yes, i would agree, look you see, that there has been a decidedly (distinct) slant towards vibes in posts this month. and i am aware that more musical ones are to come. well, Christmas is the time for song and dance, as well as some other stuff.
in this instance, then, the vibes in question (or being written of) are of a varied, various artists nature, for what i have here is the latest (or most recent) of the Now That's What I Call Music albums what are being issued (kind of) on CD (compact disc) for the first time. to recap, the first few never got a digital disc release at the time.
also to recap, they issued the first such volume on CD at the same time as volume one hundred (100) came out, as a "celebration" sort of thing. then a decision was made (presumably based on sales and general interest) that the first 10 (ten) volumes of Now were to be given the disc treatment. so, here we are at volume (or edition) seven (7).
on getting it, things became clear in respect of why i would not have got it at the time. and this is certainly not because of a lack of quality on the record. just the briefest of glimpses at the tracklist, which yes is pictured here somewhere, reveals that i have the overwhelming majority of the finest of the best of the songs on the set in 7" single format. presumably my thinking would have been not to waste money on purchasing a set of songs i already had, then.
certainly it is so that, once again, there are many who have issues with the tracklisting of this compact disc variation of Now That's What I Call Music 7. their quarrel is justified. up to now the reissues (if that is the correct way to describe them) have not been at all faithful. in many instances a different version of the song which feature on the compilation has been used, with the most upsetting and annoying one being Two Tribes back on (i think) volume 3. also, certain tracks have been omitted. in some instances this has kind of made sense (the removal of Gary Glitter from one, for instance), but in others less so.
the big gripe, or complaint, with this one (7) is that Absolute Beginners is absolutely missing. quite strange, this. in an earlier volume (i think 5) another Bowie, This Is Not America, was absent. and yet the Bowie Estate allowed Modern Love to feature (as it should have) on one of them. no word has been given as to why it is absent, but if i were to guess they probably declined use due to the rather ill-advised decision to re-release the whole Absolute Beginners soundtrack earlier this year.
people complaining about the missing songs, or different versions of some songs, being used are not being precious, pedantic or picky. they have a valid point. if you are going to "recreate" or reissue something, just doing it properly and faithfully is not much to ask. what would you say if, for instance, they decided to issue Sgt Pepper on CD, but omitted (for example) Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds, yet gave no reason for doing so.
let me be honest and say i was totally thrown by the inclusion of Lady In Red by Chris De Burgh on this volume. for some reason i thought this song came out much later on, say late 1988 or even 1989. but, no, apparently 1986 it was, then. oh yes, there are some stories i could tell of that song and indeed the singer, but no. an exceptionally dear friend shares those tales with me, and may she be smiling if she is reading this.
in sticking with disc one, right at the start is an all time favourite, then, with Sledgehammer (or Sledge Hammer) off of Peter Gabriel. an instance of an amazing song and an even more amazing video. Art Of Noise and Max Headroom together was ace at the time and brings back some good memories. the song Camouflage remains bonkers to this day. even the Genesis song is good, great to hear Brilliant Mind for the first time in probably 30 (or so) years. probably, if push came to shove, the best of the best here for me is All The Things She Said off of Simple Minds.
on and on i could go, but let me not. except to celebrate When The Going Gets Tough The Tough Get Going off of Billy Ocean. and to celebrate the most outstanding, greatest song on disc two, which is of course A Kind Of Magic by Queen. man, what a song. what a f*****g song. oh, for trivia fans, the Bucks Fizz one is, i think, the single they released after the band survived a very nasty crash in their tour bus. good song, but i think we all bought it out of a sense of "we are sorry what happened and we are glad you are all right", mostly.
whilst (once again) respecting those who complain about track omissions and different versions of songs being used, my biggest issue with the Now That's What I Call Music CD releases is pictured above. that's just annoying on the shelf, that is, to be sure. and by "that" i mean the change of font between the first and the rest, the use of Roman numerals on 2 (II) and regular numbers on the rest, and now the fact that they have decided to save ink on the title for 7. quite happy to have the changing colours, but is it really so bad to have wished for them to look all more uniform in my collection?
no matter how decent this (abridged) release of 7 has turned out to be, my favourite remains 4. a happy bonus is that it was so 4 had the entire tracklisting in tact, making it unique in terms of these releases. at the other end of the spectrum, or rainbow, disc two of 5 is the one which is most likely never ever to get played again.
assuming (and it is brave to do so) there is anything left of the human race by the time 2021 comes to be, it should be so that 8, 9 and 10 get a CD release, and that (so far as i am aware) would be that. it would have been nice for them to do all 80s ones, but ten shall just have to do.
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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