Now yearbooks 1985

 One, two, three, four, the count off to Raspberry Parade by Prince takes us into the next clutch in the 80's volumes of Now That's What I Call Music yearbook series starting with the transitional year that was 1985.

As with all of the series there was a book format four cd version which I opted for for the short write ups on each song, a bit of a background capsule to what was going on in that year and even a quiz at the end!

This is a condensed three lp version too.

The four discs are held in pockets which I lined with mylar inner sleeves as paper against plastic tends to mark them.

This volume is more effected by licensing issues meaning no Madonna, Prince ,David Bowie or solo Phil Collins but casual fans who probably have compilations by them will buy it so while regretable it's not the end of the world and certainly the rest of the material included more than makes up.

Pop pickers of the generation will know some of the hits were originally include in the Now 5 and 6 compilations that have had sort of cd re-issues but the others mainly from the CBS (now Sony) and WEA labels were on HITS 2 and 3 which never had a cd issue at all so from that point of view this set is valuable.

1985 was a year some of the previous years US hits finally charted here in the UK such as Bonnie Tyler's Holding Out For a Hero from Footloose, ZZ Top's Legs from Eliminator and Maria Vidal's Body Rock which had charted in the States in late August of '84, Pat Benatar's excellent Love Is a Battlefield from late 1983(!) plus Dan Hartman's I Can Dream About You from the film Streets Of Fire.

1985 was to be a memorable year for Shakin' Steven's as the wheels came off his career as he sang Merry Christmas Everyone, Tears For Fears and Simple Minds finally broke through with Shout and Don't You (Forget about about me) respectively as did Simply Red with Money's Too Tight (to mention) and the short lived popularity of Jennifer Rush took off with The Power Of Love.

In the world of Soul and R&B 5Star started their career scoring a hit with All Fall Down, Phil Collins joined Earth Wind and Fire's Philip Bailey for Easy Lover, Whitney Houston emerged with Saving All My Love For You, Loose Ends were Hanging On a String, Steve Arrington's Feel So Real got massive airplay and DeBarge scored a big hit with Rhythm Of The Night.

The brilliant Sade continued with The Sweetest Taboo.

Talked about records included Lionel Richie's comeback Say You,Say Me, Tina Turner's We Don't Need Another Hero, Paul Hardcastle's 19 and Harold Faltermayer's Axle F from Beverley Hills Cop and the cheesy but fun Tarzan Boy complete with yodels by Baltimora.

Pure pop included Queen's comment on the Live Aid concerts One Vision, the rather good Go West with We Close Our Eyes, Strawberry Switchblade's lolita fashion influenced Since Yesterday and Katrina & the Waves debut Walking On Sunshine.

In rock Foreigner scored with I Want To Know What Love Is, U2 followed up the previous years Pride with the Unforgettable Fire from the album of the same name, Marillion had a hit with Kayleigh from the Misplaced Childhood album and Bryan Ferry had a solo hit with Slave To Love from his Boys And Girls album.

The teen sensation aspect were covered by Norway's A-ha with Take On Me with its groundbreaking video while Nik Kershaw and Howard Jones maintained the previous years success with Wide Boy and Things Can Only Get Better during which Duran duran split into two for Powerstation who had a hit with Some Like It Hot and Arcadia both featured in this volume with Election Day.

Personal favourite is the atmospheric Life In a Northern Town by the Dream Academy.

On January 6th Now released the EXTRA volume, a further three cds worth of hits from 1985 which comes in a simple card folder with slots for each disc.

The main strength of this three cd Extra is the tracks that often or missed off but non the less were favourites.

There is a selection of fantastic indie and alternative from Toyah (Willcox), Sharp & Numan's Change Your Mind, Inbetween Days by the Cure, Bring On The Dancing Horses by Echo and the Bunnymen, the unforgettable Lost Weekend by Lloyd Cole and the Commotions and Love Like Blood by Killing Joke.

Pop at its best is well represented by breakout act Go West with Don't Look Down, Cry by Godly and Creme, the motownesq I'm Your Man by Wham, Laura by the utterly brilliant Nick Heyward, Look Mama by Howard Hones and Don Quixote by Nik Kershaw.

Rock features a remake by the Far Corporation of the Led Zep classic Stairway To Heaven, Pat Benatar with We Belong from her Tropico album, ZZ Top with Sleeping Bag, Celebrate Youth by Rick Springfield, one bigger in the U.S. than the U.K. sadly, and Can't Fight This Feeling by REO Speedwagon.

Soul and R&B showed the changed taking place across black music with the more traditional Dare Me by the Pointer Sisters, Shelia E with A Love Bizarre, the U.K.'s Five Star with Let Me Be The One while Cameo came out with Single Life

Looking back on it  as I lived it with Record Mirror and Smash Hits magazines arriving through the door upon reflection 1985 had a very lively and diverse music scene.

Overall this is a fantastic top up!