Picture Book
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Album Summary
Picture Book, the debut album from Manchester's Simply Red, came roaring out of the gate in October 1985 on Elektra Records, and baby, it arrived like a force of nature. Recorded across studios in Manchester and London, the album was produced primarily by the masterful Stewart Levine — a man who knew his way around a soul record — with the legendary Nile Rodgers of Chic lending his golden touch to select tracks. Fronted by the red-maned Mick Hucknall, whose voice carried the weight of decades of soul music he had no business knowing at his age, Picture Book announced Simply Red as something genuinely special in a British pop landscape hungry for artists with real depth and feeling.
Reception
- Picture Book climbed to number 2 on the UK Albums Chart and achieved multi-platinum certification across Europe, a remarkable commercial triumph for a debut record.
- The album launched Simply Red into the international spotlight, with Money's Too Tight (To Mention) and Holding Back The Years both breaking through as landmark singles of the era.
- Achieved platinum certification in multiple countries including the UK within its first year of release, cementing Simply Red's status as a major commercial force.
Significance
- Picture Book stood as a defining statement of the blue-eyed soul and sophisti-pop movement sweeping mid-1980s Britain, with Mick Hucknall's staggering vocal instrument giving the genre a credibility that few of his contemporaries could match.
- The album's masterful blending of soul, funk, and polished pop production — rooted in influences stretching back to Otis, Marvin, and the whole glorious soul tradition — helped reshape what British pop music could aspire to sound like.
- Picture Book represented a powerful diversification of the Manchester music scene, proving that the city's creative heart beat far beyond post-punk and new wave, reaching deep into sophisticated soul and funk territory.
Samples
- Money's Too Tight (To Mention) — one of the most recognized soul-funk grooves of the 1980s British scene, with its bassline and arrangement drawing significant attention from hip-hop and R&B producers in later decades.
- Holding Back The Years — the album's most emotionally devastating moment, sampled and interpolated across multiple productions owing to its achingly beautiful melodic structure and Hucknall's raw vocal performance.
Tracklist
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A1 Come To My Aid 116
4:04
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A2 Sad Old Red 117
4:32
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A3 Look At You Now 157
3:02
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A4 Heaven 129
4:33
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A5 Jericho 100
6:04
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B1 Money's Too Tight (To Mention) 113
4:14
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B2 Holding Back The Years 86
4:28
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B3 Red Box 105
3:55
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B4 No Direction 127
3:40
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B5 Picture Book 108
5:48
Artist Details
Simply Red is a British soul and blue-eyed soul group that came together in Manchester, England in 1985, led by the unmistakable voice of Mick Hucknall, a man who wore his heart on his sleeve and his influences — Otis Redding, Al Green — right there in every note he sang. Their debut album *Picture Book* put the world on notice that the UK had something deeply soulful to say, and their silky 1986 cover of Harold Melvin's *If You Don't Know Me By Now* crossed every ocean and every color line, becoming one of the defining blue-eyed soul moments of the decade. Simply Red went on to sell over 50 million records worldwide, proving that when the music is honest and the soul is real, the people will always come home to it.
