and so yet another Now That's What I Call Music re-release. off of the 80s, look you see. whereas the first few were all "new to CD" in the present day, now Now are putting out sets on new discs what were released on disc at the time. yes, with tracks omitted, different (incorrect) versions, etc. the internet is full of people what have all the faults listed, so let's rather move on.
that said, over the last few volumes (edition) i have become increasingly less (fewer, if you will) enthusiastic about them. it was only ever 4 that i wished for, as that is my all time favourite of all time. well, yes, 6 had some great moments, too. not all that much wrong with what else has come out, just rather that they tended not to reflect what i was into at that time. but, sure, i have gone ahead and purchased the latest, Now That's What I Call Music 13.
generally speaking, when people describe the 80s as being like totes f*****g awesome, they refer to that truly inspired, golden era of 80 - 84, with 85 included at a push. most would say it went downhill a bit post-Live Aid. not so, really. for a start, one of the greatest albums ever, The Joshua Tree, was released in 87. and this set shows off that 88 was a pretty good year for tunes.
from memory (which is dangerous of me) this set appears to cover "summer" and "autumn" of that year. a year when i was a bit directionless with vibes, in truth. one court case made it clear that Frankie were not getting back together, the Beastie Boys and Sigue Sigue Sputnik had vanished, and so mostly i was just discovering metal. no horse in the race, then, as in none of my firm favourites (not even Adam Ant, i think) were "active". so it was quite something to listen to this and go blimey, that summer had some solid, smart tunes as a soundtrack.
disc (or tape) one starts off with three absolute mint bangers in the form of The Only Way Is Up, in particular the incredible Teardrops and then the phenomenal A Little Respect. track four is not bad either, with it being Harvest For The World. actually the wheels only ever fall off once on tape (disc) one at track five, with them twats Hue & Cry being included.
it is once again me (moi) relying on memory, but what a delight to hear the cover of Kiss by Tom Jones and Art Of Noise. from what i recall, the Tom Jones version was first heard on The Last Resort With Jonathan Ross, where he gone done it with a proper, live band. presumably Art Of Noise caught it and decided to go full tilt.
quite the oddity is the inclusion of two songs which were moderate (or on the larger size of moderate) at the time, but have lived on. they would be Don't Worry Be Happy and I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles). whereas they clocked some decent sales, it would be pushing it to say that anyone expected them to be treasured and regularly played on the radio 34 odd years later.
not too much in the way of drivel, but then again my word there is some right sh!t here. difficult to say which is the worst, for it would be rather lazy to simply pick on them twats Hue & Cry again. easily the song i could live with out here is Wee Rule by Wee Papa Girl Rappers. it was f*****g horrible then and it has not aged well. close call between that and the truly dreadful We Call It Acieed, with the high pitch chanting of the final word of the title being piercing and presumably appealing only to complete toss pots and w@ankers who like to think they are cool making similar noises.
yet the latter song mentioned there kind of marks a "turning point" of sorts on vibes. dance was very much on the way into the mainstream, represented here by the likes of Big Fun, Burn It Up and a couple of others.
obviously one song has been omitted, worked out on the basis of an odd number of tracks. not sure which, but can't be bothered to look. lovely, though, to see that Girl You Know It's True off of the now surely infamous Milli Vanilli remains. yes, yes, it was a couple of models pretending to be a duo whilst anonymous types did the music. and can you blame them for that, since at the start of the decade the career of Christopher Cross got derailed because he "didn't look pretty enough" for MTV? it's a really decent, solid pop song.
time has also been, surprisingly, kind to Brother Beyond, for now The Harder I Try off of them sounds remarkably fresh. no, i had little time for them at them, erm, time, dismissing them as i did as being just pin up poster boy Nathan and whoever else in the band.
something of a likely unpopular view is that The Race off of Yello is, well, crap. i really, really loved that one tune off of them, Oh Yeah, but this one was all trumpet and that, nowhere near as good.
big round of applause for who(m)ever did the outlay of tunes, what with a triple of I Want Your Love, I Don't Want Your Love and Love Is All That Matters coming in towards the business end of tape two. that's got to have been deliberate, that one. and well done with it.
i have every confidence that 14 shall appear, in one variation or another, early on in 2023. blimey, where did this year go. not sure if it will reflect the vibes i was digging at the time, but yeah, no doubt i shall end up purchasing it. assuming i still be a thing. for now, though, nice one that this was unexpectedly boss.
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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