Big Love – Simply Red

Simply RedBig Love

‘Big Love’ marks the band’s eleventh studio album and presents a refined evolution in their sound, blending elements of contemporary soul, jazz, and pop. The album was primarily recorded in the band’s own studio and produced by Mick Hucknall himself, reflecting his creative control and vision. ‘Big Love’ was Simply Red’s first album after they reformed, having taken a hiatus in 2010.

Musically, Big Love distinguishes itself through its minimalist approach to instrumentation, emphasising clean, crisp rhythms and atmospheric layers. Hucknall’s distinctive falsetto and emotive vocal delivery are central to the album’s sound. Lyrically, themes of love, loss, and yearning are explored.

In contrast to the more orchestral elements in earlier Simply Red records, Big Love employs a more modern, streamlined production style. The album’s sound is both contemporary and retro, with nods to classic soul and jazz influences.

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Tracklist

1. Shine On SINGLE

Ooh shiny eyes
You’ve broken down a wall
Reach for the skies
Now I feel ten feet tall

The sun is shining on us baby
Play that song so we can dance
Our love is shining on us baby
Let’s play the song so we can dance, dance, dance, dance, dance, dance, dance

(Ooh you make me feel so young)
Shine on, shine on, shine on
(Ooh you make me feel so young)
Come on and shine on, shine on

Ooh shiny eyes, we can have a ball
Reach for the skies
You make me ten feet tall

The sun is shining on us baby
Let’s sing the song and we can dance
Our love is shining on us baby
Let’s play the song so we can dance, dance, dance, dance, dance, dance, dance
(Ooh you make me feel so young)
Shine on, shine on, shine on
(Ooh you make me feel so young)
I want you to Shine on, shine on, shine on

Ooh shiny eyes, we can have a ball
I want you to shine on, shine on,
Ooh shiny eyes, now I feel 10 feet tall
Shine on, shine on, shine on

(Ooh you make me feel so young)
Shine on, shine on, shine on
(Ooh you make me feel so young)
I want you to Shine on, shine on, shine on

All tracks produced by Andy Wright and Mick Hucknall

Mixed by Mick Hucknall

Mix engineer Adrian Hall

Musicians: Mick Hucknall, Kenji Suzuki, Dave Clayton, Roman Roth, Ian Kirkham, Danny Saxon, Mark Jaimes, Sam Swallow and Andy Wright

2. Daydreaming

I’m a believer yes I am
I do the very best I can
You might say I’m a daydreamer
Do you feel you’re a daydreamer

In this world we’re living in
Our suffering’s a sin
You might say we need a faith healer
Do you pray we need a faith healer
Don’t stop me daydreaming
Don’t stop me daydreaming
Dreaming of a world where love is strong
Dreaming that the human race goes on and on and on

Dear life lives on

Let’s cool it all down if we can
And show the very best of man

Do you feel like a daydreamer
(Yes I do now)

‘Cos In this world we’re living in
You know that sufferings a sin
You might say we need a faith healer
Do you pray we need a faith healer.  Don’t stop me daydreaming
Don’t stop me daydreaming
Dreaming of a world where love is strong
Dreaming that the human race goes on and on and on

Dear life lives on and on and on and on

All tracks produced by Andy Wright and Mick Hucknall

Mixed by Mick Hucknall

Mix engineer Adrian Hall

Musicians: Mick Hucknall, Kenji Suzuki, Dave Clayton, Roman Roth, Ian Kirkham, Danny Saxon, Mark Jaimes.

3. Big Love

The way you smile that way, it sends me miles away
Daydreaming while I sit, and I think of how lucky I am

Your glowing aura shows, glistening eyes aglow
Paints up the skies I know, that I think that I’m falling

In love again
Big love that’s when

She’s the very same woman I’ve known
And for year after year we have grown
I believe in you more now I’ve known

Big love, big love

Our golden child at play
See her she’s miles away
While deep inside I pray
That our love keeps her happy and warm

Her glowing aura shows, glistening eyes aglow
Paints up the skies I know, that I’m sure that I’m falling

In love again
Big love that’s when

She’s the very same girl that I’ve known
And for year after year we have grown
I believe in you more now I’ve known

Love forever, big love forever
Love forever, big love forever

Big love again
Big love that’s when

She’s the very same woman I’ve known
And for year after year we have grown
I believe in you more now I’ve known

Big love
Big love
Big love

All tracks produced by Andy Wright and Mick Hucknall

Mixed by Mick Hucknall

Mix engineer Adrian Hall

Musicians: Mick Hucknall, Kenji Suzuki, Dave Clayton, Roman Roth, Ian Kirkham, Kevin Robinson, Danny Saxon, Mark Jaimes. Orchestra fixed by Isobel Griffiths, orchestrated and conducted by Jim McWilliam. Orchestra leader Everton Nelson. Strings arranged by Peter-John Vettese

4. The Ghost of Love SINGLE

Escape reality
Life’s real enough
Forget mortality
It’s coming soon enough
Remember her lips
Or her tender arms

And don’t be afraid of the ghost of love
It’ll haunt you as long as you want
The ghost of love
A round of applause and a toast for love
Get most from love
With hope from above

Forget about nations
They’re strong enough
Next generations
They’re coming soon enough
Let’s do it right now
With our tender arms

And don’t be afraid of the ghost of love
It’ll haunt you as long as you want
The ghost of love
A round of applause and a toast for love
Get most from love
With hope from above

And don’t be afraid of the ghost of love
It’ll haunt you as long as you want
The ghost of love
A round of applause and a toast for love
Get most from love
With hope from above
Hope from above
Oh so much love
So so much love
Hope from above
Ghost of love

All tracks produced by Andy Wright and Mick Hucknall

Mixed by Mick Hucknall

Mix engineer Adrian Hall

5. Dad

She left, you stayed
It really wasn’t simple at all
You cried, I smiled
I really wasn’t lonely at all

And no one really knows
What you gave me
What you made
What you gave
What you braved
What you saved

Years of devotion
Years of devotion
I got tears in my eyes

You’re good
You’re strong
You really, really helped me along

She left, she’s gone
And you, you stuck it out on your own

And when I think of you
I wish I could phone you
I get sad
I can’t call
I can’t call
I can’t call

Years of devotion
Years of devotion
I got tears in my eyes

Years of devotion
Years of devotion
Years of devotion
Yeah, yeah, yeah
Tears in my eyes
Tears in my eyes
Tears in my eyes
Yeah, yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah

All tracks produced by Andy Wright and Mick Hucknall

Mixed by Mick Hucknall

Mix engineer Adrian Hall

Musicians: Mick Hucknall, Kenji Suzuki, Dave Clayton, Pete Lewinson, Steve Lewinson, Danny Saxon, Mark Jaimes. Orchestra fixed by Isobel Griffiths, orchestrated and conducted by Jim McWilliam. Orchestra leader Everton Nelson. Strings arranged by Peter-John Vettese.

6. Love Wonders

Love wanders like the wind
Breathes out of you from within
Shines up your personality
Glistens through the rainbow of vitality
Remembers where you’ve been
Until there’s true love
She wanders like the wind

Cool hearts quake while she blows
Whistles as she breaks and leaves you cold
Heals up your personality
Makes you less afraid of your mortality
Remembers where you’ve been
Until there’s true love
She wanders like the wind

As for the lonely she comes and she goes
Where she is going nobody knows
Torn from the places that you want to be
Until you surrender to her harmony
Until there’s true love
You’ll wander like the wind

You will wander
You will wonder
You’ll wander like the wind

All tracks produced by Andy Wright and Mick Hucknall

Mixed by Mick Hucknall

Mix engineer Adrian Hall

7. Love Gave Me More SINGLE

You came, and how you’ve changed it
I’ve learned so much too
I’ve yearned so much for this
And now it’s come true
Hearts earn a little happiness
From how you give
I’ve learned so much with you
I’ve learned how to live

With a smile like a view on a magic garden
Eyes from the dew of a crystal dawn

How can love give you more
How can love give me more

No shame to shout about it
No blame while love’s so new
I’ve turned the volume down
It just hurts without you
Hearts burn with loving passion
Heads turn to look at you
I’m sure, yes very certain
I’ll be gazing at you with

With a smile like a view on a mystic garden
Eyes from the dew of a crystal morn
A smile like a view on a wonderful morning
Eyes from the dew of a crystal dawn

How can love give you more
How can love give me more
How can love give you more
How can love give me more

With a smile like a view on a mystic garden
Eyes from the dew of a crystal dawn

How can love give you more
How can love give me more
How can love give you more
How can love give me more

Love gave me more
Love gave me more

All tracks produced by Andy Wright and Mick Hucknall

Mixed by Mick Hucknall

Mix engineer Adrian Hall

8. Tight Tones

A night on the town
It spins you around
Getting high on the beat
And the friends that we meet
Getting down with the sound as it spins us around

She got, tight tones
With a lot of rhythm, rhythm
She got hot bones
And what she does with ‘em, with ‘em
You can see that she’s mine why don’t you leave us alone tonight

Tonight, use your intuition
Lose your inhibition
When the pleasure ignites
The fire, fire inside
Light up the skies in your lives

High on the juice
And my limbs are so loose
Getting in to the groove
Watching my baby move
All the feeling’s so right
On this hot horny night

She got, tight tones
With a lot of rhythm, rhythm
She got a lot of hot bones
And when she does rhythm, rhythm
You can see that she’s mine why don’t you leave us alone tonight

Tonight, use your intuition
Lose your inhibition
When the pleasure ignites
The fire, fire inside
Light up the skies in your lives

You see my baby’s good
‘Cause she moves like she should
We get high on the beat
And the people we meet
Never dancing alone
‘Cause the beat is our home

We got, tight tones
With a lot of rhythm, rhythm
We got hot bones
Look what she does with ‘em, with ‘em
You can see that she’s mine and that we’re going home tonight

Tight tones, hot bones
Tight tones, hot bones
Tight tones, hot bones
Tight tones, hot bones

All tracks produced by Andy Wright and Mick Hucknall

Mixed by Mick Hucknall

Mix engineer Adrian Hall

9. WORU

Laugh, cry, born, die,
Where, why, hail or dew,
Black, white, red or blue
Which one are you?
Lost, found, above, underground
Peace, war, less, more
False, true, grease or blue
Which one are you?

Are you today, or yesterday’s news?
Whichever way
It’s up to you

Who you are is the road you take
(Which one are you? Which one are you?)
Who you are is the road you take
(Which one are you? Which one are you?)

Rich, poor, saint, whore,
Rob the bank or call the law,
Light, dark, old, new
Which one are you?
Are you today or yesterday’s news?
Whichever way
It’s up to you

Truth, lied, refuse a bribe
Dead, alive, four or five
Black, white, red or blue
Which one are you?

(Which one are you, which one are you)

Are you today or yesterday’s news?
Whichever way, it’s up to you

Who you are is the road you take
(Which one are you? Which one are you?)
Who you are is the road you take, from the world you knew.
(Which one are you? Which one are you?)

All tracks produced by Andy Wright and Mick Hucknall

Mixed by Mick Hucknall

Mix engineer Adrian Hall

10. Coming Home

Dark nights, headlights
I’m going home
Stars bright, hold tight
I’m coming home

And when I do
I’m gonna love you more
Than I’ve ever done before
Yes I’m going home

I’ve paid the price
I’m alone tonight
Still I’m coming home

It feels so right
Heading home tonight
No more alone

And when I do
I gotta love you, more
Than I’ve ever done before
Yes I’m coming home

I’m going home

I pray the night
Will treat me right
Oh take me home

The stars are bright in paradise
No more alone

And when I do
I gotta love you, more
Than I’ve ever done before
Yes I’m coming home

I’m coming home
No more alone
I gotta get there
I gotta get there,
I’m coming home, yes I am now

All tracks produced by Andy Wright and Mick Hucknall

Mixed by Mick Hucknall

Mix engineer Adrian Hall

11. The Old Man And The Beer

There is no place to hide now
There is no need to be here
She left me all behind now
I cry into my beer

Her words have left me cold now
She’s gone not far but too near
Still see her every day now
I cry into my beer

Sometimes words are wrong
When they tell you, how you’re feeling
Well I’m a long lost day
I just linger on
I’m still searching for a way of carrying on

I cried all day
Oh what a fool that day
It hurt me when you were gone
I’m hurt but then I deserved it when two love lives turned to one

I gaze down from my window
The apartment we shared for years
She’s laid there in the ground now
I cry into my beers

No games of love for me now
No way, no one can be near
I’ve left it all behind now
I cry into my beer
I cry into my beer
I cry into my beer

All tracks produced by Andy Wright and Mick Hucknall

Mixed by Mick Hucknall

Mix engineer Adrian Hall

12. Each Day

Feeling you more and more each day
As my heart learns to comprehend
I’m devoted to you
And the dreams we have
I wanna be with you, stay with you
Till the end

When he sang he was tangled up in blue
I knew I was born that way
Our future is really down to you
That is if you feel that I behaved

I have fallen for you, anyway
But what’s important is that you know
That I need you to stay forever

Each day, each day together
Each day forever

I have fallen for you, anyway
But what’s important is that you know
That I need you to stay forever

Each day, each day together
Each day, each day forever
Each day, each day together
Each day, forever

All tracks produced by Andy Wright and Mick Hucknall

Mixed by Mick Hucknall

Mix engineer Adrian Hall

Album Credits

Original Credits:

Vocals, guitar – Mick Hucknall

Guitars – Kenji Suzuki

Keyboards – Dave Clayton

Drums and percussion by Roman Roth except on Dad and Each Day by Pete Lewinson

Bass by Jack Stevens except on Dad and Each Day by Steve Lewinson and on Tight Tones by Andy Wright

Saxophone on Coming Home, Shine On, Daydreamer, The Old Man And The Beer by Ian Kirkham

Trumpet on The Old Man And The Beer, Coming Home and flugal horn on Big Love and Love Wonders by Kevin Robinson

Strings on Ghost of Love, WORU, Big Love, Love Wonders, Love Gave Me More and Day Dreamer arranged by Peter-John Vettese

Orchestra on Ghost of Love, WORU, Love Wonders and Big Love fixed by Isobel Griffiths, orchestrated and conducted by Jim McWilliam. Orchestra leader Everton Nelson

Strings on Each Day arranged by (the late, great) David Sinclair Whitaker

Additional keyboard and guitars on Love Gave Me More by Juan Ayala Valdez

Additional keyboards on Shine On and Daydreamer by Danny Saxon

Additional guitars and bass on Shine On and Daydreamer by Mark Jaimes

All backing vocals by Mick Hucknall except on Tight Tones by Lauren Flynn, WORU by Peter-John Vettese, Shine On by Sam Swallow and Andy Wright. Vocal feature on Love Gave Me More by Purdy

All tracks produced by Andy Wright and Mick Hucknall

Mixed by Mick Hucknall

Mix engineer Adrian Hall

Recorded by Gavin Goldberg, Adrian Hall and Lewis Chapman

Programming on all tracks by Andy Wright and Gavin Goldberg

Recorded at SouthWest Studios Battersea, mixed at Home

26^th July 2015

Hamburg, Germany : Stadtpark Freilichtbuhne :

20^th October 2015

Odense SO, Denmark : Sparekassen Fyn Arena

23 October 2015

Riga, Latvia : Arena Riga

24th October 2015

Warsaw, Poland : Torwar

26^th October 2015

Prague, Czech Republic : Forum Karlin

27^th October 2015

Vienna, Austria : Wiener Stadhalle

29^th October 2015

Muchen, Germany : Olympiahalle

30^th October 2015

Stuttgart, Germany : Schleyerhalle

31^st October 2015

Frankfurt, Germany : Festhalle

2^nd November 2015

Hamburg, Germany : 02 World

3^rd November 2015

Berlin, Germany : 02 World

4^th November 2015

Hannover, Germany : TUI Arena

6^th November 2015

Dortmund, Germany : Westfalenhalle

7^th November 2015

Leipzig, Germany : Arena Leipzig

8^th November 2015

Cologne, Germany : Lanxess

10^th November 2015

Pilsting, Germany : SAP Arena

11^th November 2015

Basel, Switzerland : St Jakobshalle

12^th November 2015

Geneva, Switzerland : Arena Geneva

14^th November 2015

Rome, Italy : Palalottomatica

15^th November 2015

Assago, Italy : Forum

17^th November 2015

Paris, France : Zenith

18^th November 2015

Antwerp, Belgium : Sportpaleis

20^th November 2015

Amsterdam, Netherlands : Ziggo Dome

21^st November 2015

Amsterdam, Netherlands : Ziggo Dome

28^th November 2015

Brighton Centre : Brighton, UK

29^th November 2015

Brighton, UK : The Brighton Centre

1^st December 2015

Dublin, Ireland : Dublin 3 Areana

2^nd December 2015

Belfast, Ireland : Belfast Odyssey

4^th December 2015

Newcastle, UK : Newcastle Metro

5^th December 2015

Glasgow, UK : SSE Hydro Arena

6^th December 2015

Aberdeen, UK : E&CC

8^th December 2015

Leeds, UK : Leeds First Direct Arena

9^th December 2015

Nottingham, UK : Nottingham Capital FM Arena

11^th December 2015

Liverpool, UK : Liverpool Echo Arena

12^th December 2015

Manchester, UK : Manchester Arena

13^th December 2015

Birmingham, UK : Genting Arena Birmingham

15^th December 2015

Birmingham, UK : Genting Arena Birmingham

17^th December 2015

London, UK : 02 Arena

18^th December 2015

London, UK : 02 Arena

19^th December 2015

London, UK : 02 Arena

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