This summer sees the arrival of a pop landmark, namely the 100th edition of the legendary compilation brand ‘NOW That's What I Call Music’ . With this in mind, I thought it might be fun to take a trip down memory lane back to the very first NOW release and see what was included, what we remember and, more interestingly, what we don't. The first ever NOW was released on vinyl and cassette (plus a 21-track video selection which oddly featured three songs not on the audio version).
There was, however, a 'Collector's Edition' CD released in 2009, although most 'collectors' were unhappy about the poor quality cardboard sleeve it came housed in, and also the fact that the versions featured for some of the tracks varied somewhat to the original release. The sleeve design is not an artistic classic by any means. In fact it looks like the kind of compilation one might've picked up at a Texaco garage on some K-tel-esque label, there are none of the distinctive logos we've become accustomed to throughout the years.
It's a simple black background with a large 'NOW' taking up most of the frame. Within the letters of the 'NOW' are a selection of press shots of fourteen – I counted – of the artists we can look forward to hearing. Add to this an untidy listing of said artists “and many more” , plus a corner ribbon boasting of its doubleness, and you get a rather uninspiring affair. The rear of the sleeve includes a cartoon picture of a chicken singing to a pig with a caption that says, ‘Now that’s what I call music’ .
This is in fact a scaled-down version of a poster that Richard Branson found in a brica-brac shop in London which provided the inspiration for the name of the series. The pig would go on to become a mascot for the series for a brief period of time. Record One 01 Phil Collins Y ou Can't Hurry Love (#1) The honour of being the first track on the first ever NOW LP goes to dear old uncle Phil Collins, displaying here his obvious love of early Motown by covering The Supremes.
It hit No.1 for two weeks in the latter half of January 1983 – including my 6th birthday – and spent 16 weeks on the chart in total. 'You Can't Hurry Love' was the second track from the triple-platinum 'Hello, I Must Be Going!' LP, although the first – 'Thru' The Walls' – was not a success and only made a rather lowly #56. The song itself is a decent remake and pays a large amount of respect to the Motown sound, whilst also echoing – to my ears at least – 'A Town Called Malice' .
It remains one of Phil's biggest solo hits and is still standard wedding disco fare to this day – (again) for me at least. Extra points are awarded here to Mr Collins for kicking the nauseating serenade 'Save Your Love' from the No.1 spot. I'm not sure Renée and Renato quite recovered, as they subsequently disappeared and never troubled the top forty again. NOW IS THE TIME!
By Joff Thompson Based in Oxford, Joff Thompson has been a DJ for 22 years. Over that time he has done it all – pubs, clubs, bars, boats, weddings, schools and birthday parties – you name it he’s been there and played the tunes! Having previously held down long-term residencies, he now focuses on mobile work. Aside from DJing Joff is also a primary school teacher, stand-up comedian and writer. !
02 Dur an Duran Is T here Something I Should Know (#1) A strong start continues with another chart-topper. DD's first of only two No.1s, this followed the No.9 hit – and possibly more well-known – 'Rio' into the Top 10 and soon reached the summit. It sat there for two weeks before being replaced by Bowie's not-includedon-this-LP 'Let's Dance' . Unusually, NOW That's What I Call Music was the first album the single appeared on as it had been released as a 'standalone' track.
The still-familiar song begins in a chant-like fashion with the first line of the chorus 'Please please tell me now' repeated four times before the jangly refrain takes over and Simon The Good joins in with some slightly histrionic lyrics – nuclear war indeed... ed Red Wine (#1) Taken from the No.1 smash 'Labour Of Love' , the fab, er, 7? put their Casio PT-1 to good use and registered their fifth top-tenner and first chart-topper with this reggae version of the Neil Diamond-penned track.
The song, however, had previously been covered in such a style by Jamaican vocalist Tony Tribe in the late ‘60s. This was not a hit in the UK but proved to be the inspiration for the now-fuming Brummies' version, as they have claimed not to have known it was originally Diamond's song! Band member Astro added a rap to the track but this did not appear on either the UK or US single version, where it also made No.1. 04 Limahl Onl y For Love (#16) Track four then and the quality takes a bit of a nosedive.
I'll be honest, it took a good few plays for this track to stir any memories of its existence in my pop-raddled brain. This was Limahl's first solo release having left / been booted out of Kajagoogoo. He would only have one big hit and this wasn't it, one quick listen demonstrates precisely why. The pace is pretty perky and, to be fair, it's not absolutely awful, but it just doesn't connect.
The chorus, in particular, isn't up to much – it's simply the title spoken a few times, coupled with a smattering of 'oohs' from a session singer. Making No.16 and being the first single by the vocalist from a - briefly – big group, its inclusion here is certainly warranted, but I can't think why anyone would want to revisit it now. 05 Hea ven emptation (#2) Despite being a huge fan of electronic synth-pop, I never really got into Heaven 17. I certainly wasn't alone, as this and the follow-up 'Come Live With Me' were their only real hits.
Instantly recognisable, with its “I've never been closer” opening line, the sternlydelivered 'Temptation' spent 13 weeks in the charts, peaking at No.2. It was kept from the top by Spandau Ballet's seminal 'True' – another big hit that NOW presumably didn't want to pay for. 'Temptation' would again reach the Top 10 in 1992 when it was lightly remixed by Brothers In Rhythm and almost equalled the original's success, peaking at a still-decent #4. Younger listeners might recognise the track from the recent adverts for internet providers Plusnet – the ones that are fronted by a David Mitchell / Peter Kay hybrid.
I say recent, but I've just checked and it was actually 2010. Time flies! he Sunshine Band Giv e It Up (#1) Probably my favourite song on the whole album, this delightfully sunny summer smash still sounds perfect today. With its distinctive but low-key opening chords, catchy brass and unforgettable “na-na-na-na-na-nana-na-na-na-na” punctuated chorus, this is an allround classic. Taken from the album 'All In A Night's Work' , this was the band's biggest hit, but sadly it would also be their swansong.
07 Malcolm McLaren Double Dutch (#3) The second and biggest hit from the Sex Pistols' former manager eclipsed the No.9 peak of his perhaps betterknown release 'Buffalo Gals' . McLaren was certainly ahead of his time and this somewhat innovative track doesn't sound terribly dated some 34 years later. The song returned to the charts – in a fashion – when it was re-hashed by dance non-events Dope Smugglaz and given the title 'Double Double Dutch' . That time around it only reached No.15, despite a fair amount of airplay from Radio 1.
08 Bonnie Tyler T otal Eclipse Of The Heart (#1) This well-known soft-rock anthem by 40-a-day Bonnie Tyler is a heavyweight addition to the compilation. Despite having a distinctive title, the song is often wrongly-assumed to be called 'Bright Eyes' or 'Turn Around' . According to its writer – the legendary Jim Steinman – it was originally called 'Vampires In Love' . With its classic title in place it went on to spend a fortnight atop the charts.
Bonnie also hit the top in the US – making her the only Welsh national to register a No.1 in 'The States' . In 1995, Hi-NRG nobody Nicki French took the song back to the upper-echelons of the charts with her surprisingly respectful dance reading of the track, reaching No.2 in the US and 5 here at home. 31NOW IS THE TIME! 09 Cultur e Club Kar ma Chameleon (#1) I can only imagine what my father thought when I decided to go to my infant school fancy dress parade as Boy George.
To this day I'm not sure why I did, as I wasn't a huge fan at all; I was more of a Billy Joel kinda guy! My only guess is that Vicky Ryder DID like him and so I thought it'd impress her if I dressed as her idol. I was 7 by the way! Anyway, this track needs no introduction – hence the anecdote above.
'Karma Chameleon' was Culture Club's second No.1, where it stayed for an impressive six weeks. It went on to become the biggest-selling single of 1983 and, perhaps even more impressively, it made the No.1 spot in a staggering sixteen countries! 10 Men Without Hats T he Safety Dance (#6) I was always amused by the title of both the song and band as a youngster… not sure why. This bouncy mid-tempo song is apparently a moan at nightclub bouncers stopping revellers from leaping about the place.
It's fun and rather charming from the moment the accordion (possibly) refrain kicks off the intro-less proceedings. For a song that's having a go at club security staff I take my hat off to them for keeping it clean and not insulting the arrogant gits in greater detail. Which in turn makes me a man without a hat... 11 Kaja googoo T oo Shy (#1) Limahl makes his second appearance on the LP and this time on a track you'll actually have heard of.
I'm not sure if it's just me, but listening to the lyrics now it does sound a bit like sexual harassment – although I'm not sure any female would need to worry about Limahl being after them! There seems to be a few ‘80s songs where the premise was an irate bloke venting his frustration after being unable to get off with a girl they fancy – I'm looking at you Dexy's. Back to the song in hand, 'Too Shy' has always reminded me of Gary Numan's 'Music For Chameleon' with its distinctive bass lick at the start, before Limahl slides in with his 'seductive' tones and begins his apparently unsuccessful pursuit.
'The Kaj' achieved two further Top 10 entries – more on that later – but they would never come close to matching the success of 'Too Shy' . 12 Mike Oldfield Moonlight Shadow (#4) Often thought of as more of an instrumental artist, Oldfield's 'Moonlight Shadow' – with vocals by Maggie Reilly – hit the Top 5 in May 1983. The drifting pop-folk ditty is memorable throughout and is one of those songs which folks always remember but can't attribute to anyone.
This is perhaps surprising seeing as it is Oldfield's most successful single after it reached No.4 in the UK and the Top 10 in a further fifteen countries, with an impressive ten of these entries making it all the way to the top. Vocalist Reilly was also responsible for the original version of the song 'Everytime We Touch' which was turned into a European mega-hit by Cascada in the mid-noughties. 13 Men At Work Do wn Under (#1) If you're only going to have one huge hit then at least make it a good one and Men At Work did just that.
This unmistakable 'every-man' celebration of Australia remains – to my knowledge at least – the only pop song to reference Vegemite sandwiches! 'Down Under' was a No.1 smash in a number of countries, including the UK, US and, of course, Australia. The song was the subject of a long and drawn-out lawsuit from the rights owners of the traditional Aussie anthem 'Kookaburra' . It was claimed the flute section in 'Down Under' plagiarised 'Kookaburra' and Men At Work eventually lost the case. ocksteady Crew (Hey You) The Rocksteady Crew (#6) The first of three tracks on the album which use brackets in the title, '(Hey You) The Rocksteady Crew' still conjures up images of young black men in tight Adidas tracksuits spinning around on their knees.
And heads. With its squelchy electro sounds and skipping percussion it encapsulates perfectly the break-dancing craze that exploded in the early eighties. Success didn't last long for the group, however, and after jumping to No.6 with their first release, the following single and album both flopped. od Stewart Ba by Jane (#1) I'm not a fan of throaty old warblers like Rod Stewart and it always pains me to listen to this laryngitisinfused rasping and the grating synth stabs that provide the accompaniment.
I think it's one of those songs that people don't recognise from its title, but then recognise it upon hearing it – probably because the most memorable part of the song doesn't contain the title. Enough people must have remembered the title to buy it, however, as this was in fact one of the pretend-Scotsman's six No.1 hits. It was also his last, mind you. ! /SUBSAFEAUDIO /SUBSAFEAUDIO /SUBSAFEAUDIO SUBSAFE AUDIO A SO/U.alt.end/N.alt.end/D.alt I/N.alt.end/V.alt/E.endS/T.alt/M.alt.end/E.end/N.alt.end/T.alt DON’T LET YOUR SUBS BECOME A DRINKS TABLE! aul Young W herever I Lay My Hat (That's My Home) (#1) I share my birthday with Paul Young.
It's awful – we have different tastes, our friends don't get on... Sorry. We do have the same birthday though. All similarities end there as I've never had a No.1 hit with a rather lacklustre rendition of a Marvin Gaye number and Paul Young's never had a near-death experience involving a Malteser (as far as I know).
It was a commercial and critical success and its No.1 position helped sales of its parent album 'No Parlez' enormously, as its first two singles had failed to chart. Said album went on to sell around 7 million copies worldwide. Most impressively though, it succeeded in knocking 'Baby Jane' off its perch, so for that we must be grateful at least. Record Two 01 New Edition Candy Girl (#1) Children singing… American children singing… Nauseating is putting it mildly!
This may have been a No.1 hit but I thought it was horrid then and I still do now. 'Candy Girl' is a stomach-churning title to begin with - even worse when it's then warbled by a whiny little American child. New Edition were clearly trying to be the new Jacksons – despite them not being related – and this virgin offering from the five-some has more than a passing resemblance to 'ABC' . The group were put together by pop puke producer Maurice Starr, who would later torture us further with the New Kids On The Block, and its members would go on to greater success – Bel, Biv Devoe, Ralph Tresvant (do check out his marvellous 'Sensitivity') and, most notably, Bobby Brown.
02 Kajagoogoo Big Apple (#8) There are a number of artists appearing twice on here – one wonders whether NOW got a 'buy one get one free' deal on some of these. This is the second offering from Kajagoogoo, but not a third entry for Limahl. This is because the largely uninspiring 'Big Apple' was the first Kaja track without Limahl and instead featured bass player Nick Beggs on vocal duties. It faired better than Limahl's first solo effort, however, and snuck into the Top 10 – No.8 to be precise.
One more Top 40 entry followed – 'The Lion's Mouth' – and they would then never trouble us again. 03 Tina Turner Let's Stay Together (#6) Here's another throaty old warbler I can't stand. Despite my dislike of Ms Turner I'm still trying to be objective here, but I'm afraid this cover of the Al Green classic isn't any good at all. If you haven't heard it, well it's exactly as one would imagine – her rasping her way through Al’s track like Marge Simpson with a mouth full of sick!
04 Human League (K eep Feeling) Fascination (#2) Along with Heaven 17, Human League were also denied a No.1 hit by the suave and sickly sounds of Spandau Ballet. I've always felt the synth refrain on this track sounds dreadful, as though its being played back on a warped cassette tape. Basically it sounds like a demo! This didn't stop it being a big hit though.
As well as hitting the penultimate place – just like their previous 'Mirror Man' – it spent 9 whole weeks on the hit parade. Around this time 'The League' were self-labelling their releases as either dance or pop. Blue for pop and red for dance. This was 'red' , although it's probably more purple to be honest.
05 Ho ward Jones New Song (#3) From the No.1 LP 'Human's Lib' , this pleasant synthbased number was the Southampton boy's debut hit and paved the way for many more chart-friendly electronic pop singles. Despite the title not appearing in the track, it contains many other memorable components helping it spend a total of fifteen weeks in the UK Top 40. This success was followed by what would become his biggest hit – 'What Is Love' . lease Don't Make Me Cry (#10) Another artist getting a second slot, this time UB40 give us their OK-ish follow-up to 'Red Red Wine' .
This cover of an early ‘70s release by Winston Groovy is inoffensive enough, but remains a bit too 'safe' in its production. The Dutch were its biggest fans, pushing it right to the very top of their pop charts. Back here we weren't as enamoured but still handed the chaps another Top 10 placing. 'Labour Of Love' spawned two further Top 20 hits – 'Cherry Oh Baby' and 'Many Rivers To Cross' . eabo Bryson & Roberta Flack T onight I Celebrate My Love (#2) You'd be forgiven for thinking that this featured in some Disney film somewhere along the line – but it didn't.
This classic-sounding eighties ballad is sweet and schmaltzy in all the right places but in my opinion pales in comparison to the '89 equivalent: 'Don’t Know Much' by Linda Ronstadt and the hot-chip-munching Aaron Neville. 'Tonight... ' peaked at No.2 – stuck behind 'Red Red Wine' – and isn't remembered quite as much as it deserves to be. ! racey Ullman T hey Don't Know (#2) I have to confess to having a special affinity to this song as it features in my own debut novel – ‘Best Years Of Our Lives’ (available on Amazon for your Kindle – plug, plug).
This melancholic affair finds our Tracey sticking up for her fella who everyone clearly thinks is a prick, but she thinks is everything. It's not often that a cover is better than the original but in this case, it is. To be fair though, its originator – the much-missed Kirsty MacColl – did feature on this version as well. At the time Tracey was part of a TV comedy trio – Three Of A Kind – and for some reason ventured out into the world of pop.
She was pretty successful and notched up three Top 10 hits – this being her second. Sadly for Tracey, 'They Don't Know' spent two weeks glued to the No.2 slot but was unable to dislodge 'Karma Chameleon' . ill Powers Kissing W ith Confidence (#17) The artist and track rang a bell with me but, to be honest, I didn't recognise this novelty oddity. Will Powers was a pseudonym for a woman called Lynn Goldsmith who, for reasons known only to herself, used a voice editing tool to make her sound like a chap.
The female vocals – although uncredited – are apparently by one Carly Simon. Musically, it's an up-tempo affair about being scared to get off with someone because you've got halitosis (or something like that), with Carly's tones and Will/Lynn speaking/rapping in small bursts about spinach and deodorant. In fact it sounds like an American TV advert at times – sorry, TV 'commercial' . 10 Genesis T hat's All (#16) Another of those songs people don't recognise from the title, 'That's All' was apparently an attempt at making a Beatles-style pop track.
I wouldn't have thought that initially, but once you know this you can certainly hear the influence. Taken from the lazily-titled 'Genesis' LP, the track stalled at No.16 in the UK but fared much better in Ireland and also the US, peaking at No.6 in both countries. This may have something to do with the fact that rock fans in particular tend to only buy singles released before an LP and after that claim 'they already have them' , so don't bother. I'm sure if this had been released first and 'Mama' second, the chart placings would be reversed. he Cure T he Love Cats (#7) With its creeping string-plucked opening, 'The Love Cats' is instantly recognisable.
It was always a very certain type of person that liked The Cure when I was at school – and I wasn't one of them. I think they were just a bit too weird for me. That said, this is still a uniquesounding piece of 'goth-pop' which was the band's first of a somewhat surprisingly low tally of four Top 10 hits. 12 Simple Minds W aterfront (#13) One for Simple Minds purists only here.
If you wanted to get someone into the band then you certainly wouldn't start with this one. It's just a standard piece of music with their 'sound' , but bereft of anything distinct. Despite this, 'Waterfront' still managed a pretty respectable chart position of 13 – the same as the far, far superior 'Promised You A Miracle' . 13 Madness T he Sun And The Rain (#5) Everyone loves a bit of Madness, but this one?
It’s certainly not one of their most memorable hits! However lots of people bought the single, as it broke the Top 5 and stayed on the chart for ten weeks, but this 'single-only' release is not one of their especially memorable moments. It's got all the classic Madness hallmarks we've come to expect – the chopping pianos, the chugging sax and of course Suggs – but it lacks that essential je ne sais quoi. The seemingly less successful follow-up, 'Michael Caine' from their 'Keep Moving' album, was always a much better track in my mind.
14 Cultur e Club V ictims (#3) We've reached the end of this first NOW LP and come to another artist who gets two of their songs included. This thoughtful ballad was the follow-up to the super-hit 'Karma Chameleon' and became the group's fifth Top 5 hit. It is apparently about George's relationship with band-member Jon Moss – as was much of Culture Club's earlier material. Overall then, there are many high points - 'They Don't Know' , 'Give It Up' , Down Under' , in fact side one in general (excluding Limahl) is fairly strong.
The overall mixture of styles is pretty decent too, with no real leaning to any one genre. Although saying that, pop hadn't quite divided itself into as many stupid subgenres as it has now. However, the quality does drop noticeably on side two and it is somewhat surprising that hits such as 'True' , 'Let's Dance' , 'Every Breath You Take' , 'Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)' and 'Uptown Girl' are missed off. Indeed, to date Billy Joel has never appeared on a NOW release and there's no sign of that changing.
I also don't like the need to feature some artists twice. A few one-off hit-makers would've been refreshing, such as F.R David of 'Words' fame. So there you have it, that's what I call NOW That's What I Call Music... !
