There’s two big differences in how Nik Kershaw approached The Riddle – his second album of 1984 – and his debut Human Racing. The first difference is that he was no longer writing songs trying to get a record deal, and the second is that he had very little time to put The Riddle together “two weeks to write and demo nine of the tracks” is how he puts it in the booklet included with Universal’s new two-CD deluxe edition.
Unfortunately, having to turnaround the album so quickly did take its toll somewhat on the quality of the songs. Know How starts well enough with lots of funky slap bass and a melodic verse melody, but wimps out totally with a non-existent chorus (“It’s easy when you know how“) and then rather outstays its welcome, lasting for almost five minutes.
Continue reading “Nik Kershaw / “The Riddle” 2CD expanded deluxe edition”
