Track Listing

1. Sunrise
2. Stars
3. A New Flame
4. Holding Back The Years
5. It's Only Love
6. Your Mirror
7. The Right Thing
8. For Your Babies
9. So Not Over You
10. Something Got Me Started
11. You Make Me Feel Brand New
12. Money's Too Tight To Mention
13. Fairground
14. Home
15. If You Don't Know Me By Now
16. Say You Love Me
17. Go Now

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8222 in Music
• Released on: 2009-02-03
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .21 pounds

Album Description
U.S. single disc pressing of Mick Hucknall and Co.'s definitive hits collection features 17 tracks. The compilation includes their biggest hits plus the new single, 'Go Now', a cover of The Moody Blues heart-rending classic. Simply Red's shimmering Pop Soul and elegantly heartworn balladry have provided a glistening, emotional soundtrack to our turbulent times. Their phenomenal career has spanned three decades; they've released 10 studio albums racking up over 50 million global sales, notched up over 30 Top 40 UK singles, countless awards including three Brits, two Ivor Novellos and a Mobo Special Achievement. They won the rarest prize for a British artist with a number one hit in the USA; the album Stars was the biggest selling album in the UK for two consecutive years; they have played around 1000 live shows to devoted audiences of 10 million people. Simply Red are simply a phenomenon.

Customer Reviews

A great reminder of their soulful, wondrous work.
Mick Hucknall celebrates 25 years in the industry with the release of the Simply Red greatest hits compilation "25: The Greatest Hits", a two or three-CD package that takes you in everything from their start era and their most recent material (depending on how long you want to spend with him).
Simply Red's roots go back to 1976, when original members of Joy Division, the Smiths and the Buzzcocks met with Mick Hucknall in Manchester. The joining created the band called the Frantic Elevators, which lasted seven years. A few years later, Hucknall went on to create what we now know as Simply Red, with the release of their first single - "Money's Too Tight (To Mention)" - reaching number 13 in the UK charts. The band then went on to release 32 more Top 40 songs, with ten songs making the top ten.
Formed in June 1984, the soul-based pop group last performed twinkling smoothies which have provided defining musical moments for many couples and lovers and love songs fans.
The songs it includes are real classics that you can either sing along to or shed a tear to.
It has been a long, strange and sometimes stormy ride for flame haired, politically outspoken, Simply Red founder, songwriter and frontman Mick Hucknall. With his Celtic rasp and easy flowing croon control that effortlessly ebbs and flows with the music, rarely has a British vocalist touched the blend of impeccable technique and emotional resonance that characterises the legendary American soul stars.
As this collection proves, Hucknall is no slouch when it comes to songwriting. From the careworn introspection of his undisputed classic "Holding Back The Years", the righteous strut of "The Right Thing", the exuberant infatuation of "A New Flame", the tender admiration of "You've Got It", the amorous flight of "Stars", these are songs that get under your skin and stay there.
A music fan through and through, Hucknall has also proved an excellent judge of a cover version. Simply Red announced themselves with the gritty reworking of The Valentine Brothers blue collar attack on the economic injustices of Reagonomics, "Money's Too Tight To Mention" and have crafted hits from songs as diverse as Harold Melvin's beautiful ballad "If You Don't Know Me By Now", reggae legend Gregory Isaac's lilting "Night Nurse", the Hollies' pop epic "The Air That I Breathe" and The Stylistics sweetly sentimental "You Make Me Feel Brand New".
Like any great singer, Hucknall always makes the song his own and his brand new version of The Moody Blues heart-rending farewell ballad "Go Now" is no exception.
It may be not a great idea that Simply Red released a greatest hits album and then repeated their actions eight years later - as this compilation is still in the shadow of its predecessor.
Many of the songs on the original album are included in this CD - though the older version will be soon about half the price in your local used CDs bargain bucket.
This 2/3 CD set is certainly for the die hard Simply Red fans, or of course the music listeners that have heard of the band and don't have the previous greatest hits compilation.
It's a CD that will be great for background listening or for Dad in his car, or Mum in the kitchen.
Also, if you are stuck for a present for your lover/partner this Valentine Day, it would be highly recommeded.
Nonetheless, the album is great on its merit.
Featuring loved-up hits such as "Holding Back The Years" and "For Your Babies", as well as more upbeat songs like "Stars" and "Fairground", the greatest hits "25" compilation is what every Simply Red fan could want for musical nostalgia.
Simply Red's music will always be a part of my life and so I feel that shunning such an album because of its similarities to its predecessor is in fact quite harsh.
Behind the set, there's Mick's will to stop performing under the "Simply Red" hat.
"I made the decision almost a year ago to stop working under the name Simply Red", says Mick. "We've done 10 albums, and it would be 25 years in 2010, So starting out now, with this compilation and all-over-the world "25 Greatest Hits" tour, gives us the time to get around the world and celebrate the enormous support we've had".
Is this the end of Simply Red?
"It is for the Simply Red style. The phrase that is used erroneously is splitting up, but I never say that", says Hucknull. "It's a silly phrase to use when you apply it to Simply Red, because I've been effectively the band leader since the start and the principal songwriter - it's not really a band in the traditional sense, its more like a jazz setup. Stylistically I want to move into a new arena".
That said, there's still plenty to appeal to his diehard fanbase, or even more recent fans, on "25: The Greatest Hits", making this career retrospective a fascinating journey that serves to show why Mick has remained at the top of his profession for so long.
All in all, I would say that the set carries the obvious advantage of being more up to date than the original collection released eight years ago.
The DVD is a compilation of 25 wonderful videos. And this over one hour of pure musical and visual delight!
Simply Red - Greatest Hits
Simply Red - Greatest Hits
Simply Red: A Starry Night with Simply Red
Tribute to Bobby

Mick's Soul
There are very few Soul acts from the U.K. that really have thrived the past several years that really showed the heart and the soul. It is sad considering most of them haven't really struck a chord in America, and Simply red has been no acception. While Mick Hucknall and company have been together for 3 decades of great pop songs, their American Top 40 status has been nothing more than a forgone conclusion, which is definitely sad. Still those guilty pleasure songs that Simply Red have made over the years are still a delight to listen to. While most of the groups' catalog have been overlooked in album sales and MP3 downloads, their overseas catalog has been finally issued for MP3 downloads, and a new hits compilation of just what made Simply Red say Know Us By Now, if you haven't.

The MP3 version of Simply Red's 2009 25: The Greatest Hits expands what made Simply Red's 1996 Greatest Hits album distinctive heart and soul, and brings in their biggest hits from the 80's, 90's and 2000 decades. The songs have all been remastered well, and definitely show nothing but their biggest standards. The collection includes classics from Holding Back The Years, and upbeat dance songs like Something Got Me Started and Sunrise, all the way to distinctive covers like the deep and elequent If You Don't Know Me By Now, and You Make Me Feel Brand New. This editon also expands by bringing in a few extra tracks like You've Got It and the lesser-known Night Nurse from the overlooked Blue. While the biggest hits stand out well, their honestly were a few classics that could've been showcased on the collection from their overlooked late 90's albums Blue & Love In The Russian Water like Wave The Old World Goodbye, Blue and To Be Free, as well as Perfect Love from Simplified.

All in all, Simply Red's 25: The Greatest Hits is still a well-received hits collection that does a good job at reintroducing the U.K. Soul group to a generation that definitely seems to be interested in less-than-polished acts like Britney Spears and David Cook from American Idol, and for die hard fans that still have trurthfully been loyal to Mick Hucknall and the boys over the years. So if you still don't know Simply Red by now, get acquainted with them on Simply Red's 25: The Greatest Hits.

Songs: B-

Price: B 1/2-

Remastering: B 1/2+

Overall: B-

Simply Fabulous!
I enjoy listening to Simply Red's music but this CD rocked. It had most of the songs on it that I like and some that I heard on a TV special they did a while back. I suggest anyone who may not have it get it if you like them. You won't be disappointed at all.