Wednesday 8 December 2010

Simply Red 'Something Got Me Started'

Chart Peak: 11

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While Mick Hucknall's in an apologising mood, perhaps he should say something about the hideous intro to his first hit in almost two years. One of the biggest-selling albums of the decade begins with a woman declaiming "I love you" and Hucknall creepily whispering "Show me!" Wrong, wrong, wrong.

Once that's out of the way, the song does improve significantly, though. It's one of the more dance-oriented tracks in the catalogue, which is usually preferable to the slowies. It's also one of the last works of Simply Red as an actual group rather than Hucknall and hired hands, although it was always clear who was in charge. It's no masterpiece, and the lyric and music don't entirely seem to fit but it's got some entertainment value and the call-and-response vocals with keyboard player Fritz McIntyre are memorable. The house piano parts that sound like they're being played with one finger (though for the benefit of any keyboardists reading this, I'm sure they're not) do date this track somewhat but they don't ruin it.

In fact, the middle of this record is about as good as the album's been so far. It's just a shame that the intro is so awful and the last thirty seconds seem to be more about making sure everyone knows the title of the song so they can buy it. And it still didn't make the Top 10.

Also appearing on: Now 5, 7, 9, 21, 23, 24, 32, 33
Available on: Stars

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