Now Yearbook 1980

Phew what a hot week so far.

It just seems like ages ago but just two weeks ago we got the Extra set of the 1981 volume and this Friday we have a whole new volume that's going backwards.

It isn't the first time 1980 was compiled into a NOW compilation as when in 1993 NOW was marking its twentieth year they launched a series of two cd compilations of which the 1980 one was one of four (the thers being 1981 through to three) I bought because at the time there wasn't anything quite like it on cd.

Even in 1980 as far as I can recall being in my mid teens there wasn't a Chart Hits or Super Hits of 1980 issued by K Tel or Ronco.

1980 was a year that in terms of music styles was very broad which I felt was a good thing because I like a wide variety of music and don't appreciate things being too samey.

Going to a four cd (and there's bound to be an Extra issued soon) lets that diversity out compared to NOW 1980 although technically I think the mastering on the earlier set keeps more of the difference in volumes in.

The version of this release I bought was in a book form with short factual pieces about each track including chart position and small reproductions of the singles artwork with pockets for each disc although they were unlined so I put the discs in small cd inner sleeves to prevent scuffs and scratches.

Soul and Disco music which was still big in the UK is well represented with Upside Down,Behind The Groove, On The Radio, Funky Town and the classic smoochers With You I'm Born Again and One Day I'll Fly Away.

The emerging synthesizer sounds that were to become more more prevailent the next year rightly are included here such as Gary Numan's I Die You Die which wasn't included on lp versions of his Telekon album, Elona Gay by the at times magnificient OMD, Sleepwalk by Ultravox, Spandau Bellet's Too Cut A Long Story Short which did come out on cassette single, Living By Numbers by New Music and Echo Beach.

Rock was well represented by Ace Of Spades by Motorhead to which I did have the ten inch single of, Rainbow's All Night Long who's objectifying lyrics were criticized in the NME which I still own on 45, Going Underground by the Jam, the Quo's What You're Proposin', London Calling, Emotional Rescue by a fully functioning Rolling Stones and Another One Bites The Dust by Queen mixing funk with rock.

Pure Pop as I'd call it is well represent with Abba's The Winner Takes It All, Jona Lewie's Stop The Cavalry, the brilliant Atomic by Blondie and So Good To Be back Home Again by the Tourists who became the Eurythmics later on.

Ska and Reggae befitting the whole explosion around the Two Tone scene is represented by the more pop like Don't Stand So Close To Me, Too Much Too Young by the Selecter, Baggy Trousers, one schoolchildren can easily relate to, by Madness and Food For Thought by Birminghams UB40.

On Sept 2nd, the Extra top up set arrived offering an additional sixty six tracks from the likes of Kate Bush, Cliff Richard, Roxy Music, the Undertones and John Foxx with his unforgettable Underpass plus many soul and funk gems.

With that we'll see what the next Yearbook shall be!

These sets are just great "timepieces" that take us back to they were doing for some of us the exam taking Fifth Form and the Lower Sixth and are well worth getting.