Simply Red,”Blue Eyed Soul” (BMG)-Mick Hucknall and company have returned to the recording studio after a four year hiatus with their leader’s creative energy renewed, fuelled by a determination to ensure that Simply Red’s twelfth album makes much more of an instant impact than some of its immediate predecessors. The emotionally charged contents of what is essentially a Hucknall solo set were apparently influenced by soul luminaries such as Curtis Mayfield, Isaac Hayes and Tower of Power, recorded as live with minimal overdubs and blessed with some fine additions to the Simply Red canon such as “Thinking Of You” and “Shine On.”