SIMPLY AVERAGE

Scritti Politti’s Green isn’t the only “politically correct” white English R&B; singer who uses a color for a first name--just the only interesting one, judging from Simply Red’s local debut Friday at the Palace. As a balladeer, that band’s Mick (Red) Hucknall will never be asked to join the O’Jays, given the simply wretched reading he did of Talking Heads’ “Heaven.”

A few more upbeat songs, such as the chant-along “Jericho,” gave promise that the band could develop into something more fun (and funky) someday. But for the sold-out audience, Simply Red was already there; the rabid response to this excruciatingly average music suggested that many of the youngish and/or yuppie-ish throngs had never experienced soul music without a beat-box before.