Now That's What I Call Music | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Compilation album by Various Artists | ||||
Released | 28 November 1983 | |||
Recorded | 1982, 1983 | |||
Genre | Pop, Rock | |||
Length | 1:55:01 | |||
Label | Virgin/EMI | |||
Series chronology | ||||
|
Now That's What I Call Music (also simply titled Now or Now 1) is the first album from the popular Now series that was released in the United Kingdom on 28 November 1983. [1] Initial pressings were released on vinyl and audio cassette. To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the album and series, the album was re-released on CD for the first time in 2009. Alternative longer mixes of "Only for Love", "Double Dutch" and "Candy Girl" were included in place of the original shorter single mixes from 1983. [1] A double vinyl re-release followed for Record Store Day on 18 April 2015. [1] In July 2018, the album was newly remastered and re-released on CD, vinyl and cassette to commemorate the release of the 100th volume of the series. [2]
In December 1983, the compilation debuted at number seven on the UK Albums Chart and reached number one a week later, staying at the top for five non-consecutive weeks. [3]
The idea for the first album in the series came from Virgin Records boss Richard Branson and his associate Simon Draper. They had decided to make their own compilation albums, in collaboration with EMI, in order to include the biggest hits of the day in one record. Branson had previously gifted Draper a copy of a vintage advertising poster featuring an illustration of a pig listening to a "singing" chicken, which had just laid an egg, bearing the caption "Now, That's what I call Music". seeing the poster, the two decided to use the caption for their compilation album. Branson had bought the object from a bric-a-brac shop, where his future wife Joan Templeman was working. [4]
No. | Title | Artist | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "You Can't Hurry Love" | Phil Collins | 2:52 |
2. | "Is There Something I Should Know?" | Duran Duran | 4:11 |
3. | "Red Red Wine" | UB40 | 3:01 |
4. | "Only for Love" | Limahl | 3:48 |
5. | "Temptation" | Heaven 17 | 3:07 |
6. | "Give It Up" | KC and the Sunshine Band | 4:12 |
7. | "Double Dutch" | Malcolm McLaren | 3:40 |
8. | "Total Eclipse of the Heart" | Bonnie Tyler | 4:30 |
9. | "Karma Chameleon" | Culture Club | 3:53 |
10. | "The Safety Dance" | Men Without Hats | 2:47 |
11. | "Too Shy" | Kajagoogoo | 3:41 |
12. | "Moonlight Shadow" | Mike Oldfield | 3:37 |
13. | "Down Under" | Men at Work | 3:42 |
14. | "(Hey You) The Rock Steady Crew" | Rock Steady Crew | 3:46 |
15. | "Baby Jane" | Rod Stewart | 4:45 |
16. | "Wherever I Lay My Hat (That's My Home)" | Paul Young | 4:52 |
No. | Title | Artist | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Candy Girl" | New Edition | 3:52 |
2. | "Big Apple" | Kajagoogoo | 4:12 |
3. | "Let's Stay Together" | Tina Turner | 3:36 |
4. | "(Keep Feeling) Fascination" | The Human League | 3:45 |
5. | "New Song" | Howard Jones | 4:16 |
6. | "Please Don't Make Me Cry" | UB40 | 3:26 |
7. | "Tonight, I Celebrate My Love" | Peabo Bryson & Roberta Flack | 3:29 |
8. | "They Don't Know" | Tracey Ullman | 3:00 |
9. | "Kissing with Confidence" | Will Powers | 3:54 |
10. | "That's All" | Genesis | 4:23 |
11. | "The Love Cats" | The Cure | 3:33 |
12. | "Waterfront" | Simple Minds | 4:40 |
13. | "The Sun and the Rain" | Madness | 3:30 |
14. | "Victims" | Culture Club | 4:56 |
A video selection was also released featuring selected tracks from the main album, one track that later featured on Volume II of the series and two which did not appear on any Now album.
† Never appeared on any of the numbered NOW albums but did appear on Now 1983 in the 10th Anniversary Series. [1] [5]
†† Later appeared on NOW 2.
Chart (1983-1984) | Peak position |
---|---|
UK Albums (OCC) [6] | 1 |
Chart (2018-2019) | Peak position |
---|---|
UK Compilation Albums (OCC) [7] | 2 |
Kajagoogoo were a British new wave band, best known for their 1983 hit single "Too Shy", which reached No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart, and the top 10 in numerous other countries.
Christopher Hamill, known professionally as Limahl, is a British pop singer. He was the lead singer of the pop group Kajagoogoo beginning in 1982, before embarking on a solo career, garnering the 1984 hit "The NeverEnding Story", the theme song for the film of the same name.
ABC is an English pop band that originated in Sheffield in 1980, evolving from the earlier ensemble Vice Versa. The band's classic formation featured Martin Fry as the lead vocalist, Mark White on guitar and keyboards, Stephen Singleton playing the saxophone, and David Palmer behind the drums.
Nick Rhodes is an English keyboardist and producer, best known as a founding member and the keyboardist of the band Duran Duran.
Stephen Anthony James Duffy is an English musician, singer, and songwriter. He was a founding member, vocalist, bassist, and then drummer of Duran Duran. He went on to record as a solo performer under several different names, and is the singer and songwriter for The Lilac Time with his elder brother Nick. He has also co-written with Robbie Williams and Steven Page.
Now That's What I Call Music! is a series of various artists compilation albums released in the United Kingdom and Ireland by Sony Music and Universal Music which began in 1983. Spinoff series began for other countries the following year, starting with South Africa, and many other countries worldwide soon followed, expanding into Asia in 1995, then the United States in 1998.
20 Greatest Hits is a compilation album featuring a selection of songs by The Beatles that were number one singles in the UK and US. It was released on 11 October 1982 in the United States and 18 October in the United Kingdom and marked the 20th anniversary of The Beatles' first record release, "Love Me Do", in the UK in October 1962. 20 Greatest Hits was the last Beatles album to be released with variations between the U.S. and UK versions. There is an extremely rare 8 track tape version of this album, of which approximately 10 to 15 copies still exist today. Capitol Records decided not to release the album in the format, as 8 tracks were not selling well in late 1982. However, in early 1983, they made a few copies available through Capitol Special Markets.
Fashion was a British new wave band, primarily active from 1978 to 1984, with a brief revival in 2009. They began as a post-punk band, before developing into a new wave/synth-pop ensemble that placed three singles on the lower reaches of the UK chart in 1982–84.
"Red Red Wine" is a song originally written, performed and recorded by American singer Neil Diamond in 1967 that appears on his second studio album, Just for You. The lyrics are written from the perspective of a person who finds that drinking red wine is the only way to forget his woes.
This is a list of available actual and physical albums belonging to the official 1983 Now That's What I Call Music! UK series, comprising: compact discs (CD), magnetic audio cassettes (AC), vinyl (LP), VHS tape, Universal Media Disc (UMD), DVD, and on other short-lived formats. They are categorized by series (country), then ordered by date. All series with the exception of United Kingdom and the United States have been discontinued, New Zealand had two more albums released as a playlist only on Spotify, South Africa had five more albums released as a playlist on Spotify under DJ Kurtis.
"Too Shy" is a song written and recorded by English band Kajagoogoo, released in January 1983. The first single from their debut album White Feathers, the song was an immediate hit and reached number one on the UK Singles Chart for two weeks. It was also very successful in other European countries and Japan, spending five weeks at number one in Germany, also reaching number one in Belgium and Ireland, as well as reaching number two in France and Switzerland, and number four in Sweden, Austria and the Netherlands.
White Feathers is the debut album by English new wave band Kajagoogoo, released on 18 April 1983 by EMI Records. The album contains their most successful single, "Too Shy", a UK No. 1 hit in February 1983, as well as two other UK Top 20 hits: "Ooh to Be Ah" and "Hang on Now". It is the band's only album with Limahl as the lead vocalist.
Now That's What I Call Music Smash Hits is a compilation album released on 3 October 1987. The album is part of the (UK) Now That's What I call Music! series and is a collaboration with Smash Hits magazine, a successful pop music-based magazine at the time. It was conceived, written, and designed by the Smash Hits staff, and the liner notes are presented in the magazine's offbeat style.
More UB40 Music is a compilation album of all of UB40's 1980 Graduate recordings. The album first appeared as a Dutch import on double vinyl LP and cassette in 1983 and features all the tracks from Signing Off, the three tracks from the 12" single that accompanied Signing Off along with the tracks released as singles that didn't feature on the debut album. The tracks from their 2nd and 3rd double A-side singles are all included in their 12" extended versions.
Now That's What I Call Music! (Asia) was modelled after the highly successful Now That's What I Call Music! series in the United Kingdom. This compilation features a number of English-language songs popular around the time of its release on 20 July 1995.
"Shake Your Head" is a song by American pop rock group Was. It was originally released in 1983 by Geffen on their second album, Born to Laugh at Tornadoes (1983). In 1992, it was re-recorded and remixed by house music producer Steve "Silk" Hurley, and features actress Kim Basinger alongside a re-recorded Ozzy Osbourne on vocals. It appears on the group's third compilation album, Hello Dad... I'm in Jail (1992), and was released as a single in June 1992 by Fontana.
The Human League Video Single is a music video compilation by the British synthpop group The Human League, released on VHS and Betamax format tape. Marketed as a "video single", it was released in the UK in August 1983.
Don't Suppose is the debut solo album by the English singer Limahl, formerly lead singer of the British band Kajagoogoo, released in 1984 by EMI Records.
"Ooh to Be Ah" is a song by English band Kajagoogoo, released in 1983 as the second single from their debut album White Feathers, and was produced by Duran Duran keyboardist Nick Rhodes and producer Colin Thurston. It was the band's second biggest hit, peaking for two weeks at number 7 on the UK Singles Chart. It was the follow-up single to "Too Shy" and describes the fact that the clothes you wear do not make you famous.
Raiders of the Pop Charts is a compilation album released by Ronco in late 1982. It spent two weeks at number one in the UK Albums chart in January 1983.