Various – Now That's What I Call Music

To celebrate the 40th anniversary of Now! That's What I Call Music, I'm going to be giving a track by track review of each Now album every day (until I'm caught up).

Here's the first album, released 40 years ago today:

Side One

1. Phil Collins - You Can't Hurry Love: What a great way to open up the series. This was the first number one of 1983, and is one of my favourite songs of all time.
2. Duran Duran - Is There Something I Should Know: This is another favourite of mine
3. UB40 - Red Red Wine: Love the chilled feel of this song. I sang this the first time I drank red wine.
4. Limahl - Only For Love: A quirky song from the Kajagoogoo singer (more of him later...)
5. Heaven 17 - Temptation: Great song, I also love the 1992 remix.
6. KC & the Sunshine Band - Give It Up: Super catchy song, very summery.
7. Malcolm McLaren - Double Dutch: I this song playing in my head whenever I saw people doing the skipping game. Great track.
8. Bonnie Tyler - Total Eclipse of the Heart: Iconic tune, epic chorus.

Side Two

9. Culture Club - Karma Chameleon: Super catchy song that got played a lot at school discos.
10. Men Without Hats - The Safety Dance: Another favourite song from school discos.
11. Kajagoogoo - Too Shy: Another quirky track, catchy chorus.
12. Mike Oldfield - Moonlight Shadow: My favourite Mike Oldfield song, beautiful vocals from Maggie Reilly.
13. Men at Work - Down Under: Iconic song, love that flute.
14. Rock Steady Crew - Hey You (Rock Steady Crew): This was another one that got played a lot at school discos, super catchy.
15. Rod Stewart - Baby Jane: Upbeat party song, another favourite.
16. Paul Young - Wherever I Lay My Hat (That's My Home): Great sing along melody.

Side Three

17. New Edition - Candy Girl: Catchy song from Bobby Brown's old band. Very reminiscent of early Jackson 5 songs.
18. Kajagoogoo - Big Apple: I've always preferred this to 'Too Shy'. Limahl had left the group when they recorded this.
19. Tina Turner - Let's Stay Together: Beautiful cover of the Al Green song.
20. Human League - Fascination: My favourite Human League song, catchy chorus.
21. Howard Jones - New Song: Another catchy song
22. UB40 - Please Don't Make Me Cry: Mellow song from
23. Peabo Bryson & Roberta Flack - Tonight I Celebrate My Love: Beautiful duet.

Side Four

24. Tracey Ullman - They Don't Know: One of my favourite songs from the 80s.
25. Will Powers - Kissing With Confidence: Quirky song I've always enjoyed.
26. Genesis - That's All: Great song from Phil and co.
27. The Cure - The Love Cats: My favourite Cure song. Great bassline.
28. Simple Minds - Waterfront: Brilliant track, love the guitar riff.
29. Madness - The Sun and the Rain: Great song from Suggs and co.
30. Culture Club - Victims: Lovely piano, great vocals from Boy George.

I think this is a great album overall, although there are some songs that missed out:

Michael Jackson - Billie Jean: Great song from Thriller.
Yazoo - Nobody's Diary: My favourite song from Vince & Alison.
David Bowie - Let's Dance: Great song from Bowie.
The Police - Every Breath You Take: Massive number one, great riff.
Spandau Ballet - True: Iconic song, great vocal from Tony Hadley.
Billy Joel - Uptown Girl: Another number one, was number one when the album was released.
Status Quo - Ol' Rag Blues: Great song from Francis Rossi and co.
Madness - Wings of a Dove: Released a few months before 'The Sun and the Rain'.
Elton John - I'm Still Standing: Another great song.
Lionel Richie - All Night Long (All Night): Catchy song.
The Style Council - Long Hot Summer: Brilliant mellow song.
Paul McCartney & Michael Jackson - Say Say Say: Great duet.
Marillion - Garden Party: 'I'm miming'. Hilarious performance on Top of the Pops (with Fish closing his mouth at the 'miming' part).
Tracey Ullman - Breakway: Her first single, super catchy.
FR David - Words: Lovely tune.
New Order - Blue Monday: Iconic track, biggest selling 12" single.
Toto - Africa: Another great song.
Freeez - IOU: Great synth riff.
Siouxsie and the Banshees - Dear Prudence: Great cover of the Beatles song.

NOW 1-10 will always be my go-to compilation albums. My teenage years were the 80's and I had the first ten on vinyl along with the original, and best, NOW Christmas album. The Christmas album came in the mail today and next on my list is NOW 1. The first 35 got vinyl releases so I may get them all, but the first 10 will be mine again.

Picked this up yesterday in a charity shop for a £1, usage marks on the cover which look like fingermarks but not overly bad. Discs look good also, unfortunately it doesn't have the yellow sticker on it, great addition too my Now collection.

My Review:
Favorite Song: Karma Chameleon
Least Favorite Song: Red Red Wine

Where's the Thorn EMI copy in the listings for this VHS?

Where's the Thorn EMI copy in the listings for this VHS?

The 2 rings on the labels are also know as 'Double Dip' labels! Also, they are often found on releases from Ireland.

One thing that seems to have been missed is this:
Some of the track timings on the original Now 1 LP's labels are not correct.
I spotted that these were wrong at the time and manually timed them with a stopwatch.

It's been out a few weeks now,
Can anyone tell us how this pressing/master sounds compared to the original 1983 release?
I've a couple of original now albums already, I know due to there length they can be on the quite side but have had some modern albums of long length that have managed to still sound OK.. Does this?
Is it the same as the 2015 RSD release?
If the originals are better sound wise does anyone have a preference between the EMI pressed copies or the CBS pressed? Useful info for anyone who wishes to collect the series on vinyl, if anyone knows....

: Does anyone know where I can obtain the 7" (4 minute 52 second) version of Paul Young's "Wherever I Lay My Hat" on CD please ?.