Review: Nick Heyward – North Of A Miracle Reissue
By John Earls | February 22, 2025
Review: Nick Heyward – North Of A Miracle reissue ★★★★
The solo catalogue of Haircut One Hundred’s frontman has long been neglected. Now with the band reunited, that’s finally starting to change.
There’s long awaited, and then there’s the 43-year gap between Haircut One Hundred’s only LP with Nick Heyward and their forthcoming reunion album that’s about to arrive in early 2025.
Heyward has discussed the fallout from Pelican West before, and that album’s superb 40th anniversary boxset was a reminder that some of his debut solo LP was initially intended for the Haircuts. North Of A Miracle was a big deal in 1983 – it went Top 10, with three of its four singles just missing the same feat – but it’s only now getting a comprehensive reissue, with 2010’s 2CD missing a few extras.
Indeed, Heyward’s whole catalogue is overdue some love. Clashing with new Haircut One Hundred wouldn’t be the right time, but the lack of reissues for his other albums is criminal: 1988’s I Love You Avenue and Heyward’s tremendous LP The Apple Bed on Creation aren’t so much lost classics as beautiful records which have become so obscure they’re effectively folk memories, their existence doubted even by the elders.
Huge credit, then, to Demon for finally giving solo Heyward his due via a 3CD reissue (and half-speed remastered vinyl), which fully lays out the path of what the singer-songwriter did next. One disc comprises B-sides, early versions, instrumentals and the fizzing 12″ of Whistle Down The Wind.
A Comprehensive Reissue
CD3 is especially fascinating as it features Heyward’s post-Miracle standalone singles Love All Day and Warning Sign, plus two wholly unreleased songs. Teach Til You Reach was planned as a single. Lyrically, it hasn’t aged well – you could join Heyward’s harem of ladies for every day of the week, you lucky girl – but its chorus will follow you around for months. Only the backing vocals exist for Kiss Those Tears Goodbye, but the version here lets you frug about to its full-tilt Britfunk.
If you need reminding, the original album itself is exactly what Heyward should have done after Pelican West: keeping the band’s energy, while progressing as a songwriter via the elegant On A Sunday and The Day It Rained Forever. Beatles associate Geoff Emerick’s production mostly avoids 1980s pitfalls, letting Heyward shine among Take That Situation’s franticness and The Kick Of Love’s mischievous jazz pianos.
It isn’t perfect – the live aspect included on the 2010 reissue has been dropped, when a fourth CD of the full November ’83 London Dominion show would have been a far better move. But if those budgetary concerns mean we instead now get to trace how Atlantic Monday became such a magnetic imaginary spy film theme, so be it. Hopefully, Demon can now start to investigate Nick Heyward’s other eight albums with a similar zeal.
Order here
Read More: Nick Heyward Albums – The Complete Guide
