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| | North of a Miracle | | | Music Artist : | | Nick Heyward | | Music Style : | | New Wave | | Record Label : | | Sony/Bmg Int'l | | Release Date : | | 2001-11-17 | | Store Price : | | $11.98 | | Artistopia's Price: $15.99 | | Usually ships in 24 hours | | |
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CD Tracks/Songs
Disc 11. When It Started to Begin
2. Blue Hat for a Blue Day
3. Two Make It True
4. On a Sunday
5. Club Boy at Sea
6. Whistle Down the Wind
7. Take That Situation
8. Kick of Love
9. Day It Rained Forever
10. Altantic Monday
11. Whistle Down the Wind [12"][*]
12. Take That Situation [Rhythm Mix][*]
13. Cafe Canada [*]
14. Love at the Door [*]
15. Don't Get Me Wrong [*]
16. Stolen Tears [*]
17. Laura [*]
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Other Artist Albums
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Customer Reviews of This Album/CD |
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 Nick Heyward, our generation's own Mc Cartney
Submitted on: 2008-08-12 |
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| What happened to Nick Heyward? Or a better question: why didn't this gifted, brilliant pop songwriter become a cult favorite and not recognized in the same breath as elvis costello and paul mc cartney? Simply put, North Of A Miracle is a miracle of a record. Heyward made an album in 1983 that Paul Mc Cartney SHOULD have been making instead of singing songs with Michael Jackson. Like the band xtc and british powerhouse Kate bush,his songs were just a little too English for his own good. You need to listen to the brilliant lyrics to see what i mean. All of the songs have a tenderness and vulnerability of a high school kid trying to make sense of the world, writing poems during his lunch break. This album got buried by the top British imports of 1983: Culture Club and Duran Duran. And yet, it was quite possibly one of the best and better than anything those bands ever put out. If you appreciate the Beatles, Elvis Costello or today's Heyward influenced band Keane...buy this record. |
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This is the version to get
Submitted on: 2007-09-20 |
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This is the version of Nick Heyward's solo debut that you want to get. The Japanese import with nine - count 'em - nine bonus tracks.
"North of a Miracle" is a delicate and beautiful bit of sophisticated adult contemporary pop from the former frontman for Haircut One Hundred. It is a timeless collection of should've-been standards that has held up remarkably well 25 years after its release. It's not dated a bit.
"Whistle Down the Wind" is a wonderful bit of pop craftsmanship, effortlessly building toward the climactic chorus, showing a nice bit of growth and maturity from his Haircut days. So too does the wistful "Club Boy at Sea." Of course, "Atlantic Monday" and "Take That Situation" would've sounded right at home on H100's "Pelican West." They sound great on this one too.
But get this version for the bonus tracks. The instrumental version of "Whistle Down the Wind" sounds sublime. "Laura" is simply extraordinary, possibly the best song of his remarkable career. This is the version to get. The Australian import has seven bonus tracks, but I think it might be lacking the instrumental "Whistle Down the Wind." Since that's an essential, go for the Japanese. You won't regret it. |
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 Excellent version, but the Japanese import is even better!
Submitted on: 2007-09-19 |
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This is a very good version of Nick Heyward's solo debut. However, even though the price is a little steeper, you may want to opt for the Japanese import with nine - count 'em - nine bonus tracks.
"North of a Miracle" is a delicate and beautiful bit of sophisticated adult contemporary pop from the former frontman for Haircut One Hundred. It is a timeless collection of should've-been standards that has held up remarkably well 25 years after its release. It's not dated a bit.
"Whistle Down the Wind" is a wonderful bit of pop craftsmanship, effortlessly building toward the climactic chorus, showing a nice bit of growth and maturity from his Haircut days. So too does the wistful "Club Boy at Sea." Of course, "Atlantic Monday" and "Take That Situation" would've sounded right at home on H100's "Pelican West." They sound great on this one too.
The bonus tracks are great. "Laura" is simply extraordinary, possibly the best song of his remarkable career. "Stolen Tears" is great. However, this one, I believe, is missing the beautiful, sublime instrumental version of "Whistle Down the Wind." That's the sole reason for knocking one star off this great record. Go for the Japanese import for the complete version. |
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Timeless Pop Music From Nick Heyward
Submitted on: 2006-04-23 |
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| After Nick Heyward split from Haircut 100 he released "North of A Miracle." The album is very mature to have been recorded by someone in their early twenties. The album opens with the highly charged "When It Started To Begin." The album spawned 4 video singles two ballads-"Whistle Down The Wind," "Blue Hat For A Blue Day," and two mid-tempo songs "On Sunday" and the bonus track "Laura." Also featured on the set is the widely popular "Take That Situation." One song on the set, "Kick of Love," is a very jazz influenced song. I really love this CD and the bonus songs are great. It truly is timeless. |
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North of a Miracle review by Bob Deakin
Submitted on: 2005-09-15 |
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Nick Heyward's North of a Miracle was originally released in 1983 following his success with Haircut 100. It epitomized the resurgence of that time using real orchestral instruments instead of synthesizers, so prevalent in previous years.
The album was produced by Heyward and Geoff Emerick of Beatles fame as George Martin's engineer on the later albums. The production quality is brilliant with a full orchestra on every track and a good deal of percussion. The vocal harmonies, guitars, bass, drums, piano, organ and other instruments jump out of the speakers with crisp sonic precision to be appreciated across the audio spectrum.
Most importantly, the songs are great. The CD version includes a few extra tracks as noted and as usual, the extra tracks are forgettable with the exception of Stolen Tears, a bright tune with fine acoustic guitar work.
Listeners of college radio or English radio in the early 80s may have heard When It Started to Begin, Atlantic Monday or other tracks but American pop radio listeners surely heard Whistle Down the Wind, which cracked Billboard's top 20 in late 1983. Opening with piano and a droning fretless bass (Pino Palladino), this breezy tune grows in energy with each measure and finishes with a beautiful orchestral climax. A pop tune with class.
Every other one of the 10 original songs are exceptional although The Day It Rained Forever, the last song on the original album, always made me hit the stop button on my turntable.
Speaking of which, I still have the original vinyl LP in mint condition and a good turntable with an Ortofon cartridge and it sounds much better than the CD, which sounds fine. I realize not everyone wants to bother with all the old stuff but the LP does sound better. That's another story for another day.
As for the songs, Atlantic Monday and When It Started To Begin are so good and so high energy that one could only wish they were playing in that band, if only as a percussionist or background vocalist.
Blue Hat For a Blue Day has a wonderful organ part providing the base for a lead vocal with one of the sweetest refrains imaginable. Mandolin and accordion are featured with a sentimental violin, marimba, saxophones and the fretless bass carrying the rhythm. It doesn't get much better than this. As with many of the albums' tracks, guitar virtuoso Tim Renwick plays guitar (and mandolin on this one.) As for the words, I guess one could decipher the meaning of the song by the title but I've always been too consumed with the sounds to bother. Doesn't sound like it was recorded on a blue day.
Club Boy At Sea is spectacular in its subtle build to a climax with an irresistible rhythm guitar throughout backed by an aggressive orchestral arrangement and yet another outstanding lead vocal performance. What club he's talking about, who the boy is or what sea he is sailing I don't care. I'm too consumed with the performances. Just listen to the last two minutes of the song and you won't care either.
Two Make It True and On a Sunday are classics themselves - Sunday for the great spoken verse-in-rhythm at the end and True for quality guitar tracks and a fine bass/guitar/percussion break near the end. The Kick of Love is a jazz tune featuring a Spanish guitar solo with piano. It faces stiff competition with the rest of the tracks on the album, which means it's only a very good song.
Heyward plays guitars on most if not all of the tracks but Renwick takes ordinary parts and makes them spectacular, as he's always done. (See Al Stewart, Allan Parsons and Gilbert O'Sullivan among others)
Atlantic Monday and The Day it Rained Forever were recorded live. The album was recorded and mixed at Air Studios and Abbey Road Studios in London and the album is undeniably English. Orchestral arrangements are credited to Andrew Powell and Paul Buckmaster and Heyward is credited with the brass arrangements. He wrote all of the songs.
Nothing about this album seems contrived other than creating great tracks. Nick Heyward, Geoff Emerick and everyone else involved should be as proud of making it as I am for having found it so long ago. One of my top ten albums of the last 25 years. If you like the Style Council or XTC you will like this. Spend the money for the album.
P.S. I reserve five stars for Abbey Road, Pet Sounds, Dark Side of the Moon and others in that stratosphere.
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