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AdvertDetailsReleased: 24th March 1997

Origin: United Kingdom

Label: Virgin / EMI / Polygram

Format: Double CD & Double Cassette

Duration: 2:34:52 (154 minutes 52 seconds)

Tracks: 40

#1’s: 8

Chart Peak: #1 (3 weeks)

Sales: 580,000 (2x Platinum)

Tracklisting1. Spice Girls – Mama 3:42 {1}

2. Texas – Say What You Want 3:51 {3}

3. Bee Gees – Alone 4:51 {5}

4. The Beautiful South – Don't Marry Her 3:21 {8}

5. No Doubt – Don't Speak 4:23 {1}

6. White Town – Your Woman 4:17 {1}

7. The Blueboy – Remember Me 3:45 {8}

8. Jamiroquai – Virtual Insanity 4:04 {3}

9. Robert Miles feat. Maria Nayler – One & One 3:58 {3}

10. George Michael – Spinning The Wheel (Forthright Edit) 4:38 {2}

11. Mark Morrison – Horny 2:59 {5}

12. Peter Andre – Natural 3:39 {6}

13. Damage – Love Guaranteed 3:35 {7}

14. Eternal – Don't You Love Me 3:49 {3}

15. Gabrielle – Walk On By 3:14 {7}

16. Kavana – I Can Make You Feel Good 3:30 {8}

17. East 17 – Hey Child 4:04 {3}

18. Boyzone – A Different Beat 3:33 {1}

19. Backstreet Boys – Anywhere For You 4:40 {4}

20. 911 – The Day We Find Love 4:09 {4}

21. U2 – Discotheque 5:19 {1}

22. Prodigy – Breathe 3:59 {1}

23. The Chemical Brothers – Block Rockin' Beats 3:23 {1}

24. Placebo – Nancy Boy 3:15 {4}

25. Monaco – What Do You Want From Me? 3:52 {11}

26. Sheryl Crow – Everyday Is A Winding Road 4:11 {8}

27. Blur – Beetlebum 5:06 {1}

28. James – She's A Star 3:40 {9}

29. Mansun – Wide Open Space 3:58 {15}

30. Cast – Free Me 4:14 {7}

31. Space – Dark Clouds 3:25 {14}

32. Cathy Dennis – Waterloo Sunset 3:41 {11}

33. The Divine Comedy – Everybody Knows (Except You) 3:49 {14}

34. Alisha's Attic – Indestructible 3:37 {12}

35. Ant & Dec – Shout 3:48 {10}

36. The Source feat. Candi Staton – You Got The Love 3:31 {3}

37. Sash! – Encore Une Fois 3:47 {2}

38. DJ Quicksilver – Bellissima 3:13 {4}

39. B.B.E. – Flash 3:56 {5}

40. Amen UK – Passion 3:20 {15}

 

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.

Miscellaneous FactsTrack Most Weeks At #1: Spice Girls – Mama / No Doubt – Don't Speak (3 weeks)

Lowest Charting Track: Mansun – Wide Open Space / Amen UK – Passion {15}

Longest Song: U2 – Discotheque 5:19

Shortest Song: Mark Morrison – Horny 2:59

Edited Tracks: Unknown

Unedited Tracks: Unknown

Inlay Mistakes: None

Other Facts: N/A

On This Day In HistoryNo music news to report for 24th March 1997.Other ResourcesOfficial Now Music Website

Wikipedia

Everyhit

Brandt Animation Archive

Now 36 Rate

Edited April 23, 20178 yr by awardinary

Andrew's ReviewNow That's What I Call Music! 36 or Now 36 as it's commonly known, was the first issue from the series in 1997, and perhaps more noteworthy, the first ever volume not to be released on vinyl. From this volume, we were introduced for the first time to such artists as Texas, No Doubt, Jamiroquai, The Chemical Brothers, The Divine Comedy, Alicia's Attic, Sash! and DJ Quicksilver.

 

Despite having 40 tracks, almost a quarter were UK #1 singles. 8 songs on the volume achieved that accolade. And all 40 tracks charted within the UK Top 15 which is actually very impressive and rare to happen elsewhere in the series. The #1's omitted from this volume were Peter Andre – I Feel You, Dunblane – Knockin' On Heaven's Door, Tori Amos – Professional Widow and LL Cool J – Ain't Nobody. Other noteworthy songs overlooked included the #3 debut single Child and follow up #3 single Clementine by former Take That member Mark Owen. Older by George Michael was also overlooked. French renowned DJ's Daft Punk also burst on the scene at the start of 1997 but despite having 2 Top 10 singles, they didn't make the final cut.

 

Now 36 was the only volume in the series to feature White Town, The Blueboy, Kavana, Placebo, Monaco, Mansun, Cathy Dennis and Amen UK. This was also the second time in the series to feature a version of You Got The Love by The Source feat. Candi Staton.

 

Artwork Rating: 6/10 Good

I suppose it's a good cover. Blue was certainly used heavily as a theme colour throughout the 90's. This design is relatively simple, but it looks bright and fresh and whilst not being a stand-out cover for me, I can't really find any fault with it.

 

Disc 1 Favourite: No Doubt – Don't Speak

Where Gwen Stefani began. Whilst No Doubt did have a minor #38 hit in 1996 (which was later re-released) in 1997, Don't Speak was the song that launched her career and the sheer emotion that comes through on this recording is incredible. I might even go as far as saying it's one of my favourite ballads of the 90's!

 

Disc 2 Favourite: The Chemical Brothers – Block Rockin' Beats

Another UK #1 single which isn't actually my favourite song from The Chemical Brothers, but it just edges it for me on this disc. It's seldom that an electronic song like this would reach #1 in today's global music industry.

 

Overall Rating: 5/10 Poor

I don't know what it is exactly that marks this edition as poor for me, but I just think the previous few volumes were far superior in terms of quality. I accept this is probably a good reflection of what the charts were like at the start of 1997, but there were some improvements that could have been made, and because of that, this volume just isn't memorable enough for me.

 

Andrew's Best 5 (as of April 2017)

1. No Doubt – Don't Speak

2. Jamiroquai – Virtual Insanity

3. Robert Miles feat. Maria Nayler – One & One

4. The Chemical Brothers – Block Rockin' Beats

5. Sash! – Encore Une Fois

 

Andrew's Worst 5 (as of April 2017)

1. Ant & Dec – Shout

2. The Divine Comedy – Everybody Knows (Except You)

3. George Michael – Spinning The Wheel (Forthright Edit)

4. Cathy Dennis – Waterloo Sunset

5. East 17 – Hey Child

Edited April 15, 20178 yr by award♀nary

This was the one and only Now volume I ever bought. I got it on cassette when it came out. Looking back, it had some absolutely cracking tunes on it!

I really need to give some of these a listen! Block Rockin' Beats is a tune :music: and Beetlebum is great as well!

george michael and mansun

Fantastic album - the start of a run of three 97 Nows, all classic.

Artwork - 7/10

Disc 1: No Doubt - Don't Speak [such an epic song I love it especially the choruses]

Disc 2: The Chemical Brothers - Block Rockin Beats [Great Dance song its full off energy]

Overall: 7/10

My favourites from this batch:

 

Don't Marry Her - Beautiful South

Your Woman - White Town

One & One - Robert Miles

Block Rockin' Beats - Chemical Brothers

What Do You Want From Me - Monaco

You Got The Love - The Source

Encore Une Fois - Sash

Bellissima - DJ Quicksilver

 

Amazing to think that Now 36 from 20 years ago had only 7 songs which did not reach the Top 10. But then skip forward 60 Now Albums and you have Now 96, which has a total of 19 songs (almost a full CD) which did not reach the Top 10, some of which didn't even make the Top 40 and a couple didn't even chart at all.

The first NOW album not to get a vinyl release

 

 

Favourites:

 

Don't Marry Her

Don't Speak

Your Woman

Remember Me

Virtual Insanity

One And One

Spinning The Wheel

Love Guaranteed

I Can Make You Feel Good

Discotheque

Breathe

Block Rockin' Beats

Nancy Boy

What Do You Want From Me

Everyday Is A Winding Road

Beetlebum

She's A Star

Wide Open Space

Free Me

Dark Clouds

Everybody Knows (Except You)

You Got The Love (though my favourite is the 1991 version that had the vocals mashed up to the tune to Frankie Knuckles' Your Love [i hear that version a lot on Heart FM])

Encore Une Fois

Bellissima

Flash

Passion

Ooh the poll results are pretty split for this one compared to the last!

 

I am a big Spice Girls fan but 'Mama' is actually not my Disc 1 favourite. That instead goes to White Town's 'Your Woman'! I actually knew the Wiley featuring Emeli Sandé version before the original, I do like that version still but the original is definitely superior. It has a really eerie feel to both the production and vocals. Rather chilling!

 

My Disc 2 favourite then goes to The Prodigy - 'Breathe'! Not just because it's Bré's favourite song of all-time and he would kill me otherwise :kink: but it is an incredible song - the production is divine and I love the snarling vocals, such an energetic song. It's in-your-face in a really good way. My second fave The Prodigy song only behind 'Out Of Space'!

Into 1997 then but no change as Spice Girls lead the edition once again, never been a fan of this particular number however. The overall album has some absolute faves on, albeit pretty much all on Disc 2.

 

Still, some good tracks on the first side, one of Jamiroquai's best (and one of the best music videos ever) in Virtual Insanity and another very good Robert Miles song - so good in fact it actually won the Now 36 Rate surprisingly (I've decided not to bother posting the results from here on as awardinary has included the link in the opening post anyway ^_^) after that we're struggling a bit, like the White Town & No Doubt songs but after that there's nothing I return to.

 

Disc 2 though :wub: one of my all time favourite songs Breathe (not sure why this was included yet Firestarter was bewilderingly omitted but hey) and some absolute belters towards the end of the side. The Chem Bros song is actually not among their best for me, same with Blur (this I always find a really weird #1 single considering some of their more well known efforts missing the top spot). Those last 5 songs rank this edition as among the best in terms of its ending, Bellissima the pick of the bunch.

 

Fairly basic artwork this time round but still a nice water ripple background so I'll give it a 7.

 

Overall I'll also put it as a 7 with the second CD saving proceedings!

Disc 1 faves (I always seem to prefer Disc 1 to Disc 2) :

 

1. Robert Miles feat. Maria Nayler – One & One

2. Boyzone – A Different Beat

3. 911 – The Day We Find Love

4. Eternal – Don't You Love Me

5. George Michael – Spinning The Wheel (Forthright Edit)

 

 

Disc 2 faves :

 

1. Cathy Dennis – Waterloo Sunset

2. The Divine Comedy - Everybody Knows