soph's blog: Simply Red

I have chosen Simply Red because when I was a kid I used to love this song. Every time it was on the music channel or if mum put it on the stereo I would dance to it. The song itself it creates that fun factor of life with the roller-coaster going crazy, people having fun and enjoying the funfair. The video is set to be its wild video; with the heart throbbing motion of the roller-coaster rides.

Theme:

The video itself was filmed at Blackpool Pleasure Beach. It was about the fair ground, which was invaded by his friends. Now finally it has re-opened up again. The main elements of the video was filmed on the Pepsi big max one of the big roller coaster rides, which we see through ought the video. The lights at night on this video create the illuminations of Blackpool as its well-known for its light's festival. They used the lights at the fair ground of creating the feel of the rides and the purpose of the scenes. The theme of simply red's music is all about having a good time with friends. It can relate to having fun with friends. The atmosphere shows what it actually is like when we go on the rides. The feelings we have is that adrenalin rush. The video can relate to people today with the fast motion of the rides.

The music video:

At the start of the video; you have a long shot of Mick inside his car. In the background, you have the illuminations of creating the different forms of lights on the buildings. The effect was created in a blurred look. I think it looks really good. The colours are very abstract and it works well throughout the video. It creates a wider scene of seeing everything in a long shot. You have mid- a shot of where we see Mick is focusing on his driving. Mid-shots are used to concentrate on his upper half. In the sky it has the different abstract of colours that are forming into different shapes. You have his voice "Love the thought"; here we have a low angle shot of where we see the fast motion of people running. In this video Mick is wearing the old fashion clothes; which don't relate today as it's so out fashion now. The video is going back 17 years ago. But we still have that enjoyment when we go on rides today. You can hear the instrument of the drum building up as the music gets faster. You have long shot of people climbing up on the fence to get into the fair ground; this shots is then a mid- shot to concentrate on what they are doing. You get a quick glance of him in his car again, like he's reversing. Then the shot goes back to the people making their way over the fence.

You have a close up of Mick singing in the fair ground; you can see the people in small detail making their way through the fair ground. You have got a mid- shot of the electrician putting on the lights for the fair ground. The lights create the atmosphere of the fairground. You have a long shot of Mick in his gold jacket, black t-shirt and trousers of him dancing around. You have the mad rush of people getting on the carousel as the music is still building up. The shot goes into a close up of us focusing on his emotion of the song. However it then goes into a mid- shot of him, with his arms wide out. You have a mid -shot where he is in his car driving. On this shot we get more of a darker effect of the sky. There is a panning shot of where the camera moves from the left to the centre of the car.

We have a long shot of the fairground all lit up , turning round quickly . We have him in a mid- shot of him dancing around again with the different tones of colours changing. At the funfair we have the lights flashing at this point. You have a lady in a white dress walking down in the fair ground. I think it looks cool how they created the words pleasure in a glowing effect, on someone's body. Now this is where you get the exciting adrenalin feeling from the fast motion of the rides. I think it's good how it changed from him driving his car then it instantly it changed into a roller coaster ride. You can see the excitement that they're ready for this. We can tell by them having their hands going up in the air. You have a point of view shot from the passengers view and of the dark night. You can see the lights glowing in the distance. You have the fast motion as the ride zooms ahead pretty quick and then the shot turns into a aerial shot (helicopter view).It makes the shot look more interesting when the roller-coaster drops as well as seeing the blue lights ahead.

You have the dark journey that lies ahead. You have a low angle shot of getting a different perspective of Mike singing away. It looks like he's enjoying himself with the song. You have a close up of the front of the roller coaster of getting different reactions. We have a voice over of him singing and then a shot where we actually see him sing. I think it works well as the song relates to enjoying the experience and having fun with friends. After we get a panning shot, we see the roller coaster moving swiftly to the left. Then we see him in a mid-shot singing .We get a downward shot of the roller- coaster of seeing everyone's hands up in the air; it looks like they're having fun. We get a mid-shot of Mick on the ride , we can see he is wearing a black jacket and t-shirt.

We then start to see them still feeling the adrenalin rush of them looking excited still. We have the flashes of the tunnel; it creates tension within the ride like something is going to happen. We have a long shot from the start of the video again of the abstract forms (lights. We have a close up of him and his friends; it looks like there having such a good time. You have another low angle shot form a different angle point of them going on the saucepan ride. You get the fast colours changing; you can see they’re having a good time on the saucers going round pretty fast. It goes back to Mick in a different set background.

We get the quick shots from a long shot of seeing the roller coaster moving fast and then we get another long shot of the roller coaster coming towards the camera. From this view we can see the ride set in place with the glistening of the stars in the sky. I thought this shot was a bit odd where we see Mick on the roller coaster and someone else blowing smoke from his mouth. We get the quick roller -coaster again from a down shot of the motion and then back to Mick in the sky . It sets in well with having the moon there too. We have the quick shots of the front of the roller coaster and then from their point of view from the roller coaster. Its amazing see the track all lit up. We get mid shots as the roller -coaster goes through the dark tunnel.

You have people on a motor bike with the same effect of the illuminations from the lights, creating the background. You get the fast shots of the rides again; you get people looking above watching thinking wow. You get like shots with couples in the background of them being all romantic within the close ups and long shots. It always goes back to Mick where he's singing. The abstract lines and the lights of the scenes create the mood of the song, it works well. It goes back to its original start of the video.

Chart:

Simply Red took a big step with going out into the real world and doing tours all over the world. Since there time after doing these live gigs, they then produced a song called fair ground. Back in the day Simply Red produced a upbeat dance song of Fair ground. Simply Red's only UK No.1 single stayed at the top for four weeks in Sept/Oct 1995.

He sold over 50 million albums within his career. The was on the album called Life; this album sold really well, it reached number one in the UK chart. However he did do different remixes of the song. The tempo was with him doing the song in a lot slower version. In the background; you can hear the saxophone creating the softness of the song. You can hear him singing in a different style. He added more emotion with adding a jazz sort of feel to the song which is good. These were released as singles.

Ward and Gota were gone by the release of Simply Red's fifth album, Life (October 1995), leaving a line-up of Hucknall, McIntyre, Heitor T.P., Kirkham, and backup singer Dee Johnson. The album again proved more of a success at home than in America, topping charts all over Europe, as did its leadoff single, "Fairground," while spending only three months in the U.S. charts.

This remix does goes on for a bit for the chorus bit, but it's a good version of a remix. I think it dwells too much on the chorus bit to be honest. Then he sings and it's amazing.

Life album had the single fairground on it. The album was released on October 24th 1995 on the Elektra label. The extended version of "Fairground" is not listed on the CD package. Life CD music contains a single disc with 11 songs.

Here on I Tunes this shows the different remixes of the song Fairground. The single was released in 1995.

The Singles:

Fairground single edit,

fairground extended single mix

fairground garden mix

fairground too precious remix and sister bliss remix.

Here this shows the statistics of where Simply Red's Album reached in 1995. It reached in number 4 place of the album Life.

Here in the top 100 now the single of fairground relates in the 77 UK positions of the charts. It's still a good song even today.

Here this shows the top albums of Simply Red. Fist place is his 25 greatest hits CD. Second Album is home. Third album is picture book and fourth is the album from the opera house live.

Qualitative data (peoples opinion on his song)

Here are some of the comments I have looked at from Simply Red Fairground song .

On here are some positive reviews some say

“My mum's favourite song.”

“There are a lot of memories triggered by that tune."

"I love this song: but fuck is that guy ugly!” I thought that was bit horrible and harsh to say that. Plus this song is going back 17 years ago. His clothes, hair and fashion are going to be different from relating it today .

"These drums remind me of a samba dance sound, "I love it”.

"Simply good Music. “Let s Dance."

At the o2 arena Simply Red performs live it front of thousands of people in 2010. He still got the voice, it still sounds really good. He has different hair style, it not as long. You have like the whistle in the background; you have the audience singing as well to the words. He still has his original band playing with him. He has his singers in the background as backing voices to help with the song. Simply Red giving his own Sambuca sort of dancing style as well as adding other bits to the lyrics. It looks like the audience still love this song even though it's 17 years out of date but still remains by their favourite song . The audience look like they were having a good time with them joining in the clapping.

Website:

Mike has his own website which you can find about latest news on his new single, tour dates which will start on March 2013. He will be playing in London on the 28th April 2013 and his first play of his new single BBC 2 on September 6th 2012.

Here this shows that his tours starts this year and next year 2013 . His first music festival is in Brazil of October this month on the 12th. December 2012 he is in Germany on night proms. He performs in Dublin. Belgium, Manchester, Brighton, Portsmouth, Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff and more. This is to perform his new album which is out in

Here this shows an exclusive DVD /CD of him at concert at the Sydney opera house. It has all of his all-time greatest hits on there, including Fairground on there too. It was filmed during the fantastic Farewell Tour, in the spectacular setting of the Sydney Opera House in October 2010. The live DVD also comes with a bonus concert CD. It was release on the 29th November 2010.

This is where you can get all the DVD'S of simply's red's greatest hit. This includes the song fairground. You can get the DVD of him at the royal Albert hall with him singing all his greatest hits with including the fairground song. This was released on October 15th 2007.

The DVD also contains an exclusive interview with Mick, behind-the-scenes footage and a photo gallery.

Here you can buy all sorts of stuff so for e.g. t-shirts, canvases, bags, books, key rings, DVD'S, mugs, coasters and more.

Here this shows the Facebook page of Mick Hucknall. This gives you information about his tour dates this year; he’s got photos of him on tour, photo-shoots, him on shows and pictures of him at the O2 arena.

If you like the page on Facebook, you can listen to his new single which is called American soul. This will be out on the 29^th October for CD and for download.