Stars is the fourth album by British-basedpop/soul/jazz bandSimply Red, released on 30 September 1991.[1] Five singles were released from the album, including the UK top ten hits "Stars" and "For Your Babies". The album was a worldwide success, particularly in the band's home country where it has been certified twelve times platinum[2] and was the best-selling album of the year in the UK for both 1991 and 1992,[3][4] the first album to be the best-seller in two consecutive years sinceSimon & Garfunkel'sBridge over Troubled Water in 1970–1971. As of April 2019 it is the14th best-selling album of all time in the UK.[5]
The album was on the shortlist of nominees for the 1992Mercury Prize. In 2000Q placedStars at number 80 in its list of "The 100 Greatest British Albums Ever".[6]
Recording for the album originally began in Paris in August 1990, but the initial sessions did not go well: the equipment in the studio did not live up to expectations, and with theGulf War having just started and dominating television news reports, the band found the atmosphere in the bunker-like studios oppressive and not conducive to making music. The group moved to the more relaxed surroundings of Venice to resume recording in the Condulmer Studios.[8]
Simply Red's leader and singerMick Hucknall had wanted the album to have a less electronic and more soulful sound than their previous work, and had recruited programmerGota after hearing his work withSoul II Soul. Hucknall did not realise that Gota was also a drummer until he heard him jamming on the drum kit one evening in Venice, after which Gota also became the band's full-time drummer. The songs had been written over the previous year: "Something Got Me Started" and "Stars" had been written on the road during the group's previous tour. "Thrill Me" was based on a riff that McIntyre had come up with, while Hucknall described "Wonderland" as "probably the most political song I've written", documenting his dissatisfaction with the BritishConservative government of the time.[9]
The album cover features a photograph of singer Hucknall in the Californian desert, wearing aNative American painted cloak that he had bought in Spain. Hucknall had insisted that in the shot he would be wearing the cloak and nothing else, displaying his bare legs. However, when photographer Zanna showed the photographs to EastWest Records, they were concerned that Hucknall's bare legs would offend sensibilities in the US, and Zanna had to digitally retouch the picture using a test photograph of her assistant's jeans-covered legs.[10]
Stars was released on 30 September 1991 and debuted at number one on theUK Albums Chart, selling around 150,000 copies in its first week.[11] After 12 months, the album had sold 2.4 million copies in the UK.[12]
Stars was re-issued in 2008 as a Collector's Edition 2CD with bonus DVD digipack.
The album received mixed reviews in the UK. The alternative music magazines were cool towards the record: in theNMEAndrew Collins dismissedStars as "an exercise in no-style over no-content" and "the sound of some technicians desperately fanning some smouldering ashes for people with central heating",[16] while inSelectGraham Linehan disregarded the bulk of the album as "just Simply Red – uniquely anonymous and as flat asIowa."[19] Caroline Sullivan simply stated inMelody Maker that "within his strictly-definedoeuvre – sleek, airbrushed music best described as soulette – [Hucknall]'s miles ahead of his competition... Nor, on an objective level, canStars be faulted... This is a pleasant album, the sleeve is pretty, and now, at least, you've got a Christmas present for Gran."[23]
However, reviews from newspaper critics and other magazines were more positive. InThe GuardianAdam Sweeting wrote that "the new songs sound relaxed, refreshed, and satisfyingly cohesive... Easy to listen to but noteasy listening,Stars keeps shining",[24] whileThe Independent's Andy Gill was similarly impressed, observing that "Hucknall's socialistsoul-boy's conviction and his determination to write songs with stings in their tails place Simply Red several notches above the rest of thesmooth soul genre... And in simple evocations of love like 'Thrill Me' and 'For Your Babies', the spark of honesty sets them above the superficial, insincere protestations of love that dominate modern soul music."[25] InQ Ian Cranna hailed the album as "a long overdue change in musical direction, with Hucknall for the most part abandoning his undoubtedly sincere but inevitably fruitless attempts to re-create himself as a soul singer. Instead he's eased Simply Red down a couple of gears into a more relaxed and flowing style which owes as much towards currenthip hop-inspired club rhythms as it does to old-style soul orfunk." He ended his review by describingStars as "Simply Red's most accessible and danceable work to date".[17] In the American press, theChicago Tribune's Jan DeKnock said that Simply Red had moved "into a funkier groove that suits them well" onStars,[14] whileEntertainment Weekly's Dave DiMartino found that Hucknall's songwriting skills distinguished him from other "merely interpretive" singers;[15] a year after its release, Mark Coleman praisedStars inThe Rolling Stone Album Guide as "a stripped-down set of originals, superbly sung without a trace of rootsy nostalgia or gross crossover ambition."[18]
In his retrospective review forAllMusic,Stephen Thomas Erlewine calledStars "Simply Red's best album sincetheir debut. It's smoother and more polished than their previous work, yet Mick Hucknall is singing better than ever and his songwriting is improving... Having absorbed his pop, soul, andreggae influences, Hucknall is now successfully writing songs in his own style, something that, with the exception of 'Holding Back the Years', he hadn't managed previously."[13]
The album was voted the second-worst record ever made in a 1998Melody Maker poll of pop stars, DJs, and journalists.[26]
^"Classifiche".Musica e dischi (in Italian). Retrieved30 May 2022.Select "Album" in the "Tipo" field, type "Simply Red" in the "Artista" field, type "Stars" in the "Titolo" field and press "cerca".
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