Music

Following an acrimonious split with Eastwest, Simply Red front-goblin Mick Hucknall elected in 2003 to put out his records through his own label, rather than seek a humiliating move to a charitable independent. Of course, this also allows him to keep more of the profits to invest in the Manchester supercasino. So hats off to the pint-size irritant for showing other artists there’s an alternative to the major label treadmill. But hats back on again for him bothering to put out this exercise in Exxon-slick ’80s-tooled wine-bar soul. That said, you might well miss the glory days of the Blow Monkeys and shiny jackets and you having hair, in which case you’ll think this is better than
‘Otis Blue’.