SIMPLY RED – "Fairground"

Ah, chart injustices. Of course, the big Chart Injustice of 1995 – Common People being kept off the top spot – was exacerbated by this keeping ‘Sorted for Es and Whizz’ from number one. I have a theory that some Chary Injustices are made worse by the act in question not getting to the top. For instance, loads of people talk about ‘Release Me’ keeping ‘Strawberry Fields…’ off the top, but all things considered, it’s not that bad because The Beatles had 17 number ones. Similarly, a certain Chart Injustice we’ll get to next year in Popular Terms is mitigated because the band in question went on to top the charts.

But, regardless of Jarvis and Co being cruelly denied again, what of this song?

Well, like Iron Maiden’s number one felt like a special award for services to British Heavy Metal, this is Mick and Pals special award for services to British Pop Soul. It’s a bit ho-hum, a bit meh, and slightly forgettable. Props for the ‘Make amends like all good men should’ line – nod to the sample, thank you very much. However, whereas Holding Back The Years would be a ten from me, and even Stars might squeeze an eight, I think Tom’s got this mark spot on. Four.

Dear God I hate this song, and I hate everything Simply Red ever brought to the charts. I felt the same way then, and time has not dulled my enmity.

It just seems to sit there, constantly idling in first gear; droning on in the verse and only approximating passion in the chorus. Only the drums bring any interest.

Hated this hated this hated this hated this. The earlier better stuff was just the wrong side of my musical memory – I’m pretty sure I’d heard Holding Back The Years but could never have placed it as a Simply Red song – so this just looked like a terrible song, rather than the reward for a career of nearlies that it so obviously is. It still doesn’t sound like much of anything, and if anything the new appreciation of the earlier work only makes this seem even worse in comparison. 3.

@1; I’ve thought suchlike before, and even mentioned it, I think (yep – late to the party on Shaddap You Face, natch).

I spent a LARGE AMOUNT of time drumming along to that Goodmen record (Now 26 side 2 iirc) on my old wooden sideboard with two pencils. I was very upset when Simply Red swiped it and had no idea that of course the Goodmen had themselves sampled Sergio Mendez until I started working in music royalties and saw the vast, complicated sample history for many of my favourite tracks (the page for Pump Up The Volume was a wonder to behold on the creaky old database of doom).

My Mum loved Simply Red though, and for a while I did too – I still know all the words to every song off Stars, because the tape lived in the car stereo for about 18 months (replaced by M People, once Mum finally got sick of it). There is a moral here somewhere.

Simply Red made some waves in America, but we passed on this particular one. Oddly enough, I hate myself deeply for admitting this, and it’s got flaws already mentioned, but I like this one. I dunno, when I heard it in my UK #1’s traversing, I was in a really bad way, and the simple pleasures perked me up a little. They had two #1’s, both #2’s in the UK, and I disliked both of them. And no one here has mentioned “Sunrise” yet. I’ll start that awful ball rolling 🙂

I love this song. Partly because it was a soundtrack a time and several places – finishing school, then promptly the whole family moving to another town, and three months later I moved on again to University. I heard a lot of the song on commercial radio in the middle of these three towns as I went from a town with commercial radio plus Triple J (Australian national youth station) to one with only commercial radio. The momentum of the song made it one of my favourite driving songs of the time. And I’m a sucker for stretchy, noodley keyboard parts.

This at a time I really didn’t like what was in the Australian charts.

Many years later I bought the album for a couple of bucks in a charity shop. But am i right in thinking Sly and Robbie provide rhythms – at the time I was hearing their work in various dub-flavoured electronic outfits. I can’t remember what I thought of the Life album but I think I loved the cover and liner notes.

(As an aside #1 I love Pulp but I’ve always hated Common People – the Shatner version aside. I can’t put my finger on it but it annoys me greatly)

I love “Sorted For Es And Wizz” but, as someone said on the Robson and Jerome thread, it’s hard to work up much of a sense of injustice – even it’s #2 placing seems slightly absurd.

I thought the “Simply Red song people think is good” was Holding Back The Years! Written at some absurdly young age IIRC.

I love this too. Not just the original drum-stuffed version, but also Rollo & Sister Bliss’s sumptuous remix, which intensifies and deepens that contrast between the sweetly diffident verses and the exultant chorus.

Completely understand the negative views here – I was indifferent or hostile to most of what Simply Red had done before (except ‘The Right Thing’ which was kind of fun). But ‘Fairground’ was a lovely surprise to me at the time.

Another surprise was the way the cover photo made Mick Hucknall look like a pretty teenage girl.

New to me, the first verse especially reminds me of The Smiths’ ‘Rusholme Ruffians’ (which drew extensively on Elvis’s ‘(Marie’s the Name of) His Latest Flame’) with the percussion occupying the space the fast-strummed guitars occupied on the earlier record. That comparison maybe helps put Tom’s complaints about the Choruses in perspective: Hucknell’s trying to solve a problem that doesn’t exist in the effectively chorus-less originals. Hucknell too should probably have worked on ways to extend the groove of the verses, figured some new ways to scat over the top to stop things getting boring… Scratch your name on my arm with a fountain pen. Anyhow, I could probably go a 5 or 6 (the chorus doesn’t bug me *that* much).

Two great spots here – The Obvious Child and Rusholme Ruffians. The latter especially interesting because it could be just a lazy comparator of lyrical theme, but no, you’re talking about the woozy production. Which of course is the way it evokes that lyrical theme. Does the other big fairground song – Being For The Benefit Of Mr Kite! – draw from the same well? Well it more or less does really, how curious – I’ve never paid a great deal of heed to how lyrics influence production (or vice versa) but here’s strong evidence for the case.

Anyway I do love this. It must be one of the very strangest soundscapes to reach the top. The drum battery (what’s the ultimate source? No.7 reckons Sergio Mendes, which I didn’t know); the pulse with its offbeats and accents being impossible to pin down and thereby keeping the ear searching; and the lazy vocal, which is neither lazy nor irregular but seems so because of the unusual metrics behind it.

The chorus I don’t particularly love in context, though I like it better than I did and in isolation it’s fine; but Tom is quite right, without it there’s never a no.1 record here.

Anyway no sense of injustice from me, nor should there be from anyone anyway – this is a far better record than the Pulp one. I recall at the time thinking this was the best no.1 for a while, and I’d stand by that now. (9)

I always hated the early Simply Red material, and didn’t like the later stuff much either. Hucknall’s ego always gets out of control and spoils everything. I guess it’s a fine line. Liam had a fair sized ego, but it somehow always managed to serve Oasis’s songs rather than do a big turd all over them. ‘Fairground’ is the proof for me: a song that could have been a lot better had someone else sung it. Tom hits the nail on the (red)head – the Hucknell Yell more or less ends any chance the song had of being good.

Simply Red were something my dad liked, vaguely socialist, slightly credible, the sort of thing that was played at the Green Party and Woodcraft Folk parties I was taken along to, along with Joan Armatrading, Billy Bragg and Tracy Chapman. It wasn’t until Fairground came out that I realised that they were despised by many. Mick Hucknall’s voice isn’t quite as rich and soulful as he imagines, and he does seem to settle for belting something out whenever there’s a lull, but these are still fairly minor offenses, and listening to ‘Holding Back The Years’ it’s still ok. I suspect that there’s an anti-ginger element to the way he’s treated, not on here of course.

For Fairground itself, I agree that the verses are the best part.

#19 – I made a mix of fairground tunes a couple of years back. No Simply Red though, I’m afraid. http://haonowshaokao.com/2010/05/30/last-night-a-dj-killed-my-dog-podcast-025-the-unfair-funfair/

I could be wrong but I strongly suspect opinion of this would be (slightly?) higher if it were done by a dance outfit with a Euro Disco Diva over the top of it. Simply Red strike me as a band who it’s OK for people to play the man (i.e. Mick Hucknall – I don’t think I could name anyone else from Simply Red) rather than the ball on. This has good verses and a propulsive jungle meets latin beat. Yes, the chorus does its job, instead of being spectacular but it’s not dragging it down for me. As I said, if it were by someone else, I reckon this would be a bit higher up. I’d not go as far as Izzy but this would be at least a 6 for me.

Simply Red are an act of minor importance in my life, in that I can remember them specifically as part of my growing up. Prior to the final episode of Series 6 of Only Fools and Horses, I watched it with my parents and enjoyed the pratfalls and the catchphrases. I’d only be about 8 at this point. Then, in the final episode, Rodney gets married and, at the wedding reception, as people file away, Del is left alone on the makeshift dancefloor with Holding Back The Years playing. I felt sad for him – it became obvious to me, as a young child, that there was more going on with Del than being the funny, wide-boy. It’s the point at which I started to see more in entertainment (and indeed in life) than the obvious face value – an important point in my life in terms of developing empathy (of course, this sequence is manipulative – but I would argue that a lot of dramatic moments are manipulative, it’s whether you care that you are being manipulated or not that counts). And Simply Red is part of it – residual affection for them is the result.

This is a bit of a secret shame (I won’t use the dread term ‘guilty pleasure’) for me.

I remember it being absolutely everywhere. Listening now though I am struck by both the flat verses and the ‘Hucknall yell’. It hasn’t aged terribly well.

I didn’t know Hucknall was a noted socialist. I read a Q Magazine interview around the time of Simply Red’s 2003 comeback and he seemed like an absolutely horrible man (not that the two things are mutually exclusive).

(No, I’m misremembering – wrong song wrong election. Wonderland was an “ambushed by unexpected emotion” moment but not IIRC actually tearful.)

One number one is one more than The Who ever had. If not having a number one is an injustice then surely that’s the biggest.

#28 I don’t think I am arguing for a different arrangement in particular – I think the song, as is, with a different vocalist (and a different name on the sleeve) would be more highly regarded.

I don’t think it would be that highly regarded though – it wouldn’t be a club banger for instance – because, although I think it’s reasonable, it doesn’t scale the heights properly – I guess this might be where we agree re: the unearned release of the chorus. If it were just a little bit more structurally sound, it might work a bit better.

I have no problem with people being irritated by pop stars. Indeed, I am highly irritated by many – but odious people can make good records. What I personally try to do is consider the record free from that irritation (unless the reasons I am irritated by them are performance related – for instance, I try desperately not to think about Bono’s cosying up to neo-con leaders when thinking about whether U2 are any good – but am more than happy to mark him down when his tedency to fog-horn his vocals when more restraint might be better for the song). It’s clear that you are marking down on the basis of his delivery though, so I think we’re on the same page – just have differing opinions of whether he goes too far on the chorus or not.

‘It’s a pity you didn’t sign The Smiths but you were right about Mick Hucknall’
God to Anthony H Wilson in 24 Hour Party People

Ah, Hucknall. He was quoted as getting very narked about 24 Hour Party People, although I don’t always trust those kind of reports. But he always has seemed to be a bit spiky, an unendearing character even when in superfan mode for his deserving heroes (eg in the Bobby Bland doc that was repeated the other night). It seems the money, the fame, the hits, the girls*, have never been quite enough for him. Alas, respect will continue to elude him.

I’m very much in the camp that says Holding Back The Years is his one decent song (going by the fact it is now fairly easy to hear The Valentine Brothers’ Money’s Too Tight To Mention**), and it predates Simply Red, although I prefer the hit version to the scratchier original from his Frantic Elevators days.

Wikipedia claims that Simply Red is a slightly accidental name, but it works as a triple reference to his hair, his politics (loosely, they’re more soft pink) and his football affiliation.

*In clubs in Milan in the late ’80s, he genuinely did stand there in a swarm of models.
** It could be seen as a part of a weird economic hard times cultural exchange with The Bangles’ infamous-in-some-quarters version of Going Down To Liverpool.

#36 My main problem w/the Red’s version is that ridiculous “did the earth move for you Nancy?” bit he adds in. I mean, I get what it’s doing there, ho ho very satirical, but it diffuses the tension in the song a bit too much – the original brings over the desperation of poverty like few other records.

Re: 24 Hour Party People. I thought it was highly enjoyable, even though it is full of odd ticks and Coogan’s portrayl of Tony Wilson seems to be, simply, a more self aware Alan Partridge. Paddy Considine in particular is terrific in his small part as Rob Gretton. Mick Hucknall is probably just pissed off that he didn’t get the right of reply in the film like Howard Devoto did with respect to the incident where he (Howard) supposedly went to the nightclub toilet with Tony Wilson’s wife/girlfriend.

Mind you, the bit following the quote at #35 is “His music’s rubbish” – fair enough – “and he’s a ginger” – OK, I guess it’s a funny line to have God say about someone, but really? This is the type of thing I was talking about earlier on in terms of just piling into him. I’ve never met him and – perhaps crucially – never read any articles about him with which to form some sort of an opinion (to be honest, I have never been THAT interested in him) so I am aware that it is possible that maybe he is a dick but I’m willing to give him the benefit of at least some doubt.

Being fully engrossed in the world of indie, Britpop, the NME and the Melody Maker at the time, this was a deeply unwelcome throwback to the 1980s, unconvincingly tarted up with percussion from a dance track that I had previously quite enjoyed.

I’ve since come to love much about the pop and rock music of the 1980s, which I was too young to appreciate properly at the time, and am not averse to ‘Holding Back The Years’. Fairground remains, however, something that I frantically rush to turn off if it comes on the radio. The combination of Hucknall’s voice, the overwhelming percussion parts and the bombastic chorus is horrid, horrid, horrid.

He’s a Rod Stewart type of singer. You either love his voice or hate it. Bloody Mick Hucknall’s version of blue-eyed soul wore out it’s welcome to these ears pretty much after the 2nd verse of “Money’s Too Tight…”. I’m willing to concede “Heaven” was a fine song and “Holding Back The Years”, but Mick in full cry just annoys me intensely. He managed to assemble a tight outfit out of what was left of The Durutti Column and became massive on the back of that Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes cover. Courting the gossip columns did little to diffuse the impression he was an arrogant little shit, but by the time Fairground came along, he was pretty much a housewives’ favourite. The Goodmen lift, just made me want to listen to “Give It Up” in an attempt to purge my ears of Hucknall. The weird thing is I like having him around as a pop hate-figure. Even the latter-day Hucknall who came across as a thoroughly nice bloke on Sunday Brunch earlier this year, still had my teeth gnashing (please don’t tell me he’s recording again) but then I was always of a similar opinion when it came to Rod Stewart as well. I couldn’t imagine a pop landscape without either of them in it, because I can happily sit there and mutter insults under my breath while they effortlessly murder the Motown back catalogue.

Yes it’s a healthy, irrational pop prejudice and I have no plans to change my mind about Hucknall or Stewart for that matter.

@ weej, 23. Thanks for that mixtape. I was pleasantly surprised to find some Circus Contraption on it – almost nobody outside the Northwest US has heard of them. I was housemates with one of their main players, Kevin Hinshaw/Chameleo, when I lived in Seattle, hence got to know the whole company well, helped out with their shows, etc.. Their whole schtick is post-apocalyptic, ‘circus at the end of time’; technically, you could have a whole freaky fairground mixtape just from them.