Human racing
| Human racing | |||||||||||
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| Studio album by Nik Kershaw | |||||||||||
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Publication |
February 27, 1984 |
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| Label (s) | MCA Records | ||||||||||
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Format (s) |
LP |
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Title (number) |
10 |
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running time |
39:39 |
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Studio (s) |
Sarm East Studios, London ; Sarm West Studios, London; Cherokee Studios, Los Angeles |
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Human Racing is the debut album by British pop musician / composer Nik Kershaw . It was released on MCA Records in late February 1984 . It was written entirely by Nik Kershaw and is his most successful album. Some songs like drum talk are improvised, others have a content message that should be conveyed.
Production and recording
The album was recorded in east London within ten months . When asked about the album, he said:
“What we really did was just re-record the demos I'd made the previous year on a Portastudio, in my front room. All the parts were there, we just improved the quality and changed a few sounds around. We stuck quite faithfully to the original arrangements. "
“We actually just re-recorded all the songs from my demos that I recorded the year before in the Portastudio at home. Everything was actually there, we just improved the quality and swapped a few sound effects. We have remained largely true to the originals. "
Publications and placements of the singles
The first single to be released in the UK was I Won't Let the Sun Go Down on Me . It only reached number 47 on the UK charts for the first time, while it was more popular in Scandinavia , the Netherlands and Switzerland .
Wouldn't It Be Good was Kershaw's first big hit in the UK and Germany . It reached number 4, was in the UK charts for 14 weeks and number 2 in Germany and was in the charts for 18 weeks.
I Won't Let The Sun Go Down on Me only became popular across Europe after its second release. In Germany he became popular with Wouldn't It Be Good . It reached number 2 in the UK and remained on the charts for 18 weeks.
The single Dancing Girls was in the UK charts for nine weeks at a maximum of 13th and in Germany for 11 weeks at a maximum of 21st.
The single Human Racing reached number 19 in the UK in seven weeks and was not in the charts in Germany.
Album charts
| Charts 1984 | Highest position | Weeks on the charts | Weeks in the top 10 |
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| British charts | 5 | 61 | 7th |
| German charts | 8th | 27 | 6th |
| Norwegian charts | 7th | 10 | 4th |
| Swiss charts | 12 | 24 | 0 |
Track list
The track list of this album was edited in the course of the recording and the tracks were swapped. In addition, titles have been renamed:
Dancing Girls was originally supposed to be called Bring On the Dancing Girls and I Won't Let the Sun Go Down on Me was called I Won't Let the Sun Go Down for short.
| No. | title | length |
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| 1. | Dancing girls | 3:46 |
| 2. | Wouldn't It Be Good | 4:32 |
| 3. | Drum talk | 3:10 |
| 4th | Bogart | 4:38 |
| 5. | Gone to Pieces | 3:11 |
| 6th | Shame on you | 3:33 |
| 7th | Cloak and Dagger | 4:55 |
| 8th. | Faces | 4:05 |
| 9. | I won't let the sun go down on me | 3:23 |
| 10. | Human racing | 4:26 |
- Other playlists
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| Original title list | |
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The master tapes of the tracks by Human Racing can be seen in the 2012 Expanded Edition. The order of the titles looks like this:
Wide Boy was removed from the album before release, but added to Kershaw's next album, The Riddle . The mastertapes also show that the album was finished in November 1983. |
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Singles
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I won't let the sun go down on me
- B-side - Dark Glasses
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Wouldn't It Be Good
- B-side - Monkey Business
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Dancing girls
- B-side - She Cries
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Human racing
- B-Side - Faces (Simon Boswell Remix)
Music videos
Music videos were released for all singles, and two for I Won't Let the Sun Go Down on Me .