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 REVIEW: Now That's What I Call Music 8, Released 24th November 1986 | 32 Tracks | 3 #1 Singles |
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 25th September 2016, 07:00 PM
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#1
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 Here to play, here to stay
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Joined: 8 February 2015 Posts: 20,280 User: 21,587 
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Origin: United Kingdom Label: Virgin / EMI Format: CD / Vinyl / Double Cassette / Video Duration: 02:04:00 (124 Minutes) Tracks: 32 #1’s: 3 Chart Peak: #1 (6 weeks) Sales: 1,200,000 (4x Platinum)
2. Pet Shop Boys – Suburbia 3:05 {8} 3. Run DMC feat. Aerosmith – Walk This Way* 3:50 {7} 4. Communards – Don't Leave Me This Way* 4:50 {1} 5. Swing Out Sister – Breakout* 4:00 {4} 6. Steve Winwood – Higher Love* 4:25 {13} 7. OMD – (Forever) Live And Die 3:45 {11} 8. Genesis – In Too Deep 4:55 {19} 9. Cameo – Word Up* 4:30 {3} 10. Grace Jones – I'm Not Perfect (But I'm Perfect For You) 3:30 {56} 11. Mel & Kim – Showing Out (Get Fresh At The Weekend)* 3:40 {3} 12. Jermaine Stewart – We Don't Have To...* 4:05 {2} 13. Jaki Graham – Step Right Up 4:10 {15} 14. Janet Jackson – What Have You Done For Me Lately? 3:40 {3} 15. Human League – Human* 3:55 {8} 16. Boris Gardiner – I Wanna Wake Up With You* 4:10 {1} 17. Peter Gabriel & Kate Bush – Don't Give Up* 5:55 {9} 18. Housemartins – Think For A Minute 3:35 {18} 19. Madness – (Waiting For) The Ghost Train 3:55 {18} 20. Status Quo – In The Army Now 4:10 {2} 21. Huey Lewis And The News – Stuck With You* 4:40 {12} 22. Big Country – One Great Thing 4:15 {19} 23. Billy Bragg – Greetings To The New Brunette 3:40 {58} 24. Cutting Crew – (I Just) Died In Your Arms Tonight* 4:45 {4} 25. Kim Wilde – You Keep Me Hangin' On* 4:20 {2} 26. It Bites – Calling All The Heroes* 4:10 {6} 27. Doctor & The Medics with Roy Wood – Waterloo 3:30 {45} 28. Debbie Harry – French Kissing In The USA* 4:15 {8} 29. Robert Palmer – I Didn't Mean To Turn You On 3:45 {9} 30. Paul Hardcastle – The Wizard 3:30 {15} 31. Gwen Guthrie – (They Long To Be) Close To You 3:50 {25} 32. Nick Berry – Every Loser Wins 3:15 {1} Key Tracks highlighted red were official UK #1’s. 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.
Lowest Charting Track: Billy Bragg – Greatings To The New Brunette {58} Longest Song: Peter Gabriel & Kate Bush – Don't Give Up 5:55 Shortest Song: Pet Shop Boys – Suburbia 3:05 Edited Tracks: Unknown Unedited Tracks: Unknown Inlay Mistakes: None Other Facts: N/A
Wikipedia TV Cream Everyhit This post has been edited by awardinary: 27th September 2016, 03:59 PM |
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25th September 2016, 07:14 PM
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#2
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Here to play, here to stay
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Joined: 8 February 2015 Posts: 20,280 User: 21,587
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The quantity of #1's to be included was 3, yet on a whole it was dissapointing release as in fact 3 of the chosen 32 tracks didn't even make the UK Top 40! As far as the music is conerened, well we have a mixture of artists from Communards to Kim Wilde; Housemartins to OMD; Run DMC feat. Aerosmith to Human League ¯ certainly something for everyone. Now 8 introduced us to Run DMC, Swing Out Sister, Robert Palmer & Nick Berry and we also got to hear the world debut from Janet Jackson. Now 8 was the only time we would hear from many artists such as Grace Jones, Boris Gardiner, Huey Lewis & The News, Billy Bragg, Cutting Crew, It Bites, Debbie Harry and Gwen Guthrie. The cover design is quite hard to describe for Now 8, as the logo appears to be the design of a magnet, and as for the rest, well it just looks very silky. My personal review of Now 8 is that this release is alright, but that's about all it is unfortunately. Although it has a 32 piece tracklisting with 3 #1's, I just don't like much of the music on this album, and its a shame there were songs chosen outside the Top 40, and also a shame that the CD release contained no #1's from the main release. It's probably fair to say this was not really the fault of Virgin / EMI, but just that the music at the time wasn't of a high quality. Artwork Rating: 2/10 Awful A dark, silky design with a metallic style logo. Nothing too extravagant at all, and by today's standards would be considered quite weak. Not a memorable Now cover at all. Side 1 Favourite: Run DMC vs Aerosmith – Walk This Way Hip hop meets rock music for the very first time in it's history. A collaborative effort caused this song to become one of both artists biggest hits. This opened the door to a whole new genre of music – rap rock. Side 2 Favourite: Jermaine Stewart – We Don't Have To... This is a ridiculously catchy tune! I've always loved this one since the day I first heard it. Actually one of my favourites from the 80's just for its funky MJ style dance style. Just very catchy to sing along to!  Side 3 Favourite: Cutting Crew – (I Just) Died In Your Arms Tonight New wave meets rock music again, and here is another memorable song from that era. Cutting Crew only really had one big hit, and this was it. A fine result. Side 4 Favourite: Kim Wilde – You Keep Me Hangin' On In all honesty I don't really like anything on this side, but as I had to choose one, I went for this one from Kim Wilde which was sampled by Mark Ronson many years later. Kim Wilde went on to have many high charting singles in the 80's. CD Favourite: Cameo – Word Up! If it weren't for Jermaine Stewart, this would have been my favourite from Side 2. Fro, the 17 selected tracks to make the cut for the CD release, this is my personal favourite. Cameo made some fine retro sounding music during the 80's and this was his best hit which has been covered since by artists such as Melanie B and Little Mix, who would both feature in the Now series at a later time with their versions of this song. Overall Rating: 3/10 Extremely Poor Certainly not one of my favourite volumes, and nothing really that special from the selection offered. Perhaps it is a good reflection of what the charts were really like at the time, as at least 2 of the #1 singles featured are extremely poor quality. Andrew's Best 5 (as of September 2016) 1. Jermaine Stewart – We Don't Have To... 2. Cameo – Word Up! 3. Run DMC vs Aerosmith – Walk This Way 4. Cutting Crew – (I Just) Died In Your Arms Tonight 5. Communards – Don't Leave Me This Way Andrew's Worst 5 (as of September 2016) 1. Nick Berry – Every Loser Wins 2. Doctor & The Medics with Roy Wood – Waterloo 3. Robert Palmer – I Didn't Mean To Turn You On 4. Madness – (Waiting For) The Ghost Train 5. Grace Jones – I'm Not Perfect (But I'm Perfect For You) This post has been edited by awardinary: 25th September 2016, 11:13 PM |
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26th September 2016, 11:05 AM
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#3
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 BuzzJack Legend
Joined: 4 November 2013
Posts: 30,552 User: 20,053
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Artwork Rating:
Horrible. What even is that? 2/10. Side 1 Favourite: Walk This Way - a big fave of mine. Not a great deal of rap/rock songs particularly in that era so it really stands out. Side 2 Favourite: Jermaine Stewart - I mean that really is a classic 80s track isn't it. Side 3 Favourite: Cutting Crew - not a great side but this is a decent singalong. Side 4 Favourite: Yeah I don't know any of these so I just picked The Wizard cos it sounds more interesting that the others. CD Favourite: Walk This Way - for reasons listen above. Overall Rating: This ain't a great edition again, 3/10. |
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26th September 2016, 11:06 PM
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#4
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 The Lady Said Go Home!
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Joined: 20 April 2014 Posts: 22,030 User: 20,835
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Artwork - 5/10 Could have been better but I wouldnt say its the worst
Side 1 Fave - Run DMC VS Areosmith - Walk This Way Its so fun to sing along to this song both parts and artists work so well together. Side 2 Fave - Cameo - Word Up - Basically a guilty Pleasure to me such a jam  Side 3 Fave - Cutting Crew - (I Just) Died In Your Arms I think this is the best out of those songs in that section by far tbh Side 4 Fave - Gwen Guthrie - They Long to be close to you - Think I know this song CD FAVE - Run DMC VS Areosmith - Walk This Way - Reasons above Overall - 7/10 the brill songs bring the score up for me |
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27th September 2016, 02:44 PM
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#5
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 Alone and wounded
Pronouns: She/her
Joined: 18 January 2011 Posts: 60,187 User: 12,810 
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Ooh I was under the impression that 'Notorious' was a #1 for some reason, was quite surprised to see that it 'only' charted at #7.
 Artwork Rating: 8/10 - I'm not entirely sure how to pinpoint the reasons as to why I like this cover so much, but I think it has something to do with the silver colouring. Silver looks quite slick and the ripples look pretty cool on top of that. Side 1 Favourite: Communards - 'Don't Leave Me This Way' - YES. This is as camp as Christmas and so much fun. The vocals are so unique as well! It just had smash written all over it and still sounds huge today. Side 2 Favourite: Jermaine Stewart - 'We Don't Have To...' - I very much agree with the comment about this being really catchy! A classic that houses an ultimate sing-a-long chorus. Side 3 Favourite: Cutting Crew - '(I Just) Died in Your Arms' - This is definitely the weakest side of the four, but this song is a true gem to be found from it. The most memorable of the bunch by far. Side 4 Favourite: Kim Wilde - 'You Keep Me Hangin' On' - I discovered the Supremes original of this song through the Glee version, and while this is my least favourite of the three versions, it's still strong enough of a song to be the best on this side. Overall Rating: 6/10 - I feel like I knew a lot more on this edition than the past few, and most of those that I know are pretty good. So we have an improvement! Plus the cover is good (to me at least! ). Not here for the fillery flops though.
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30th September 2016, 11:22 AM
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#6
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BuzzJack Climber
Joined: 21 June 2012
Posts: 116 User: 17,267
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My first Now album, so I have very good memories of this
At the time, I think my favourites would have been Don't Leave Me This Way and Suburbia, and I do remember really liking Jaki Graham as well- 30 years later I think I'd class Notorious and Walk This Way as my favourites. The Waterloo cover version hasn't aged well (and it was a long way from being my favourite track at the time) The artwork's not getting a lot of love in the votes so far, maybe it worked better as an LP sleeve rather than a webpage image? |
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7th February 2018, 11:40 PM
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#7
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Say that hiss with your chest, and...
Joined: 24 May 2016
Posts: 18,472 User: 23,308
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This is brilliant, gonna start voting on some of these early now albums now! Started with this one as it has some great tunes on it and is one of the best of the 80s i think!
Voted for Don't Leave Me This Way on side 1! What a classic, in a time there wasn't a big lot of electronic dance music in the charts yet, this certainly provides it! Shout out to the first house hit in the UK, Love Can't Turn Around by Farley "Jackmaster" Funk which was in the charts at the same time which got excluded from this album sadly  Voted for all inclusive hotel entertainment anthem Boris Gardiner - I Wanna Wake Up With You from side 2. Very cheesy but a lovely song! Went for Cutting Crew - I Just Died in your Arms Tonight for side 3, a great song, especially the chorus, which really should have been looped and remixed by someone in the mid 00s and made the charts again imo! Went for Kim Wilde - You Keep Me Hangin On both for the CD favourite and my fave for side 4, wonderful cover with amazing production which sounds big tbh, again seems to have provided one of the few electronic dance songs of the time. This post has been edited by The Snake : 7th February 2018, 11:44 PM |
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7th May 2022, 09:28 PM
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#8
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New Entry
Joined: 7 May 2022
Posts: 9 User: 151,089
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A much better cover than the previous two. Think I went 7.
Don't Leave Me This Way easily the best on side 1. Was singing it only yesterday. For side 2 I went for We Don't Have To..., though I considered Mel & Kim Side 3 - Cutting Crew, of course Side 4 - Kim Wilde CD - No Communards leaves room for the Pet Shop Boys! Generally a good selection despite the three flops. Think I voted 7. |
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