NOW Thats What I Call Music! 7

Product Information

Genesis came back with a bang in 1986; Invisible Touch is one of the greatest pop albums ever with five smash hits; the title track being the taster. Another strand of the Now Yearbook series, in August 2022, is the somewhat experimental release of a limited edition, extended play, 7" vinyl single, containing 2 tracks each from the 1983 and 1984 Yearbooks. You will notice the sticker on the front sleeve stating that there’s a bonus track contained therein. While the Hits team at CBS and WEA put out their fourth instalment in March 1986, the subsequent months were quiet with no Now Dance or new entrants into the market.

With THREE tracks missing from the original 1986 tracklist including arguably 2 of the best (Bowie and The Real Roxanne, the latter of which was named as one of NME's top 5 singles of 1986) this was always going to be controversial (is it really the same compilation when you miss off 10% of the tracklist?The inaugural album graced the United Kingdom's music scene in 1983, with the United States following suit in 1998. Now 1 had cleared big names like Rod Stewart and Genesis and coupled them successfully with current pop acts and we felt it was important to do this for the follow-up. We managed to get David Bowie and Eurythmics who’d refused permission for the first one and ended up striking a deal with Queen on the agreement that they would appear in the TV ad and be the first track on the album.

Great blog though, as I’ve been going through my old 80s compilations recently, this is essential reading for me. The latter is not just a fantastic pop song; the version here is the alternative 7″ mix which was mistakenly included here instead of the regular single take.July 2019) re-issued on 2-CD - 28 tracks with only Bob Marley and the Wailers and Gary Glitter missing. Someone at EMI screwed up and put it on Now 7, but only this vinyl version, the CD uses the correct 1986 single version.