Picture Book

Imagine having a bad day, and then hearing this at the end of it. I'd rather just not make it home.

Note my jam. sort of slow and easy listing style

Good, consistent product. If you know any Simply Red and you're inclined to listen to more, you'll love this record. I, for one, cannot forgive them for the abuse they unleashed on Talking Heads' "Heaven". For that and Mick Hucknall's MTV-primed pouting and posing, they get my lifelong derision.

3.33 rym ma stiamo scherzando 1/5

No thanks.

This one was difficult to get through. It was sort of jazzy and what I like to call lazy pop. It doesn’t make me feel anything listening to it. The vocals are nasally to the point where I sometimes think “Red” is imitating Aaron Neville. I’m assuming this is from the 80’s, I don’t recall reading it. Choice Cut: Heaven

Adele AND Simply Red in the same week. Wow 1001 albums algorithm, you are *really* spoiling me.

Might be the weakest I’ve had so far. Just a ridiculous sound, super dated, ridiculous, cheesy, sometimes annoying. What is this and why is this here?prank?? Heaven is rough. Jericho is a wild ride that I’m not sure if I love or hate. I hate it but it also makes me smile and will probably be stuck in my head? What is happening… trigonomics?? Completely ignorable with only replay value being revisit f a song or two to say “did that really happen? Did I actually hear that right??”

Somewhere in a parallel universe there is a waiting room for a small town dentist. The middle aged receptionist, new to Spotify and quite excited by it all puts on one of her nice records - Picture Book - for the waiting clients. Perhaps just a little bit loud but she is hard of hearing lately. In this universe is a version of me who didn't floss his teeth and gets stuck in that waiting room preparing to have his teeth extracted. The sound of the dentist's drill can't quite drown out the horrible crime of Mick Hucknall murdering the Talking Heads classic 'Heaven'. As my teeth crumble under the clumsy ministrations of this small town dentist I hope for death. But then I realise that I really don't want to die with Simply Red being the last thing I hear. I'm glad I floss my teeth.

Absolutely not.

Not my speed then, or now. While I can appreciate it fits a niche, if I was scanning the dial I would punch out immediately on any of these tracks.

Simply confused. How did this white guy/jazz/RnB easy listening make it so far? I distinctly remember hearing “Holding Back The Years” everywhere. And it definitely took up much of my already limited time watching MTV just hoping I’d hear Twisted Sister just one more time. But in all seriousness, this reminded me of the much better debut by Terence Trent D’Arby that would come two years later, and I’m betting makes its way into this 1001 list. 1.5/5

Tf Is this? I know “music” like this exists, but can we pretend it doesn’t?

Do I like Simple Red? I do not like him, Mick Hucknall I do not like his first album at all I do not like its dated style I do not like it, it’s not worth my while Not on a playlist, not on repeat Not in my car or walking down the street Not in my room or on a train If I listen once more I’ll go insane I will not rate it more than just one I was so happy when the last song was done I do not like “picture book” you see, I do not like it, it’s not for me

A white dude doing jazz and soul/R&B music? No thanks! This is def not my tempo. Question is… is it Steely Dan bad? I’d argue no. It misses the mark but at least it feels like it is trying. And it has a song I recognize and think is ok [shrug emoji]. I bet peeps in mid-80’s power suits with huge shoulder pads rocked out to these tunes in elevators. Blah. 1.5/5 P.S. you know you want to punch that kid on the cover right in his stupid face.

Sucked

no

Insipid karaoke-grade takes on Philly Soul.

Picture this,me shitting on one side of this album and gently pressing it on the top of your head .. Why is this album on the list...I hope you like your new hat...I do not.

This is so boring

This album fucking sucks and I hate it. I can't deal with blue-eyed soul. It just is so bad. 1/5

Another boring British album. Do better, list!

Simply Red's Picture Book is not good. At best, I'll begrudgingly admit that Heaven is a nice song but would be better with a vocalist who could fucking sing, which is where this album and pretty much all Simply Red stuff falls down. Hucknall's voice sucks, plus he's a prick, but I'm trying to be somewhat objective about this. I've never liked the two famous tracks off this, Money's Too Tight and Holding Back The Years; the latter is like something Spandau Ballet would've said no thanks to. It's also mixed really badly in places and has a lot of really bad 80s tropes in it just to make it worse. I'm not sure I can find a way not to give it 1/5 because it's just bad.

There was so much going on and yet nothing of any substance.

Yuck. Steely Dan muzak, weird new wave vocals aka a softcore version of Color Me Bad

I once won tickets to see Simply Red at the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg and didn’t go because I assumed it’d be terrible, regardless of the beautiful venue. Now today I learn that they butcher a Talking Heads song!? Feeling vindicated. This sucked.

It's possible I just really dislike blue eyed soul

Halfway through “Come to My Aid” and I don’t know if I have the strength to go on. I soldiered on to “Holding Back the Years”, which is passable if only because the band seems to have worn themselves out overplaying the previous 8 songs. The singer has a great voice, but this album is something I’d put on to get people to go home.

The fuck is this?

Fake ass soul from a bunch of Manchester United supporters. Rubbish. Here's hoping Bayern Munich crushes the red scourge in the Champions League and I never have to listen to this tripe again.

It was painful to listen to, the singer is annoying. Any bluesy part of the album felt like a cheap imitation.

He always had a good ear for covers did old mate Mick. That's about it really, this type of mid 80's pop music really stinks, Sade, Phil C#### et al, incredible to think this was a less than a decade after punk. As they say, for every revolution there is a counter revolution. And I've always been dubious about this white boy "soul" singer business, what does that mean exactly? That he sounds like Solomon Burke? For those of you who just got the x rays back and the news is bad, I did listen to it all, and found the whole thing underwhelming. And funnily enough, for all the raves he gets about his pipes, it is not a good listen across a whole album, soul singer my arse. Give it a wide berth and put Rain Dogs on instead.

In June 1976, the Sex Pistols played a concert at Manchester’s Lesser Free Trade Hall, kickstarting the UK punk movement and directly prompting the formation of such influential bands as Joy Division, Buzzcocks, The Smiths, and The Fall. The message? Anyone can do this, anyone can start a band. A teenaged Mick Hucknall was also present; after listening to this record, one wishes he had been otherwise engaged that evening.

If I had one major critique of this 1001 Albums project, is that the list relies too heavily on debut albums from artists in a specific genre to stand in for that genre. This album is so bland and forgettable, but it fits the 80's mid-tempo pop that dominated the airwaves, so it's included. I almost shut it off when the lyric "Everyone is trying to get to the bar, the name of the bar, the bar is called Heaven" 1.5/5

Pish. A poor facsimile of the real thing, copied so many times any meaningful emotions have been lost. He can sing, but I'd rather he didn't. Just listen to some old soul and R'n'B records instead - this is not worth your time.

Sweet Jesus this is boring

2/10. Didn't even finish it. Meh jazz pop rock album.

Blechhh. This blows. Even their one good song…wasn’t. And they even managed to make a Talking Heads song skippable.

Painful. The 80s were a difficult time for music, and this album was painful to get through. Of al the great music in this world, why subject someone to this? No more Simply Red please.

Take some blue-eyed soul, dance beats, and 80s production; put itall together and for that reason, I am out.

Good I hate 80s "soul" music. It's fucking soulless. I'd forgotten their one hit, Holding Backing the Years. Not that I knew it was this band's song, just have a vague recollection of the song. It's ok, I guess

I had my doubts on this album, I've only heard Holding back the Years, which I never liked. The opening track surprised me a little but then it quickly divulged into adult contemporary washed out soul music. The cover of Talking Heads Heaven is downright insulting.

Records like this make me almost resent getting involved with this whole 1001 albums thing.

Didn't like it. Maybe it was too slow. Maybe it was the blue-eyed soul. Maybe i heard it too many times in dentist offices. It just isn't my thing.

Not my jams

A baby boy forms from the penis of a Wotsit. He travels through life, threatening to destroy the world with his gentle voice. He wades his way through a trough of broken bottles and cow shit to present his immaculate balls to the queen in an unflinching display of dominance and humility. This is the result.

Cheesy mid 80's soft rock sung by a beef tomato. Sold shitloads of copies and probably got played to death in middle managers' Ford focuses and shitty dinner parties with canapes and cocaine. Best Tracks: Come To My Aid; Money's Too Tight (To Mention); Holding Back The Years

Jesus wept. The singles are enough to go no further.

Dated.

Ew. This was released in '85?! Why does it sound like mid 70s disco trash? Gross.

4-bit nancy graphics

This is why I didn't like pop.

Simply Red? More like Simply Fuck Off. Absolute cuntbag of an album. Dogshit.

insufferable. I couldn't get through 3 songs. Feels like the worst of 80's tropes.

When this popped up this morning my initial reaction was "Oh God". I'm still scarred from having to endure Stars on repeat back in '91, when all I wanted to listen to was Jimi Hendrix. Anyway in the spirit of this adventure, I did listen to this album in full. It was alright.... I survived the experience. Will I listen to it again? Doubtful. But I can at least tick it off the list.

Some 80's pop album, couldn't listened to the end

Ook nog eens jazzy

I always Money too Tight to Mention. Guess that's a death blow for this album

no

Simply Shite more like

Boring , generic blue-eyed soul. 1 🌟

Music styling is pop-jazz-saxo beats. But good grief! Didn't really think too much about the lyrics until it got to "Jericho's" first verse. That sounds like some messed up crap, and made me go back and look at the other lyrics a bit closer. Hope there is a reasonable explanation for those lyrics on Jericho. Should re-think having this album in the best 1001 of all time in my opinion. 0 stars if I could

The beauty of this 1,001 albums project is it forces me to listen to a lot of music I have never heard before, even including this dogshit album. Regretfully, this also likely means I'll have to suffer through at least one Nickelback album, since they are likely somehow less bad than this album. The bright side is I never need to hear these songs ever again. And, God willing, likely won't.

This made me wish I was simply dead. Shite.

Nossa, eu odeio Simply Red. Que tortura. Esse álbum deveria estar numa lista "1001 albuns para NÃO ouvir antes de morrer"

1.5 | Muchos discos mejoran en la segunda vuelta, este es el primero que empeora. La base del disco, el fundamento musical, no es malo; tiene un cimiento muy fuerte en muchas canciones de Soul, R&B y Jazz. Después se dedica a tomar esas bases y embarrarlas de sacarina, quitarles todo su carácter y hacer música tremendamente aburrida. Lo que más me sorprende es que, la canción que fue el sencillo y la que todos conocen es la peor de todo el disco en mi opinión. En caso de Steely Dan les llamaba "música de elevador," pero esto es bastante más cansado y tedioso, lo único que se me ocurre es llamarle música de consultorio dental. El medio punto extra sería solo porque sí tiene bastante buena voz. Lo único que me dieron ganas fue de escuchar Soul de verdad.

Very Popy and boring

Boring lounge singer with a terrible face. Just moaning unlikable terribleness.

Yucky

Conjure every cliche you can think of when I say the words "Mid-80s adult contemporary music." This is that and more. I had to take three breaks while listening to this 45 minute album. Best track: Heaven

I am during your life

Not for me

I basically had this on repeat during 6th form. Brilliant blast from the past.