includes a 2014 interview with Hucknall conducted by Mark Goodier, plus four music videos, three featurettes (including the Home EPK) and two BBC performances of “Sunrise” and “Fake” from, respectively, Parkinson and Later...with Jools Holland.

2005’s Simplified was Hucknall’s second Simply Red album of the new millennium. As the title indicated, the album represented a more stripped-down approach emphasizing the singer’s soulful, gritty and largely undiminished pipes. Yet these tracks weren’t completely bare, however, tastefully integrating strings and brass adornments as seen fit by producers Hucknall, Andy Wright, Danny Saxon and Mark Jaimes. Hucknall and his new crew of musicians re-recorded Simply Red staples like “Holding Back the Years,” “Your Mirror,” “For Your Babies” and “Ev’ry Time We Say Goodbye” as well as original songs and a new interpretation of Leon Russell’s modern standard “A Song for You.” The album’s leadoff track, the Hucknall original “Perfect Love,” became another Top 30 U.K. hit for Simply Red. (“Perfect Love” also appeared in an alternate arrangement on the original LP as “My Perfect Love.”)

The album sequence of Simplified occupies the first disc of Edsel’s new reissue. The second disc adds seven unique mixes of “Perfect Love” plus six 2005 live performances from Cuba originally released as single B-sides. (The full Havana concert is, of course, also available in this series as a combined DVD/BD/2-CD set.) The DVD includes a new interview with Hucknall, plus three promo videos and BBC performances of “Perfect Love” and “Something Got Me Started” from, respectively, the venerable Top of the Pops and All-Time Greatest Party Songs.

Stay, Simply Red’s final studio album to date, arrived in 2007. (Since then, Hucknall has recorded two albums under his own name.) Only one cover version featured on this 11-song collection, a well-chosen romp through Ronnie Lane’s Faces song “Debris.” Recorded both at Hucknall’s home studio and at Metropolis Studios in West London and produced by the singer and Andy Wright, Stay touched on a potpourri of the singer’s influences from blues to Philly soul to funk, deep soul and even punk. Edsel’s edition adds six radio edits to the first CD including their cover of the Bessie Banks/Moody Blues oldie “Go Now,” included on Simply Red’s 2008 anthology 25: The Greatest Hits. The second CD offers eight remixes of tracks like “Go Now” and “Stay,” the U.K. Top 40 single from the album. (“The World and You Tonight” also charted at No. 104, and “Go Now” at No. 157.) The DVD features Hucknall’s 2014 interview plus four videos, the original EPK and two BBC performances of “Oh! What a Girl!” and “They Don’t Know,” both from Later…with Jools Holland.

These superlative CD reissues are joined by two DVD/BD/CD sets preserving live performances from the same era. Home: Live in Sicily preserves Simply Red’s July 23, 2003 summer tour performance from the open-air theatre in Taormina with songs like “Holding Back the Years,” “The Right Thing,” “Sunrise,” “Positively 4th Street” and “You Make Me Feel Brand New.” Bonuses to the 90-minute concert include a 2014 interview with Hucknall, a new documentary, a “Mick Cam” option, and live performances of “The Right Thing” from Montreux and “You Make Me Feel Brand New” from Croatia.

Cuba! dates back to a 2005 show at El Gran Teatro in Havana, with 19 songs (among them “A Song for You,” “If You Don’t Know Me by Now” and “Stars”) presented in all three formats. The DVD also boasts a new Hucknall interview, a new documentary, photo gallery and music video for “Perfect Love.” There are no region restrictions to these discs, and audio is available in Dolby Digital stereo and 5.1, and DTS 5.1 surround. Both hardcover casebound editions have new liner notes.

This comprehensive series chronicling Simply Red’s last decade is available now from Demon Music Group’s Edsel label. You can order all titles below!

Simply Red, Home (Simplyred.com SRA001CD, 2003 – reissued Edsel EDSJ 9015, 2014) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

CD 1: Original Album (Tracks 1-11) plus Radio Edits

Home
Fake
Sunrise
You Make Me Feel Brand New
Home Loan Blues
Positively 4th Street
Lost Weekend
Money in My Pocket (Plan B Mix)
Something for You
It’s You
Home (Reprise)
Sunrise (Motivo Hi-Lectro Radio Edit/Mix)
Fake (Radio Mix)
You Make Me Feel Brand New (Single Edit)
Home (Tin Tin Out Radio Mix)
Fake (Phunk Investigation Radio Mix)
You Make Me Feel Brand New (Antillas Full Vocal Edit)
Home (Motivo Hi-Lectro Radio Mix)

CD 2: Remixes

Sunrise (ATFC Morning Glory Remix)
Fake (Phunk Investigation Exte-Club Mix)
Home (David Harness Taboo Vocal)
Sunrise (Love to Infinity Classic Mix)
Fake (Love to Infinity Classic Radio Mix)
You Make Me Feel Brand New (Love to Infinity Radio Mix)
Fake (Eric Kupper Club Mix)
Sunrise (Love to Infinity Club Mix)
Fake (Love to Infinity Club Mix)
You Make Me Feel Brand New (Love to Infinity Master Mix)
Home (Minimal Chic Mix)
Sunrise (Who Knows About Forever)

CD 3: Live at Ronnie Scott’s

Fake
You Make Me Feel Brand New
Positively 4th Street
Home Loan Blues
Home
So Beautiful
It’s Only Love
Come to My Aid
Sunrise
Lost Weekend
Money in My Pocket
Something for You
Home (Live in Sicily – Bonus Track)

DVD:

Mark Goodier Interviews Mick Hucknall About ‘Home’ – March 2014
Sunrise (Promo Video)
Fake (Promo Video)
You Make Me Feel Brand New (Promo Video)
Home (Promo Video)
‘Home’ EPK
The Making of ‘Sunrise’
The Making of ‘Fake’
Sunrise (Live BBC Performance from ‘Parkinson’)
Fake (Live BBC Performance from ‘Later…’)

Simply Red, Simplified (simplyred.com SRA002CD, 2005 – reissued Edsel EDSG 8042, 2014) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

CD 1: Original Album

Perfect Love
Something Got Me Started
Holding Back the Years
More
A Song for You
Your Mirror
Fairground
My Perfect Love
Smile
Sad Old Red
For Your Babies
Ev’ry Time We Say Goodbye

CD 2: Remixes (Tracks 1-7) and Live in Cuba (Tracks 8-13)

Perfect Love (Lazy Radio Mix)
Perfect Love (Love to Infinity Sunset Mix – Long Version)
Perfect Love (Love to Infinity Radio Mix)
Perfect Love (Kurtis Mantronik 12” Vocal Mix)
Perfect Love (Motive Hi-Lectro Mix)
Perfect Love (Roger’s Dirty Sanchez Mix Edit)
Perfect Love (Lee Cabrera’s Lower East Side Dub)
Perfect Love
Something Got Me Started
A Song for You
Stars
It’s Only Love
Fairground

DVD:

Mark Goodier Interviews Mick Hucknall About ‘Simplified’ – March 2014
Perfect Love (Promo Video)
Something Got Me Started (Promo Video)
A Song for You (Promo Video)
Perfect Love (Live BBC Performance from ‘Top of the Pops’)
Something Got Me Started (Live BBC Performance from ‘All Time Greatest Party Songs’)

Simply Red, Stay (simplyred.com SRA003CD, 2007 – reissued Edsel EDSG 8043, 2014) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

CD 1: Original Album (Tracks 1-11) plus Radio Edits (Tracks 12-17)