Now Yearbooks 1990

After looking at a few issues in this life, let's go back to 1990 and enjoy ourselves shall we?

Book format with chart information and  pictures are present in this edition of the Now Yearbook.

We last touched base as the cool kids say with Now Yearbook last September with the 1973 issue and it's worth saying I'd stopped buying compilations like the Now's apart from the mid to late 90's Shine Indies ones.

1990 was a transitional year format was as I'd moved from lp with Early 1989 with Now 14 to cd by Summer's Now 15 and that was to run on 1991 and many of main trends of 1989 continued into 1990.

As with the other titles it is also available in deluxe 4 cd book form and cheaper fold round card cd versions with more tracks apart from the vinyl release.

Starting the rewind back to 1990 are George Michael with ‘Praying For Time’, and Elton John with his #1 single ‘Sacrifice’, followed by Roxette’s ‘It Must Have Been Love’ from the soundtrack to ‘Pretty Woman’. Disc One includes #1s from New Order, New Kids On The Block sadly missing on the vinyl edition, Steve Miller Band, and The Beautiful South, as well as Pop smashes from The KLF, The B-52’s, Kylie Minogue, Whitney Houston Kim Appleby, and concluding with the theme from Twin Peaks, Julee Cruise’s ‘Falling’, Chris Isaak with ‘Wicked Game’ and Pet Shop Boys defining ‘Being Boring’.

Dance floor-fillers start off Disc 2 from Deee-Lite with ‘Groove Is In The Heart’, #1s from SNAP!, and from Adamski & Seal plus club classics from Bass-O-Matic and Adventures Of Stevie V with ‘Dirty Cash (Money Talks)’, plus the unexpected collaboration between DNA & Suzanne Vega. British R&B legends Innocence and Soul II Soul appear ahead of a run of Indie-Alt legends including Happy Mondays, The Stone Roses, The Charlatans, Primal Scream and The Cure – before finishing on Candy Flip’s cover of ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’, and ‘All Together Now’ from The Farm.

Disc 3 opens with the brilliant interpretation of Prince’s ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’ from the late Sinéad O'Connor. Up next are film related hits; Maria McKee’s ‘Show Me Heaven’, from the ‘Days Of Thunder’ soundtrack, and the ‘Young Guns II’ track ‘Blaze Of Glory’ from Jon Bon Jovi. Faith No More had their UK Top 40 Chart debut with ‘Epic’, and the Grammy Award-winning US #1 for Alannah Myles ‘Black Velvet’ appears, alongside huge US artists Cher, Heart, and 1990’s biggest US hit from Wilson Phillips… and there’s still room for Pop-Reggae from UB40 and Maxi Priest, and the mega rap debut from M.C. Hammer and a further two #1 singles – both debuts - from Partners In Kryme with ‘Turtle Power’ and Vanilla Ice with ‘Ice Ice Baby’ that samples Queen's Under Pressure.

The tenth consecutive Top 10 hit for Pet Shop Boys ‘So Hard’ opens the concludiing disc, followed by the superb cover of the Disco classic ‘You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)’ from Jimmy Somerville, before a second appearance from Kylie Minogue with her Disco anthem ‘Step Back In Time’ and one of Stock, Aitken & Waterman’s greatest dancefloor tracks ‘Happenin’ All Over Again’ from Lonnie Gordon. Pop/Dance gold from 49ers, Blue Pearl, and Bananarama lead into timeless Pure-Pop from Dusty Springfield, Halo James, Jason Donovan, Adam Ant with Room At The Top and another track from the ‘Pretty Woman’ soundtrack – this time from Go West before the collection winds down with two classic covers from Deacon Blue and a-ha, closing with two ‘60s hits that became hits once again, Bobby Vinton’s ‘Blue Velvet’ following its use in film, and tv commercials, and The Righteous Brothers with their rendition of ‘Unchained Melody’ – featured in 1990’s biggest film ‘Ghost’ which helped catapult the song to #1, 25 years since its initial release, when it reached #14.

This is a more comprehensive selection than the period Now 17 and 18 albums I bought on compact disc that year.

Issued March 15th the Extra edition that tops up the main volume emerged in its simple card cover which may be effective but does stick out like a sore thumb next to the beautiful main edition.

This just finishes off nicely the year adding singles both major hits like How Am I Supposed To Live With You, a cover of the Laura Branigan hit  and Betty Boo's Doin' The Do and minor ones.