Following last month’s debut Summer Sessions on Slessor Gardens, where the particularly rocking duo of Noel Gallagher and Stereophonics took over Dundee for the weekend, something a bit more soulful is coming to the same venue this weekend.
Not part of Summer Sessions this time, the bill still includes two of Britain’s biggest pop stars of recent times, beginning with a much-loved Manchester artist who’s the polar opposite of what Gallagher’s old band Oasis used to offer.
Back in the 1990s, when Britpop had taken over, Mick Hucknall’s Simply Red had slipped far out of critical fashion – although not with the record-buying public, who continued to give them three numbers one albums and a bunch of hit singles throughout the decade.
While the ‘80s and ‘90s were their commercial heyday, Hucknall and co have carried on working hard since, not counting a five year break between 2010 and 2015, and their last two albums Big Love (2015) and Blue Eyed Soul (2019) have been top ten hits.
Meanwhile some of that critical praise which slipped away in their later hit years has swung back around in their favour again. Listeners have been rediscovering the wealth of solid pop hits that Hucknall fronted, among them the classic contemporary soul ballads Holding Back the Years and If You Don’t Know Me By Now, both of which were US number ones.
In particular, the group’s 1991 fourth album Stars has been reassessed as a modern classic, containing fan favourite songs like the title track and Something Got Me Started, some of the clearest examples of Hucknall’s vocal tone and power.
“It’s deepened a little bit but I’ve kept the high end, so I can still hit those notes,” he says of his voice now. “Singing is pure pleasure to me.” Support comes from fellow ‘80s soul star Mica Paris.
Paloma
Paloma Faith, meanwhile, has a much more recent catalogue of music, including the big hits Picking Up the Pieces, Only Love Can Hurt Like This and the Sigala-featuring Lullaby.
She’s got some range, from pop and torch singing to some club bangers, but what places her firmly alongside Hucknall is the way her music is focused around the power of her voice.
Many listeners might be forgiven for knowing Faith as much for being a television personality as a singer.
Her career has been a slow-burn, starting out with some modest hits like Do You Want the Truth or Something Beautiful? in the late 2000s, while she did some acting and television on the side. In particular, she turned up in the St Trinian’s film and was a memorable part of the judging team on telly talent contest The Voice.
Yet music has won out in the end, with the sharper compositional and political edge of her 2017 album The Architect finally producing her first UK number one, and pushing Taylor Swift from the top spot.
The year after that, Lullaby was released, and it started its rise to becoming an enduring modern pop classic.
In both cases, these are artists we might feel we know well, but who are primed for rediscovery.
- Simply Red will perform on Saturday July 23, followed by Paloma Faith on Sunday July 24, with gates opening for each show at 4pm.
- For tickets see ticketmaster.co.uk
