Gosh, somebody there has got some insider knowledge haven't they. Maybe an undercover mole or someone who works for a publication who gets press releases under embargo (and is breaking them evidently).

That's a very strong list of artists for a leftovers album. I hadn't considered Living Doll would make it. Some songs were clearly held back deliberately for this release, like Texas. I suppose they have to hold back some strong material so that this thing sells.

Here’s my guess of what songs they are

===========================

CD 1

QUEEN - Friends Will Be Friends

PET SHOP BOYS - It’s A Sin

EURYTHMICS, ANNIE LENNOX, DAVE STEWART - It’s Alright (Baby’s Coming Back)

THOMPSON TWINS - King For A Day

a-ha - Train Of Thought

GO WEST - Call Me

BANANARAMA - I Can’t Help It

TAYLOR DAYNE - Prove Your Love

GLORIA ESTEFAN - Rhythm Is Gonna Get You

CHAKA KHAN -

MICHAEL JACKSON & JACKSON 5 - I Want You Back

BILL WITHERS - Lovely Day '88

BOBBY BROWN - Every Little Step

DE LA SOUL -

FIVE STAR - Find The Time

SANANDA MAITREYA -

LEVEL 42 - Heaven In My Hands

BRYAN FERRY -

SADE -

CD 2

FREDDIE MERCURY - The Great Pretender

HEART - Alone

CHICAGO - You’re The Inspiration

T'PAU - Secret Garden

TINA TURNER -

TEXAS - I Don’t Want A Lover

THE STRANGLERS - All Day And All Of The Night

DEACON BLUE - Wages Day

BIG COUNTRY - Look Away

SIMPLE MINDS -

R.E.M. -

THE CURE - Just Like Heaven

NEW ORDER -

THE SISTERS OF MERCY -

DEAD OR ALIVE - In Too Deep

CHINA CRISIS -

KING - Alone Without You

FUZZBOX - Self!

AMAZULU - Montego Bay

ASWAD - Give A Little Love

UB40 - Don’t Break My Heart

CD 3

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN - Dancing In The Dark

BON JOVI -

GARY MOORE & PHIL LYNOTT - Out In The Fields

PAUL MCCARTNEY - Spies Like Us

MIKE + THE MECHANICS - Silent Running (On Dangerous Ground)

BELINDA CARLISLE - Mad About You

THE BANGLES - If She Knew What She Wants

THE PROCLAIMERS - I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)

STATUS QUO - Burning Bridges (On And Off And On Again)

THE ART OF NOISE, TOM JONES - Kiss

D-MOB - We Call It Acieed

BOMB THE BASS - Don’t Make Me Wait

CAMEO - Candy

MIDNIGHT STAR -

JAKI GRAHAM - Round And Around

THE CHRISTIANS - Ideal World

ALEXANDER O'NEAL -

NATALIE COLE - Miss You Like Crazy

WHITNEY HOUSTON - Didn’t We Almost Have It All

CD 4

PET SHOP BOYS - Suburbia

THE COMMUNARDS - You Are My World

BRONSKI BEAT - Hit That Perfect Beat

TRANS-X - Living On Video

THE REYNOLDS GIRLS - I’d Rather Jack

SAMANTHA FOX - I Only Wanna Be With You

SINITTA -

SONIA - Listen To Your Heart

EIGHTH WONDER -

WET WET WET - Angel Eyes (Home & Away)

JOHNNY HATES JAZZ - Turn Back The Clock

SWING OUT SISTER -

HOLLYWOOD BEYOND - What’s The Colour Of Money

LIVING IN A BOX - Scales Of Justice

BROS -

TIFFANY - I Saw Him Standing There

DEBBIE GIBSON -

JIMMY NAIL - Love Don’t Live Here Anymore

RICK ASTLEY - She Wants To Dance With Me

CLIFF RICHARD, HANK MARVIN, THE YOUNG ONES - Living Doll

Edited January 15Jan 15 by Hadji

Sneak peak

15 minutes ago, Hadji said:

Sneak peak

Oh this is cool! It's A Sin is confirmed! Also, Dancing In The Dark! This is excellent! Looking forward to the tracklist!

It’s A Sin should’ve been on 1987 as there was room for it on there. It should’ve been Always On My Mind and It’s A Sin on main and What Have I Done To Deserve This and Rent on extra rather than have 2 songs on main and none on extra

5 minutes ago, Hadji said:

It’s A Sin should’ve been on 1987 as there was room for it on there. It should’ve been Always On My Mind and It’s A Sin on main and What Have I Done To Deserve This and Rent on extra rather than have 2 songs on main and none on extra

It was probably a licensing issue at the time. It may have been rectified or salvaged very recently. It's still good that they've made the collection in the end.

My prediction for releases...

1985-1989 Final Chapter

1985-1989 Final Chapter Extra

1980-1989 Definitive Final Chapter

(1980-1989 Definitive Final Chapter Extra)

Because, you know, they just love the 80's. But... no recycles makes it harder to do plus there is the Vault series too.

1 minute ago, awardinary said:

My prediction for releases...

1985-1989 Final Chapter

1985-1989 Final Chapter Extra

1980-1989 Definitive Final Chapter

(1980-1989 Definitive Final Chapter Extra)

Because, you know, they just love the 80's. But... no recycles makes it harder to do plus there is the Vault series too.

That's the thing. I mean, technically there's nothing stopping them doing a definitive decade closure with an Extra on top, but at that point, they would have exhausted most chart smashes. Just like they redeemed Pet Shop Boys, Bruce Springsteen and Heart here, they may be able to redeem other acts that have had licensing nightmares previously, but then NOW have acquired the rights to since.

Due for release on 13th February

Edited January 16Jan 16 by Hadji

45 minutes ago, Hadji said:

Highlights for me are:

Double Pet Shop Boys massive No.1s - It's A Sin and West End Girls

De La Soul - Me Myself and I

Heart - Alone
Bruce Springsteen - Dancing In The Dark

Cliff Richard, Hank Marvin & The Young Ones - Living Doll

Personal favourites:

Gloria Estefan - Rhythm Is Gonna Get You
Fuzzbox - International Rescue

Trans-X - Living On Video

The majority of these are going to be new discoveries for me, so I'm looking forward to it!

Good to see no licensing issue with West End Girls after all then. It would have been quite strange indeed for a specific song by an artist not to be licensable.

Nice they've got the Heart license back.

It does make you think how much stronger the individual yearbooks could be if none of these songs had been held back for this mop up release but never mind, at least we got a lot of them in the end.

1 hour ago, Tylky said:

It was probably a licensing issue at the time. It may have been rectified or salvaged very recently. It's still good that they've made the collection in the end.

It seems to me like they specifically saved it for this, seeing as they've had the PSB license back since after SMASH was released.

I guess it makes sense to hang on to some No.1s if they knew this album was always going to be in the works.

1 hour ago, Hadji said:

It’s A Sin should’ve been on 1987 as there was room for it on there. It should’ve been Always On My Mind and It’s A Sin on main and What Have I Done To Deserve This and Rent on extra rather than have 2 songs on main and none on extra

What are your favourite inclusions on or things about the tracklist?

I'm happy to see De La Soul, Texas, Heart, Status Quo, Alexander O'Neal (this is often used in 80s nostalgia videos on TikTok), PSB, Eighth Wonder (more PSB), and Cliff.

Edited January 15Jan 15 by gooddelta

So what if one day they got the licence for a big name like David Bowie or Prince... would they go as far as remaking this whole thing again using the already acquired licenses for songs on this collection?

I always wondered if we would see Michael Jackson's biggest hits appear in the series. Seems they found a way to get Thriller a while back. May even have seen Billie Jean make an appearance one time.

1 hour ago, awardinary said:

My prediction for releases...

1985-1989 Final Chapter

1985-1989 Final Chapter Extra

1980-1989 Definitive Final Chapter

(1980-1989 Definitive Final Chapter Extra)

Because, you know, they just love the 80's. But... no recycles makes it harder to do plus there is the Vault series too.

Now that's what we call...oh look what we found down the back of the sofa...from 1987

Now that's what we call...oh look what we found down the back of the sofa...from 1987 12"

4 minutes ago, awardinary said:

So what if one day they got the licence for a big name like David Bowie or Prince... would they go as far as remaking this whole thing again using the already acquired licenses for songs on this collection?

I always wondered if we would see Michael Jackson's biggest hits appear in the series. Seems they found a way to get Thriller a while back. May even have seen Billie Jean make an appearance one time.

They may do something like "NOW Yearbook Presents... Legends & Oddities: The 80's".

Have things like Bowie, Prince, Madonna, Michael Jackson (if licensed) and Kraftwerk, The Firm, Spitting Image etc.

I'd buy that!

8 minutes ago, awardinary said:

So what if one day they got the licence for a big name like David Bowie or Prince... would they go as far as remaking this whole thing again using the already acquired licenses for songs on this collection?

I always wondered if we would see Michael Jackson's biggest hits appear in the series. Seems they found a way to get Thriller a while back. May even have seen Billie Jean make an appearance one time.

Now That's What We Call The Hits We Couldn't Get Before: The Vault Extra 1985 first half

The absurdity of putting It's a Sin on any final chapter of anything when only George Michael or Freddie Mercury would have been upset if it had opened the main Yearbook.

Edited January 15Jan 15 by Colm

17 minutes ago, Colm said:

The absurdity of putting It's a Sin on any final chapter of anything when only George Michael or Freddie Mercury would have been upset if it had opened the main Yearbook.

If George Michael was still alive, he wouldn’t care if he wasn’t track 1. It’s his label that care so much

I’ve made a list of artists on this album who have other hits that could potentially appear on extra

Pet Shop Boys - Opportunities (Let’s Make Lots Of Money)

Pet Shop Boys - Suburbia

Pet Shop Boys - Rent

Eurythmics - Would I Lie To You?

Bananarama - More Than Physical

Five Star - If I Say Yes

Five Star - Whenever You’re Ready

Five Star - Strong As Steel

Level 42 - Heaven In My Hands

T'Pau - Secret Garden

The Stranglers - Always The Sun

Big Country - One Great Thing

Big Country - King Of Emotion

R.E.M - It’s The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)

The Cure - Just Like Heaven

Fuzzbox - Self!

Amazulu - Montego Bay

Bruce Springsteen - Born In The USA

Bruce Springsteen - Glory Days

Bruce Springsteen - Cover Me

Bon Jovi - I’ll Be There For You

Belinda Carlisle - Mad About You

The Bangles - If She Knew What She Wants

Art Of Noise featuring Duane Eddy - Peter Gunn

Cameo - Candy

Midnight Star - Headlines

Communards - You Are My World

Sonia - Listen To Your Heart

Johnny Hates Jazz - Heart Of Gold

Swing Out Sister - You On My Mind

Living In A Box - Scales Of Justice

Tiffany - I Saw Him Standing There

Edited January 16Jan 16 by Hadji