Simply Red - Stay (+DVD)

As the sole proprietor of the thriving smooth soul brand Simply Red, British singer Mick Hucknall could be forgiven for resting on his laurels in his third decade as a consistently successful presence on the U.S. and U.K. charts. But 2007's Stay finds the flame-haired soul-stirrer helming yet another set of sophisticated R&B, leavened with his affectionate cover of Faces bassist and songwriter Ronnie Lane's "Debris" and the smoking urban blues of "Good Times Have Done Me Wrong." Demonstrating Hucknall's elder-statesman maturity, the warm and cozy "The World and You Tonight" is a hymn to suburban respectability, while the pop-R&B of the title track displays his innate talent for blending those two genres in a commercial mix. ~ Steve Goulding