Now That's What I Call Music 17

Now That's What I Call Music! 17

Cover Art

A new decade and the NOW people decide to go all modern and techy with this 'pixilated' attempt which in truth looks like someone's produced the picture on an Amstrad CPC-464 and then taken a blurry photograph of it. Still, with its loud yellow blocking and traditional red, blue and green balls, it's very bright and distinctive and you certainly couldn't confuse it with any of the others in the series. It's just a tad plain.

CD One

01 – Erasure – Blue Savannah (#3)

The honour of having the first track of the first NOW of the nineties was handed to the established synthpop pairing of Vince Clarke and Andy Bell – Erasure. This less-than amazing accolade became the chaps' sixth appearance on such a compilation. 'Drama!' had appeared on NOW 16 and thankfully we skipped the dirgesome drone - and second single from 'Wild!' - 'You Surround Me'. Instead, we get the third offering from 'Wild!' and it's certainly the best of the four singles that it spawned. 'Blue Savannah' is a bright, breezy thoughtful slice of commercial electronica. Initially it seems as though 'Blue Savannah' might be a rather low-key and minimal electro affair, until things burst open and get a bit jolly and 'pan-pipey', before Bell chimes in with his unmistakable crooning. There's no real chorus to speak of as such, just a series of long 'sort-of' verses which all begin with the title. In its place, we have a rather sweet, whistling synth melody coupled with cascading pianos and subtle strings. All in all it's a very pleasant and packed piece of pop and its peak of No3 means it became one of the duo's biggest hits. Only 'Sometimes' and the 'Crackers International' and 'ABBA-Esque' EPs have charted higher ('Chrous' also made No3). But don't forget though, their biggest and only hit is 'A Little Respect'...

02 – The Rebel MC – Better World (#20)

Judging by the sleeve notes and its almost prime position on the album, one can only assume that the industry were hyping up the 'Rebel' somewhat and keen to market him as a big UK rap talent. I quote - “1989 established the Rebel MC as the hottest rapper in Britain”. The hype was naturally expected to pay off and a Top 10 smash was clearly expected, as I can't think of any other reason it would be this high in the track-listing. I mean, the opening of any NOW LP starts with a succession of big-hitters and the NOW 17 can boast that its first six tracks are all Top 5 hits. With the exception of 'Better World', which just squeaked into the Top 20 at 20 - not exactly 'hot'. The problem with 'Better World' is that it contains all the same elements as previous hit 'Street Tuff', minus any real hook. 'Street Tuff' has a catchy chorus – 'Better World' just has some wailing. So after just three singles and a Top 20 album ('Rebel Music' made No18), things were already on their way to going West for Michael and he found himself going from hot to lukewarm to stone-cold pretty rapidly. Next single 'Wickedest Sound' missed the charts altogether and the 'Rebel' would only register one further entry in the forty, when the more jungle-sounding 'Tribal Base – complete with ill-fitting 'Orinoco Flow' sample – also peaked at No20. After the fires had well and truly died down for this project, the West moved underground and focussed his attention on jungle whilst using a variety of monikers – most notably Congo Natty. Look at that, I've managed to write a whole piece about the Rebel MC without mentioning the fact he's married to Maria Whittaker. Oh shit...

03 – Paula Abdul – Opposites Attract (#2)

Despite an undeniably impressive run of six consecutive No1 singles in the US, Ms Abdul never quite reached the heights here and in fact only really had three hits – this being her second and biggest. As ever the simplest ideas are the most effective and once you have the idea of 'opposites attracting' all you need to do is name anything you fancy, say you like it and then have someone else say they don't. Of course, Abdul required someone in opposition and that job went, slightly strangely to specially created cartoon character MC Skat Kat (voiced by never-popular rappers The Wild Pair). Not sure that's the greatest of names when one considers what it could also mean. In fact I caught a cat from down the road playing with its shit on my gravel the other day. Skat Kat also appears in the promotional video – bit of a waste of time him being a cartoon character if he wasn't I suppose – and such was its brilliance it ended up receiving a Grammy. The song itself is also pretty good, with its wild keyboard riffing, upbeat drum hits and funky guitar and definitely deserves to be played these days rather more than it does. It's up there with Tiffany and Whitney etc but it's seldom heard. I don't know why, because as is so often the case, it was a big old hit at the time. Unlike the US, it couldn't hit the very top here and frustratingly for Paula and the 'Kat', they got stuck at No2. with only the mighty Madonna stopped them from sitting on top of the pile with the iconic 'Vogue' – so at least she didn't lose out to something silly. Follow-up 'Cold Hearted' also topped the US charts but back here we weren't attracted and it peaked at No46 - which is hardly surprising and with its lack of hook or melody, the whole thing was more 'Half Hearted'.

04 – Beats International – Dub Be Good To Me (#1)

Track four and we have our first of two No1 hits. Beats International were “a collective headed by Norman 'Fatboy Slim' Cook” and this wasn't the first time he'd been involved in a chart-topper. In essence it is simply a cover of 'Just Be Good To Me' by The S.O.S. Band with a slightly altered title. There is though a little more to it, because as well as covering the aforementioned song, it also takes in samples from The Clash, the main theme from Once Upon A Time in the West, and crucially perhaps, 'reinterpreted' lines from Johnny Dynell's 'Jam Hot'. All these components once put together worked perfectly, although it was originally conceived as an instrumental which is interesting as the backing compliments the song so well that it feels like it was made specifically for it. A song that I have to say has a lot of truth to it. I've known many a woman who is happy to go out with someone who is a complete and utter cunt to all and sundry, but because they're 'good to them', that's all that matters. I'll probably get labelled a misogynist for saying that, but I don't really see how speaking from experience translates as a hatred of women, but there you go. As mentioned, the booming, dub reggae flavour – which is reflected in the title – sits beautifully beneath the song and and if you required any further hooks then you've also got the imitable 'mmm mmm mmm mmm mmm, mmm mmm mmm mmm mmm mmm mmm' section. All these elements certainly helped the track gain much popularity and having booted Sinead O'Connor out of the way, Norman and co. stayed at the very top for four whole weeks. Whilst there, they saw off competition from 'The Brits 1990 Medley' and 'Love Shack'. Going off on a tangent briefly, I feel I should explain the former. This was back in the days when The Brits acknowledged the existence and popularity of dance music and in 1990, a medley was commissioned to celebrate such. This '1990' medley contained the following:

Rebel MC & Double Trouble 'Street Tuff' (1989), A Guy Called Gerald 'Voodoo Ray' (1989), S-Express 'Theme From S-Express' (1988), The Beatmasters featuring Betty Boo 'Hey DJ' (1989), Jeff Wayne 'Ever Of The War (Ben Liebrand Remix)' (1989), 808 State 'Pacific' (1989), D-Mob featuring Gary Haisman 'We Call It Acieed (1988), Cookie Crew 'Got To Keep On' (1989) – so nothing actually from 1990. Speaking of dance music, in 2011, bastion of dance music expertise MTV Dance named 'Dub Be Good To Me' as the 59th greatest dance record of all time, which is impressive, considering that fact that's it's not a dance record. I shudder to think what No1 was – 'Gangsta's Paradise' probably...

05 – UB40 – Kingston Town (#4)

Some pretty easy scheduling here from NOW by sticking the two ‘reggae’ hits together. As is fairly customary with UB40’s biggest success, ‘Kingston Town’ is of course a cover. In fact it was taken from their second covers album, ‘Labour Of Love II’. Originally recorded by Trinidad & Tobago vocalist Lord Creator in 1970, the Brummie borrowers took it on, slowed it down, removed the ‘bar piano’ sound and gave it a slick, reggae pop restyle. Oh and added that distinctive synthesized French horn sound. And to be fair, it worked well - very well in fact. After the album’s second single ‘Here I Am (Come And Take Me)’ failed to chart, one might’ve thought it best to move on to something new, but fortunately the record company plumped for a third release and this time a Top 5 hit was the result. Not only that, but it is now regarded as one of UB40’s signature pieces. A fourth and final single was released from ‘Labour Of Love II’ – fair enough seeing as ‘Kingston Town’ was such a whopper, but stupidly named Paragons cover ‘Wear You To The Ball’ only did slightly better than ‘Here I Am…’ – peaking at No35. Thus proving that it doesn’t happen often. But when UB40 get a cover right, they really get it right. By the way, the video is incredibly boring, so don’t waste your time looking it up. Oh and lastly, whilst writing this, my daughter was watching Come Dine With Me and there was a chap on it who looked like cross between Ali Campbell and Terry Christian. And like Terry Christian he was a bit of a cock too.

06 – Candy Flip – Strawberry Fields Forever (#3)

Changing tone somewhat we have a cover that at the time, despite its popularity, was regarded as sacrilege and I’m sure it probably still is today. Oh how dare anyone cover The Beatles. Like The Beatles never did any covers… Anyway, ignoring musical snobs for now, what we have here is trippy but still poppy cover of the ‘fab’ four. Regular readers – if there is such a thing – might like to cast their minds back to NOW 16 and Fresh 4’s take on ‘Wishing On A Star’. We’re in that territory here. In fact it uses the same sample as Fresh 4, namely James Brown’s ‘Funky Drummer’. And that’s about it really. The vocals are meant to sound a bit ‘spaced out’ and I recall reading in Smash Hits that vocalist Danny ‘Dizzy’ Spencer had recorded them whilst singing through the spout of a teapot, which is probably bollocks. He was probably just on something when he was interviewed. I think I’m probably on safe ground joking about drug use here, after all, the name Candy Flip is derived from a certain drug taking practice. Despite a Top 3 smash, there would be no more chart success for the pair of flippers. An album was though released - ‘Madstock… The Continuing Adventures Of Bubblecar Fish’ - and a few more singles followed, including ‘This Can Be Real’ – the only one to even make the Top 75. To these ears it sounds like they’ve been asked to remix ‘Strawberry Fields…’ into a new theme tune for ‘right-on’ eighties See-Saw programme ‘You & Me’. Another was ‘Space’, which sounds like a mixture of Happy Mondays, Stone Roses and Snap! ‘Do You See The Light’ (which hadn’t actually been made at the time, but you get the idea).

07 – Tina Turner – I Don't Wanna Lose You (#8)

Amazingly, my daughter has another episode of Come Dine With Me on right now and one of the diners has just revealed having a Tina Turner obsession and another added that she had a Tina Turner impersonator at her wedding. God, what’s the matter with these people? I think I’ve made it more than clear how I feel about the old ball-sack on legs, but again I’ll try and be objective here.

Kicking off then, we discover that as ever, this unique talent didn’t write this song. She’s just had it handed to her and been instructed to growl her way through it like a honey bear with a hangover. Ignoring the rather naff tootling pipes, this mid-tempo, soft rock ode to older women that know when they’re onto a good thing is by no means a bad record, but on a personal level I would enjoy it more were it performed by someone with a more pleasant voice. The accompanying video to the single sees our Tina standing out on her balcony in a mild breeze whilst perving on her neighbours. Follow-up and third single from ‘Foreign Affair’ was the frightful image-inducing ‘Steamy Windows’ which made an acceptable No13. A fourth and fifth single appeared – the fifth making its way onto NOW 18, which is something to look forward to. I’ve just done a quick check and it appears that Ms Turner appears on a further seven NOW compilations right up to NOW 44. Roll on NOW 45…

08 – Phil Collins – I Wish It Would Rain Down (#7)

Whilst we’re on our short stroll along soft rock avenue, we reach one of Uncle Phil’s perhaps lesser-known power ballads, ‘I Wish It Would Rain Down’. The track was the second to be extracted from Collin’s nine times platinum (in the UK alone) LP ‘…But Seriously’ and followed previous smash ‘Another Day In Paradise’ into the charts. You might, for a second, think that you’re listening to one of Guns ‘N’ Roses token ballads, what with its raucous guitar at the intro. The man with the guitar isn’t Mr Saul Hudson (Slash) but Mr Eric Clapton. The story behind the song is essentially a continuation of ‘Against All Odds (Take A Look At Me Now)’ – relationship over, full of regret, wants to get back together, knows that is pretty unlikely – and as well as Eric Clapton guesting, it appears George from Rainbow was invited to sing the chorus. I could be wrong though as there’s no sign of the pink puppet in the overly extravagant video for the song, which clocks in at over eight minutes long and has nothing at all to do with the song. Instead it’s basically a black and white clip set in the 30s of Collins performing the song as some sort of audition. ‘I Wish It Would Rain Down’ made No7 in the UK – but it did better across the water where it reached No3 on the Billboard 100 and went all the way to the top in Canada where it stayed there for six weeks. Follow-up ‘Something Happened On The Way To Heaven’ will be discussed on NOW 18, but this compilation isn’t done with Phil completely – keep a look out for Jam Tronik on Disc 2.

09 – Happy Mondays – Step On (#5)

Unbeknown to many – especially those that rave about the track – ‘Step On’ is actually a cover of John Kongos early 70s fuzz-rock number ‘He’s Gonna Step On You Again’, a protest song about the appropriation of land in Africa by ‘the white man’. Shaun Ryder and his pals of course put their own unique stamp on it, adding chopping pianos, a half-stepping beat and obscure lyrical references but John Kongos song it is and on some releases is even credited as a featured artist. Speaking of ‘obscure lyrical references’ there’s one that has made its way into common parlance. I am of course referring to Ryder’s twisting of melons, which apparently means something along the lines of “you’re doing my head in” in case you were wondering. Despite being a cover, it is perhaps due to the Mondays putting so much of a ‘twist’ on it that people think it’s their own composition. Although this was the first of their only two ‘big’ hits, it wasn’t their first release or chart entry. All previous singles from the band’s first two long-players had failed to chart inside the famous forty, but there were signs that popularity was growing when an EP ‘Madchester Rave On’ broke the Top 20 in late 1989, hitting No19 and rewarding the boys with a Top Of The Pops appearance. The peak of this increased popularity was up next when ‘Step On’ hit the Top 5, along with parent album ‘Pills ‘N’ Thrills And Bellyaches’. This though would turn out to be short-lived as although follow-up single ‘Kinky Afro’ also hit No5, the all-important second album ‘Yes Please!’ turned out to be a nightmare in every way. Due largely to the band being drug-obsessed dickheads, the recording became an extremely expensive disaster for label Factory Records – so much so that it bankrupted them. Its content wasn’t good and it wasn’t a great commercial success either, so very little money was recouped and by 1993 the group had unsurprisingly disbanded. Ryder went on to form pop-funk-rock act Black Grape and the Mondays themselves have reformed on occasions throughout the years. This moment though is what the band was really about and what they’ll be eternally remembered for. Wa-hey-hey-hey!

10 – Primal Scream – Loaded (#16)

Another track that screams 1990 is ‘Loaded’. The track began life as the plodding, whinging rock track ‘I’m Losing More Than I’ll Ever Have’, before it was given one hell of a remix by DJ/producer Andrew Weatherall. Legend has it that the first remix (or second) wasn’t what label Creation were looking for and after a few attempts told Weatherall to “fucking destroy it”. And thankfully that’s exactly what he did, turning the tepid indie-rock original into a sample-laden, beaty trip into electronica. Up until now, the Glaswegian rockers had been on the edge of making it but it was this epic reconstruction of ‘Loaded’ that did it for them. The track contains more samples from outside sources than vocalist and fun-vacuum Bobby Gillespie’s voice. One big sample is the opening dialogue which Weatherall pulled from 1960s biker film ‘The Wild Angels’, which gives the song its title. Other notable samples include a vocal from The Emotions’ ‘I Don’t Wanna Lose Your Love’ and a distinctive drum loop – itself sampled from a bootleg remix of Edie Brickell’s ‘What I Am’. All in all, ‘Loaded’ couldn’t sound any more different from ‘I’m Losing More Than I’ll Ever Have’ – which can only be a good thing and gave Primal Scream their first entry on the UK singles chart when it peaked at No16 in March ’90. The band had turned in a direction they perhaps hadn’t expected and now found themselves in the centre of the Manchester-based ‘indie dance’ scene. Follow-up ‘Come Together’ trod a similar but less-effective path and Top 10 (and third) album ‘Screamadelica’ was a big commercial success, spending thirty weeks on chart and spawned four further singles and a million T-shirts.

11 – Depeche Mode – Enjoy The Silence (#6)

Having this on the first NOW CD of the 90s is a timely reminder that ‘Enjoy The Silence’ is not an 80s record. Released in February 1990 – that’s 1990 – and an occupant of the No2 album ‘Violator’ - also released in 1990 – ‘Enjoy The Silence’ fared better than lead single ‘Personal Jesus’ which had stalled just outside the Top 10 at No13 in September 1989 (making that a bona fide 80s record). As well as chart success, it also won ‘Best Single’ at the 1991 (?) Brit Awards. Sounding like something that would’ve been nicely at home on Pet Shop Boys 1990 album ‘Behaviour’, the track is a simple, yet captivating moment in electronic pop. It started life however as a downtempo ballad with only a vocal and harmonium accompaniment, you might be surprised to learn. But after being sped up and rewritten, the story of thoughts and feelings meaning everything and words being potentially harmful to a relationship had become an altogether different beast altogether and gave the blokes from Basildon only their sixth Top 10 hit. Surprising perhaps, seeing as they had first charted back in 1981. Two more singles appeared from ‘Violator’ – the rather average ‘Policy Of Truth’ which sounds like INXS trying to incorporate Kraftwerk and the subtle and Art Of Noise-esque‘World In My Eyes’. Both entered the lower end of the Top 20 and disappeared pretty sharpish. ‘Enjoy The Silence’ made a return to the chart of sorts with ‘The Silence’ - an instrumental dance track based around the tracks distinctive riff - but the haunting original remains a classic. A 90s classic I might add…

12 – Jesus Jones – Real Real Real (#19)

The early 90s saw a cluster of these kinds of groups spring up: Jesus Jones, EMF, Pop Will It Itself. It was sort of synthesized indie pop punk - to coin a somewhat clumsy phrase. Jesus Jones themselves had managed to achieve a trio of near-missing singles from the first LP ‘Liquidizer’. ‘Real Real Real’ – the first from the No1 ‘Doubt’ – finally took them into the Top 40 when it popped into the twenty at No19 in April 1990. It hadn’t been released by the time this compilation had been created but the sleeve notes state that the song is ‘tipped’ to be their first hit. In music industry terms that tends to mean someone’s fiddled it somewhere for them to have a hit. From the start it sounds as though we’re going to get a rerecording of Bananarama/Fun Boy Three ‘It Ain’t What You Do’ but it’s not long until the “Oohs” and clunky percussion subside and synthesized beats and crunching guitars take over. There’s an awful lot going on and to be honest it feels a bit like they can’t decide if they want to appeal to dance or indie fans and end up making a bit of a mess trying to delight both. Subsequent singles managed to do this more successfully, such as ‘Right Here Right Now’ which was released twice and strangely made No 31 and was on chart for four weeks both times. Their big breakthrough single though was Top 10 signature ‘International Bright Young Thing’. I once tried writing a sitcom that was meant to be deliberately contemporary copy of ‘The Young Ones’ featuring students of different nationalities entitled ‘International Bright Young Things’. I can tell you now, the world has lost out on a real cracker there. The Jones’ would once more reach the Top 10 in 1993 when lead single ‘The Devil You Know’ from album number three ‘Perverse’ made No10, but as is often, I suspect this was largely down to fans lapping up new material than it being one of their strongest moments. Record sales this time were alright, but not as high worldwide as they were in the days of ‘Doubt’ and after the summer of ’93 any real (real real) commercial success was over.

13 – Inspiral Carpets – This Is How It Feels (#14)

With its distinctive ‘fuzzy’ sixties-style organ and flutey synths, the Carpets laid down a unique and melancholic indie kids anthem. Before now, the band had achieved minor success around the indie scene and charts, but it was this ode to loneliness that struck a chord with pop fans and pushed them into the limelight. ‘This Is How It Feels’ peaked at No14 in March ’90 and from then on in they became regular visitors to both the single and album charts. They enjoyed more success over on the albums chart I might add as despite three Top 10 albums, they never replicated that on the singles chart with 1992’s ‘Dragging Me Down’ being their highest charting single (#12). Oldham’s finest did experience a minor resurgence in 2003, but would never reach the previous heights of the early 90s. In late 2016, drummer Craig Gill sadly died and the carpets allied fans attempted to get ‘Saturn 5’ to No1 that Christmas as a tribute. Had the charts still been compiled by sales only, it may well have happened, but thanks to streaming being allowed to count as single sales as well, it didn’t even come close, just like all the valiant – and not so valiant - attempts we now get every year.

14 – The House Of Love – Shine On (#20)

I’ve no idea why I think this, but I have a memory of Radio 2 quitter Simon Mayo announcing this as his favourite record of all time during his days at Radio 1. I appreciate an uncertain memory about something that isn’t even remotely interesting isn’t the best thing to write about a track, but I do aim to find something unique to say about all these songs and I bet nobody has commented that beneath the video on YouTube. So to ‘Shine On’ then. Originally a single in 1987, the track failed to make even the Top 100 and it wasn’t until 1990 and a subsequent remix/recording that gave the London lads their first of just two Top 40 entries. Previously, the band had two single in succession that peaked at No41 but the power of ‘Shine On’ finally helped them crack it. It’s hard not to draw comparisons to Echo & The Bunnymen and perhaps a bit of Simple Minds too and it does sounds like something that could’ve featured on the soundtrack to The Lost Boys. ‘Shine On’ is moody, haunting but somehow rather ‘pop’ too, giving it a rather broad appeal. This is probably due to its ‘She she she shine on’ refrain and whilst I’m quoting lyrics I’d like to suggest that this may be the only pop record that refers to plastic garden chairs. As mentioned, there would only be one more hit single, namely the follow-up ‘Beatles And The Stones’ which was a rather depressingly sombre affair.

15 – Faith No More – From Out Of Nowhere (#23)

My taste in music as I’ve grown older has actually broadened, believe it or not. Back in 1990, when this compilation was unleashed I had not long turned 13 and through most of my teens I was very much into electronic music only. I’d buy all the new dance releases and little else. I would also attend record fairs at the town hall in Oxford and snaffle up as many unreleased promo only CD singles as I could. On one such occasion I was accosted by a stall holder who all of a sudden accused me of stealing a Faith No More cassette single. Of course I hadn’t, but such was my dedication to the dance I was more insulted that he thought I’d steal some by Faith No More, not the fact I was capable of theft. A friend of mine did like them, but aside from seeing his T-shirts and being forced to hear their unnecessary cover of ‘Easy’ – I think that’s what I was accused of pinching actually – they’ve never really been on my radar that much. ‘From Out Of Nowhere’ is a frenetic and surprisingly synth-led affair and became the San Francisco act’s second UK chart entry when it peaked at No 23 in April 1990. Taken from the LP ‘The Real Thing’ – which despite peaking at No30 spent an impressive thirty five weeks on the album chart – ‘From Out Of Nowhere’ is decent enough lump of rock, but the song itself lacks any real hook, with only the synthesizers giving us anything to remember. That said, it’s a lot better than I imagined in all honesty. I still wouldn’t steal it though.

16 – The Quireboys – Hey You (#14)

On the cassette release of NOW 17 there’s a warning that follows Faith No More. In a clear voice it says ‘Attention – you may now fast forward to the end of this side’. There isn’t, but placing this lump of nauseating dung at the end of the disc sends exactly the same message. Having changed their name from The Choirboys to the rather unsavoury ‘Queerboys’ the band finally settled on a combination of the two and in late ’89 they finally managed a Top 40 entry, that being the bluesy pop rock affair‘7 o’clock’. Hot on its heels was this one, ‘Hey You’ and it was with this that they cracked the Top 20. The worst thing about this about their cringeworthy commercial rock sound is the vocals of Jonathan ‘Spike’ Grey/Gray – ‘Grey’ according to Guinness Hit Singles, ‘Gray’ according to the internet. I’m not a huge fan of throaty vocals anyway, but his just sound like someone taking the piss and as a result, they just sound embarrassing. Basically if you thought the likes of Thunder and Poison weren’t quite naff enough, then The Quireboys were the band for you. A No2 LP ‘A Bit Of What You Fancy’ – more naffness – followed and aside from a few low end chart entries Spike and his men worried the chart very little until disbanding in 1993 (they’ve since reformed apparently). ‘Hey You’ was their one moderate success though and also has the undeserved accolade of being the first song of the 90s to be performed on Top Of The Pops. Hopefully that meant it was at the start and they cut to it a minute and a half in and then cut away with a minute left like they always used to do to dance acts.

CD Two

01 – Technotronic featuring MC Eric – This Beat Is Technotronic (#14)

After the monumental smash that was ‘Pump Up The Jam’, there came the similar-sounding single ‘Get Up (Before The Night Is Over)’. For their third release from Jo Bogaert’s project we were for some reason in need of a reminder that the beat was “Technotronic”. Seeing as it was virtually the same beat as the two aforementioned singles, there seems little point in this statement. One thing that was different this time around however was the lack of a female vocal and we are instead introduced to the rhymes of Welsh-born Jamaican rapper MC Eric, who had “lyrics for ya”. He also claims to have “an instrumental to make noise”, although him saying that makes the track not an instrumental. Were it an instrumental it would sound even more like it’s more famous brother – even the synths seems to be playing the same notes as ‘Pump Up The Jam’. Like a number of tracks on NOW 17, it was included on the compilation ahead of its single release and the sleeve notes imply – somewhat petulantly – that it will “probably be Technotronic’s” third hit and therefore tells us why a track that only made No14 is first up on the disc. This wasn’t the end though as fourth single ‘Rockin’ Over The Beat’ – taken from the platinum album - was actually more successful and made the Top 10, as did the decently effective ‘Megamix’ – remember them? Admittedly though, such were the similaritiesof their sound, only one song has really held in the memory and of course, that was their very first jam.

02 – Lonnie Gordon – Happenin' All Over Again (#4)

Nothing lasts forever and the astonishing success of the Stock Aitken Waterman team was at the turn of the decade starting to wane. There was still time though for Miss Lonald Gordon to get herself onto their studio wall with this. Originally written for Donna Summer, it instead ended up in Lonnie’s hands, although one can certainly hear Summer singing it with that knowledge. The g-less ‘Happenin’ is a bouncy but standard S-A-W affair, with a slight nod to ‘hip house’ – it does after all contain the ‘wooh!’ half of the tired ‘Wooh! Yeah!’ sample that I’ve discussed before. The song itself is decent enough, but in 1990 this sound was beginning to sound rather dated. One always got the feeling that with each new act that S-A-W signed, they’d be subjected to a sort of rationing and would only really get one strong song each. Once they’d had one hit they wouldn’t need material quite so strong as they could sell singles off the back of their big hit and the really good ones could be kept for promoting another new artist. This didn’t quite work for poor old Lonnie as after she’d hit the Top 5 that was pretty music her pop career over already. Planned follow-up ‘How Could He Do This To Me’ was for some reason binned and the lacklustre Soul II Soul-ish ballad ‘Beyond Your Wildest Dreams’ bombed (three years later Sybil would also fail to have a hit with it). She continued to pop up on the occasion dance track as a featured vocalist but ‘Happenin’ would be her only moment in the sun.

03 – 49ers – Don't You Love Me (#12)

As the 90s saw a rise in dance music entering the charts, we also saw the media being snotty and snide about it, as we can see in the sleeve notes regarding the 49ers’ follow-up to Top 3 hit ‘Touch Me’. The sarcastic twat responsible writes that “the lyrically astonishing ‘Don’t You Love Me’ is the second British Top 20 hit of 1990 for “Italo House” combo the 49ers”. Quite why the 49ers have been selected for specific derision I’ve no idea as there have been far more less 'lyrical' tracks previously – 'Jack Your Body' for example. Not only that, but the song has verses, a chorus and also an extra refrain after the chorus. Whilst we’re talking lyrics, to this day I can’t not mention ‘Touch Me’ as to this day I still can’t hear anything other than ‘pick a pear, peck a pear’ in the verses. ‘Don’t You Love Me’ – despite the derision from someone who I think might be called Ashley Abram, is an arguably better song, and certainly doesn’t mention the selection of fruit amongst it “astonishing” lyrics and unlike Technotronic isn’t a carbon copy of a previous hit. There’s the classic ‘Italo’ piano sound of course, but it’s a very pleasant inoffensive (except to Ashley Abram) pop dance ditty. The 49ers were the brainchild of Italian producer and slight hero of mine Gianfranco Bortolotti. Bortolotti owned his own label, Media Records, and masterminded a number of European dance hits for a number of different acts – Cappella being the most successful. Other acts included East Side Beat, Clubhouse featuring Carl, AntiCappella and Sharada House Gang. As the 49ers, Bortolotti had the odd hit across Europe in later years, largely down to the Cappella connection who were huge for a short time across the continent and feature on several upcoming NOWs.

04 – Jimmy Somerville – Read My Lips (Enough Is Enough) (#26)

The third helping from the King Edward of Pop’s debut album was the sort of title track ‘Read My Lips (Enough Is Enough). Having begun his solo career with two covers – ‘Comment Te Dire Adieu’ and ‘You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)’ - this was the first single that Somerville actually wrote and it’s hard not to draw comparisons to the Barbra Streisand and Donna Summer’s disco anthem ‘No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)’. Starting off with a somewhat irrelevant, industrial growl the synthesized bassline and piano soon reveal themselves and things become a lot more familiar. Somerville is in pretty safe disco-pop territory here with big brassy synths and lots of chanting and wailing – from both him and the backing singers. The video though is shit. Chart wise it didn’t do half as well as previous singles and peaked at a disappointing No26 – the second lowest chart peak on this compilation. Speaking of compilations, up next for James was a bit of a cash-in in all honesty – a singles collection taking in his three solo efforts plus work from his time with both the Communards and Bronski Beat. One single was released ahead of this compilation and unsurprisingly it was another cover. This time, the already heavily covered Bee Gees ballad ‘To Love Somebody’, which took the old spud back to the top ten, for the final time though. From then on in Somerville chipped in now and again with the odd minor hit, but overall enough was enough.

05 – Cliff Richard – Stronger Than That (#14)

Now enjoying his fifth decade of chart success, Cliff unleashed the fourth and final single from his twenty-sixth studio album, ‘Stronger’. Christmas had seen a diversion from the album with a god-awful god-loving collaboration with Van Morrison – ‘Whenever God Shines His Light’. Leaving the almighty to one side in the new year, Cliff returned to his current platinum album. ‘Stronger Than That’ is a little more upbeat than previous release ‘Lean On You’ but not quite up there with the Stock Aitken Waterman produced ‘Just Don’t Have The Heart’. Like Somerville, Cliff is in rather safe territory here as he sings about his love being strong for someone and that he can be counted on – you know the sort of thing. If you fancy a laugh/cringe, have a look at the video in which Cliff seems to think he’s going to be part of Janet Jackson’s Rhythm Nation tour and is practicing on the set of ‘Up Pompeii’. On the chart side of things, it fared a little better than both ‘Lean On You’ and that one about God, making No14 in early March 1900. In fact 1990 was a good year for the legendary crooner, especially when in the December he achieved a seasonal No1 with the rather underrated ‘Saviour’s Day’. See, religious songs can be good.

06 – Jam Tronik – Another Day In Paradise (#19)

Phil Collins reportedly hated this dance-ish cover of his then-recent smash hit. With that in mind it would perhaps have been funny to have put Jam Tronik on Disc 1 directly after ‘I Wish It Would Rain Down’. But we’ve already discovered from the sleeve notes that the compiler is a joyless knob, so here it is in the middle of the second disc. I can see why he might object to it – to a degree at least. They’ve not exactly trashed it or anything, as the original arrangement remains largely intact, although one could argue that throwing in that ‘ah yeah!’ sample cheapens it a little. It’s not even that dancey really, the tempo is more in soul territory than anything really upbeat. It’s a little bit more Soul II Soul than Technotronic, let’s put it that way. The single also contained the ‘Sidney Mix’ – a not entirely dissimilar remix which pinched the drums from Raze’s ‘Break For Love’ – just like Sydney Youngblood did on ‘If Only I Could’ (can you see what they did there?). As for Jam Tronik themselves, well they were a German act that seemed to do little more than stick out a cover of something pretty well-known every few years. For example there was ‘End Of The Road’ and in 1992, ‘I’d Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do That)’ in 1993. None of these travelled much further than their homeland and they don’t seem to be bothering anyone with anything anymore. The only thing I can find is a dubiously title ‘hit’ collection on iTunes from 2010. Never before has the word hit been used to loosely.

07 – JT And The Big Family – Moments In Soul (#7)

JT And The Big Family were a long-haired, top hat wearing Italian production group (not quite sure who JT was though) and were responsible for this intriguing little pop moment that seems to have been airbrushed from chart history. The track’s title, ‘Moments In Soul’ is a nod to Art Of Noise’s ‘Moments In Love’, which is one of the many tracks that it samples. Also heard are samples and snippets from the likes of Milli Vanilli, Soul II Soul and The O’Jays amongst others, and just like Jam Tronik, Public Enemy are raided again for the imitable ‘Ah Yeah!’. What we end up with is a decent enough, chilled but beaty soul track which, despite being made up of everyone else’s records, feels pretty fresh and original. The track made No7 in the UK and following its success an eponymous album appeared, featuring a surprising amount of original material. Much of it wasn’t all that good to be fair and not in the same league as ‘Moments In Soul’. The reggae-tinged ‘Foreign Affair’ is probably the closest they came to recapturing the feel of their signature piece – it even has the ‘Ah Yeah!’ sample. This received a UK release, but failed to make the Top 75. Still, ‘Moments In Soul’ remains an interesting little curio that is perhaps worth pulling out and revisiting now and again.

08 – Mantronix featuring Wondress – Got To Have Your Love (#4)

Kurtis Mantronik was the brains behind the ever-changing sounds of Mantronix. From big beats, to hip-hop, electro-funk it was pretty much impossible to pigeon-hole the act. ‘Got To Have Your Love’ sees our man in full pop-soul mode with this lead track from fourth studio LP ‘This Should Move Ya’. As well as being king of the beats, Kurtis was also pretty hot on basslines and ‘Got To Have Your Love’ is all about the bassline. Sometimes when a bassline is so good, the rest of the song writes itself and I wouldn’t be at all surprised if this is what happened here. Such is its strength, the track begins with just the bassline on its own. In a more funky S-A-W way, once you’ve heard that it has you hooked for the remainder of the piece, which itself features soothing vocals, sweeping strings, brassy stabs and strong piano chords. The result is first class, slick soul and deservedly gave Kurtis his biggest hit, peaking at No4. A second and final Top 10 hit followed with the similar but ultimately not as strong ‘Take Your Time’ which again featured Wondress on vocal duty. It was decent enough but couldn’t match the long-lasting popularity of ‘Got To Have Your Love’. Whilst doing some preliminary research for this piece and reading YouTube comments on Candy Flip, I found a comment that I whole-heartedly agreed with. The poster was essentially saying that covers should be completely different from the original, else there’s no point. Nobody needs two pretty similar versions of the same song. I say this because Pop Idol chancers Liberty Ten did exactly that with their pointless note-for-note cover of ‘Got To Have Your Love’ in 2002. Annoyingly they took the song two places higher than Mantronix too. I know which one I’d reach for if I ever wanted to hear the song again though.

09 – Bizz Nizz – Don't Miss The Partyline (#7)

The premise here is apparently that this track is being played ‘live’ to a very enthusiastic crowd who are being geed up by a rather unconvincing MC - which used to mean Mic’ controller but since the advent of UK garage seems to mean Master of Ceremonies. The main extended mix is even called the ‘Shea Stadium Mix’ to really try and persuade us that this was recorded live at an arena. Because of this ‘Don’t Miss The Partyline’ sounds terribly dated to listeners in 2018, but at the time it was a pretty fresh sounding track. Bizz Nizz were formed by Belgian producers Peter Neefs and Jean-Paul de Coster. De Coster, along with Phil Wilde, would go on to form the phenomenally successful 2 Unlimited and the excruciatingly catchy hook on show here is certainly a sign of things to come. It’s this hook that the track is all about. There’s no ‘song’ to speak of, just poor quality rapping and a few ‘Woohs’ and ‘Hey ya’ samples which in turn lead us to the main refrain each time. A few more singles followed but none were anything like as memorable as ‘Don’t Miss The Partyline’ and not one even secured a UK release, despite this being a Top 10 success. Despite all the chat about ‘the partyline’ and how we should ensure that we don’t miss it, I’m still at a loss as what the bloody hell ‘the partyline’ actually is.

10 – E-Zee Possee featuring MC Kinky – Everything Starts With An E (#15)

This blatantly upfront advertisement for drug use had originally been released in March 1989, but increasing club play turned it into a slow burner and it wasn’t until a year later when it was re-released that it actually charted and peaked at No15. The ‘possee’ was essentially producers Jeremy Healy and Simon Rogers, plus MC Kinky providing ‘vocals’. I say vocals but they were little more than irritating ‘toasting’ which never sounded good (she would later ruin Erasure’s cover of ‘Take A Chance On Me’). Musically, the track begins with some rather grating and unnecessary synthesized guitar before a rather tinny beat and Miss Kinky take over. As a huge dance music fan, I find very little here to enjoy. It’s very ‘bitty’ with rapping, sampled vocals, processed vocals, plus the music keeps chopping and changing with guitars and clunky synths thrown in to the mix at random points. I’d imagine most of the appeal came down to the fact that it was a bit ‘naughty’ and contentious – Radio 1 did refuse to play it after all. Were the track exactly the same but the lyric wasn’t about drug use, it wouldn’t have done anything such is its mediocrity. It’s essentially just a novelty record and not a terribly good one either. The act continued with a handful of further releases, plus an album – but with no real success. In fact follow-up single, the soulful piano house track ‘Love On Love’ had already been and gone by the time this compilation appeared. Which kind of makes my point I suppose – take away the controversy and all you’re left with is some distinctly average dance music.

11 – D-Mob featuring Nuff Juice – Put Your Hands Together (#7)

Quite why D-Mob’s Dancin’ Danny D decided to call this track ‘Put Your Hands Together’ when it samples The O’Jays 1983 near-miss ‘Put Our Heads Together’, I’ve no idea. Putting title silliness to one side, this was D Mob’s fourth single from their first and only LP ‘A Little Bit Of This, A Little Bit Of That’. They were however rather spacing them out a bit as first release, the classic ‘We Call It Acieed’ had come out in October ’88. There seems to be quite a few tracks on this compilation with random/irrelevant intros and ‘Put Your Hands Together’ is another as it initially sounds like Rockwell ‘Somebody’s Watching Me’ before D Mob’s trademark bouncy breakbeats materialise. The track is made up of a number of verses rapped by Nuff Juice (?) with a chorus based on a line from the aforementioned O’Jays track. It’s not a bad track for the time, although by then this sort of hip-house sound was starting to feel a little tired. Not so tired though that it didn’t sell – peaking at a pretty respectable No7 in January 1990. A final single was released ‘That’s The Way Of The World’ with Cathy Dennis on board, but this missed the Top 40 by eight places. They did return to the charts once more some four years later – again with Ms Dennis – with ‘Why’. Following single ‘One Day’ missed the Top 40 by one place and that was all we ever heard from Mr D. For Cathy, monstrous success as a songwriter beckoned. As for Nuff Juice… Erm…

12 – Adamski - Killer (#1)

You may be wondering why such a legendary track as ‘Killer’ is hidden away at the end of Disc 2 and not the first track on Disc 1. It’s simply because it had only just been releaesd when NOW 17 came out and the compiler clearly didn’t think there was much chance of it being anything remarkable. Adamski – real name Adam Tinley – had just hit the Top 20 with his Lucozade annoying, blippy techno anthem ‘N-R-G’, but ‘Killer’ couldn’t be any more different. It had started life as an instrumental track entitled ‘The Killer’ but after Seal’s lyrics were added things sounded very different. Just like Mantronix ‘Got To Have Your Love’, the strength of ‘Killer’ lies in its bassline. Of course, the distinctive vocal adds that extra level that makes it the classic that it is. For me it’s the combination of opposing sounds that make ‘Killer’ work. The haunting, soulful vocals over the soaring synth soundscape and 909 bleeps shouldn’t really work. But they do. I recall at the time that the song was about AIDS – unless I dreamt that of course, but according to Seal it’s simply about ‘transcending whatever holds you back’. Within weeks of its release, ‘Killer’ managed to do what both Paula Abdul and Alannah Myles had failed to do – namely knock Madonna’s ‘Vogue’ off the No1 spot. Having reached the summit, Adamski proceeded to sit there for four weeks, denying both Kylie and The Adventures of Stevie V a chart-topper in the process. A follow-up ‘The Space Jungle’ – a slightly tacky affair that ‘sort’of’ sampled Elvis’ ‘All shook Up’ - hit No7 and ‘Doctor Adamski’s Musical Pharmacy’ made No8 over on the album chart, but further commercial success alluded Mr Tinley. ‘Killer’ though has returned to the Top 10 on three further occasions. Firstly, by Seal himself who for some reason felt it needed rerecording under his own name. Secondly in 1993 as part of ‘The Five Live EP’ – a charity EP featuring George Michael, Queen and Lisa Stansfield. Then again in 2000 when

German producer Andre Tanneberger – AKA ATB – took the song No4 in 2000 with a beefed-up but faithful rendition. Adamski continues to record – as does Seal – but this killer track has stood the test of time and remains an all-time classic.

13 – Orbital - Chime (#17)

Our friend the sleeve notes writer seems to be a tad confused about Orbital. According to him Orbital are “mysterious” and “have close links to with the very funky M25 motorway”. Either that or he’s just trying to be funny – though it’s rather hard to tell. Far from being ‘mysterious’ Orbital are brothers Phil and Paul Hartnoll and hail from Sevenoaks. ‘Chime’ was their first release and quickly became both an underground and mainstream hit. Its simplicity isn’t for everyone but the chugging bass and skipping drums coupled with the stuttering ‘chime’ make it a rather hypnotic affair. Having burst into the pop charts, Orbital were invited to ‘perform’ on Top Of The Pops. Because ‘perfoming’ actually meant ‘miming’, the lads decided to protest against not being able to perform live and deliberately wandered about looking bored, occasionally pressing a few buttons on their unplugged machines. They weren’t invited back – I’m sure they were devastated. Paul and Phil continued to record, chart – to varying degrees of success – and became notoriously impressive as a live act. Their highest charting releases came in the latter half of the 90s and were mostly remakes of well-known themes, but it is ‘Chime’ that remains their signature. Fans of both Christmas and ‘Chime’ might like to enjoy ‘Christmas Chime’ which Orbital put out a few years ago. It works rather well, but you won’t hear it anywhere – just the same old tired seasonal slush.

14 – Tongue 'N' Cheek - Tomorrow (#20)

I’m not quite sure who on earth Tongue ‘N’ Cheek actually were. My research finds them to be two males – Delroy and Robin - plus one female – Maureen. The sleeve notes however have the number of members and their sex correct, but name them as Mo, Colin and Junior - so I don’t know. Whoever they were, the pop-soul trio punctured the Top 75 with their previous two releases, but it was ‘Tomorrow’ that gave them the first and most successful single. Remixed into a slick, piano-driven US house track by Frankie Knuckles, marking a bit of a shift in direction with ‘Nobody (Can Love Me)’ and ‘Encore’ being more down tempo moments in soul. It’s beautifully produced – as most Knuckles productions were – but it does tend to drift by somewhat without really embedding itself in one’s consciousness. It peaked at No20 and following a slightly more successful release for ‘Nobody’ an album ‘This Is Tongue And Cheek’ arrived, sadly to little success. One more single – a cover of Patrice Rushen’s ‘Forget Me Nots’ charted (No26) but the dumper beckoned. It’s quite hard to find out their whereabouts now, seeing as I don’t know who they are. There was some later ‘acknowledgement’ rather than success a few years on when their work was sampled. ‘Tomorrow’ returned to the charts in 1996 when a remix of Love Decade’s ‘Is This A Dream’ which was based around vocal samples from ‘Tomorrow’ made No39. Previous to that in 1992, Acen’s hyper breakbeat monster ‘Trip II The Moon’ borrowed and pitched up vocals from ‘Nobody’. I’m sure they were quite proud to have their work reinterpreted – whoever they were.

15 – Electribe 101 – Talking With Myself (#23)

I’ve referred to the sleeve notes quite a lot this time and I shall do so again for ‘Talking With Myself’. The notes state that the group’s music “has been described as deep house, trance, dance and hypnotic soul”. Or in other words, he doesn’t know what to call it. He also makes a fool of himself by claiming that vocalist Billie-Ray Martin joined the act for this release when she was in fact part of the group and had performed on previous single ‘Tell Me When The Fever Ended’. Said single made No32 but the stronger ‘Talking With Myself’ reversed those digits and made No23 in March 1990. Martin’s vocals do indeed increase the hypnotic feeling and as good as the production is, I do find it a little bit pedestrian. The song also lacks a proper hook and the only real memorable aspect to the track is the occasion inclusion of snippets from the theme from Mission Impossible. Third single ‘You’re Walking’ failed to chart and after a Top 30 album, the project was over. ‘Talking With Myself’ did pop its head into the Top 40 for a second time in 1998 when a remixed version made No39 in the October, but by then the group themselves were doing other things. Martin went solo and enjoyed one particularly big hit which I’m going to leave you to recall. As for the chaps, following a dispute with their label Mercury they ditched the Electribe 101 moniker and went on to form remix/production group The Groove Corporation.

16 – Sydney Youngblood – I'd Rather Go Blind (#44)

We reach the end of this first NOW of the nineties with its only flop. Mr Youngblood had enjoyed two hits ‘If Only I Could’ and ‘Sit And Wait’ but a third was out of reach. The album inlay tells us that Sydney’s cover of the 1969 Chicken Shack hit had “stormed into the Top 50 in March”. Yes that’s right, he said “stormed”. The original was a downbeat, psychedelic rock ballad and this treatment that doesn’t work. To begin with it’s certainly far too sparse and lacking in any energy. Youngblood’s whispering doesn’t help things and makes the whole thing feel very dull. Having “stormed” into the Top 50 went no further, with its peak position being a lowly No44. He picked up the pace a bit on next single ‘Hooked On You’ but the damage had been done and in June Sydney’s fourth single ‘stormed’ the Top 75 before halting at No72. A further single from a new album narrowly missed the Top 40 some two years later, but the two hits Sydney had enjoyed in 1989 would be all. You may well have noticed that I like to mention something of the useless and obscure memories I have of certain records and excitingly I have one about this too. This memory involves our Sydney being a guest on CITV to promote ‘I’d Rather go Blind’ whereby he joined pretend Baseball enthusiast Tommy Boyd, who proceeded to show less than ten seconds of the songs video and engage him in an incredibly awkward and stilted chat about CITV’s output that afternoon. He might even have coerced him into making up some lyrics to the Thomas The Tank Engine theme. That somewhat bizarre memory is the final thing I shall write about both Sydney and NOW 17 - and probably Tommy Boyd too.

Released – April 1990

High Points – ‘Enjoy The Silence’, ‘Shine On’, ‘Dub Be Good To Me’, ‘Kingston Town’, ‘Killer’.

Low Points – 'Hey You', 'I'd Rather Go Blind'.

Song Count – 32

Number 1s – 2

Flops – One, poor Sydney Youngblood and his weak reading of 'I'd Rather Go Blind'

Notes – NOW 17 encapsulates perfectly the transition from the 80s to the 90s and signals the departure of song pop aspects and the arrival of others. It was released on double LP/CD and ‘MC’ – never sure what the M meant. A fifteen track VHS collection was also released which wisely left out The Quireboys.

Overall Mark 8/10