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 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.
"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,[4] peaking at no. 40 for two consecutive weeks.[5] It peaked slightly higher on the Cash Box Top 100 chart at no. 34.[6] In Canada, "Invisible Hands" peaked at no. 44.[7] "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,[8] and no. 15 on the BillboardDance Club Songs chart.[9] "I Pretend" was released as the album's third single in May 1984. It peaked at no. 74 on the Billboard Hot 100,[10] and no. 10 on the BillboardAdult Contemporary chart.[11] "The Universal Song" was released exclusively in the Netherlands,[12] where it peaked at no. 40 in January 1984.[13] "Young Love" was released exclusively in Canada,[14] and a remix of "Hurricane" by Rusty Garner was released in the United States.[15]
Critical reception
Billboard opined that Café Racers was "superior" to Carnes' previous album Voyeur, and that it "captures both sides of Carnes' music – the trendy and the timeless".[16]
In a retrospective review for AllMusic, Stephen Thomas Erlewine 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.[1]
