Nik Kershaw Appreciation Thread

Currently listening to the Human Racing album, years after having heard "Wouldn't It Be Good" along with "The Riddle" and "Don Quixote" and being familiar with their music videos. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I'm pleasantly surprised. Clearly his music was made for headphones; the spatial arrangements help you get lost in sea of lyrics... in a good way. I really enjoyed "Bogart" and "Cloak And Dagger". Even if it's not on constant rotation, I can appreciate his adventurous sense of musical direction.

Personally, my favorite of his is "The Riddle" and the music video is truly outstanding. I wish he had broader commercial appeal, but these songs are beyond the scope and special in a way. Different than most of the "new wave" and synth-pop of the time, but well worth giving a try. I might have to try out some of his later albums like Radio Musicola. What do you think of his post-Riddle albums?

 

I lurved The Riddle album back in the day, such an exemplar of that 80s synth pop sound but with a lot of wit and serious chops.

Human Racing and Radio Musicola have their high points, too.

I have one later album You've Got To Laugh, should dig it out for another listen.

--Geoff

 

I was a big fan of the first album, "Human Racing". "The Riddle" was a disappointment to me - I thought "Save The Whale" was a little embarrassing.

I think he has the problem some artists have where their first big song is head and shoulders above everything that came after. "Wouldn't It Be Good" is an all-time great in my book.

The only later album I have is "15 Minutes" - quite enjoyable.

I'll add this track from the debut, "Drum Talk" - his "beat-boxing" is fun.

 

What’s the story behind his appearance at Live Aid? I suppose he moderately big in the UK, but we’re talking Live Aid here!

 

I am a big fan. Very happy to see Don Quixote is popular. Happy Universal did an expanded releases of his back catalog. Wish it was given to Cherry Red or someone.. they may have done a better job.

Nik Kershaw responds to Riddle deluxe bonus track criticism – SuperDeluxeEdition

 

Why was Wild Horses not released as a single? I was into Nik back in the day and still listen to the early stuff. He was a really talented song-writer.

I voted Wide Boy, Wouldn't It Be Good, and Dancing Girls. Dancing Girls is lowkey amazing.

 

I forgot to vote for I Wanna Change The Score...so I changed my vote and changed the score. It's a bit too 'smart' (the polyrhythm, etc) to be a big hit but it's a great little record and Nik's voice is a big reason why.

 

I can't think of him without thinking of Howard Jones as well, also perhaps Thomas Dolby. Bright shiny new things together. So I guess I'm saying he seems fixed to a certain date and then the focus wavers... my frame and perhaps I ought to change it.

 

it has been. There’s a big box set coming this year.

 

Great interview with him.

 

Saw Nik open for Paul Young about 6 weeks after Live Aid.

 

I love "The Riddle." My family was living in Malaysia in 1985 and in between TV shows the stations would just show a random music video as time filler along with commercials. "The Riddle" was played quite a few times that year and this is how I discovered Nik Kershaw. Appreciation to "Wide Boy," too. Still have the record.

 

My bad for butchering the title, but I like this song. Sure, it screams early 90’s but I thought Chesney Hawkes did a fine job with it. That’s the only time Nik Kershaw would earn himself a top 10 title as a songwriter in the U.S.

 

The Riddle is a classic '80s album, both execution and production. The bookends are honorable mentions, only because the USA version of The Riddle included Wouldn't It Be Good. Otherwise, Human Racing would have competed for my limited music budget back in the day.

Later, Nik Kershaw proved his pop songwriting prowess with thoroughly enjoyable albums. Sadly, I haven't kept up since 2001's To Be Frank. I should fix that.

 

Damn, you are right. I need to save up for this for when it comes out.

Nik Kershaw The MCA Years boxed-set coming from Cherry Red

 

When A Heart Beats should have been a huge hit...just an incredible tune.

PS - I believe the song is One Step Ahead, not Behind

 

I still listen to the first four albums. Nik seems a genuinely nice bloke.

 

One of my favourite 80s artists. I thought 15 Minutes was also a cracking album, although his albums since then have been patchy.

I am curious about the upcoming Cherry Red box set, although to be honest I have so much of his 80s material already that I don’t know whether there’ll be enough rare stuff on it for me to splash out. Plus the mastering is likely to suck

I would however absolutely be up for some well-done surround mixes of his 80s material. Something along the lines of the Paul Young No Parlez SDE would be just peachy

 

I played for a fairly big UK 80s band for a while up until a few years ago, and Nik would be on the same bill at various 80s festivals. He's always been one of my musical heroes but I just couldn't muster up the courage to say hello, despite me knowing one of his band members who'd always say what a great person he is.

It got to the sixth time that he was on the same bill, and having finished playing, I decided that getting quite drunk was the only way to deal with finally talking to Nik. I spoke to him and he was indeed very lovely, funny and warm.

The next time I saw him, we were talking about each other's Paul Reed Smith guitars so that must mean we're practically best mates now.

 

I totally agree - I've always considered it to be the quintessential Nik single, far more deserving of a better UK chart placing than No.27.

I don't think it helped that it was released only three months after "Don Quixote" - a casual Nik fan may have thought that it was simply another track taken from the "The Riddle" album rather than a new song, and therefore not bought it. It seems as if the track suffered from MCA overexposing Nik to the general public (remember that those first two albums were released within a year).

Oddly enough, we then had to wait nearly another year for the next single "Nobody Knows"...

 

I don't have any of the remixes or 12", so I am looking forward to it. I just had his regular official releases on tape back in the 80s. The "Now's What What I Call" releases did a great 12" series. But they only have a few of his songs.

https://www.discogs.com/release/18466378-Various-Now-Thats-What-I-Call-12-80s

 

So funny how I kept looking for my all-time favorite track of his in the list and not seeing it, and then remembering it was never a single. The track was "You Might".

 

Another great track from Human Racing.

Cloak And Dagger

 

BOGART is in my all-time top ten songs ever. NIK is a treasure and is still producing top-notch releases. had great taste in keyboard players to with early on WIX who i think helped shape the first few releases.

 

Human Racing is a fabulous album. Cloak and Dagger is the classic deep cut on there for me but it’s all good. The Riddle is decent too, after that I lose touch a little bit but I hope to remedy that with the big box that’s coming later this year. Like Howard Jones he has two quintessential 80s albums and then faded from view in the UK. But both of them managed two very strong albums in quick succession.