1. George Michael & Queen Somebody To Love5:15{1} 2. 4 Non Blondes What's Up?* 4:15{2} 3. Tina Turner I Don't Wanna Fight* 4:23{7} 4. Ace Of Base All That She Wants* 3:31{1} 5. Gabrielle Dreams* 3:40{1} 6. Lena Fiagbe You Come From Earth 3:47{69} 7. R.E.M. Everybody Hurts 4:57{7} 8. New Order Regret* 4:07{4} 9. Freddie Mercury Living On My Own* 3:37{1} 10. Gloria Gaynor I Will Survive* 3:44{5} 11. Inner Circle Sweat (A La La La La Long)* 3:46{3} 12. Chaka Demus & Pliers Tease Me* 3:42{3} 13. Louchie Lou & Michie One Shout (It Out)* 3:29{7} 14. Shabba Ranks feat. Maxi Priest Housecall 3:56{8} 15. Duran Duran Come Undone 4:15{13} 16. Paul Weller Sunflower 4:09{16} 17. Kingmaker Ten Years Asleep 3:03{15} 18. 2 Unlimited Tribal Dance 3:41{4} 19. Robin S Luv 4 Luv* 4:13{11} 20. Sybil When I'm Good And Ready* 3:30{5} 21. Dannii Minogue This Is It 3:32{10} 22. The Time Frequency The Ultimate High 4:03{17} 23. Jon Secada Do You Really Want Me 3:54{30} 24. Kim Wilde If I Can't Have You 3:26{12} 25. East 17 West End Girls 4:22{11} 26. Joey Lawrence Nothin' My Love Can't Fix 4:04{13} 27. Efua Somewhere 4:14{42} 28. Sade No Ordinary Love* 5:22{14} 29. Richard Darbyshire This I Swear 4:17{50} 30. Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark Dream Of Me (Based On Love's Theme) 4:11{24} 31. D:Ream U R The Best Thing* 4:05{19} 32. Juliet Roberts Caught In The Middle* 3:27{24} 33. Oui 3 Break From The Old Routine 3:25{17} 34. Utah Saints I Want You 3:22{25} 35. Jesus Jones Zeroes And Ones 3:24{30}
Key Tracks highlighted red were official UK #1s. Tracks with an asterisk (*) next to their title have also been included in special releases from the series. The track duration has been highlighted cyan. Bracketed numbers refer to highest chart position reached.
Miscellaneous Facts
Track Most Weeks At #1:George Michael & Queen Somebody To Love / Ace Of Base All That She Wants / Gabrielle Dreams (3 weeks) Lowest Charting Track:Lena Fiagbe You Come From Earth {69} Longest Song:Sade No Ordinary Love 5:22 Shortest Song:Kingmaker Ten Years Asleep 3:03 Edited Tracks:Unknown Unedited Tracks:Unknown Inlay Mistakes:None Other Facts:At the time, Lena Fiagbe shared the record for being the lowest charting single to make the Now series, peaking at #69 with You Come From Earth, the same peak that Wendy And Lisa had a few years earlier with Waterfall on Now 16. This record would later be broken by many other artists.
On This Day In History
August 2nd 1993 - By selling more than 200,000 copies in its first week of release, U2's ambitious Zooropa becomes the year's fastest-selling album in the UK at the time.
Now That's What I Call Music! 25 or Now 25 was the Summer release of 1993 and featured many prominent artists of the time from George Michael to 2 Unlimited; from Tina Turner to Kim Wilde; from Freddie Mercury to Shabba Ranks all had their respective place on the Now 25 tracklist. A total of 35 tracks wee chosen for this release, and out of them, 4 were UK #1 singles. The only 2 missing UK #1s were both present on the following release, Now 26, and they were from UB40 and Take That. It was at this time we heard debuts from Ace Of Base, Gabrielle, Lena Fiagbe, Chaka Demus & Pliers and Juliet Roberts. It was also the first time in the series we heard from R.E.M., New Order, Paul Weller, Dannii Minogue and D:Ream. It was the only time in the series for 4 Non Blondes, Gloria Gaynor, Inner Circle, Louchie Lou & Michie One, Kingmaker, Sybil, The Time Frequency, Joey Lawrence, Efua, Sade, Richard Darbyshire and Oui 3. It is worth noting that both tracks from D:Ream and Juliet Roberts are remixed the following Summer and feature on Now 28 as a result of higher chart placements. For me, Now 25 is a well put together compilation which certainly features all genres of music that the collector would expect at this point in the series. I do prefer the music to that of Now 24, and with some of the debuts made from this point in the series, the music industry was starting to shape the era best known as the 90's where pop and dance music would become rampant. My regret is that 3 songs from the chosen 35 are not even Top 40 singles, that is a real let down and is a poor choice from EMI, especially when these are one hit wonders who are unknown today.
Artwork Rating: 7/10 Very Good Another sky themed cover, but this is taken from above the clouds looking down, just like when you look at the view outside of an aeroplane. It is bright and original, and despite the overused theme at this time of the 90's, it is still very good, bold and seasonal for the summer release.
Disc 1 Favourite: R.E.M. Everybody Hurts A sad ballad, but one which has special meaning to me. This was always the signature single from R.E.M. who went on to have many other hits. This song would be used many years later in 2010 as a tribute to a natural disaster in Haiti.
Disc 2 Favourite: Sade No Ordinary Love Another sad ballad is my favourite on this disc also. I find it very mellow and relaxing to listen to. Sade has a very soothing voice to listen to. Wonderful.
Overall Rating: 6/10 Good I'd say this volume ain't bad at all with some pretty good genres throughout. Strange to not see Take That feature as they were on the previous volume, and their single Pray spent 4 weeks at #1 in the summer of 1993. Despite this omission it's still a good album overall.
Andrew's Best 5 (as of January 2017) 1. R.E.M. Everybody Hurts 2. George Michael & Queen Somebody To Love 3. Sade No Ordinary Love 4. The Time Frequency The Ultimate High 5. 2 Unlimited Tribal Dance
Andrew's Worst 5 (as of January 2017) 1. Lena Fiagbe You Come From Earth 2. Efua Somewhere 3. East 17 West End Girls 4. Duran Duran Come Undone 5. Kim Wilde If I Can't Have You
Posted by: lewistgreen Jan 22 2017, 08:49 PM
It's all about Ace Of Base and 2 Unlimited for this one *.*
Posted by: Jade Jan 23 2017, 12:31 AM
Artwork rating: 3/10 - Not a fan of the grey colouring of the text/number and the angle that it is sitting at is uncomfortable to my eyes for some reason.
Disc 1 favourite: Gabrielle - 'Dreams' - Gabrielle has a wonderfully smooth and rich voice. Such a pleasant, easily accessible song with uplifting lyrics.
Disc 2 favourite: 2 Unlimited - 'Tribal Dance' - Admittedly not too familiar with much on this disc but 2 Unlimited are a class act! Banger after banger with them.
Overall rating: 4/10 - Disc 2 lets this down massively. A scattering of tracks on the first side that I'd return too but a lot of filler as well. Not a fan of the cover also which brings it down.
Posted by: richie Jan 23 2017, 08:22 AM
Damn, got seduced by Kingmaker being there when I really should have voted for New Order so it could tie with REM. Definitely REM's worst song ever.
Posted by: King Rollo Jan 23 2017, 12:25 PM
Highlights for me:
Somebody To Love - George Michael and Queen Everybody Hurts - REM Regret - New Order Dream Of Me - OMD
Posted by: gooddelta Jan 23 2017, 01:20 PM
All That She Wants is by far my favourite on Disc 1 and the D:Ream song on Disc 2, that song is SO much better than Things Can Only Get Better for me.
Overall it's definitely one of the weaker editions for me, I guess the Hits series were sharing out some of the bigger hits at the time? Disc 2 is dead on arrival, complete crap aside from the opening four songs and two or three others later in the disc.
Posted by: fiesta Jan 25 2017, 11:44 AM
Voted D REam and Duran Duran. I also like Freddy Mercury, George Michael, 4 Non Blondes and Paul Weller
Posted by: popchartfreak Jan 25 2017, 01:56 PM
QUOTE(fiesta @ Jan 25 2017, 11:44 AM)
Voted D REam and Duran Duran. I also like Freddy Mercury, George Michael, 4 Non Blondes and Paul Weller
snap!
Posted by: mdh Mar 12 2017, 07:00 PM
TRACKS I LOVE: 1. George Michael & Queen Somebody To Love 5:15 {1} 4. Ace Of Base All That She Wants* 3:31 {1} 5. Gabrielle Dreams* 3:40 {1} 7. R.E.M. Everybody Hurts 4:57 {7} 10. Gloria Gaynor I Will Survive* 3:44 {5} 11. Inner Circle Sweat (A La La La La Long)* 3:46 {3} 25. East 17 West End Girls 4:22 {11}