"Now Yearbook '86" by VARIOUS ARTISTS – Featuring Frankie Goes To Hollywood, The Smiths, George Michael, Duran Duran, Kate Bush, Eurythmics, Kim Wilde, Fine Young Cannibals, The Blow Monkeys, The Human League, Spandau Ballet, Bananarama, The Housemartins, Robert Palmer, Big Audio Dynamite, Jaki Graham, Whitney Houston, Level 42, The Bangles, New Order, It’s Immaterial , Belouis Some, Five Star and many more (February 2023 UK Sony Music/EMI 4CD 80-Track Compilation with Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

 

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LET'S GO CRAZY - 80ts Music On CD

Your All-Genres Guide To Exceptional CD Reissues and Remasters

Classic Albums, Compilations, 45s

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(No Cut and Paste Crap)

"...Digging The Scene..."

 

The reinvention by Sony Music and EMI of the Now That's What I Call Music Series has to be one of the great reissue coups for the last two decades. Suddenly everyone is so 80ts baby it makes me want to buy a drum machine!!

 

In February and March 2023, we've arrived at the most interesting reissue years for that much maligned decade - 1985 to 1989 - where it should be argued that real genius emerged that is still beloved four decades on. 

 

And so to this amazing value-for-money series of "Now Yearbook..." compilations - and in this case a 4CD glut of big hair dos, shoulder pads, girls who are pretty in pink, male teachers who don't want even prettier students to stand too close and cannibals caught in a trap (aren't they always). There's a wad of stuff to get through, so let's have at 1986...

 

UK released 24 February 2023 - "Now Yearbook '86" by VARIOUS ARTISTS on Sony Music/EMI CDYBNOW86 - 0196587627621 (Barcode 196587627621) is a 4CD 80-Track Compilation (Many Remasters) that plays out as follows:

 

CD1 (79:22 minutes):

1. A Different Corner - GEORGE MICHAEL

2. The Sun Always Shines On TV - A-HA

3. Notorious - DURAN DURAN

4. Hounds Of Love - KATE BUSH

5. Thorn In My Side - EURYTHMICS (Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart)

6. Rock Me Amadeus - FALCO

7. Lessons In Love - LEVEL 42

8. You Keep Me Hangin' On - KIM WILDE

9. Each Time You Break My Heart - NICK KAMEN

10. My Favourite Waste Of Time - OWEN PAUL 

11. Manic Monday - THE BANGLES 

12. Don't Get Me wrong - THE PRETENDERS

13. You Can Call Me Al - PAUL SIMON

14. Marlene On The Wall - SUZANNE VEGA

15. Suspicious Minds - FINE YOUNG CANNIBALS

16. Too Good To Be Forgotten - AMAZULU

17. Sing Your Own Song - UB40

18. I Want To Wake Up With You - BORIS GARDINER 

19. Holding Back The Years - SIMPLY RED

20. Through The Barricades - SPANDAU BALLET

 

CD2 (79:57 minutes): 

1. The Edge Of Heaven - WHAM!

2. Don't Leave Me This Way - THE COMMUNARDS with SARAH JANE MORRIS

3. Venus - BANANARAMA

4. Showing Out (Get Fresh At The Weekend) - MEL & KIM

5. New Beginning (Mamba Seyra) - BUCKS FIZZ

6. Bad Boy (7" Shep Pettibone Mix) - MIAMI SOUND MACHINE featuring Gloria Estefan

7. So Macho - SINITTA 

8. Touch Me (I Want Your Body) - SAMANTHA FOX

9. French Kissing (In The USA) 7" Edit - DEBBIE HARRY

10. Imagination - BELOUIS SOME

11. Digging Your Scene - THE BLOW MONKEYS

12. Breakout - SWING OUT SISTER

13. Who's Zoomin' Who (Single Version) - ARETHA FRANKLIN

14. Ain't Nothin' Goin' On But The Rent - GWEN GUTHRIE  

15. Set Me Free - JAKI GRAHAM

16. Word Up! (Single Version) - CAMEO

17. Can't Wait Another Minute - FIVE STAR

18. We Don't Have To Take Our Clothes Off - JERMAINE STEWART

19. How Will I Know (Remastered) - WHITNEY HOUSTON

20. Dancing On The Ceiling - LIONEL RICHIE 

CD3 (78:46 minutes):

1. Panic - THE SMITHS 

2. Rage Hard - FRANKIE GOES TO HOLLYWOOD

3. Love Missile F1-11 - SIGUE SIGUE SPUTNIK 

4. The Wizard (Part 1) - PAUL HARDCASTLE

5. Bizarre Love Triangle (Single Remix) - NEW ORDER

6. Pretty In Pink ("Pretty In Pink" OST Version) - THE PSYCHEDELIC FURS

7. All The Things She Said (Edit, 2005 Remaster) - SIMPLE MINDS 

8. Life's What you Make It (Edit) - TALK TALK

9. Brilliant Mind - FURNITURE

10. Driving Away From Home (Jim's Tune) - IT'S IMMATERIAL

11. Rise (7" Edit) - PUBLIC IMAGE LIMITED (PIL featuring John Lydon)

12. E=MC'2 - BIG AUDIO DYNAMITE (Mick Jones of The Clash, Don Letts)

13. Sinful (7" Version) - PETE WYLIE

14. For America - RED BOX

15. I've Been Losing You - A-HA

16. Move Away (2004 Remaster) - CULTURE CLUB

17. (Forever) Live And Die (2019 Remaster) - ORCHESTRAL MANOEUVRES IN THE DARK

18. No One Is To Blame - HOWARD JONES 

19. Eloise (Single Version) - THE DAMNED

20. Spirit In The Sky - DOCTOR  & THE MEDICS

CD4 (79:00 minutes): 

1. Take My Breath Away (Love Theme From 'Top Gun') - BERLIN

2. Livin' On A Prayer - BON JOVI

3. The Final Countdown - EUROPE

4. Walk This Way - RUN DMC feat AEROSMITH

5. Addicted To Love - ROBERT PALMER

6. Typical Male - TINA TURNER

7. Harlem Shuffle - THE ROLLING STONES

8. Don't Stand So Close To Me '86 - THE POLICE 

9. In The Army Now - STATUS QUO

10. Broken Wings - MR. MISTER

11. The Lady in Red - CHRIS De BURGH

12. Every Loser Wins - NICK BERRY

13. Reet Petite - JACKIE WILSON 

14. When The Going Gets Tough, The Tough Get Going - BILLY OCEAN

15. Higher Love - STEVIE WONDER 

16. Human - THE HUMAN LEAGUE

17. I Can't Wait - NU SHOOZ

18. Rain Or Shine - FIVE STAR

19. Greatest Love Of All - WHITNEY HOUSTON

20. Caravan Of Love - THE HOUSEMARTINS

 

The now familiar but barely functional fold-out card sleeves house the four discs in inner flaps - but there's only copyright details and a date - no catalogue numbers - no history - zip. But for a tenner English and with all 4CDs pushing the total 80-minutes playing time barriers (as you can see from the details above) - you cannot say anything other than these sets represent astonishing value for money. Given so many disparate sources, the Audio is uniformly excellent too and when they do use remasters as in say the case of Simply Red's "Holding Back The Years" or Whitney Houston's "How Will I Know" - the audio impact is noticeably spectacular. To the tunes and coats of many Synth-Pop colours...

 

CD1: As it's the mid-Eighties, bombastic is everywhere and unfortunately not in a good way at times. You're still amazed by Kate Bush ("Hounds Of Love"), Paul Simon ("You Can Call Me Al"), Pretenders ("Don't Get Me Wrong") and Simply Red's slinky sexy white boy soul of "Holding Back The Years" (gorgeous audio too). And you forget the magic of a Prince song in someone else's hands - The Bangles doing "Manic Monday" or those forgotten nuggets like Suzanne Vega doing "Marlene On The Wall" and Fine Young Cannibals cool cover of the Elvis classic "Suspicious Minds" - so good they almost made it there own. And how genuinely touching and yes even lovely "Through The Barricades" by Spandau Ballet. But awful comes in the shape of Falco's over-the-top "Rock Me Amadeus", Nick Kamen's anaemic "Each Time You Break My Heart" and the sickly cod-Reggae of "I Want To Wake Up With You" by Boris Gardiner - yuck that makes you want to reach for the skip button. 

 

CD2 gets it spandex pants, roller skates and sparkly 80ts Pop socks on being almost all boppers aimed at the feet and the groin. While I never want to hear The Communards doing Gloria Gaynor again with "Don't Leave Me This Way" (great audio or no) - I can so dig the gals in Bananarama doing Shocking Blue's 1970 winner "Venus" (again stompin' audio). I'm sure Disco fiends will love the relentless beats of Mel & Kim and even Bucks Fizz - but they're not for me. Far better is Shep Pettibone's irresistible seven-inch mix for Gloria Estefan's "Bad Boy" (then fronting the Miami Sound Machine) and the party joyful "Breakout" by Swing out Sister - both with great audio. Awful comes in the shape of Sam Fox and Sinitta - buxom babes who couldn't hold a tune but could ignite something else. And you've forgotten the great pop of Debbie's "French Kissing (In The USA)", Beloise Some's Heatwave-groovy "Imagination", the Saxophone and Synths sexy "Digging The Scene" by The Blow Monkeys - a seriously musical tune that still stands up - even it is it wannabe Hall & Oates. And you can still dig the money worries chorus of "Ain't Nothin' Goin' On But The Rent" and the sheer codpiece fun of Cameo's brilliant and seriously funny "Word Up!" (no time for psychological romance y'all).

CD3 goes Rock, Indie and Alternative with some Synth Funk thrown in for good measure. There are gems on this third platter - the stunning "Life's What You Make It" by Talk Talk from their gorgeous "The Colour Of Spring" album, Public Image's utterly brill "Rise" (talk about a rediscovery you need in your life - anger is an energy) and the sheer so-80ts fun of It's Immaterial sassy "Driving Away From Home (Jim's Tune)" with its clean air Balleric beats (just get in and close the door). A very clever scheduling too goes to Sigue Sigue Sputnik's Guitar-Punk "Love Missile F1-11" being followed by Paul Hardcastle and his strangely Bowiesque Part 1 of "The Wizard" - a combo that so works. Other discoveries go to the Remastered punch in Simple Minds' "All The Things We Said", Furniture's "Brilliant Mind" and the post-Clash Pop-Funk of Big Audio Dynamite's "E=MC'2" - a great moment for Mick Jones. OMD, The Damned and even Pete Wylie all hold their own and how great is The Furs "Pretty In Park" - possibly one of the most perfect tunes. Hell, I even liked A-Ha's "I've Been Losing You", Boy George's beg and borrow I hurt you darling "Move Away" and especially Howard Jones' rather good "No One Is To Blame" (the insecurity is the thing that won't get lost).  

CD4 unfortunately contains three of the tunes I most hate in the Universe - Berlin's Top Gun schlock "Take My Breath Away", the turgid Europe tune "The Final Countdown" and Chris De Burgh's Royal choice "The Lady In Red". Thankfully Mr. Mister's fabulous "Broken Wings", Stevie Winwood's "Higher Love" and The Rolling Stones cover version of "Harlem Shuffle" lift things up a tad. The Fifties uh-oh-oh "Reet Petite (The Finest Girl You'll Ever Meet)" is a bygone joy that caught the 80ts crowd loving it whilst Robert Palmer and The Housemartins and The Human League showed the world just how diverse British bands could musically be. But for sure - there is a fair share of cack on CD4 that may have you reaching for the skip.

 

For sure "Now Yearbook '86" doesn't have Madonna or Prince or a load of other un-licenceible artists in its massive 4CD haul, but half the fun of these sets is the remembering, the re-discoveries (Simple Minds and Public Image Ltd) and the surprises too (Sigue Sigue Sputnik & Paul Hardcastle). Many will probably take the best from each disc and make one killer comp - but with another 'Extra' 3CD set for the year 1986 due 7 April 2023 with 60 more cuts and again a sub ten-spot price tag - you have to tip your Fedora to Sony/EMI for giving lovers of the "Life's What You Make It" decade all the spray tan they can slap on. 

 

Buy it and punish the neighbors with a sing-along to "Touch Me (I Want You Body)" - well of course you will!