well, what do you know. them what do all of those Now compilations (tapes, records and compact discs, look you see) have successfully extracted (several) more pennies from me. as it happens, they have tried to extract more than they presently succeeded with, but i have resisted the completion impulse.
as has been documented here, on this blog, over the last few years, they have - in some cases for the first time ever - been issuing the original Now That's What I Call Music sets. from one to ten is the plan, with it being that the tenth is out quite soon (at least at time of writing). several valid complaints exist concerning these re-issues, ranging from omitted tracks (licensing, and not wanting to include one off of Gary Glitter) all the way to incorrect versions of some songs appearing, different mixes and that. yet, overall, a lovely waltz down memory lane. or a refreshing of existing playlists.
not content with taking money from me (and others) with those re-issues, them what do the Now set (i believe, or suspect, EMI, but don't hold me to that) have come up with another set of 80s reissues. these would be the Yearbook series, which oddly started with 1983. sure, that is the year a Now set first came out, but one would have thought they might have decided to address the three (3) 80s years not covered to kick it off with. no matter. here we are. and where we are is at the second volume, 1984.
i elected, or if you like opted, not to purchase the first of these Yearbook releases, being as it was an as mentioned 1983. far, far too much of it was simply Now one and two, and the bits on the set which were not off of them had very limited appeal. yet i bought this edition, despite just about all the songs on it what i really, really like being owned several times over, and not much (if anything) on it being stuff that i felt was lacking. ultimately it came down to the fact that i felt there would be something quite, very, actually wrong with me if i didn't purchase a set celebrating the magnificence of the year in muic that was, is and always shall be, 1984.
various comments and articles around the internet thing state, claim or declare that 1984 was "the greatest ever year for pop", or music in general. foolish, i say, is the person who tries to definitively state that of any year between, say, 1962 and 1999. it all pretty much went to sh!t after that, so any answer which commences with a 2 is immediately wrong. but still, what a year. Frankie Goes To Hollywood were at number one for about 25% of it, Duran Duran were the biggest thing in the world, Spandau Ballet mostly kept out the way, Wham! and George Michael were confidently established, films were spewing out iconic songs all over the place and, in the end, we believed that we could change the world entire via one remarkable song. add to that U2, after some 4 years of plugging away, started to make a mark, along with an alternative / indie scene so gifted and talented that it forced itself into the mainstream and well, what a year it was.
the year that it was is almost covered by this set. not quite, for no set could do that, unless someone somewhere does an insane multiple disc set of every song off of that year. pretty much every genre what came to the fore in the year is represented, i think. sure, i would probably have included something off of The Smiths here, but all on does the job, even if i am not too thrilled by some of the ones included. disc three, for example, is unlikely to get played ever again, now that i have played it once.
ostensibly, or essentially, this is quite Now That's What I Call Music 4, with a few borrowed from 3 and, inexplicably, 2, and then a few others added in. i consider 4 to be my favourite of all time, and remain baffled that, both at the time and when the CD issue came out, it has always been the poorest selling set from the series. go figure.
my understanding is that a few of my gripes are what one calls the "Mandela effect", where you remember things differently from how they actually happened. i am not sure such is radically true, for a few things included here as 1984 are of debate. yes, i would always welcome a celebration of Frankie Goes To Hollywood, but there is no denying that it was 1983 when it got released and, so far as i recall, topped the chart. true, sure, during 1984 it climbed back up to number two, behind Frankie's second single and second number one Two Tribes, but still. also, i would suggest that the offerings from The Style Council and, in particular, Paul McCartney here were 1983 releases. for some reason i believe the same is true for White Lines, but if Grandmaster Flash says his magnum opus is 84, so be it.
some debate, too, over the inclusion of Drive off of The Cars here. true, yes, it absolutely was a 1984 release, but i suspect many of us associate it permanently 1985, when it was used to such dramatic effect during Live Aid. i believe it charted higher then, due to association, than was the case on original release. but no, i am not going to research such things, that would be silly and not me.
curiosity does make me wonder (somewhat) about the absence of Queen, who had become massive once again in this year, after the Hot Space shenanigans. perhaps they, them what make these sets, felt there would be too much "duplicate" stuff, as the band were covered on the regular Now sets. but then, it is so that this set is stating itself as a 'yearbook' for 1984.
for the debate on "greatest year" for pop, i certainly do remember 1984 fondly. a strong case to argue would be that it was a "defining" year; one in which things changed. go back on decades and one can easily argue that 67, 68 (maybe) were the years that "pop" was clearly not a transient thing, that it would remain, prevail and be accepted as art. off the top of my head, 76 would be the next kind of landmark year, with the coming of punk and disco to the mainstream once again changing things.
how did 84 change it all? well, sure, up until then we had had synth on the go, thanks to the New Romantics, but a look at the songs here says that it was then when it stopped being a novelty and started being an actual, proper instrument. sexual identity became a "player" in the pop chart, more than it had ever been before. creativity felt like it was reaching a tangible peak. oh, never mind, don't try and spend needless time explaining, just feel it, listen to the vibes.
chances of me buying other volumes? limited. this one i hummed and haaahed over for a bit, actually putting it back on the shelf at one stage, but then buying it when Tesco gave us some voucher or another. now that i have it and have played it, not sure it was all that wise to get. having picked up all the Now reissues, this was an excess, an indulgence, really. pretty sure all i want from 85 and 86 i shall already have, but open to seeing what they may lure me in with.
in respect of that bit i mentioned of 1984 ending with some view that somehow music could change the world, i draw your attention to the last track on the last disc. quite a thing, it was, to see virtually every pop star bar Frankie head into a studio together to make that. sure, there were others which followed, but in terms of a record, i don't believe that has ever been topped.
do i endorse, or suggest, purchasing any of these Yearbook things? again, it was frightfully silly of them, with a blank canvas, to not go back to start with 80, 81 and 82. but, here we are. should it be that for some reason you are keen on 80s vibes compilations, yet refuse to purchase the Now That's What I Call Music re-issues, then yeah, these sets shall do might fine. mind, i suppose most people these days just do streaming or what have you.
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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