Nick Heyward – Kite (Epic 1993)
So here’s the first of my reviews of records that I found abandoned in charity shops, dime stores or car boot sales.
I wasn’t buying this blind or rather deaf. I owed this snapshot of perfect pop on cassette single when it first came out. Somewhere along the line it went missing and when I unearthed it in a pile of 7inch singles it brought a smile to my face.
The song is constructed around a gloriously infectious acoustic hook. This is a cooling summer breeze of hidden brass and dolorous strings. Nick Heyward always had the knack of penning watertight tunes and on this track he was on top form. Nick Heyward’s story is an interesting one. He split his band Haircut 100 at the peak of their popularity. This was the usual lead singer bigger than the band ego fit. No Nick wanted to escape the clean cut image and commercial straight jacket that success had unwittingly fostered. After some initial success with a more introspective sound Heyward disappeared into the musical hinterland. Kite was a surprise return to the charts as his most successful record in America. It stood out like a shining diamond amongst the grudge sludge in the US in 1993. This was cystal clear, sweet and charming the polar opposite of the dark heavy macho posturing of much of grunge scene. This was lemonade to their methadone, poptastic Beatles to their stained Black Sabbath.
After a single play on a Saturday afternoon I was still humming it on the following Wednesday evening. Now that what I call a memorable melody. Three minutes and five seconds of top notch pop.
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