Kim Carnes Album: “Café Racers [Bonus Tracks]”

Kim Carnes released Cafe Racers in October 1983

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Although Cafe Racers was a total flop, the album has become a cult classic. Before the album was reissued in 2001, copies of this cd were selling for over $100 on ebay!

Kim abandons the style from the last 2 albums and moves into the mid-1980's with style. The album is filled with great pop/new wave numbers. EMI pushed and pushed the album, but consumers didn't want it. I think time has been kind to this album, 20 years on, it is very much a product of 1983/1984. But it evokes everything good about the music back then. EMI-America released no less than 4 singles from this album (Invisible Hands, You Make My Heart Beat Faster, I Pretend, Hurricane). None of them made a significant impact on the charts, and none of them made Kim's Gypsy Honeymoon compilation which she personally selected. However, they are all great pop numbers representative of the moment. Invisible Hands is an instant pop classic along the lines of Bette Davis Eyes and it's a shame it only got to #40 because I think the song would've been a smash with the right promotion.

Cafe Racers was the verification that Kim Carnes was never going to duplicate the success of Bette Davis Eyes/Mistaken Identity, but however, people who weren't hellbent caught up on that song knew she had plenty of other great songs. Try it out, it's a real cult classic, and the bonus 12" mixes are well worth it for those into 80's Extended Mixes. 5 stars.

The liner notes for this album and several other reviews posted on-line seem to think that this album was a desperate attempt by EMI to churn out another "Bette Davis Eyes" size hit for Kim. I totally disagree. While I am certain the record company was hoping for another success, I do not think Kim was "pushed" into whatever style of music was hot at the moment. Rather, I feel this album is a continuation of the moody/eerie synth-pop new wave style of the previous 2 Kim Carnes albums.

People think because Kim's first big hit was a duet with Kenny Rogers that she was a country artist gone new wave. How completely wrong. Re-listen to "Bette Davis Eyes" and re-watch the video. The song may have been a huge pop hit, but it was a precursor to many of the new wave bands and videos to come in the decade. The follow up single "Draw of the Cards" and the title song to that album, "Mistaken Identity", are further proof of Kim moving in this dark, new-wave direction. The follow up album, "Voyeur", was also in the same vein with the title song and "Does it Make You Remember". That album and "Cafe Racers" did not suffer because of content, rather they suffered for the same reason that many other artists of the mid-80's suffered. Kim's videos were not played on MTV as she was not deemed cool enough for the network. Other older female artists of the era suffered the same fate such as Olivia Newton-John, Juice Newton, etc. These artists had been huge in the 80-82 era, but were blown off the charts by 83 with MTV and it's penchant for British New Wave and Heavy Metal.

"Cafe Racers" includes some of Kim's best synth pop tunes including "Invisible Hands", "You Make my Heart Beat Faster" and "I Pretend". All were hits in my book, even if not on the charts. The inclusion of "Invitation to Dance" on this CD is greatly appreciated as I have been searching for that song for many years.

Kim furthered her foray into the eerie new wave genre with her next album, "Barking at Airplanes" and her last sizable chart hit , "Crazy in the Night" (#15). Say what you will, but Kim Carnes crafted some of the best new-wave synth pop songs of the decade and deserved much more success.

The Shakespearean quotation "Brilliant fires soon burn themselves out" seems appropriate when describing Kim Carnes' career. Her success with "Bette Davis Eyes" was so enormous in 1981 that it may have, in a way, ruined her career. The wonderful performance was overplayed and Kim's voice was ubiquitous, but like many artists of her time, the big hits equalled the public burning out on her. (Think of, for example, Carnes' contemporaries Juice Newton and Bonnie Tyler. After five Top 10 pop hits from '81 to '82, Newton was quickly rejected by pop radio and resided thereafter on the country charts. After Tyler's "Total Eclipse Of the Heart," Americans didn't heard more than a peep from her.) Despite the ups and downs of the music business, Kim Carnes managed to follow up her multi-platinum "Mistaken Identity" album with three strong, well-crafted (albeit commercially unsuccesful) pop albums. "Cafe Racers," while being an excellent piece of work, falls short of the artistic achievement of, say, 1985's "Barking At Airplanes." Still, it is a remarkable album that really deserved much more fanfare than it has thus far received. Carnes' Grammy-winning song from the film "Flashdance," entitled "I'll Be Here Where The Heart Is" is included on the album, as well as minor hits like "You Make My Heart Beat Faster," "Invisible Hands" and "I Pretend." The ten original tracks have been wonderfully remastered and sound so crisp, they could have been recorded yesterday! The CD includes three bonus remixes, one of which is the non-album single "Invitation To Dance." Overall, this is a superb piece of work, but I recommend to music fans cutting their teeth on Carnes' music "Mistaken Identity" or "Barking At Airplanes."

This should have been Kim Carnes' calling card, not Mistaken Identity. This should have been the defining moment in Carnes' career after the disappointingly received follow-up to Mistaken Identity, Voyeur. However, even with Donna Summer's producer, some fresh new songs from Carnes and others, and definite 80's style, the album only moderately succeeded. Carnes herself was quoted as saying she thought the cd was too manufactured. Sure, her throaty vocals are missing, but the voice is still so recognizable and unique. So many great songs here. Invisible Hands (a top 40 hit) evokes memories of her Diet Coke pitching days and that weird video, as well as You Make My Heart Beat Faster, one of the best dance recordings of the early 80's. She also scores well with Young Love, a hit in Canada, but unbelievably not released in the US. So, what happens? The disc and it's music are all over the charts. Blame that on EMI and it's marketing strategy. Invisible Hands fizzled, but let's release another high energy tune (Heartbeat Faster) which stalled at #52...ok, release I Pretend and wow, it scores big on Adult Contemporary, but hey fellas, aren't we trying to get the NEXT BIG THING here after Debbie Harry? Very frustrating that this cd did not find its audience. IT EXCELS folks, and if you liked 80's music, spend the $ and add this to your collection!

Album originally released with 10 tracks. This Cd includes 3 bonus track, including "Invitation To Dance" (from "That's Dancin'!" soundtrack).

Lyric sheet / booklet is no enclosed.

4 tracks charted on Billboard Magazine:

- "Invisible Hands" (Pop Singles #40, The Billboard Hot 100 #40 - 1983, The Billboard Hot 100 #97 - 1984);

- "You Make My Heart Beat Faster (And That's All That Matters)" (

Hot Dance Music/Club Play #15, The Billboard Hot 100 #54);

- "I Pretend" (The Billboard Hot 100 #74 - 1984, Adult Contemporary #9);

- "Hurricane" (Hot Dance Music/Club Play #16).

Phil Ramone producer invited Kim to write and perform a ballad for a movie in the making titled "Flashdance." She co-wrote with Duane Hitchings and Craig Krampf "I'll Be Here Where The Heart Is." They ended up winnin' a Grammy for this song in 1984.

February 1984 - Kim Carnes was nominated for a Best Pop Rock Performance (female) Grammy Awards , for "Invisible Hands."