Consumer Guide Album

Simply Red: Picture Book [Elektra, 1986]
I like Mick Hucknall enough to not want to mention that there are only two songs on this album--one by David Byrne, one by the Valentine Brothers, both of which he runs away with. And until the last two tracks--the finale is "Picture Book" itself, which wanders worst of all--he and his Brit soulsters carry it off on mood and groove alone, and with hardly a love song, either. B+