''Café Racers'' is the eighth studio album by American singer

Kim Carnes Kim Carnes (; born July 20, 1945) is an American singer and songwriter. Born and raised in Los Angeles, California, she began her career as a songwriter in the 1960s, writing for other artists while performing in local clubs and working as a sess ...

, released in October 1983 by

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 2012, ...

. The album spawned three chart singles in the United States, " Invisible Hands", " You Make My Heart Beat Faster (And That's All That Matters)", and "I Pretend" which charted on various ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' charts. "The Universal Song" was also released as a single in West Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Scandinavia. The song "I'll Be Here Where the Heart Is" was included on the chart-topping, six times Platinum ''Flashdance'' soundtrack which received a

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pre ...

for Best Album Of Original Score Written for a Motion Picture at 26th Annual Grammy Awards. It was also released as a single in Germany, Netherlands, Spain and France. The album was not as successful as ''

Mistaken Identity Mistaken identity is a defense in criminal law which claims the actual innocence of the criminal defendant, and attempts to undermine evidence of guilt by asserting that any eyewitness to the crime incorrectly thought that they saw the defenda ...

'' (1981) or ''

Voyeur Voyeurism is the sexual interest in or practice of watching other people engaged in intimate behaviors, such as undressing, sexual activity, or other actions of a private nature. The term comes from the French ''voir'' which means "to see". A ...

'' (1982), peaking at No. 97 on the '' Billboard'' 200 chart.

Background

Following ''

'' (1981) and ''

'' (1982), Carnes intended to continue working with producer

Val Garay Val Garay (born May 9, 1942, in San Francisco, California, United States) is an American recording engineer and record producer who has worked with Kim Carnes, Linda Ronstadt, James Taylor, Neil Diamond, and others. Garay also co-founded Los A ...

for her third album with

. Garay was occupied producing '' Little Robbers'' for

The Motels The Motels are an American new wave band from Berkeley, California, that is best known for the singles " Only the Lonely" and " Suddenly Last Summer", each of which peaked at No. 9 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, in 1982 and 1983, respectively. I ...

, so Carnes approached

Keith Olsen Keith Alan Olsen (May 12, 1945 – March 9, 2020) was an American record producer and sound engineer, who worked with Magnum, Rick Springfield, Fleetwood Mac, Ozzy Osbourne, the Grateful Dead, Whitesnake, Pat Benatar, Heart, Santana, Saga, ...

, who had recently produced her hit "I'll Be Here Where the Heart Is" for the ''Flashdance'' soundtrack.

Release and promotion

''Café Racers'' was released in October 1983. " Invisible Hands" was released as the album's lead single in October 1983. It spent a total of twelve weeks on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart, peaking at no. 40 for two consecutive weeks. It peaked slightly higher on the '' Cash Box'' Top 100 chart at no. 34. In Canada, "Invisible Hands" peaked at no. 44. " You Make My Heart Beat Faster (And That's All That Matters)" followed as the album's second single in January 1984. It peaked at no. 54 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, and no. 15 on the ''Billboard''

Dance Club Songs Dance Club Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. It is a national look over of club disc jockeys to determine the most popular songs being played in nightclubs across the country. It was launched as ...

chart. "I Pretend" was released as the album's third single in May 1984. It peaked at no. 74 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, and no. 10 on the ''Billboard''

Adult Contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quiet ...

chart. "The Universal Song" was released exclusively in the Netherlands, where it peaked at no. 40 in January 1984. "Young Love" was released exclusively in Canada, and a remix of "Hurricane" by Rusty Garner was released in the United States.

Critical reception

'' opined that ''Café Racers'' was "superior" to Carnes' previous album ''

'', and that it "captures both sides of Carnes' music – the trendy and the timeless". In a retrospective review for

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the dat ...

Stephen Thomas Erlewine Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance writer, oc ...

described ''Café Racers'' as "a snapshot of the various styles and sounds of mainstream radio circa 1983". He proposed that the album's commercial failure was due to a lack of hit record material, and suggested that the abundance of single remixes that were sent to radio stations added "an air of desperation" to ''Café Racers''.

Track listing

Charts

Personnel

Musicians * Kim Carnes – lead vocals, backing vocals (3, 6, 7, 9, 10) * Bill Cuomo – keyboards (1, 2, 4, 5, 7-10), synthesizers (3), keyboard solo (6) *

Steve Porcaro Steven Maxwell Porcaro (born September 2, 1957) is an American keyboardist, songwriter, and film composer, known as one of the founding members of the rock band Toto and the last surviving Porcaro brother (after the deaths of Jeff in 1992 and ...

– keyboards (2) *

David Paich David Frank Paich (born June 25, 1954) is an American musician, best known as the co-founder, principal songwriter, keyboardist and singer of the rock band Toto since 1977. He wrote or co-wrote much of Toto's original material, including the ban ...

– acoustic piano (3), keyboard bass (6) * Duane Hitchings – keyboards (10) * Chas Sandford – guitars (1, 4, 5), backing vocals (1, 4, 5) *

Steve Lukather Steven Lee Lukather (born October 21, 1957) is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, arranger and record producer, best known as the sole continuous founding member of the rock band Toto. His reputation as a skilled guitarist led to a stead ...

– guitar solo (1), guitars (2, 3, 6, 7, 9) *

Waddy Wachtel Robert "Waddy" Wachtel (born May 24, 1947) is an American musician, composer and record producer, most notable for his guitar work. Wachtel has worked as session musician for other artists such as Linda Ronstadt, Stevie Nicks, Kim Carnes, Randy ...

– guitars (2, 3, 10), backing vocals (2) *

Mark Andes Mark Andes (born February 19, 1948) is an American musician, known for his work as a bassist with Canned Heat, Spirit, Jo Jo Gunne, Firefall, Heart, and Mirabal. Early life Andes was born in Philadelphia, but grew up in Los Angeles, one ...

– bass guitar (2, 3, 6, 7, 9) * Dennis Carmassi – drums (1-7, 9, 10) * Brian Fairweather – Simmons drums (6), backing vocals (5, 6, 7) *

Craig Krampf Craig Krampf (born October 22, 1954) is an American drummer, percussionist, arranger, record producer and songwriter. The majority of his notable credits are as a studio drummer. Since the 1970s, he has played on albums by other artists ranging f ...

– drums (8) *

– percussion (3) * Jerry Peterson – saxophone (3, 4, 7) *

Martin Page Martin George Page (born 23 September 1959) is an English singer-songwriter and bassist. Page has collaborated with artists such as Paul Young, Starship, Robbie Robertson, Earth, Wind & Fire, Heart, Robbie Williams and Go West. Early life Pag ...

– backing vocals (5, 6, 7),

Roland Jupiter 8 The Jupiter-8, or JP-8, is an eight-voice polyphonic analog subtractive synthesizer introduced by Roland Corporation in early 1981. The Jupiter-8 was Roland's flagship synthesizer for the first half of the 1980s. Approximately 3300 units have b ...

(6) *

Kevin Chalfant Kevin Chalfant is an American singer and a native of Streator, Illinois. He obtained a BMI award for co-writing and singing on one of the most frequently aired rock radio hits of 1992 and 1993, "I've Got a Lot to Learn About Love", by The St ...

– backing vocals (7) *

John Waite John Charles Waite (born 4 July 1952) is an English musician. As a solo artist, he has released ten studio albums and is best known for the 1984 hit single "Missing You", which reached No. 1 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and the top ten on t ...

– backing vocals (8) * Daniel Moore – backing vocals (10) * Dave Ellingson – backing vocals (10)

Production

* Keith Olsen – producer, engineer * Dennis Sager – engineer *

Greg Fulginiti Gregory Fulginiti (born February 13, 1951 in Cape May Court House section of Middle Township, New Jersey) is an American recording and mastering engineer. Fulginiti grew up in Wildwood, New Jersey and graduated from Wildwood High School in 1969. ...

– mastering * Susan McGonigle – production coordinator *

John Kosh John Kosh, known simply as Kosh, is an English art director, album cover designer, graphic artist, and documentary producer/director. He was born in London, England and rose to prominence in the mid-1960s while designing for the Royal Ballet a ...

– art direction, design *

Ron Larson Roland "Ron" Edwin Larson (born October 31, 1941) is a professor of mathematics at Penn State Erie, The Behrend College, Pennsylvania. He is best known for being the author of a series of widely used mathematics textbooks ranging from middle sch ...

– art direction, design * Robert Blakeman – cover photography * Jackie Sallow – sleeve photography * Michael Brokaw (Kragen & Co.) – direction ;Studios * Recorded at Goodnight LA Studios (Van Nuys, CA). * Mastered at

Artisan Sound Recorders Artisan Sound Recorders was one of Southern California's premier disk mastering facilities. It was founded by Robert M. MacLeod Jr. in the 1960s, and acquired by Kent Duncan in 1979 when MacLeod retired. In the early 1990s, it was sold to Jon Lo ...

(Hollywood, CA).

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Café Racers 1983 albums Kim Carnes albums Albums produced by Keith Olsen EMI Records albums