Simply Red 'The Right Thing'

Chart Peak: 11

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Charted at No. 45 on 10th February, had climbed to No. 15 by 24th February. 

A more modern type of soul now, although it goes without saying that Simply Red were heavily influenced by older music, hence the large number of cover versions in their repertoire. At this stage they were still considered at least slightly cool, although I was still getting them mixed up with Red Box (in my defence, Simply Red did actually release a single called 'Open Up The Red Box', which was unnecessarily confusing). That was presumably one of their political songs, but this first single from their second album is aimed firmly at the bedroom. Over a taut funk groove, Mick Hucknall is unsubtle but is beaten by backing singers who chant "Get off your back boy! Get on top now!"

It's pretty well done, but there's something a bit too OTT about it - it's jumping up and down a bit too much to be actually sexy and feels more like a pest that a seducer - maybe the protagonist is just taking his own attractiveness too much for granted. I don't think it's supposed to be threatening, but it's a bit unappealing. A pity, though, with a different lyric it could have been a better song that stood repeated listens, because the chorus is catchy and the band (as they still were at that time) are on good form. It's dated, but not as badly as might have been expected. Maybe it's just my personal dislike for this type of song that puts me off.

Also appearing on: 5, 7, 20, 21, 23, 24, 32, 33
Available on: Men And Women