Most people expected Simply Red to have popped up on VH1′s Where Are They Now? at any moment, but Home is their eighth proper album. Finding a niche as Jamiroquai for the smooth jazz set, they’ve released album after album while living off the worldwide success of Stars. Home looks like a return to form with Mick Hucknall taking over a good amount of the production and releasing the album on his own label, Simplyred.com, although an outside producer might have given them an extra kick in their velour pants. However, despite the album’s weak moments, there’s the genuine sweetness of “Home,” the lavish funkiness of “Fake,” and the profound and moving “Home Loan Blues.” When the band masterfully slinks its way through Dennis Brown’s “Money in My Pocket,” all sorts of Picture Book flashbacks appear. Home gives half an album’s worth of reasons to cheer for Simply Red. – David Jeffries