Remembering the 80's

While looking through the used vinyl at MVE Notting Hill on the weekend and spotting some Now albums there, I asked domfjbrown the very same question, he said he though Now 36 was the last to appear on vinyl if I recall correctly. Sure he'll be along to confirm this or deny it...

A quick Google search on Now Thats What I Call Music brings up www.nowthatsmusic.com - seems they've started the series up in the USA and are currently on #13. The most recent Now LP I could find on ePay was Now 20.

 

Yep, I sure am! :MILD: Also, maybe we should get a group of us together to checkout "The 80's Bar" (in Sheffield) when SCIDB is doing a set there?

I saw those in MVE when we were in there on Saturday (at somewhat inflated prices, IMO). They weren't worth getting though for me, seeing as I've already got the first 2 compilations and got all the songs on CD in one place or another, except "Men Without Hats" strangely enough but have it on vinyl anyway so not worth splashing out £12 just to get that one track on a CD.

Mind you, those Schooldisco.com discs are always worth looking at for the cover art and booklets. There's a nice full lenghth centre page spread in the "Summer Holiday" compilation - thwoor! I'll get my (rain ) coat! :JOEL:

 

I was 1 out - according to one of the only NOW sites on the net, they go up to 35 on vinyl:
NOW collectables site

NOW 28 is the latest version on LP I have seen with my own eyes - but it was scratched to fudge (MVE aren't always bargains for vinyl!) so I left it...

Yeah - that's really bloody annoying 'cos you'll see NOW 4 on CD on Ebay and nearly die of shock 'til you notice it's some crappy modern shite instead of the old skool cool of bands like Bronski Beat and OMD... I'd post a link but the site's blocking it - so you'll have to make do with the link to the back cover. Note the lack of barcode

 

Ah the 80's - sat in my bedroom playing The Hobbit on a ZX Spectrum with Home by the Sea playing through my little Mission 70's when I should have been revising for O' levels

No mention of The Alarm yet - maybe with good reason - no, in fairness although they may have been U2 wannabe's with ridiculous haircuts they were superb live.

No mention of Japan and their excellent Ghosts or Bauhaus with Bella Lugosi's Dead (and Pete Murphy on the Maxell tapes ads).

Top three singles of the 80's for me:

1. Senses Working Overtime - XTC
2. This Charming Man - The Smiths
3. The Whole of the Moon - The Waterboys

I've got a video that I recorded from the TV at the end of '89 featuring a three hour review of the music of the 80's covering everyone from the big boys like U2 to the one hit wonders like Hayzee Fantayzee. Shame it's only in mono.

Matt.

 

I've not really heard much about The Alarm, other than that they're supposedly really good, other than a recent Mike Peters solo album that made me want to check out some of the Alarm stuff, also surprised at the lack of mention though.

Good call on the singles, even though The Whole Of The Moon is probably the most overplayed single of all time, especially considering the great works that the Waterboys have done, such as This Is The Sea, Fishermans Blues, We Will Not Be Lovers, Medicine Bow etc.

Another top single would have to be And She Was by Talking Heads. Little Creatures is a fantastic album, there can't be many albums bookended by two truly great singles, as this one is, opeing with And She Was and closing with Road To Nowhere.

Definitely the purchase of last weekend, that one!

 

And on the Talking Heads theme..

grreatest forgotten album of the eighties... Speaking in Tongues !!

(for my money anyway)

 

Hi

I must admit, I would go for Remain In Light as my favourite Talking Heads Album. It was much played at the time. Great mix of styles & a constant good groove. The album flowed very well from start to finsh. Remember the video for 'Once in a lifetime', pure class.

I remember buying Speaking Tongues at the time (1983), I didn't find it as satisfiying. Yes, there are some top notch songs on it but it didn't hold together, IMO, as well as Remain in Light. I could play Remain in light the whole way through but cherried picked tracks off Speaking Tongues. Overall Talking were one of my favourite bands of the early 80s. I have most of their albums plus a lot of Tom Tom Club stuff. (Talking Heads spin off).

SCIDB

 

I'm a great fan of all the Heads albums (probably up to Little Creatures, and whilst Speaking... may not be the most immediate of albums, Remain.. (a great album BTW) is hardly a "forgotten " album

Also anyone know if the first live album was ever released on CD ??

 

I believe it wasn't, I remember looking for it ages ago and being told it wasn't available. I haven't seen it since on vinyl even, must look harder!

 

hi,

Whilst enjoying this post ( it evoked many a good memory) i was shocked to discover that the early now cd are actually collectable. Off routing in the cupboard i went and discovered that i still have my original NTWICM 4 single CD released in 1984 as well as the now christmas CD released in 1986.

I think a trip to ebay might be in order .


Glenn

 

Space Invaders, Pacman, Simon, etc... See here...

http://www.schooldisco.com/htm/break_time.php

I believe David Sylvian is still around and recording new material. Nothing big time, but has a stable fanbase of cult following status.

I also have a mono VHS recording of this very same show taped off air. Lived at home and only had a mono video recorder in those days, even though our local transmitter was equiped and transmitting in NICAM at the time.

Have never watched that video back since, might have to dig it out for a viewing sometime. The bit from that show that stuck in my mind was the run down of the most overated musical acts of the decade. Top 3 was something like Dire Straits, Prince and U2. Definitely agree with that, not being a real big fan of the latter 2.

Still, the show made a very interesting alternative new year's eve TV viewing to BBC1's obligatory offering of Clive James reviewing the events of the past 12 months.

 

How lucky was that? 2 of "the" rarest early NOW CDs right there lying forgotten about in the back of a cupboard. Good luck, let us know how much of a killing you eventually make on them.

 

...or you could be charitable and sell them both to me for £100-£150 all in depending on how generous you feel (go on you know you want to!)... Yep - I'm that desperate to get NOW 4... However, not willing to do that thru Ebay...

Even if you're not willing, what CDP did you have to play NOW 4 on, and how much did you pay "in the day" for it? Curious as hell here 'cos I'd imagine hardly any copies were made? My CDR is OK but the original would be fandabidose...

 

Dom.,

Not sure what to do with them yet bit ebay favourite at the moment.

I paid £8.99 for now 4 ( the price sticker is still on it) and player it was played on a Ferguson Player which IIRC wasa rebagded sony CD101.

I paid £299 for it and it was still giving sterling service in my sisters sysyem up to last year. Strange although i was an early adopter of the silver disc I do most of my listening on vinyl now.

 

Cool - well keep us posted and send me the link to the item

SO £8.99 for a spangly new format over £5.99 for double tape/vinyl - that's not so bad compared to the initial difference in price between DVD and VHS...

Any rememberance of what other CDs caught your eye at the same time??

Oh - my tape copy of NOW3 still has a WHSmith £5.99 price label on it - he he he...

 

You still must be *very* desperate Dom, even to offer those kind of prices. As someone who always bangs on about how superior vinyl is to CD, how come you're so keen to get hold of an inferior version of an album you already have on vinyl, and with half the tracks missing.

Ah well!

Still on the subject of 80's compilation albums which are in a similar vein to the "Now" series, how about the early "Hits" compilations then... anyone got or collect these? I've never looked to see if they're worth anything, doubt if they're worth anything like as much as the Nows but I have the first 6 on vinyl, and 7 thru 10 on CD.

 

Ah yeah, but it's an EARLY CD so I'm interested - the quality in many respects on AAD CDs from the early 80s is better than early 90s DDD IMHO, and the fact it's the first NOW one is just the icing on the cake.

However, you say *I'm* desperate - how about the twonk who paid £435 for the latest one on Ebay - bloody crazy loon:
Crazy large NOW 4 EBay price!

That's £30 a TRACK!!!

I have Hits 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 on CD - my Hits 6 gets stuck... They go for about 20 quid each for the single disc versions and a little less for the doubles (7 upwards). For some reason Hits 5 seems easier to find on CD than Hits 6... Oh, and I have 1-4 on vinyl as well...

 

£435 !!! that got my attention i was going to keep it but 435 that would buy me a new cartridge for my TT.

I own a couple of the Hits complilations Hits 4 being one of the best sounding vinyl records i own (strange for a complilation).

Glenn

 

Funny you should say that - I'm impressed with Hits 4 on vinyl as well Hits 6 too sounded very good - although my copy got stuck on Labi Sifri's "Something inside so strong" so into the junker it went

I'd keep NOW 4 if I were you - sentimental value can be worth a lot more than anything else and that's a piece of your CD buying history - I very VERY rarely sell stuff because of this.

 

...but if there is no sentimental value attatched to that copy of Now 4, then it's a no brainer, flog it on E-pay and make a killing. :MILD:

Oh yeah, I've got Hits 6 on CD and it doesn't skip either. Never seen Hits 5 at all on CD, so it ain't that common, IME.