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Product Description
CD Description
2012 re-issue of Nik Kershaw's 1984 debut album Human Racing, faeturing the title track, "I Won't Let the Sun Go down on Me", the breakthrough hit "Wouldn't it be Good" and "Dancing Girls".
Human Racing was released in February 1984. The first of four albums recorded for MCA records, it achieved platinum sales and a nomination for Best Album at the 1985 Brit Awards. Its release was greeted by a combination of teen hysteria, critical acclaim and praise from the likes of Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton and prompted Elton John to call Kershaw "one of the best songwriters of a generation".
This special two CD edition, compiled by Nik himself features the album, digitally re-mastered from the original 1/2" mix tapes and associated 12" mixes and B-sides. It includes a previously un-released version of “Bogart”, a special brass mix of "Shame on You" and a live version of "Cloak and Dagger" recorded at the Hammersmith Odeon. None of the material on CD Two has ever before been available in a digital format and the booklet contains a brand new sleevenote written by Nik.
Human Racing was released in February 1984. The first of four albums recorded for MCA records, it achieved platinum sales and a nomination for Best Album at the 1985 Brit Awards. Its release was greeted by a combination of teen hysteria, critical acclaim and praise from the likes of Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton and prompted Elton John to call Kershaw "one of the best songwriters of a generation".
This special two CD edition, compiled by Nik himself features the album, digitally re-mastered from the original 1/2" mix tapes and associated 12" mixes and B-sides. It includes a previously un-released version of “Bogart”, a special brass mix of "Shame on You" and a live version of "Cloak and Dagger" recorded at the Hammersmith Odeon. None of the material on CD Two has ever before been available in a digital format and the booklet contains a brand new sleevenote written by Nik.
Product Description
DELUXE EDITION : 2CD set. Digitally remastered in 2012! Debut 1983 album, reissued with 12 BONUS tracks of B-sides, remixes and more. Includes "Wouldn't It Be Good" and "I Won't Let The Sun Go Down On Me".
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Great to see this release being give a new lease of life. The sound is excellent and can't be faulted, and at £8.99 is a steal for the deal on offer. All the original songs and production are brilliant. No album filler just 10 strong tracks, and 4 great singles.
I do have some "anorak" points to make. Having been a fan for since the beginning and having purchased all versions of singles on vinyl, cassette and CD (bit sad I know) there are some omissions that I think would have been nice to add.
I agree with both previous reviews who have said they wanted more and some liking the album on disc one as is. I think the B sides could have been tagged on the end to make more space for some missing remixes.
Namely:
The Wouldn't It Be Good Simon Boswell mix which was on the B Side on the 2nd Human Racing 12".
The Hi Energy 12" of Dancing Girls by Alan Coulthard (also known as the Special New Mix). This was a second 12" and the B side had a Simon Boswell remix of Drum Talk too. Both sadly missing.
It would have been nice to have the 7" version of Dancing Girls as well. The 7" had a slightly different intro and the end had some brass overlays on it.
It would have been also great to see the original rare 12" of I Won't Let The Sun Go Down On Me which came out in 1983 and wasn't a major hit. When re released after Dancing Girls the 12" changed to the mix on the CD by Simon Boswell.
This leads to another point, Nik's sleeve notes say that some of the mixes were by Simon Darlow and that he can't remember some others. The ones he listed as Simon Darlow were actually listed on the original vinyls as Simon Boswell, so not sure where the Darlow name comes from.
He says he can't remember who did the remix for Human Racing or Bogart. The former on the 12" says Simon Boswell and listening to Bogart for the first time it sounds in Boswell's style. Similar to his remix of Faces.
Though I know it sounds like complaining, but if they were getting the original tapes out it would have been great to get them all out and give us some real rarities for us completists. All of this could have been fitted onto the 55 minutes of spare space on the 2 discs. (yes, sad - I checked)
I do hope they do a similar job of The Riddle, though I know there are less rare mixes available for this album (or are there, we didn't know about Bogart!).
Please Universal do us proud. I expect the same treatment for Radio Musicola and The Works is pushing it too far, but we can but ask as they are great albums (and mixes) too.
Buy It Now - you won't regret it.
I do have some "anorak" points to make. Having been a fan for since the beginning and having purchased all versions of singles on vinyl, cassette and CD (bit sad I know) there are some omissions that I think would have been nice to add.
I agree with both previous reviews who have said they wanted more and some liking the album on disc one as is. I think the B sides could have been tagged on the end to make more space for some missing remixes.
Namely:
The Wouldn't It Be Good Simon Boswell mix which was on the B Side on the 2nd Human Racing 12".
The Hi Energy 12" of Dancing Girls by Alan Coulthard (also known as the Special New Mix). This was a second 12" and the B side had a Simon Boswell remix of Drum Talk too. Both sadly missing.
It would have been nice to have the 7" version of Dancing Girls as well. The 7" had a slightly different intro and the end had some brass overlays on it.
It would have been also great to see the original rare 12" of I Won't Let The Sun Go Down On Me which came out in 1983 and wasn't a major hit. When re released after Dancing Girls the 12" changed to the mix on the CD by Simon Boswell.
This leads to another point, Nik's sleeve notes say that some of the mixes were by Simon Darlow and that he can't remember some others. The ones he listed as Simon Darlow were actually listed on the original vinyls as Simon Boswell, so not sure where the Darlow name comes from.
He says he can't remember who did the remix for Human Racing or Bogart. The former on the 12" says Simon Boswell and listening to Bogart for the first time it sounds in Boswell's style. Similar to his remix of Faces.
Though I know it sounds like complaining, but if they were getting the original tapes out it would have been great to get them all out and give us some real rarities for us completists. All of this could have been fitted onto the 55 minutes of spare space on the 2 discs. (yes, sad - I checked)
I do hope they do a similar job of The Riddle, though I know there are less rare mixes available for this album (or are there, we didn't know about Bogart!).
Please Universal do us proud. I expect the same treatment for Radio Musicola and The Works is pushing it too far, but we can but ask as they are great albums (and mixes) too.
Buy It Now - you won't regret it.
15 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Ah...what it was to be 13 years old, without a care in the world and living through an era when pop music was colourful, flamboyant and full of character (unlike the plastic autotuned talentless pretty boys and bimbos of today). Two debut albums of 1984, both with similar titles, hit my radar and have pretty much stuck there ever since, mainly because of their superb songwriting but also because they're quite simply brilliant albums. Howard Jones Human's Lib was the first and Nik Kershaw's Human Racing was the other. I have to admit to being a huge fan of both this and follow up, The Riddle, before my teenage interest wandered off to pastures new. I bought the singles, the remixes, the albums (like you did back then). I've found it quite remarkable and an incredible oversight that Human Racing has never been revisited before and has, for a number of years, been totally out of print. So when I discovered that Universal were to finally dust off the masters and reissue it on their new 'Re-presents' imprint I was pleasantly surprised. My faith in catalogue departments has taken a battering recently with lack lustre reissues and over-priced, underwhelming 'super-deluxe' editions so it's nice to know that the biggest player of them all, Universal, has finally decided they have gold that is worth mining.
The album itself is a product of it's time. No doubt about it but listening to it again it's astounding just how good it still is. Superbly dynamic and brilliantly arranged with an emphasis on melody and hooks. Catchy choruses a-plenty, guitar solos and the customary 80s keyboards and brass section. The four singles released were radio friendly slices of pop/rock that touched on thought provoking lyrics backed up by memorable tunes.
Included here are the remixes that graced the obligatory 12" format of the day (RIP real format), many available on CD for the first time. Typical of their time, they rejigged the tracks, looped various aspects of it and gave it a punchy back beat. Some of them went on a bit, got a little annoying and probably drove you nuts but listening to them today makes me realise just how superior the sound was to the saturated, compressed and ear-fatiguing trash of today.
Amusing notes from the man himself who, almost 30 years later, is able to recall his memories as an emerging artist in a business that has now changed beyond recognition (and not for the better).
Finally, the remastering is quite simply brilliant. Sadly, nobody is credited in the liner notes but whoever did the job should be proud of their effort. Amazing clarity and detail, superbly balanced with incredible dynamics. Sounds very faithful to the original vinyl. No ridiculous compression and artificial boosting of levels here. Turn it up and be moved by the sound. Exactly how a good remaster should sound.
At £9 this is a brilliant value reissue in every way and hopefully Universal will see fit to at least do the same with The Riddle which is as equally deserving.
Also, let's hope the 'Re-presents' imprint brings us many more forgotten gems that deserve another spin in these dying days of physical media.
The album itself is a product of it's time. No doubt about it but listening to it again it's astounding just how good it still is. Superbly dynamic and brilliantly arranged with an emphasis on melody and hooks. Catchy choruses a-plenty, guitar solos and the customary 80s keyboards and brass section. The four singles released were radio friendly slices of pop/rock that touched on thought provoking lyrics backed up by memorable tunes.
Included here are the remixes that graced the obligatory 12" format of the day (RIP real format), many available on CD for the first time. Typical of their time, they rejigged the tracks, looped various aspects of it and gave it a punchy back beat. Some of them went on a bit, got a little annoying and probably drove you nuts but listening to them today makes me realise just how superior the sound was to the saturated, compressed and ear-fatiguing trash of today.
Amusing notes from the man himself who, almost 30 years later, is able to recall his memories as an emerging artist in a business that has now changed beyond recognition (and not for the better).
Finally, the remastering is quite simply brilliant. Sadly, nobody is credited in the liner notes but whoever did the job should be proud of their effort. Amazing clarity and detail, superbly balanced with incredible dynamics. Sounds very faithful to the original vinyl. No ridiculous compression and artificial boosting of levels here. Turn it up and be moved by the sound. Exactly how a good remaster should sound.
At £9 this is a brilliant value reissue in every way and hopefully Universal will see fit to at least do the same with The Riddle which is as equally deserving.
Also, let's hope the 'Re-presents' imprint brings us many more forgotten gems that deserve another spin in these dying days of physical media.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Back in the day, this was one of the must-have albums amongst my muso friends and I. Red-blooded heterosexual males that we were (and still are), Kershaw's pretty boy looks and female adulation meant nothing to us. But what we loved about this album was the story that Kershaw played all of the instruments himself. Looking at the sleeve notes on this excellent reissue, I can see that this wasn't quite true: Kershaw is only credited with Vocals, Vocal Percussion and effects, Guitars, Bass, Keyboards and Percussion. Paul "Wix" Wickens, now part of Paul McCartney's band, played additional keyboards, and Charlie Morgan was on drums.
I only had this album on cassette, and haven't been able to get hold of it on CD until now, with the release of this remastered and extended edition. The remastering is superb, with plenty of depth and dynamics and much more bass than on the original release. The distorted guitar on "Wouldn't It Be Good" has a real crunch to it, and the drums on "Drum Talk" finally make the song live up to its' promise to "let the drums do the talking", especially on the extended version on the second disc.
Ah yes - the second disc. A number of these have seen release on CD over the years - specifically the singles and their B-sides, most of which can be found on the various Kershaw compilations. But this disc also includes some tracks that have not previously seen digital release, and one that has not been released at all. If I were being picky, then like others, I would argue that there are some omissions, and that the Brass Mix of "Shame On You" would have been better placed on a re-release of "The Riddle" (and here's hoping that a remaster of that album is on its way). But like the album itself, all of the extended mixes have been remastered and all sound much better than on previous releases. With one exception: "I Won't Let The Sun Go Down On Me" sounds like it's been mixed from a slightly sticky tape - a shame really because it's a good remix. As it is, there is a slight pitch wobble through the whole track. Even if the original release was like this, they could have fixed that nowadays with Celemony's Capstan software.
There is one track that is intriguingly missing from the album. The November 1983 master tapes, shown in the booklet, show that there was an early version of "Wide Boy", originally positioned on side 2 of the album between "Faces" and "I Won't Let The Sun Go Down On Me". How this differs, if at all, from the version that eventually appeared on "The Riddle", we may never know.
The sleeve notes are a little sparse: a few paragraphs on the making of the album, a few more paragraphs on the remix process, and that's it.
So is it worth it, if you already own the album and the remixes elsewhere? Yes, definitely. The remastering is a vast improvement on the previously available digital versions, which were made from the original 1984 vinyl masters.
I only had this album on cassette, and haven't been able to get hold of it on CD until now, with the release of this remastered and extended edition. The remastering is superb, with plenty of depth and dynamics and much more bass than on the original release. The distorted guitar on "Wouldn't It Be Good" has a real crunch to it, and the drums on "Drum Talk" finally make the song live up to its' promise to "let the drums do the talking", especially on the extended version on the second disc.
Ah yes - the second disc. A number of these have seen release on CD over the years - specifically the singles and their B-sides, most of which can be found on the various Kershaw compilations. But this disc also includes some tracks that have not previously seen digital release, and one that has not been released at all. If I were being picky, then like others, I would argue that there are some omissions, and that the Brass Mix of "Shame On You" would have been better placed on a re-release of "The Riddle" (and here's hoping that a remaster of that album is on its way). But like the album itself, all of the extended mixes have been remastered and all sound much better than on previous releases. With one exception: "I Won't Let The Sun Go Down On Me" sounds like it's been mixed from a slightly sticky tape - a shame really because it's a good remix. As it is, there is a slight pitch wobble through the whole track. Even if the original release was like this, they could have fixed that nowadays with Celemony's Capstan software.
There is one track that is intriguingly missing from the album. The November 1983 master tapes, shown in the booklet, show that there was an early version of "Wide Boy", originally positioned on side 2 of the album between "Faces" and "I Won't Let The Sun Go Down On Me". How this differs, if at all, from the version that eventually appeared on "The Riddle", we may never know.
The sleeve notes are a little sparse: a few paragraphs on the making of the album, a few more paragraphs on the remix process, and that's it.
So is it worth it, if you already own the album and the remixes elsewhere? Yes, definitely. The remastering is a vast improvement on the previously available digital versions, which were made from the original 1984 vinyl masters.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Wouldn't it be good ............ It is!!
This has been an absolute treat to hear this album again sounding so great.
It brings back so many memories from first hearing it as a young teenager. Read more
It brings back so many memories from first hearing it as a young teenager. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Baglady
Eighties poster boy done good
It's hard to believe now, but nigh on 30 years ago, Nik Kershaw was the poster boy du jour, with hit singles and albums falling out of his incredibly wide sleeves. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Mr. H
Pretty darn sweet
I'm not claiming to be as big a Kershaw fan as some of the other reviewers on here, but I do have a soft spot for Human Racing. Read more
Published 2 months ago by bobby morrow
An All Time Favourite - And I don't even like this kind of music!
This is the only "synthpop" album in my collection. I love it because it's filled with impossibly catchy songs, which still sound fantastic today, and because Human Racing is one... Read more
Published 2 months ago by alewis41
A great album finally given its due!
First off, we are presented with a first class remastering job on the original classic album. (I have the old cd and it didn't sound much better than a cassette) Second, we can... Read more
Published 2 months ago by elektrolad
"Behind my dark glasses...
...there's a man who has a point of view." I loved that song (Dark Glasses, b-side to I Won't Let The Sun Go Down On Me). Read more
Published 2 months ago by Nick Hawkins
Wouldn't It Be Good if Universal could actually get one of these...
Well, it's good to have this album finally available again on CD, and expanded with a second disc of B-sides and remixes. And yet...it doesn't quite hit the mark. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Steven Roberts
Wouldn't it be better?
First of all, I'm a huge fan, and I already had the album, plus most of the remixes and B-sides on CD 2. I'm very pleased to have even more, even so, and I love all the music. Read more
Published 2 months ago by D. J. Wiltshire
Classic 80s album.
Sounds are deceptive; when I first heard 'Wouldn't It Be Good' by a singer called Nik Kershaw, (having never seen him at that time) I immediately fell in love with the voice and... Read more
Published on 4 Nov 2007 by FAMOUS NAME
Grab it while you can!
Given that it's normally virtually impossible to find CD versions of any of Nik's albums (with the exception of his outstanding new album "15 Minutes"), you'd be mad not... Read more
Published on 22 Feb 2000
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