I literally only know King of Wishful Thinking from Go West. Are they worth the blind buy? (I mean obviously I can stream a couple songs to check).
The debut is quite a different type of sound. 1985, synth pop...more like Level 42 or Nik Kershaw. It still has Peter Cox's fantastic pipes, so if that's the draw then you might like it...but for King... and the subsequent album (Indian Summer) they moved into a more soul/r&b vibe.
The Go West set looks comprehensive, though it’s a great album, more psyched that it hopefully means one for Dancing On The Couch, which is one of my favourites of all time.
First listen to the Third Disc of Essential Nik Kershaw, it is three new to CD; - One Step Ahead (Industrial Mix) - the 7'' was always better - Radio Musicola (Extended Mix) - excellent mix, forgotten how good it was - Drum Talk (Special Hi-energy Remix) - great to have it, dull to hear The Wouldnt It Be Good remix is the excellent Simon Boswell 'Twilight Zone' Remix, not the Extended and very sadly, Dancing Girls is the Extended Version on The Riddle 2CD NOT the Special New Mix. If they had dug the master out for Drum Talk, surely the Dancing Girls one was next door...
I buy anything Nik so three newbies for £6 is worth it. You could make a better super deluxe of Human Racing, Radio Musicola or The Works with them?
Ha, you're right....I honestly hadn't thought of deluxe-ing those....but Radio Musicola definitely needs some attention.
That would be incomplete without the Phil Harding mix of Nobody Knows though... I doubt that will ever come out digitally.
We will have to make do! Cool idea though to do Radio Musicola, I'm going to look into starting prep for that.
We Close Our Eyes and Don't Look Down are bops. Like EG said though, on the 80s boy band scale it's more Wang Chung/Level 42 than the smoother, more Scritti-like King of Wishful Thinking (and much more dated!).
They were local boys where I grew up, would see them around. One of Mum's workmates was even dating Richard Drummie.
All true! Hoping to see them in May still. If you’ve never listened to Dancing on the Couch, you should, Crossfire and Masque of Love are magnificent.
They sort of fell victim to the Nik Kershaw syndrome...the label kept releasing singles that sounded alike, instead of showcasing more of their versatility. True Colours sounded like the debut, and even the fab Want To Hear It From You ploughed the same furrow. I think Peter said in '87 that they should have put King Is Dead out as the lead single.
