Men & Women

Simply Red | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 25, 1990)
• Original Release Date: July 6, 1987
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Atlantic / Wea
• ASIN: B000002IFN
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #212,790 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. The Right Thing

2. Infidelity

3. Suffer

4. I Won't Feel Bad

5. Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye

6. Let Me Have It All

7. Love Fire

8. Move on Out

9. Shine

10. Maybe Someday...

Editorial Reviews

2008 digitally remastered and expanded edition of Mick Hucknall and the gang's 1987 album featuring six bonus tracks. The bonus tracks on this special edition were all only released as B-sides before and on 7" or 12" vinyl (except for the live version of 'Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye' which was a B-side on their first ever CD single). Hucknall re-invented 'Broken Man' in 1998 for the Blue album, but this was how it sounded originally. 16 tracks. Rhino. --This text refers to an alternate Audio CD edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars overlooked gem, one of their best CD's, September 1, 2001

By 

jorge rodriguez (Pompano Beach, FL United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Men & Women (Audio CD)

Simply Red just simply soars on this album. There's not a weak moment in this collection; all are very good. I really like all the songs but I must said that the song "Suffer" is an instant classic, great song. Then the rest is as good as Suffer, specially the reggae anthem "Love Fire" just awesome. Go and get this CD.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Yes, It's That Good, July 29, 2009

By 

BuzzGuy (Madison, WI, USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Men & Women (Spec) (Audio CD)

Fans of Sly Stone, Average White Band, Sade, and Swing Out Sister, to name a few, will all find something appealing about Simply Red's sophomore release, "Men And Women", originally released in 1987. After enjoying a worldwide smash and instant standard in the single "Holding Back The Years", the temptation to produce a clone had to be on the band's mind. That clone is "Maybe Someday...", but let's put that aside a moment.

Delightfully, the rest of the album finds the band confident, exploratory, and exuberant. Lyrically, Mick Hucknall has love on the mind. Specifically, the lustful kind. The working class Brit viewpoint, especially on matters of the heart, is still intact and at its zenith here. The band sounds incredible too. From horns, piano, synth, and hearty background vocal, these are just the right bandmates to match Hucknall's take-no-prisoners mood.

The songs : "The Right Thing", a fine eighties pop tune. "Infidelity", an ode to that cheating mood. "Let Me Have It All", hands-down funk exercise a la AWB and Sly. "Love Fire", touches elements of reggae and ska. "Move On Out" and "Shine", smooth soul with slinky minor chords.

The good news : there's not a dud in the bunch, and this import adds six more tracks to the original album.

The bad news : the US didn't take to "Men And Women" as this great work merited. "The Right Thing" scraped the top forty; the rest was virtually forgotten. It put Simply Red in the position of slicking it up way too far on their next release, "A New Flame". The reward was another #1 in the form of a tame Philly soul cover on a tame release.

Here, they weren't yet playing safe, the results are spectacular. I'm not big on giving anything 5 stars, but I have no reservations about how highly I recommend this to fans of true soul music.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I Listened And I Don't Feel Bad, March 19, 2009

By 

Andre S. Grindle "Andre' Grindle" (Brewer Maine) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Men & Women (Audio CD)

Simply Red's initial success with the and "Holding Back The Years" is something that caught my attention early in my life. After that most people consider it a bit of a hit or miss affair when Simply Red put out albums.And this tends to be one of the reasons.It was greeted with all the warmth of...well a sophmore slump. The fact is the main difference here is use of style. Wheras the bands debut Picture Book showcased a group who were able to blend soul and songcraft in the finest way possible this album showcases the band working it's way through a set of primarily uptempo tunes with a heavy soul/dance/funk bent;not far at all from the debut but somewhat less mellow. The emphasis on that Stax/Volt/Memphis funky soul influence really showcases itself very well on "The Right Thing",a single I saw the band perform on David Letterman at the time,"Infidelity","Suffer","Move On Out" and the excellent "Shine". There's also a high octane cover of Sly's "Let Me Have It" and "I Won't Feel Bad",the original 45 B side to "Holding Back The Years" and one of the best songs on the entire album. "Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye".....well I love Cole Porter but this is delivered with a little too much sudlty.While there is nothing there that crossed over to the strong extent that the debut album did or would go on to become a standard it's definately an underated album especially if your a lover of Memphis style Brit-Funk.