well, i have quite a few posts to do on the vibes, like. by that i mean, of course, music, look you see. sat here with me is a formidable level of Suede reissues (across many discs), plus the new one off of James, and the Manics 20th anniversary of Lifeblood. but, for now, it's back to those reissues that i keep suggesting i may cease (stop) buying. indeed, the Now That's What I Call Music ones. which has reached up to a reissue of 17 (seventeen) and yes, i pretty much bought on autopilot if not instinct.
provenance of my copy? this is likely to be the most interesting thing here. by chance i was at the once and now restored "flagship" HMV store on Oxford Street, London (innit). i was not aware it was due out, but saw it and, well, refer above. cost was £7.99, which is about standard. strangely, had i gone to the Fopp store down the road from there (where i did indeed end up later in the week) i could have got it for a flat (or straight) £8. i will let you know if the 1p saved comes in handy.
the period, or time, covered by this reissue (or re-release) is the end of 1989 and the start, or if you will commencement, of 1990. a time i recall of some quite decent albums, if not really good singles as such. much of what's left on this variant of the release screams that it was so the golden age of the charts being overloaded with great songs was very much gone.
at a glance (when i was in HMV) there wasn't anything immediately exciting about this one. the problem which has plagued these reissues, the one of missing songs, is here more than it has ever been, with tape (disc) one reduced to 13 songs and tape (disc) two seeming to have all 16 originally on the release. nope, no idea what's missing or why, i cannot be bothered to look it up. also, likely that different, or incorrect, mixes of the songs featured have been used.
of what features there's a mere four (4) really, truly outstanding moments in music. in order of how they feature on Now 17, these (or they) are Step On off of Happy Mondays, Loaded off of Primal Scream, This Is How It Feels off of Inspiral Carpets and, the sole one off tape (disc) two, Killer off of Adamski and Seal. rest of the songs go from all right to average to absolute sh!t.
disc (not tape) two features some particular lows. one of the worst is some absolutely rancid cover of Another Day In Paradise that i had no idea existed. the most confusing song on here is most likely the baffling Stronger Than That off of Cliff Richard (don't think he was Sir at the time). unless i am mistaken it sounds like a Stock, Aitken and Waterman production, except styled to cash in on the burgeoning rave scene on the go at the time. getting ripped to the t!ts on E and having Cliff do a rave anthem are not things what should ever have been mixed.
it's generally easier and more fun to pick on bad things, so here we go. there's an awful Technotronic song on it, which reflect the bizarre way in which Bronx or Brooklyn accents at the time were considered "cool". somehow it was so that f*****g D-Mob were still a thing, and who the f*** bought this in enough of a volume for them to get on a "best of" compilation? for modern readers not sure what a D-Mob is, think N-Dubz but without the visible talent of a Dappy. yes, that bad. quite a surprise to see things like Jesus Jones and House Of Love still existed by this point in history.
grasping for positives and the Strawberry Fields Forever cover off of Candy Flip was all right, but for some reason i thought that was an 88 tune. there's decent enough songs off of Erasure and Tina Turner, but both had done considerably (more) better songs around this time. adding Faith No More was a nice touch, and going on the one included by them here it seems Quireboys were not as bad as i might have said if asked without hearing this one.
both the price what they sell these sets at and the completist in me says i shall likely purchase Now 18 as and when they release it. not sure that is a good thing.
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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