The Kane Gang ‎- Miracle (1987)

The Kane Gang were a pop trio from North East England that scored several UK and US hits in the 1980s. Named alluding to the movie Citizen Kane, the trio recorded for the record label Kitchenware, which was also home to Prefab Sprout.

The band’s second album, Miracle, was released in 1987 and spawned two US hit singles: “Motortown” (No. 36 US / No. 45 UK) and another cover – this time of Dennis Edwards‘ “Don’t Look Any Further“^[4] (No. 64 US / No. 52 UK). The latter hit No. 1 on the US Dance Charts.

The Kane Gang really came into their own on “Miracle”, a classic soul-pop album which has been sadly overlooked. It sounds a bit Steely Dan-ish, but so do Prefab Sprout, and hey presto!, they were on Kitchenware too! A pointless cover of Dennis Edwards’ “Don’t Look Any Further” excepted, it’s all first-rate material, slickly and beautifully recorded by Pete Wingfield, that, despite having been conceived in the grim north of England, somehow manages to conjure images of sun-drenched Californian highways.
The heartstoppingly poignant, Al Green styled plea “Take Me To The World” virtually reeks of freshly steaming tarmac. Frustrating they weren’t able to stick it out as their record company pulled the plug on an unreleased third album, from which several tracks were added to a recent, very badly remastered twofer edition. Unfortunately, none of these extra tracks holds a candle to their brief but sparkling peak period.

Track listing

1.  Motortown – 4:44 
2.  What Time Is It – 3:50 
3.  Looking For Gold – 4:49 
4.  Take Me To The World – 5:20 
5.  King Street Rain – 4:21 
6.  Don’t Look Any Further – 4:39 
7.  A Finer Place – 4:25 
8.  Let’s Get Wet – 2:35 
9.  Strictly Love (It Ain’t) – 5:12

 

Companies, etc.

• Phonographic Copyright (p) – FFRR Records Ltd.
• Copyright (c) – FFRR Records Ltd.
• Made By – PDO, Germany
• Printed By – Gerhard Kaiser GmbH

 

Credits

• Artwork – Roy Kohara
• Design – Barry Shereshevsky
• Drums – Paul Robinson (6) (tracks: 3)
• Engineer – Barry Hammond
• Guitar, Bass, Written-By – David Brewis
• Percussion – Luis Jardim (tracks: 4, 5)
• Photography By – Chris Cuffaro
• Producer – The Kane Gang
• Producer, Keyboards, Backing Vocals – Pete Wingfield
• Sleeve – Mark Farrow
• Vocals, Backing Vocals – Paul Woods
• Vocals, Backing Vocals, Drums [Programming], Percussion [Programming], Written-By – Martin Brammer
• Written-By – Paul Woods (tracks: 1, 4, 5, 8), Pete Wingfield (tracks: 8)

 

Notes
Release Date: 1987
Genre: Sophisti-Pop
Duration: 40:46

Label - Kitchenware Records