Simply Red 'Fairground'

Chart Peak: 1 (4 weeks)

YouTube

Taking its inspiration from the Italian city of Milan, 'Fairground' hurtled into the UK chart at No.1 in late September '95 & stayed there for 4 weeks... incredibly it was Simply Red's 1st British chart-topping single. From CD/Tape "Life"

You can draw your own conclusions about how incredible it really is that they'd never topped the UK singles chart before (they'd managed it twice in the US). If anything, the more surprising discovery for me was that this is apparently the biggest-selling Simply Red single here as well as the highest-charting - I mean, you'd think it'd be 'Holding Back The Years' wouldn't you? With hindsight, this was about the last time I can remember actually liking a Simply Red single, albeit that I already felt like I shouldn't. Fortunately the next couple of singles after this put paid to any such dilemmas as they were so thoroughly rubbish I could completely honestly dislike them. In later years I went off this too.

What I didn't realise at the time was that the beat which is possibly the most distinctive part of the record is actually sampled from 'Give It Up' by The Goodmen, as Hucknall sort of acknowledges in the lyric "let's make amends like all good men should." In fact the small print in the Now 32 sleevenotes helpfully points out that the original source of the drum beat is 'Fanfarra' by Sergio Mendes which I'd never heard until now; the Goodmen added the hiccupping sounds. Knowing how much of this is second- or  even third-hand, I was expecting to lay into it, but actually I was not unpleasantly surprised by this. Mick Hucknall is on relatively subtle form here, not making himself the sole focal point of the record for once. His biggest contribution to the writing is the actually not-bad chorus, and the whole thing has a slightly dreamy quality which actually makes it a bit more fun than the one-dimensional Goodmen record.

It's not the greatest record ever but Simply Red were never anywhere near as good again. I can't say it conjures many images of Milan, but then maybe that's why they made the video in Blackpool.

Also appearing on: Now 5, 7, 9, 20, 21, 23, 24, 33
Available on: Life