''Radio Musicola'' is the third

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

by English singer-songwriter

Nik Kershaw Nicholas David Kershaw (born 1 March 1958) is an English singer, songwriter, musician and record producer. Kershaw came to prominence in 1984 as a solo artist. He released eight singles that entered the Top 40 of the UK Singles Chart during the ...

, released on 24 October 1986 by

MCA Records MCA Records was an American record label owned by MCA Inc., which later became part of Universal Music Group. Pre-history MCA Inc., a powerful talent agency and a television production company, entered the recorded music business in 1962 wit ...

, just under two years after Kershaw's previous studio album, '' The Riddle'' (1984). It was the first studio album to be produced by Kershaw. It features guest backing vocalists, including Icehouse's

Iva Davies Ivor Arthur Davies, AM (born 22 May 1955), known professionally as Iva Davies, is an Australian singer, songwriter, composer, multi-instrumentalist and record producer. Davies' music career spans more than 40 years. He came to prominence in t ...

, and

Night Night (also described as night time, unconventionally spelled as "nite") is the period of ambient darkness from sunset to sunrise during each 24-hour day, when the Sun is below the horizon. The exact time when night begins and ends depends o ...

Stevie Lange Stevie Vann (born Stevie van Kerken), also known as Stevie Lange, is a Zambian singer and vocal coach. She is best known for her work as a backing vocalist and studio singer for many groups and solo performers in the 1970s and 1980s. As lead vocal ...

, and

Miriam Stockley Miriam Arlene Stockley (born 15 April 1962) is a British singer. She was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, and her work is influenced by the African music of her home country. Her distinctive ''vocal warm up#Vocalise, vocalise'' style gained in ...

. The album was released to critical acclaim, but wasn't as successful as Kershaw's previous studio albums. It peaked at #47 on the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts C ...

, marking the beginning of a downturn in Kershaw's fortunes on the album charts. Four singles were issued from ''Radio Musicola'': "

When a Heart Beats "When a Heart Beats" is a song by English singer-songwriter Nik Kershaw, released as the lead single from his third studio album, ''Radio Musicola'' (1986)—although the song does not appear on the LP version of the album, only on the cassette ...

", " Nobody Knows", "

Radio Musicola ''Radio Musicola'' is the third studio album by English singer-songwriter Nik Kershaw, released on 24 October 1986 by MCA Records, just under two years after Kershaw's previous studio album, '' The Riddle'' (1984). It was the first studio a ...

", and "James Cagney", but none of them reached the Top 20, a first for Kershaw. However, Kershaw did find some minor success with the aforementioned single "When a Heart Beats" (which was not featured on the LP release, only on the cassette and CD versions of the album). The track "Running Scared" was dismissed as title track of the film '' Running Scared'' (1986). The album (to date) remains Kershaw's last album to make the Top 75, and was his last to receive a certification, being certified silver by the BPI. After the original release, the album remained

out of print __NOTOC__ An out-of-print (OOP) or out-of-commerce item or work is something that is no longer being published. The term applies to all types of printed matter, visual media, sound recordings, and video recordings. An out-of-print book is a book ...

on any format for many years. However, the album became available via online MP3 download on major sites such as

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology c ...

, and

iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...

Background

The album showcased Kershaw's frustration at the time, with subjects of integrity – media scepticism (particularly towards tabloid journalism), privacy, insecurity and mass-produced run-of-the-mill pop music ("Why can't you let us do it like Joni does it? There you go again, giving it your very best – trying so hard to make it sound like all the rest"). The subject is reflected in the cover artwork's concept. The LP record release featured 1950s style spoof advertisements with the song titles woven in, some of which were replicated in the compact disc's booklet.

Release and chart performance

The album's first single in the United Kingdom was "

", which peaked at #27 upon its release, the first time that a lead single from a Kershaw album failed to hit the Top 20 in the UK. It became a bigger hit in Ireland, peaking at #14. Further singles from the album were " Nobody Knows" and the title track "

", which peaked at #44, and #43 respectively. When Kershaw was asked about the poor sales of the album he said:

"I didn't keep their attention – two albums in nine months was a stupid idea because the next one took two and a half years and a lot of people lost interest and went elsewhere, which is fair enough. And the music changed a little bit as well and I produced it myself so that might have been a reason."

Track listing

Personnel

Credits are adapted from the album's liner notes. Musicians *

–

lead Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cu ...

and background vocals;

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

;

computer A computer is a machine that can be programmed to Execution (computing), carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (computation) automatically. Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic sets of operations known as C ...

s * Andy Richards – keyboards; computers;

Fairlight CMI The Fairlight CMI (short for Computer Musical Instrument) is a digital synthesizer, sampler, and digital audio workstation introduced in 1979 by Fairlight. — with links to some Fairlight history and photos It was based on a commercial lic ...

programming *

Paul "Wix" Wickens Paul Wickens (born 27 March 1956) is an English musician, composer, and record producer, professionally known as Wix. In a career spanning more than 40 years, Wickens has worked with artists including Nik Kershaw, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Bon ...

– keyboards * Tim Moore – keyboards * Robin Cruikshank – keyboards * Rupert Greenall – keyboards * Simon Phillips –

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

Mark Brzezicki Mark Michael Brzezicki ( , ; born 21 June 1957) is an English musician, best known as the drummer for the Scottish rock band Big Country. He has also played with the Cult, Ultravox, From the Jam, Procol Harum, Rick Astley, the Crazy World of ...

– drums; drum programming * Charlie Morgan – drums *

Mark Price William Mark Price (born February 15, 1964) is an American former basketball player and coach. He was most recently the head coach of the Charlotte 49ers. As a player, he played for 12 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA), from 1 ...

– drums * Steve Brzezicki –

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

* Felix Krish – bass guitar * Kuma Harada – bass guitar * Dennis Smith – bass guitar * Tim Sanders –

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to pr ...

s * Simon Clarke – saxophone;

flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

Roddy Lorimer Roddy Lorimer (born 19 May 1953) is a Scottish musician who plays trumpet and flugelhorn. He has performed with a wide array of artists, including Blur, Gene, the Rolling Stones, Draco Rosa, the Who, the Style Council, Eric Clapton, Suede, ...

–

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

;

flugelhorn The flugelhorn (), also spelled fluegelhorn, flugel horn, or flügelhorn, is a brass instrument that resembles the trumpet and cornet but has a wider, more conical bore. Like trumpets and cornets, most flugelhorns are pitched in B, though some ...

* Steve Sidwell – trumpet *

Peter Thoms Peter Thoms is an English musician and composer best known for playing keyboards and trombone for the synthpop band Landscape. Biography Landscape was formed in 1974 with Richard James Burgess (vocals, drums), Christopher Heaton (keyboards), ...

–

trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the Standing wave, air column ...

* Gary Wallace –

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

–

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are use ...

– backing vocals *

Sheri Kershaw Sheri Kershaw (born Sheri Pogmore in 1953) is a Canadian singer-songwriter. From 1983 to 2003 she was married to Nik Kershaw. She toured extensively with him and sang backing vocals on his early albums, achieving a No. 3 singles hit with his son ...

– backing vocals *

Carol Kenyon Carol Kenyon (sometimes spelt Karol; born 1959) is a British singer. She is best known for her vocals on the Heaven 17 hit song "Temptation", which reached number two in the UK Singles Chart in 1983. When the song was re-released as a remix by ...

– backing vocals * Martin Taylor – backing vocals * Gary Dyson – backing vocals Production and artwork * Nik Kershaw –

producers Producer or producers may refer to: Occupations *Producer (agriculture), a farm operator *A stakeholder of economic production *Film producer, supervises the making of films **Executive producer, contributes to a film's budget and usually does not ...

* Stuart Bruce –

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

; mixer * Robin Cruikshank – assistant engineer * Ian Cooper – mastering * Phil Warren – Model maker * Richard Evans – Design and art direction * Andrew Ellis – photography * Icon – Artwork

Chart performance

Album

Certification

References

External links

*
Patrick Dailly: Taking Pop to pieces - "Life Goes On"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Radio Musicola Nik Kershaw albums 1986 albums MCA Records albums Pop rock albums by English artists Synth-pop albums by English artists

Background

Release and chart performance

Track listing

Personnel

Chart performance

Certification

See also

References

External links