Rating: ***
Model Nick Kamen’s transition into pop star couldn’t have been more perfectly staged. He had the look, the voice – and Madonna behind him, co-writing and producing his debut top 5 hit, Each Time You Break My Heart, from his self-titled 1987 album.
But music wasn’t the star’s first taste of life in the limelight – Nick first shot to fame after fronting in a 1985 Levi advert where he took off his blue jean ‘501s’ and white T-shirt in a launderette.
The commercial stood the test of time, scoring fourth in a 2000 rundown of The 100 Greatest TV Ads but, aside from his massive debut, the star’s music career has gone largely under-appreciated – until now.
Pop aficionados Cherry Red Records’ new 6CD collection brings together Nick’s complete discography – the albums Nick Kamen, Us, Move Until We Fly, and Whatever, Whenever (the first reissue for the latter three), along with B-sides, remixes, previously unreleased tracks, and a bunch of other extras.
If having all of the music in one place wasn’t enough, including unreleased songs So Sad (a cover of the Everly Brothers classic) and Right On Track (a cover of The Breakfast Club classic), the set also includes detailed liner notes, with new contributions from producers Stephen Bray and Toby Andersen.
“We had a song we’d done as a demo, probably for True Blue, that wasn’t used,” Bray, who co-wrote and produced the majority of Madonna’s 1986 album, including its title track and Papa Don’t Preach, says in the liner notes
“Madonna asked if I was interested in producing the track for Nick. I met him at her place in Malibu and really liked him. He had a beautiful, classic soul voice.”
After laying down the track, he recalled, “I remember a friend coming back from the UK, saying that they were sick of hearing a certain song. I asked what song and it turned out it was Each Time You Break My Heart that was being played everywhere.
“It was a big hit,” he smiled.
Having the entire four albums in one place highlights the constant thread Madonna was throughout Nick’s career – with a debut largely comprising cover versions, when it came to album two frequent collaborators Gardner Cole (Open Your Heart) and Pat Leonard (Like A Prayer) were tapped to pen tracks.
Madonna also lent backing vocals to the lead single from Us, Tell Me, while Nick began to co-write, adding to his already multi-hyphenate status.
After the first two records, the star’s success in the UK diminished, but in Europe it was a different story, with tracks including Bring Me Your Love, Don’t Hold Out, I Promised Myself, and Oh How Happy charting in various territories.
The remastered mixes inject a new lease of life to the music, making it the perfect time to revisit Nick’s complete works, with the album bonus tracks two extra discs more than making up for the lack of mixes on streaming and download platforms.
Where the release slightly falls short, however, is the lack of new material, with just the two aforementioned cover versions included – which, while strong tracks, only leave us wanting more of what’s no doubt locked away in some vault somewhere.
It’s a small gripe though – just looking at the extensive tracklist (98 tracks in total), and the fact the collection is so beautifully packaged and collected, we really can’t complain at what’s, all in all, the perfect set for a hardcore Kamen fanatic, or a beginner looking for the complete works in one place.
Nick Kamen: The Complete Collection, 6CD Boxset is available to order here.
