Jukebox Journals #3: “Now That’s What I Call Music, 9….and a half?”

There’s a need to remember, the gap between March and November…

 

Summer 1987. The UK charts were a mixture of film songs, novelty records, early(ish) House tracks, a surprising amount of poodle-rock AOR and just about any genre you cared to wish for. Star Trekkin’, La Bamba, Call Me (“frightwigged” Spagna, not Blondie), Hold Me Now (Eurovision demi-god Johnny Logan, not Thompson Twins), George Michael’s I Want Your Sex (which we are allowed to say in full these days), a cover of Under The Boardwalk by the chap from Moonlighting, Who’s That Girl? (not Eurythmics, but Madonna’s latest film-tie to a film of her own that nobody thought was much cop), and many more (as the tagline used to go)…

Some of these were on The Hits Album 6, CBS/WEA/RCA’s combined assault on the market domination of Now That What’s I Call Music! during 1983 and 1984, which had launched at almost the same time as Now.. 4 was released at the end of 1984. To the general surprise of observers, The Hits Album won that particular battle and it seemed to spook its rival into avoiding too many direct head-to-head contests thereafter. When Hits 6 appeared in July 1987, it had been almost 6 months since Now 9, yet there would be no new collection from the EMI/Virgin/Polygram brand until November.

Thus, a lot of the finest hits from March to July that did not turn up on Hits 6 and then weren’t posthumously featured on Now 10 (such as ABC’s When Smokey Sings, Labour Of Love from Hue & Cry, Alone by Heart) ended up falling through the compilation cracks. By 1988, the Now.. series would begin a regular three-times-a-year schedule which coincided with Spring (Easter), Summer (School Holidays) and Winter (Christmas), leaving that period in 1987 as a curious “what-if?” moment for chartwatchers, mixtape makers and Now followers alike.

(1986 also only saw two main Now That’s What I Call Music! releases, but offshoot effort Now! The Summer Album from May sort-of gave them an excuse for delaying the 7th edition until August).

You can see the design team clearly worked overtime on this one.

 

So, what might that “missing” volume have looked like? Well, wonder no more as amazinglyfewdiscothequesprovidejukeboxes brings you Now That’s What I Call Music…Nine And A Half!

RECORD 1 SIDE 1 (UK Chart Peak in brackets)
1. IT’S A SIN PET SHOP BOYS (#1)
2. HEART AND SOUL T’PAU (#4)
3. VICTIM OF LOVE ERASURE (#7)
4. I HEARD A RUMOUR BANANARAMA (#14)
5. EVER FALLEN IN LOVE FINE YOUNG CANNIBALS (#9)
6. ANOTHER STEP (CLOSER TO YOU) KIM WILDE AND JUNIOR (#6)
7. SWEET SIXTEEN BILLY IDOL (#17)
8. DON’T DREAM IT’S OVER CROWDED HOUSE (#27)

Aiming to stay true to various Now traditions, things kick off with a current/recent UK Number One. It’s A Sin was the single which sent Pet Shop Boys to the next level of popularity, sparking a run of four #1s in less than a year. Personally, it’s never been one of my favourite PSB hits, but it’s suitably epic and successful to be perfect as the opening salvo here.

T’Pau’s breakthrough hit comes next, from the days when they were just a previously-unknown British act doing well in America, before China In Your bloody Hand changed everything. Erasure were starting to gain some momentum at last, with a third consecutive Top 20 entry….even better was, of course, still to come. I Heard A Rumour curiously fared better in the US, peaking a full 10 places higher than it managed in Britain, but it’s by far the finest of WOW!’s many singles.

Continuing the general pop theme, Fine Young Cannibals cover of Buzzcocks’ Ever Fallen In Love showcased the introduction of a more electronic direction that would reach its zenith on the mega-selling The Raw & The Cooked album in 1989. Kim Wilde’s second coming as an 80s pop star began with another cover, You Keep Me Hangin’ On, in late 1986 and its follow up Another Step (Closer To You) made it two Top 10 hits in a row.

As we’re still in mid-1987, vinyl (and cassette) remained the prime formats for the Now.. series, with Double CDs not deemed appropriate until Now 10. With that in mind, Side 1 (of four) winds down the energy levels with Billy Idol’s moodily nimble Sweet Sixteen, and future-classic Don’t Dream It’s Over by Crowded House. Their respective peaks of #17 and #25 meant they still had the chart profile worthy of a Now… feature.

RECORD 1 SIDE 2
1. I STILL HAVEN’T FOUND WHAT I’M LOOKING FOR U2 (#6)
2. ANIMAL DEF LEPPARD (#6)
3. COMIN’ ON STRONG BROKEN ENGLISH (#18)
4. PROMISED YOU A MIRACLE [LIVE] SIMPLE MINDS (#19)
5. NEVER TAKE ME ALIVE SPEAR OF DESTINY (#12)
6. CATCH THE CURE (#27)
7. SWEETEST SMILE BLACK (#7)

The second side is loosely the “rock” side, bringing together a pretty disparate bunch that takes in global mega icons U2 in full Joshua Tree mode, The Cure before they went heavy again, a stopgap ‘Live’ effort from Simple Minds, the much-heralded return of Def Leppard from the nightmare of car crashes and aborted sessions with Jim Steinman, Broken English’s staggeringly brazen Rolling Stones xerox (pastiche doesn’t do it justice), and the unexpected emergence of Colin Vearncombe as a Top 10 force with the first of two back-to-back Black classics. Not forgetting the sole brush with the Top 40 for Spear Of Destiny (the video for which was definitely an…inspiration….to Depeche Mode).

RECORD 2 SIDE 1
1. F.L.M. MEL AND KIM (#7)
2. BACK AND FORTH CAMEO (#11)
3. LOOKING FOR A NEW LOVE JODY WATLEY (#13)
4. ROADBLOCK STOCK AITKEN WATERMAN (#12)
5. BOOPS (HERE TO GO) SLY AND ROBBIE (#12)
6. SEXY GIRL LILLO THOMAS (#23)
7. LIES JONATHAN BUTLER (#18)
8. LET’S WAIT AWHILE JANET JACKSON (#3)

Onto the second half of proceedings, and what better way to launch the traditional “dance” section of this (unofficial) Now.. than Mel & Kim’s third straight smash. Cameo’s final flourish before the dumper beckoned, the rather-too-derivative-for-my-liking smash from Jody Watley, S/A/W flexing their mimickry muscles with a fine slab of retro funk, and bona fide legends of the groove Sly & Robbie make for an enjoyable sequence that typifies the breadth of musical diversity within chart pop at that time. The hits from Lillo Thomas and Jonathan Butler haven’t aged quite as well, but fit the mood, allowing the tempo to gradually slow enough for Janet Jackson’s first breathless ballad about “it” to bring everything to a climax (not literally…).

RECORD 2 SIDE 2
1. TO BE WITH YOU AGAIN LEVEL 42 (#10)
2. TRUE FAITH NEW ORDER (#4)
3. DIAMOND LIGHTS GLENN AND CHRIS (#12)
4. TONIGHT, TONIGHT, TONIGHT GENESIS (#17)
5. HOOVERVILLE THE CHRISTIANS (#21)
6. LUKA SUZANNE VEGA (#23)
7. WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE BON JOVI (#13)

We’re into the final quarter, and in the spirit of Now.. there is at least one oddity lurking within the last half-dozen choices. Tottenham Hotspur footballers Hoddle and Waddle, as if their silky skills on the pitch were not enough, gave Diamond Lights to the world…a “slab of doom-laden synth pop” as Smash Hits might have dubbed it. Heresy it may be, but I loved the record then and I still do. Deservedly it finds a home on this collection, in the absence of a full-blown and blow-dried Glen & Chris album (we can dream, just like Ossie….). More importantly, it sounds perfect sandwiched between New Order and Genesis. No, really.

There were a few alternative tracklistings to this final version, with the likes of Swing Out Sister (Twilight World), Duran Duran (Meet El Presidente) and Europe (Carrie) vying for the honour of inclusion. Twilight World‘s #32 chart peak counted against it (despite being from a #1 album, It’s Better To Travel), likewise the Duran flop, while the closing slot became a straight shootout between Joey Tempest and co. and those cowboys on steel horses, led by Jon Bon Jovi. The Battle of Huge Mullets. Frightening amounts of hairspray were spilled. Wanted Dead Or Alive emerged victorious.

THE FINAL RECKONING:

Now 9-and-a-half. 30 tracks. One UK chart-topper. 11 Top 10 hits. 13 Top 20 hits.

Biggest hit: It’s A Sin

Smallest hit: Catch

Oldest hit (at the time): Tonight, Tonight, Tonight

Newest hit (at the time): True Faith / Animal / Heart & Soul