Travelling back through sound

Way back at the start of the original blog we did talk about about interests and hobbies because that was where cthekissfan started up on Friends Reunited and the Tammy concept on blogger started.

It was about sharing something outside of what schools I went to and the short details of what happened after that which that site was all about and I might add missed cos it was a simple concept.

Thus it wasn't so surprising one of early posts was about my favourite Beatles album cos music connects to many experiences.

One is memories and that is where this post comes in because the people behind the Now That's What I Call Music concept have moved to doing some year specific megaboxes from the years I was in school or other learning environments.

This is handy because back then the compilations we bought were by KTel and Ronco, tended to not very good quality and it wasn't until the end of 1983 the first NOW album came out.

In 1982 I know exactly what I was doing and more to the point any number of the songs featured will connect to what I was doing with my school friends as I did my Economics and History lessons.

It was an "landmark" year for me, one that major events took place in the life of this country and the popular music of that year is anything but forgettable

This volume gathers up 84 major hits by the major acts in just one year which is I have to say better than those early decade wide "100 hits" boxes for having a clear focus.

It takes in tv connected hits such as Star Maker from the TV series Fame as kids we all watched and A Little Peace from that years Eurovision plus a very wide selection genre wise of that years hits.

A great replacement for those old lps I and my friends had as there is near enough five lps worth.

Around a month later a supplementary volume "Extra" was issued that over three cds offered another 62 tracks from that year.

It wasn't just minor hits but some major ones such as XTC's Senses Working Overtime, Captain Sensible's Happy Talk and Haircut 100's Nobody's Fool apart from Hi-Fidelity from the tv show "The Kids From Fame" and the cover of What by Soft Cell.

That pushed the number of lp equivalents up to about eight making for a really comprehensive selection of music from that year.

This one is in some ways a bit less essential because the original 1983 NOW which was mainly a best of year album was reissued on cd as was early 1984's NOW 2 which took in the last couple of months songs.

1983 saw me navigating leaving school with some amazingly bad careers advice and trying to find my way through to being post school leaver, trying to sort a career out.

The real plus for this set is more the songs by artists on the then CBS and WEA groups which were not included in Now and Now 2 as they were to set up a rival series in 1984.

It is a great reminder of just how many great songs were out there from teen sensations like Wham and Kajagoogoo to respected old timers such as Tina Turner, Dolly Parton, Robert Plant and Joan Armatrading.

They decided to issue a second special edition with another sixty songs from 1983 across three discs which took in such hits as Manic from the Flashdance soundtrack that I wore the chrome tape out of and Snot Rap as featured on the Kenny Everett show on BBC1.

1984 was the Year of the Pig as the Now series marched on from strength to strength making three double lps all of which have been reissued on cd with the odd track missing in a year that saw soul music start to change and rap influences come into play on songs such as I Feel For You.

The Hits people who managed the CBS and WEA groups gave us two compilations that covered this period and no they're not on cd so while we have more or less the NOW sets, this is good for the missing stuff by ZZ Top, Miami Sound Machine and the Eurythmics who being on RCA didn't feature on the Now albums regularly.

Band Aid's highly memorable very much in the news Do They Know It's Christmas closes the main set.

There was a Extra three cd set with another 60 hits included too which helps fill those gaps with gems like Nellie The Elephant, Hole In My Shoe by Neil from the comedy show The Young Ones I liked during this era and Everything Must Change.

It was very much the era of daytime Radio One listening with characters like Steve Wrights Mr Angry who'd feature between the music that many of lapped up.

Liverpool's controversial Frankie Goes To Hollywood were the break out musical act and all three singles are featured in the sets.

The sets achieve the goal of taking you back in that time and are likely to be added to in time with the 1980 and 1981 sets being ones I'd look forward to.