1. UB40 (I Can't Help) Falling In Love With You* 3:22{1} 2. Pet Shop Boys Go West* 4:59{2} 3. Frankie Goes To Hollywood Relax* 3:54{5} 4. M People One Night In Heaven 3:24{6} 5. Eternal Stay* 3:58{4} 6. SWV Right Here 3:44{3} 7. Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince Boom! Shake The Room* 3:46{1} 8. The Shamen Comin' On 3:43{14} 9. Stakka Bo Here We Go* 3:57{13} 10. Chaka Demus & Pliers She Don't Let Nobody 3:46{4} 11. Tina Turner Disco Inferno 4:01{12} 12. Belinda Carlisle Big Scary Animal 4:12{12} 13. Spin Doctors Two Princes 4:12{3} 14. R.E.M. The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite 4:04{17} 15. Levellers This Garden 3:59{12} 16. James Laid* 2:37{25} 17. Crowded House Distant Sun 3:48{19} 18. Radiohead Creep 3:55{7} 19. Meat Loaf I'd Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That)* 5:24{1} 20. Cappella U Got 2 Let The Music* 3:38{2} 21. Haddaway What Is Love* 3:55{2} 22. 2 Unlimited Maximum Overdrive 3:24{15} 23. Culture Beat Mr Vain* 4:15{1} 24. The Goodmen Give It Up 3:27{5} 25. Leftfield & Lydon Open Up 3:48{13} 26. Apache Indian Boom Shack-A-Lak* 3:47{5} 27. Urban Cookie Collective Feels Like Heaven* 3:17{5} 28. Captain Hollywood Project More And More 3:07{23} 29. Juliet Roberts Free Love 3:37{25} 30. Jamiroquai Too Young To Die 3:11{10} 31. Dina Carroll Don't Be A Stranger* 4:41{3} 32. Take That Pray* 3:42{1} 33. Gabrielle Going Nowhere 3:34{9} 34. Lena Fiagbe Gotta Get It Right 3:36{20} 35. Soul II Soul Wish 4:11{24} 36. Lisa Stansfield So Natural* 4:41{15} 37. Bjφrk & David Arnold Play Dead* 3:37{12} 38. Lenny Kravitz Heaven Help* 3:06{20} 39. Go West Tracks Of My Tears* 3:37{16} 40. Janet Jackson That's The Way Love Goes 4:25{2}
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:Meat Loaf I'd Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That) (7 weeks) Lowest Charting Track:James Laid / Juliet Roberts Free Love {25} Longest Song:Meat Loaf I'd Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That) 5:24 Shortest Song:James Laid 2:37 Edited Tracks:Unknown Unedited Tracks:Unknown Inlay Mistakes:None Other Facts:First Now to have 40 tracks.
Posted by: awardinary 29th January 2017, 09:11 PM
Andrew's Review
Now That's What I Call Music! 26 otherwise known as Now 26 was the third and final release from the year 1993. It contained a record breaking 40 tracks which had never been achieved in the series until this point, and from the 40, a total of 5 were UK #1 singles. The only missing #1 from this release was Take That feat. Lulu Relight My Fire (though they did feature on Now 26 with Pray). Now 26 contained a bunch of top chart hits from the likes of UB40, Pet Shop Boys, Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince, R.E.M. and Radiohead to name just a small percent. For the first time in the series, we heard from M People, Levellers, Radiohead, Meat Loaf, Bjφrk and debuts from Eternal, Haddaway, Culture Beat, Urban Cookie Collective and Jamiroquai. But it was just to be a one time only appearance from the likes of SWV, Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince, Spin Doctors, Goodmen, Leftfield & Lydon, Apache Indian and Captain Hollywood Project. I would probably have to say that Now 26 is my favourite Now from the "20s" just because I think it set a standard of what to expect thereafter and because much of the music is enjoyable, varied and high charting. Such artists as Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince, Radiohead, Meat Loaf and Jamiroquai are amoung my favourites from the album and I certainly do enjoy listening to it every time.
Artwork Rating: 7/10 Very Good The artwork is a space themed design which comes out in some kind of burgendy colouring, and it works quite well. With baby blue text, the colour scheme works quite well indeed. Almost reminds me of cola too!
Disc 1 Favourite: Radiohead Creep An iconic song from a world renowned British group which logically be called the most depressing song of all time, however, it served a purpose and is often seen popping up in the downloads chart from time to time.
Disc 2 Favourite: Culture Beat Mr Vain A tough choice for the quality of 90's dance music on this disc is excellent. Mr Vain just edged it though in terms of quality and memorability.
Overall Rating: 8/10 Extremely Good A generous rating for a 90's volume, but everything about this volume shows a very positive direction for the series from this point on, such as the varied genres, the quality of #1 singles, and the offering of 40+ tracks.
Andrew's Best 5 (as of January 2017) 1. Radiohead Creep 2. Culture Beat Mr Vain 3. Haddaway What Is Love 4. Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince Boom! Shake The Room 5. SWV Right Here
Andrew's Worst 5 (as of January 2017) 1. Crowded House Distant Sun 2. Lenny Kravitz Heaven Help 3. Levellers This Garden 4. Juliet Roberts Free Love 5. Belinda Carlisle Big Scary Animal
Posted by: HarryEzra 29th January 2017, 09:44 PM
Artwork: 8/10 really christmassy feel to it Song Disc 1: Radiohead / Creep: defo my favourite Radiohead song by far so relatable and honest Song Disc 2: Haddaway / What is love: Complete oppisite but a great dance number Overall 7/10: Disc 1 is better than disc 2 and that brings the score down
Posted by: DalekTurret32 29th January 2017, 10:34 PM
Artwork: 8/10 Favourite from Disc 1: Radiohead - Creep Favourite from Disc 2: Culture Beat - Mr. Vain (Oh, and also... WHAT IS LOVE, BABY DON'T HURT ME, DON'T HURT ME NO MORE.) Overall: 8/10
Posted by: fiesta 3rd February 2017, 12:15 PM
Voted Spin Doctors and Haddaway
Posted by: dandy* 3rd February 2017, 08:41 PM
I think this is a really good edition - it does a really good job of summarising the musical trends of the time, from euro dance to rock to ballads and funk and somehow manages to incorporate them into one relatively coherent edition.
I voted SWV and Jamiroquai but I could easily have voted for many others...
Posted by: mdh 12th March 2017, 07:02 PM
TRACKS I LOVE: 1. UB40 (I Can't Help) Falling In Love With You* 3:22 {1} 2. Pet Shop Boys Go West* 4:59 {2} 3. Frankie Goes To Hollywood Relax* 3:54 {5} 18. Radiohead Creep 3:55 {7} 19. Meat Loaf I'd Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That)* 5:24 {1} 21. Haddaway What Is Love* 3:55 {2} 32. Take That Pray* 3:42 {1}