Track Listing

1. Spirit Of Love
2. Ain't That A Lot Of Love
3. Your Eyes
4. Sky Is A Gypsy
5. Back Into The Universe
6. Words For Girlfriends
7. Thank You
8. Man Made The Gun
9. Close To You
10. More Than A Dream
11. Wave The Old World Goodbye

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #27100 in Music
• Released on: 1999-11-01
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.co.uk Review
Calling an album Love And The Russian Winter was a surprisingly courageous--some would say foolish--move. Ask any would-be world conqueror: a Russian winter is the surest way to suffer crushing, final, demoralising defeat. Still, though, Mick Hucknall's confidence would not be swayed, so it's to his credit that the evocative title is justified by the songs, from uptempo pop to their trademark slushy ballads. First single "Ain't That a Lot of Love" is Simply Red's most uptempo offering since the 1995 "Fairground", boasting a house-influenced production. Meanwhile, "Your Eyes", with its richly textured arrangement, revisits familiar ground--complete with the drummer and programmer who worked on Simply Red's Stars. --Shanthi Sivanesan

Customer Reviews

Typical Simply Red Album But Lacking Any Truly Great Songs
Great title and great cover but what does it mean? Love is not something most people would associate with a Russian Winter but it made me think of Dr Zhivago & that doomed love affair set in Russia.

"Spirit Of Love" is typical Simply Red: slightly sorrowful vocal over a catchy up tempo beat and ""Your Eyes" is a typical Mick Hucknall ballad type track featuring very pleasant vocals; "The Sky Is A Gypsy" - similar but slightly more soulful with "Words For Girl Friends" being even better (& more personal?)

"More Than A Dream" is one of the best tracks on the album, with a 'dreamy' reggae like feel to it.

But for me the best track is "Thank You", sounding like a very good (rather than great)classic Simply Red slow to mid temp track with their unmistakable sound including nice mellow guitar & a catchy tune with a vocal performance so low key you need to really listen quite hard to appreciate just how good it sounds.

To sum up: typical but not classic Simply Red. No obvious reason to buy it but if you like Simply Red then do buy it as it won't disappoint.

At the current Amazon prices (starting at £0.55) its an absolute bargain!

Love and the Russian Winter - brilliant!
This Album is brilliant! It is definitely Simply Red at their best. It shows off their diverse range of music styles and shows Mick, as ever, is as versatile as an egg. Songs that stand out for me include 'Back Into The Universe', 'Ain't That A Lot Of Love', 'Spirit of Life', and 'Words for Girlfriends' but the rest are all good and worthy songs which show Mick as an extremely grown up song writer. If you like Pop then this may be for you but there is a bit of Dance, R'n'B, Soul and a hint of reggae as well. A definite for all Simply Red fans!

Simply Red. Simply great material.
Love in the Russian winter is one pop album I don't mind listening to. I've seen Mick Hucknall's diversity of music styles, from soulful "If you don't know me by now" to disco "Fairground" and the progress only continues here. "Ain't that a lot of love" is one bouncy tune. But the sincerity of "Thank you" catches me off guard the most. Yes, this and "Your eyes", which I can't help but associate with my girlfriend's beautiful eyes, "Man made the Gun" and "The Sky is A gypsy". All in all, this is simply red. Simply great material.