From Music Week:

 

The team behind Now! is following the biggest first-week sales in the compilation’s history with a programme of activity to mark the brand’s 25th anniversary.

 

The planned celebrations this autumn will include an ITV special tentatively called Now That’s What I Call Music! 1983, which will celebrate the birth of the world’s most successful compilations series by looking at the acts who featured on the first album a quarter of a century ago.

 

That double album, issued in December 1983 by the then-separate Virgin and EMI, was groundbreaking in being the first such TV-advertised hits set released by frontline, repertoire-generating labels rather than a compilations specialist such as K-Tel or Ronco.

 

Featuring 30 tracks, including hits by Phil Collins, Culture Club, Duran Duran and Kajagoogoo, the compilation spent five weeks at number one on what was then a combined albums chart. It was followed by all but one of the regular albums reaching number one on, initially, the general albums chart and then the spin-off compilations chart, which was launched in 1989 – mainly because the likes of Now! were “clogging up” the albums countdown.

 

As part of the 25th anniversary celebrations, EMI commercial marketing co-managing director Peter Duckworth reveals the first Now! will be made available on CD for the first time, featuring cardboard packaging to reflect its original release as a vinyl album, while a new compilation, Now! 25 Years, will sum up the first two-and-half decades of the brand across three CDs.

 

In the same month Now! 71 will also appear, following up what have been the two fastest-selling albums in the series so far.

 

(Taken From The Now Music Forum)

 

OMG! I can't wait :w00t:

interesting, Now 25 years will just be like the Now Decades and Now Years compilations though surely

As part of the 25th anniversary celebrations, EMI commercial marketing co-managing director Peter Duckworth reveals the first Now! will be made available on CD for the first time, featuring cardboard packaging to reflect its original release as a vinyl album, while a new compilation, Now! 25 Years, will sum up the first two-and-half decades of the brand across three CDs.

 

In the same month Now! 71 will also appear, following up what have been the two fastest-selling albums in the series so far.

 

(Taken From The Now Music Forum)

 

OMG! I can't wait :w00t:

 

Personally, I'd release all the early ones - esp the ones that didn't originally have a CD. PLUS I'd also re-issue the No4 CD, since you need to take out a mortgage to afford to buy it.

I thought this would be something special but unfortunately it'll be as generic as the Now Decades, Now Years or even Now No.1's.

 

It'll have 3 CDs with 25 tracks each one (meaning that loads of songs will get cut off) and we're going to get the same hits by the same artists, such as Britney's "Baby One More Time" (I know, they could've gone with "You Drive Me (Crazy)", "Sometimes" or even "My Prerogative" as none of them ever made it on a Now, but no, they went for the most obvious choice, a song that even made it to the Now Decades); Backstreet Boys "I Want It That Way", Phil Collins "You Can't Hurry Love" and Eurythmics "There Must Be An Angel (Playing With My Heart)" amongst many others.

 

The newer hits appear on the form of Katy Perry's "I Kissed A Girl", Nelly Furtado's "Maneater", Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy", Rihanna feat. Jay-Z with "Umbrella" and Leona Lewis' "Bleeding Love".

Edited September 24, 200816 yr by Luciano

Personally, I'd release all the early ones - esp the ones that didn't originally have a CD. PLUS I'd also re-issue the No4 CD, since you need to take out a mortgage to afford to buy it.

 

I think if the re-release of Now 1 is a success and i think it will be, then it's possible that there

could further -re-releases.

 

I'd like to see a lot of the early ones on CD too, i have them on vinyl/cassette but would love

cd copies.

 

Now Decades was a great idea but they should have waited til now to do another version instead of having a new one every year.

Now Decades was a great idea but they should have waited til now to do another version instead of having a new one every year.

 

I agree, after the greatness that was Now Decades, we got pretty dull spin-offs with Now Years and Now No.1's. The Very Best Of Now Dance was quite enjoyable, though. Nevertheless, many dance hardcore fans consider it a terrible compilation.

I quite liked Now Years actually, I'm not overly fond of Now No.1's, it seems a bit like a leftovers collection of the songs that they didn't put on Decades

 

one thing though, why was When You Say Nothing At All on both Years and No.1's?

True about the spin offs, But I can't wait for the special 3 disc one this time! there's gonna be a few classic tracks

I agree, after the greatness that was Now Decades, we got pretty dull spin-offs with Now Years and Now No.1's. The Very Best Of Now Dance was quite enjoyable, though. Nevertheless, many dance hardcore fans consider it a terrible compilation.

 

That's because most of the songs could be catergorised into one of two categories:

 

1 - Chart-based dance.

2 - Remixes of non-dance tracks.

 

And then there was the truly bizarre choices: Tubthumping and Hey Baby are by no stretch of the imagination dance songs.

That's because most of the songs could be catergorised into one of two categories:

 

1 - Chart-based dance.

2 - Remixes of non-dance tracks.

 

And then there was the truly bizarre choices: Tubthumping and Hey Baby are by no stretch of the imagination dance songs.

 

Same with "Toxic" or "Superstar", both strictly pop tracks.

I have found this Provisional track listing for Now 25 Years on Amazon.co.uk

 

Disc: 1

1. Backstreet Boys I Want It That Way

2. Belinda Carlisle Heaven is A Place On Earth

3. Beyonce feat Jay-Z Crazy In Love

4. Billy Joel Uptown Girl

5. Black Eyed Peas feat Justin Timberlake Where Is The Love

6. Bon Jovi Livin' On A Prayer

7. Boyzone No Matter What

8. Britney Spears Baby One More Time

9. Cher Believe

10. Coldplay Fix You

11. Crowded House Weather With You

12. Culture Club Karma Chameleon

13. David Bowie Modern Love

14. Diana Ross Chain Reaction

15. Duffy Mercy

16. Duran Duran The Reflex

17. Elton John Are You Ready For Love

18. Eurythmics There Must Be An Angel (Playing With My Heart)

19. Fatboy Slim Praise You

20. Feargal Sharkey A Good Heart

21. Frankie Goes To Hollywood Two Tribes

22. Gnarls Barkley Crazy

23. James Sit Down

24. James Blunt You're Beautiful

25. Jermaine Stewart We Don't Have To

26. Kaiser Chiefs Ruby Katy Perry I Kissed A Girl

Disc: 2

1. Kylie Minogue Can't Get You Out Of My Head

2. Leona Lewis Bleeding Love

3. Mark Ronson feat Amy Winehouse Valerie

4. Mika Grace Kelly

5. Natalie Imbruglia Torn

6. Nelly Furtado Maneater

7. New Radicals You Get What You Give

8. No Doubt Don't Speak

9. Oasis Wonderwall

10. Outkast Hey Ya!

11. Pet Shop Boys It's A Sin

12. Peter Gabriel Sledgehammer

13. Phil Collins You Can't Hurry Love

14. Phil Collins / Philip Bailey Easy Lover

15. Queen I Want To Break Free

16. R.E.M. Everybody Hurts

17. Ray Parker Jr Ghostbusters

18. Ricky Astley Never Gonna Give You Up

19. Rihanna feat Jay-Z Umbrella

20. Robbie Williams Angels

21. Roxette It Must Have Been Love

22. RUN DMC feat Aerosmith Walk This Way

23. S Club 7 Reach

24. Shaggy feat Ricardo 'RikRok' Ducent It Wasn't Me

25. Shania Twain That Don't Impress Me Much

Disc: 3

1. Simple Minds Don't You (Forget About Me)

2. Sinead O'Connor Nothing Compares 2 U

3. Snow Patrol Chasing Cars

4. Spice Girls Wannabe

5. T'Pau China In Your Hand

6. Take That Patience

7. The Beautiful South A Little Time

8. The Killers Somebody Told Me

9. The Proclaimers I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)

10. The Scissor Sisters I Don't Feel Like Dancin'

11. The Sugababes Push The Button

12. The Verve Bittersweet Symphony

13. Timbaland pts one Republic Apologise

14. Tina Turner The Best

15. Tony Christie (Is This The Way To) Amarillo

16. U2 Pride (In The Name Of Love)

17. UB40 Red Red Wine

18. Westlife You Raise Me Up

19. Wet Wet Wet Love Is All Around

20. Wham! Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go

21. Whitesnake Here I Go Again (87 Remix)

22. Will Young Leave Right Now

23. Yazz The Only Way Is Up

Edited September 27, 200816 yr by JakeyShake

That's because most of the songs could be catergorised into one of two categories:

 

1 - Chart-based dance.

2 - Remixes of non-dance tracks.

 

And then there was the truly bizarre choices: Tubthumping and Hey Baby are by no stretch of the imagination dance songs.

 

tho some might say...if you are able to dance to them - they are dance songs :lol:

 

Personally, I'd release all the early ones - esp the ones that didn't originally have a CD. PLUS I'd also re-issue the No4 CD, since you need to take out a mortgage to afford to buy it

 

but if they are from like 25 years ago - wont there be like some singles you wouldnt be able to get the rights too now..tho dont know everything might be in the back cat of emi records now...in that case it would be easy...but if there was something on a tiny dance label i guess like records by the KLF if they were ever on Now - dont think they would be able to get the rights...but then again could just replace the track with something by scooter - dont think anyone would notice :lol:

tho some might say...if you are able to dance to them - they are dance songs :lol:

 

Then you could consider ballads dance songs - since the first dance after a wedding is usually a ballad.

I have found this Provisional track listing for Now 25 Years on Amazon.co.uk

 

Disc: 1

1. Backstreet Boys I Want It That Way

2. Belinda Carlisle Heaven is A Place On Earth

3. Beyonce feat Jay-Z Crazy In Love

4. Billy Joel Uptown Girl

5. Black Eyed Peas feat Justin Timberlake Where Is The Love

6. Bon Jovi Livin' On A Prayer

7. Boyzone No Matter What

8. Britney Spears Baby One More Time

9. Cher Believe

10. Coldplay Fix You

11. Crowded House Weather With You

12. Culture Club Karma Chameleon

13. David Bowie Modern Love

14. Diana Ross Chain Reaction

15. Duffy Mercy

16. Duran Duran The Reflex

17. Elton John Are You Ready For Love

18. Eurythmics There Must Be An Angel (Playing With My Heart)

19. Fatboy Slim Praise You

20. Feargal Sharkey A Good Heart

21. Frankie Goes To Hollywood Two Tribes

22. Gnarls Barkley Crazy

23. James Sit Down

24. James Blunt You're Beautiful

25. Jermaine Stewart We Don't Have To

26. Kaiser Chiefs Ruby Katy Perry I Kissed A Girl

Disc: 2

1. Kylie Minogue Can't Get You Out Of My Head

2. Leona Lewis Bleeding Love

3. Mark Ronson feat Amy Winehouse Valerie

4. Mika Grace Kelly

5. Natalie Imbruglia Torn

6. Nelly Furtado Maneater

7. New Radicals You Get What You Give

8. No Doubt Don't Speak

9. Oasis Wonderwall

10. Outkast Hey Ya!

11. Pet Shop Boys It's A Sin

12. Peter Gabriel Sledgehammer

13. Phil Collins You Can't Hurry Love

14. Phil Collins / Philip Bailey Easy Lover

15. Queen I Want To Break Free

16. R.E.M. Everybody Hurts

17. Ray Parker Jr Ghostbusters

18. Ricky Astley Never Gonna Give You Up

19. Rihanna feat Jay-Z Umbrella

20. Robbie Williams Angels

21. Roxette It Must Have Been Love

22. RUN DMC feat Aerosmith Walk This Way

23. S Club 7 Reach

24. Shaggy feat Ricardo 'RikRok' Ducent It Wasn't Me

25. Shania Twain That Don't Impress Me Much

Disc: 3

1. Simple Minds Don't You (Forget About Me)

2. Sinead O'Connor Nothing Compares 2 U

3. Snow Patrol Chasing Cars

4. Spice Girls Wannabe

5. T'Pau China In Your Hand

6. Take That Patience

7. The Beautiful South A Little Time

8. The Killers Somebody Told Me

9. The Proclaimers I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)

10. The Scissor Sisters I Don't Feel Like Dancin'

11. The Sugababes Push The Button

12. The Verve Bittersweet Symphony

13. Timbaland pts one Republic Apologise

14. Tina Turner The Best

15. Tony Christie (Is This The Way To) Amarillo

16. U2 Pride (In The Name Of Love)

17. UB40 Red Red Wine

18. Westlife You Raise Me Up

19. Wet Wet Wet Love Is All Around

20. Wham! Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go

21. Whitesnake Here I Go Again (87 Remix)

22. Will Young Leave Right Now

23. Yazz The Only Way Is Up

 

 

Alphabetical order? Can't see that!

Alphabetical order? Can't see that!

 

That's why I said it was a provisional, anyway here is the cover for this now cd!

 

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61sCz-542rL._SS500_.jpg

 

I really love this cover, very nice :wub:

Edited October 2, 200816 yr by JakeyShake

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61sCz-542rL._SS500_.jpg

 

Why couldn't they put the Now 48 and Now 50 covers next to each other? Or did they not want to make it obvious how short on ideas they were in 2001?

 

And I doubt they'll mention what they said in their bit about Franz Ferdinand in the Now 57 booklet (I think it was 57 - it was the one that had Take Me Out).

Look what I found a tracklisting on Play.com looks like the real thing to me.

 

Disc 1

 

1. I Want To Break Free - Queen

2. Wake Me Up Before You Go Go - Wham!

3. There Must Be An Angel (Playing With My Heart) - Eurythmics

4. Pride (In The Name Of Love) - U2

5. Sledgehammer - Peter Gabriel

6. Walk This Way - RUN-DMC Feat. Aerosmith

7. Word Up - Cameo

8. Ghostbusters - Ray Parker Junior

9. Thriller - Michael Jackson

10. Chain Reaction - Diana Ross

11. You Can't Hurry Love - Phil Collins

12. Two Tribes - Frankie Goes To Hollywood

13. It's A Sin - Pet Shop Boys

14. The Reflex - Duran Duran

15. A Good Heart - Feargal Sharkey

16. Modern Love - David Bowie

17. Don't You (Forget About Me) - Simple Minds

18. Karma Chameleon - Culture Club

19. Red Red Wine - UB40

 

Disc 2

 

1. Everybody Hurts - R.E.M.

2. Angels - Robbie Williams

3. No Matter What - Boyzone

4. A Little Time - The Beautiful South

5. Wonderwall - Oasis

6. Torn - Natalie Imbruglia

7. Love Is All Around - Wet Wet Wet

8. The Best - Tina Turner

9. Heaven Is A Place On Earth - Belinda Carlisle

10. I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) - The Proclaimers

11. Sit Down - James

12. You Get What You Give - New Radicals

13. That Don't Impress Me Much - Shania Twain

14. Believe - Cher

15. Wannabe - Spice Girls

16. Baby One More Time - Britney Spears

17. I Want It That Way - Backstreet Boys

18. It Must Have Been Love - Roxette

19. Nothing Compares 2 U - Sinéad O'Connor

 

Disc 3

 

1. You're Beautiful - James Blunt

2. Patience - Take That

3. Mercy - Duffy

4. Valerie - Mark Ronson Feat. Amy Winehouse

5. Hey Ya! - OutKast

6. Maneater - Nelly Furtado

7. Crazy - Gnarls Barkley

8. Grace Kelly - Mika

9. Ruby - Kaiser Chiefs

10. Somebody Told Me - The Killers

11. Push The Button - Sugababes

12. I Kissed A Girl - Katy Perry

13. Can't Get You Out Of My Head - Kylie Minogue

14. (Is This The Way To) Amarillo - Tony Christie

15. Umbrella - Rihanna Feat. Jay-Z

16. My Humps - Black Eyed Peas

17. Apologize - Timbaland Feat. OneRepublic

18. Cry Me A River - Justin Timberlake

19. Fix You - Coldplay

20. Last Request - Paolo Nutini

21. Leave Right Now - Will Young

22. You Raise Me Up - Westlife

Edited October 7, 200816 yr by JakeyShake

Paolo Nutini's Last Request sticks right out of that tracklisting :o every other track deserves its place on there! I wonder if they'll put the correct remix of Apologize on here, seeing as they put the OneRepublic solo version on Now 69

 

I would have replaced Last Request with Bleeding Love and My Humps with Where Is The Love