Now I know he's not really prog but he is a great songwriter.
I've been listening to his '15 Minutes' album for several years now and I still love it... I keep going back too it.
I would highly recommend it. If you love good songs with great melodies... this is the album for you :D
You don't have to be a progger to be a superb musician :)
I'm sure you'll get a lot of "me too"s here for Uncle Nik.
Quote from: "RacingHippo"I'm sure you'll get a lot of "me too"s here
Yes, Racing Hippo too. :)
Huge fan here! :)
Ever since "Human Racing". "15 minutes" is indeed one of the finest pop albums out there.
Not to fond of the latest two I have to say. There are some good tracks on them but not as overall strong as all his other albums. The Riddle is his finest IMO. Classic album on my list.
Superb musician indeed. A brilliant guitarist as well... Some very tasteful playing indeed. :D
I checked out his videos on YouTube yesterday and found some great concert footage (took me back to my childhood as I was a big Nik Kershaw fan in the 80's) from the 80's and they still sound amazing today. It shocked me just how good it sounded as I tend to cringe at some of the stuff I used to listen to.. but this was definatly an exception. Check them out if you get the chance.. You won't be dissapointed.
Also recommend "Radio Musicola" which is another amazing album of his. In particular "L.A.B.A.T.Y.D.", "Life Goes On" and "Violet To Blue".... Beautiful stuff. :D
He did sing a few songs on Tony Banks' "Still" album. I'd group him with Howard Jones as far as songwriting ability (that's meant as a compliment).
I'm a big fan of Mr K.
Didn't Jem mention something about working with him at one point (or is it something I said to Jem he really aught to do :? )
NIK + JEM = GENIUS!!!!!! :D
That would be a real class act. ;)
Thinking about it, if it does happen I want a credit for suggesting it 8-)
Jem did indeed mention it:
Quote from: "Jem"And I'm writing with Nik Kershaw. It's going to be a good month. :D
Can be found HERE (//http://www.frost-music.co.uk/frosties/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=1517&p=28177&hilit=Kershaw#p28177)
So that was Feb 2010 .. I can't remember Jem mentioning the writing sessions .. I wonder what occurred ?
He's a total genius...he's one of the few artists that is actually able to write comical lyrics without them sounding naff. Very clever with his use of words...one song that lyrically I really like is "Wounded Knee" - http://www.nikkershaw.net/the-works/wounded-knee (http://www.nikkershaw.net/the-works/wounded-knee)
Of course it helps with his stuff that he's got legendary drummers on most of it. "Old House" from You've Got To Laugh is a fave for it's odd time groove.
I LOOOOVE Nik Kershaw!
It's my wife who introduced me to his music. Well, I knew the song Wouldn't It Be Good, but that was it. She had his actual albums. The three first ones. I instantaneously liked them, and have remained among my favorite pop/rock albums. Now, my 15 year old son has some of his songs on his MP3 player.
I've bought 15 Minutes and To Be Frank on CD, and I was able to track down a copy of Radio Musicola on CD. I also have a compilation CD. I'm keeping my eye opened for Human Racing, and mostly The Riddle for a decent price. In the meantime I have made LP rips of these two...
I've heard only one song by him, but I love it.
The thing with the flute, or some kind of wind instrument. About a man dancing round a tree.... xD
Sorry I'm so ignorant >_<
The riddle?
That's the one ^^
Judging by the song though, it didn't seem like he was too proggish, so I didn't make much effort to listen to other stuff, thinking it wouldn't appeal to me ... :?
But that's a really lame thing to say, tbh :P
There's too much music out there! ;_:
Indeed his music is not prog at all. Think in the vein of Level 42 or Howard Jones.
But in the pop-rock arena, me thinks he did some of the best albums ever. :D
Time to resurrect this 2 year old thread! :D
Anybody else going to see this little fella in Sheffield tonight? I saw him a few years ago doing an acoustic set in Nottingham, but this one'll be a full band jobbie, playing Human Racing in it's entirety plus a few songs from the new album 'Eight'.
I was playing his older album 'To Be Frank' in the car this morning and I didn't realise that Imogen Heap did the backing vocals for him - and with Jem doing some writing with him a while ago, the circle is complete!
Anyway, hope to see you there.
Nik is the guest on the latest Sodajerker on Songwriting podcast too - http://sodajerker.com/episode-23-nik-kershaw (http://sodajerker.com/episode-23-nik-kershaw).
Well last night left me speechless - for a first night, the band were as tight as a very tight thing. And Niks voice was faultless and pitch perfect. Not so keen on the older Human Racing set but the rest of the night which featured tracks from the rest of his career right up to his new album was just gobsmackingly good. Hearing the Riddle and Radio Musicola played live was to die for :D
Nik doing vocals on "Memo" by Dee Expus. It is Prog!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T64YKHUY ... ults_video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T64YKHUY1dA&playnext=1&list=PL1F12B742205D82AA&feature=results_video)
Couple of vids from the Sheffield gig. I still think the middle 8 solo on Wouldn't It Be Good would grace many a prog track :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IYvn-8s ... ature=plcp (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IYvn-8sdho&list=UUtQKbkVK77FIoSHEModXCfg&index=1&feature=plcp)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmHCV9tk ... ature=plcp (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmHCV9tkerU&list=UUtQKbkVK77FIoSHEModXCfg&index=3&feature=plcp)
What a cool bit of video - amazing sound, and Nik still has his voice intact. V. impressive, and I know what you're saying about the middle-8 solo Sawtooth.
I think I can see from that video that Nik was playing a PRS? One thing that was interesting to me about him in the 80's was his use of custom-built guitars by Dave Gladden. There was an interesting article in International Musician about them in about 1986 and one of them can be seen on the net here - http://www.rockstarsguitars.com/categor ... ik-kershaw (http://www.rockstarsguitars.com/category/nik-kershaw/misc-nik-kershaw) whilst there's a couple more pics on this forum here - http://www.hugeracksinc.com/forum/viewt ... =6&t=84142 (http://www.hugeracksinc.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=84142)
Am off to see the man himself tomorrow night in Brum.
REALLY looking forward to it (although not as much as Frost*Bites natch) as I've been a longtime fan, but thus far have only seen him play acoustic shows, so a full band gig is a new experience!!!
Quote from: "Fogeyspasm"Nik doing vocals on "Memo" by Dee Expus. It is Prog!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T64YKHUY ... ults_video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T64YKHUY1dA&playnext=1&list=PL1F12B742205D82AA&feature=results_video)
Having just seen DeeExpus....like it
Quote from: "Mooncat"Am off to see the man himself tomorrow night in Brum.
REALLY looking forward to it (although not as much as Frost*Bites natch) as I've been a longtime fan, but thus far have only seen him play acoustic shows, so a full band gig is a new experience!!!
Hope you enjoy it Mooncat. Hearing the early synth/drum machine-heavy songs played by a full band (complete with a brilliant female percussionist/backing vocalist I might add) brings a whole new powerful vibe to the songs.
T'was very good indeed.
And I agree about the backing vox/percussion lady - great harmonies.
And I still think that Nik and JM have a lot of similarities in their playing