In the summertime….
1990 was the penultimate time that the numerical NOWs numbered only two in a calendar year. The new decade also brought with it a continued focus on the Dance element of the brand (we got three new NOW Dance volumes in 1990 alone), while rivals HITS followed the short-lived renaming to Monster Hits in 1989 by virtually abandoning the series altogether (only The Hit Pack would emerge, very late in the year).
The golden era of NOW vs HITS was over, but within a year or so a fresh era of NOW would begin; less hindered by record label licensing battles and with a big bold logo reboot. By the time of NOW 29 in November 1994, sales would be at record-breaking levels. The good times were back again.
Rewind to the height of summer 1990, and the brand was on holiday. Volume 17 from earlier that April arrived in a garish yellow pixelated sleeve and an underwhelming track selection. The next NOW would have an even less appealing cover, though it was a stronger package hits-wise. In between these was, of course, a gap. Time for an “Inbetweener” NOW, folks…
RECORD 1 SIDE 1
1. WHAT TIME IS LOVE? THE KLF
2. NAKED IN THE RAIN BLUE PEARL
3. POISON BELL BIV DEVOE
4. U CAN’T TOUCH THIS MC HAMMER
5. TURTLE POWER PARTNERS IN KRYME
6. PAPA WAS A ROLLING STONE WAS (NOT WAS)
7. I’M FREE THE SOUP DRAGONS with JUNIOR REED
8. WON’T TALK ABOUT IT BEATS INTERNATIONAL
RECORD 1 SIDE 2
1. A DREAM’S A DREAM SOUL II SOUL
2. CLOSE TO YOU MAXI PRIEST
3. THINKING OF YOU MAUREEN WALSH
4. OUTSTANDING KENNY THOMAS
5. TAKE YOUR TIME MANTRONIX
6. KNOCKED OUT PAULA ABDUL
7. WASH YOUR FACE IN MY SINK DREAM WARRIORS
The above 15 tracks would also have constituted CD1 of a 2 disc set. Eighties pop wasn’t quite dead but the dominant force was everything dance and rap related. NOW 17‘s two biggest hits (both UK #1s) were Dub Be Good To Me and Killer. The KLF would go on to reach even greater chart heights in 1991, but their #4 single What Time Is Love? makes for a cracking opener. Blue Pearl continues the vibe, followed by a sequence of commercial US hip-hop that crossed over successfully (Bell Biv Devoe, MC Hammer, and the chart-topping Turtle Power).
Cover versions and incorporating oldies into something new had become the fashion; Was (Not Was) made a pretty good fist of the Temptations nugget (just 3 years after a remix of the original made the Top 20), and indie also-rans the Soup Dragons struck big with their version of I’m Free by The Rolling Stones in a style clearly inspired by Primal Scream’s Loaded. Beats International followed up Dub Be Good To Me by re-recording an earlier minor Top 40 hit that was notable then for an almost unrecognisable Billy Bragg on lead vocal. It’s still brilliant.
Soul II Soul’s influence on the era ultimately benefitted others more than themselves, as their peaks began to tail off quite dramatically after 1989’s Get A Life made #3 at Christmas. A Dream’s A Dream would have set the alarm bells ringing when it could only reach #6, and worse was to come. The sound, however, etched itself into the mainstream and many artists would ride the wave.
Having fronted Bomb The Bass’ Top 5 take on I Say A Little Prayer in 1988, Maureen Walsh turned to the Sister Sledge classic and went Top 20 on her own. Maxi Priest scored a US Number 1 with Close To You, while Mantronix carried on where they’d left off with the seminal Got To Have Your Love at the start of 1990. Albeit with slightly less memorable results.
Shut up and dance! The campaign for Paula Abdul’s 1988 album Forever Your Girl was still knocking out the hits well into 1990 courtesy of a reissued/remixed version of her initial UK chart entry. A full blown remix LP would duly follow.
The first half concludes with the fun, jazzy Daisy Age hip-hop of Wash Your Face In My Sink .
RECORD 2 SIDE 1
1. BETTER THE DEVIL YOU KNOW KYLIE MINOGUE
2. HEART LIKE A WHEEL THE HUMAN LEAGUE
3. VIOLENCE OF SUMMER (LOVE’S TAKING OVER) DURAN DURAN
4. ONLY YOUR LOVE BANANARAMA
5. CRADLE OF LOVE BILLY IDOL
6. STEAMY WINDOWS TINA TURNER
7. BLAZE OF GLORY JON BON JOVI
RECORD 2 SIDE 2
1. THE ONLY ONE I KNOW THE CHARLATANS
2. ONE LOVE THE STONE ROSES
3. PICTURES OF YOU THE CURE
4. KISS THIS THING GOODBYE DEL AMITRI
5. STAY WITH ME HEARTACHE WET WET WET
6. CALIFORNIA DREAMIN’ RIVER CITY PEOPLE
7. EVERY BEAT OF THE HEART THE RAILWAY CHILDREN
8. THE GREAT SONG OF INDIFFERENCE BOB GELDOF
The first half of our second half of NOW Seventeen and a Half features a very familiar roll-call of 80s favourites. Most were finding the going rather tough, either commercially or artistically (and in the case of Duran Duran, both). Better The Devil You Know is acknowledged as the pop classic it sounded to me on the very first listen, while Heart Like A Wheel is probably my favourite single from the whole of 1990 (especially in its extended version). Sadly the ‘League were a band out of time, only managing #29 with a song that was every bit as fantastic as those from Dare. A brief second wind would come around 5 years later, following a switch from Virgin to EastWest and ace singles such as Tell Me When and Filling Up With Heaven.
After a productive run in league with Stock Aitken Waterman, culminating in a very popular Greatest Hits collection, Bananarama attempted to switch course and embrace “dance culture” with funky drummer beats, chiming pianos and more than a nod to the Rolling Stones’ Sympathy For The Devil. Results: mixed.
Billy Idol spent 3 years making the follow-up to the scintillating future-rock of Whiplash Smile, during which he almost got killed in a bike accident, only for Charmed Life to lack its predecessor’s sparkle and zip. Cradle Of Love was a US #2, but underperformed in Britain. Something which could never be said of Tina Turner, whose excellent Foreign Affair set from September 1989 continued to provide hits well into 1990. Steamy Windows was the album’s opener and one of its highlights.
Jon Bon took a break from band duties, in the gap between New Jersey and Keep The Faith, to provide the theme for the Young Guns II film and go down in a Blaze Of Glory.
The closing sequence has an alternative/indie slant, with one of the many new bands to flood the charts in the wake of The Stone Roses’ breakthrough in 1989, followed by the Roses themselves. The Only One I Know still leaves One Love for dust. Elder statesmen by this point, The Cure could still turn their hand to a gorgeous 45 even when the albums were becoming bloated (the consensus claims Disintegration is a classic….hmmm). Pictures Of You survived a cover version by Adele a generation on.
Wet Wet Wet’s chart positions were on the slide (by the end of 1991 they would be falling short of the Top 50 with Put The Light On) and Stay With Me Heartache could only limp to #30 despite a cover of The Beatles’ I Feel Fine on the flip side. Compatriots Del Amitri, by contrast, were on the up and had finally cracked the Top 40 at the very start of the year with Nothing Ever Happens. They subsequently reissued their 1989 flop Kiss This Thing Goodbye; it flopped again (but not quite as badly, peaking at #43) yet ’twas only a minor blip. The rest of the 90s would be kind to them.
California Dreamin’ was a decent cover version that was never intended to be an A-side; the record label (and radio) got the jitters over Carry The Blame (due to its subject matter of abortion) and River City People’s first chart hit was the outcome. Their album Say Something Good is something of a lost treasure in that Deacon Blue / Goodbye Mr. Mackenzie ballpark.
The Railway Children track didn’t make the Top 40 on what would be its first time round in 1990, but did subsequently reach #20-something in 1991. That earned it a place on the official NOW 19, but as this inbetweener technically comes before it, we’ll allow the duplication. It’s easier than finding an alternate choice and redoing it all….
Or I could take the Bob Geldof approach and just say “I don’t care at all”; the Great Song Of Indifference was a bit of a novelty (if a famous Irishman known for their scruffiness makes a folky Celtic song with fiddles on it while looking like a vagrant, is actually confounding our expectations). But with Band/Live Aid a fading memory, deconstructing the Saint Bob persona and shunning the slick stylings of his debut solo set from 1986 – that singularly failed to set the world alight – was probably a wise move.
30 songs. Just the solitary chart-topper (thanks to some Ninja Turtles). Rendered here in traditional Antique Olive-style!
Amazingly few discotheques provide jukeboxes 