Simply Red: Men And Women (Elektra)
Bud Scoppa, Creem, July 1987
AFTER BEING totally ignored for six months after its release in mid-'85, Picture Book, Simply Red's deft debut album, kicked in with a flourish. The reason was 'Holding Back The Years', the third single Elektra had pulled from the album. Though prevailing music-biz wisdom has it that you can't break a new band with a ballad, '...Years' was no ordinary slow song — it rivals Crowded House's 'Don't Dream It's Over' as the strongest hard-pop ballad of the era.
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