Nik Kershaw - Wouldn’t It Be Good

Still baffled that Nik Kershaw never had the level of success in the US that he did in the UK. "Wouldn't It Be Good" is still one of my favorites from that time frame.

First, the LP version.

It's a very safe bet that you don't have the MCA CD for the full Human Racing album (I sold mine for $$$$), where it runs 4:30 and 98.5 BPM throughout. Don't feel bad, though; it really doesn't sound all that good. Thin-sounding EQ, kinda narrow soundstage, probably an analog transfer from a higher-generation source tape. (I found the same issue with Tony Carey's Some Tough City CD, also on MCA.)

There's a differently EQ'd digital clone of the Human Racing version on Sony Germany's 2-CD Pop And Wave Vol. 3 (1993), which cleans up the EQ but doesn't help the weird soundstage.

There's a slightly less muddy version on MCA's Greatest Rock Hits Of The '80s (1996), which is a different analog transfer. It runs 98.1 BPM here.

Amazingly, the best-sounding LP version of the song I have on CD is on Priority's Rock Of The '80s Vol. 10 (1994). It, too, is a different analog transfer than the others. It runs 4:31 here, and 97.8 BPM throughout.

The commercial 45 is an edit of the LP version that shortens the intro. To recreate the commercial 45, remove the 32 beats from 0:10.5 to 0:30.1 of the LP version. The fade seems to be in the same place and about the same length as the LP.

The commercial 45 version is on Rhino's Just Can't Get Enough Vol. 13 (1995), where it runs 4:11 and 98.3 BPM throughout.

The promo 45 version runs about 3:58, and is a different edit of the LP version that matches the commercial 45 until about 2:08 and after about 2:57. The 78 beats between 2:08 and 2:57 are different.

The 2:08 point in the commercial 45 is where the breakdown starts. On the promo 45, the breakdown is replaced by 64 beats of chorus, plus the first portion of the keyboard-horn solo. It doesn't sound as jarring as one would think, unless you were really expecting the breakdown to start at the 2:08 point. I think it can be recreated from the LP version, but it involves some out-of-sequence edits. The fade point in the promo 45 starts at the same point as the commercial 45/LP versions, but the tail of the fade is about 15 seconds shorter than the other two.

FYI, there's a 1993 Best Of that has only an extended version of "Wouldn't It Be Good". That disc has some nice B-sides on it, as well.

When "Wouldn't It Be Good" almost became a hit here in the US, MCA Records added the commercial 45 of the song to later vinyl pressings of Nik's second album, The Riddle. It's not on the Riddle CD. By the way, if you liked Human Racing, you'll probably like The Riddle, which was even more successful in the UK, where it spawned three top 10 hits.

Edited by crapfromthepast

Interestingly, this song received new life in the Twin Cities during 1989 as part of the year's re-release craze, which included Sheriff, Synch, Moving Pictures, and Benny Mardones. Both WLOL and KDWB included "Wouldn't It Be Good" in in their rotations (it even made the year-end countdown on 'LOL).

Does anyone else remember it being revived in their markets that year?

I did this one from memory a few years ago for my own music automation system. I wonder how close I got.

Sounds like I edited at :10, 1:11, and then at 1:44, I put the first (and really only) chorus in place of that soft, spacey instrumental part. Then at 2:27, I jump to the synth horns. I also edit the horn section in half at 2:37 (I'm pretty sure without checking that's where I made the cut), and the final chorus is spliced at 3:06.

Mine only comes to 3:16 so somewhere I cut a little too eagerly....lol


My Kershaw Edit