A New Flame,' Simply Red's third album, is a showcase for the fireworks of singer Mick Hucknall, whose sly cries, well-placed pushes and offhand gestures make all but the most banal songs on the album ring true. Such songs as "It's Only Love" and "You've Got It," which are merely collections of romantic clichés in mellow adult-contemporary settings, are transformed by Hucknall into powerful statements of romance.

Yet there are too many tracks on A New Flame that even Hucknall's sweet tenor can't save. Even on the tense – albeit slightly clinical – cover of Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes' "If You Don't Know Me by Now," a natural for Hucknall, he's left trying to pull together an underdeveloped arrangement. Except for the extended riffing on "Enough," which closes the record, the band seems to hide in the background, aware that Hucknall is the only reason anyone's listening. Great vocalists respond to prodding by their bands; Simply Red's refusal to challenge Hucknall only masks the singer's formidable gifts. (RS 546)

JIMMY GUTERMAN