do you know, i have a (really) vague idea that i had previously, rather than in the future, speculated about ceasing the purchase of all these Now re-releases. for they are now re-releases, look you see, since the ones coming out (again) now were indeed issued in the compact disc format at the time. it might (may) well be that this journey is at an end with Now That's What I Call Music 16.
i didn't even know this one was due for release. provenance fans will be interested to know that i was wandering around Morrisons (the last supermarket left what sells discs, unless you could Asda), saw it on the shelf and then went "oh". the "oh" was, of course, followed by an immediate decision to purchase it. even after i had looked at the tracklisting.
perhaps the most famous, celebrated and/or frequently quoted opening from a Charles "Chuck D" Dickens novel is it was the best of times, it was the worst of times off of A Tale Of Two Cities. this is certainly the case here, with quite a bit of disc one being "best" (London, presumably) and very nearly all of disc two being Paris, or if you like worst. let's have a gander.
whilst i am not particularly all that big a fan of the band (as such) the first track on tape (disc) one is simply excellent. Sowing The Seeds Of Love off of Tears For Fears (some fans call them TFF to try and make them sound interesting) is the embodiment of perfect 80s production values. how very sorely we lack such effort being made to create songs like this in the present day. and that one getting followed by the excellence of Leave A Light On off of Belinda Carlisle is a great start. one that is not sustained, but every now and then gets close.
all of the rest of the good stuff, as you might be able to make out in the above, is scattered across the first disc. Queen are present with Breakthru, which is easily one of the best ever songs to borrow off of that Boys Of Summer song from Don Henley. worst is, of course, that wretched Ed Sheridan (or whatever) and his "overpass graffiti" or whatever. this smart tune is slap bang in the middle of the disc, right next to the equally brilliant The Best off of Tina Turner. which i was sure was a 90s tune, but no, it did indeed get released in 89.
oh, yeah, the time period covered here. looks like late summer through to the business end of the autumn of 1989. apparently this was not a vintage time for quality pop vibes, then. my memory suggests it was better than this, but perhaps these tunes were the only ones they could licence.
not that i was quite finished with the decent stuff on tape (disc) one. a not too bad song off of Wet Wet Wet, which remains a strange name for a four piece band, in the form of Sweet Surrender is on. nice to hear I'm Not The Man I Used To Be off of Fine Young Cannibals, too. at the end of the tape is Right Here Waiting off of Richard Marx. schmaltzy and all that, to be sure, but still, a great song.
tape (disc) two is something that i really don't need in my life, or collection. mostly quite forgettable songs, with a lot of them being if not below average then just plain sh!t. as in it starts off with a tune by, ahem, Milli Vanilli. it's like they were warning you how bad it would be.
elsewhere on the tape (disc) and it's, at best, meh. a lot of it were "mainstream" songs attempting to leverage, as in cash in, on the burgeoning acid house / rave scene with a similar but not entirely drug induced sound. like, for instance, the comical Cliff Richard "rave" tune here. the Jimmy Sommerville song sounds so muffled you might well think there's something wrong with your stereo. admittedly Pump Up The Jam was a big hit, mostly as that now regarded as annoying Brooklyn / Bronx accent thing was a bit of a novelty back then. for the rest, well i don't particularly remember any of them and none of them are buried treasure. i promise this tape (disc) shall not touch my stereo again.
yes, they probably will continue with these re-releases. my assumption is that Now 17 is going to be all early 1990. not sure that was a great era. as and when (or should) it turn up, maybe a look at the track listing shall determine if i keep getting them.
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment