Nik Kershaw

With so many eighties influenced bands in the last decade, from The Killers to Hurts, it is a strong argument to say why not listen to albums from the artists that were actually around in the decade. Last year’s Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark album proved there is some weight to this point. Even Duran Duran’s last album had moments of merit. While not in the bracket of eighties’ global stars like Simon le Bon and his band, Nik Kershaw nevertheless enjoyed considerable success, with four top ten singles and he still enjoys radio play today.

Since his mid eighties hey-day Kershaw has continued to write and record, including a run of hits in the nineties for the teen-band Let Loose and most famously with the number one for Chesney Hawkes, The One and Only. Deciding eventually that he would like to record these songs for himself, Kershaw released the under-rated 15 Minutes in 1999, the title more than a nod towards his pop chart success in 1984 and 1985.

Ei8ht (that title spelling is not clever by the way) is yes his eighth studio album – and Kershaw obviously still knows how to find a hook, as displayed on the superb opening single The Sky’s The Limit. A perfect slice of pop in the mould of Human Racing, it displays his distinct vocals delightfully and is quite wonderfully uplifting. You can hear it being a brilliant backing for some of Team GB’s Olympic glories (“You could be the first past the post....you could be brave, happy and glorious.”)

Red Strand and The Bell follow a similar style, the latter with a particularly French feel strangely - and rather reminiscent of the excellent The Silencers. Elsewhere there are some clever poppy moments, including the wonderfully cheeky Stuff, with its indignation at our materialistic society. Not quite as good are Enjoy the Ride, These Tears and Shoot Me, which are all less catchy and the latter particularly begins to plod along.

So many artists from the eighties get a bad reputation – but one thing the decade knew how to do was make good pop music. The likes of Kershaw, and his nemesis Howard Jones, all knew how to play and write good songs. The same cannot be said for many of today’s treadmill pop stars. Ei8ht has a feeling of nostalgia about it, while at the same time displaying a very 2012 feel. So instead of listening to some of the copy cats of that decade, why not try a genuine example?!