by William Ruhlmann
For Life, Simply Red retain the basic influences that fueled their earlier albums, especially American R&B of the early '70s, specifically the Marvin Gaye of What's Going On? and Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes-era Teddy Pendergrass. Mick Hucknall's singing has calmed down and smoothed out on such songs as &You Make Me Believe& and &So Many People,& but that only makes them sound more like the product of Philadelphia International Records. On &Fairground,& he opts for a Latin-tinged sound that ends up evoking Herb Alpert more than Milton Nascimento; reggae turns up on &Out on the Range,& and the big-time closer, &We're in This Together,& is a South African-style anthem, complete with Hugh Masekela's flugelhorn. Stripped of the international superstar trappings, Life is, of course, pretentious, but it does have a couple of promising songs, notably &So Beautiful& and &Remembering the First Time.&