Now That's What I Call 25 Years! Album Review
Now! Reaches its Milestone with a Special Anniversary Commemoration
The long running UK compilation series has arrived at its celebration of a quarter century of compilation chart success. Since its inception in December 1983, the Now! series has been a staple CD release three times a year at Easter, Summer and Christmas and is still demanded today by young music fans and ardent fans.
These fans have been presented with a collector's item: a 3CD mix of some of the series' finest tracks, from Run DMC and Aerosmith's Walk This Way (Now 8) to recent tracks from Duffy and Katy Perry.
Music To Please Old And New Fans
The first CD opens with one of Queen's most memorable hits, I Want To Break Free (Now 3) followed by the cheesy pop of Wham's Wake Me Up Before You Go Go (Now 3). The Police, U2, Ray Parker Jnr's Ghostbusters and also a secure placing for the first time in the history of the Now albums of Michael Jackson's Thriller from 1983 round off the first half of the CD in an undeniably strong fashion.
The first track to ever appear on a Now album, Phil Collins' You Can't Hurry Love makes an appearance on this album as do classic cuts from Duran Duran, the Pet Shop Boys, 2009's Outstanding Contribution to Music recipients at the Brit Awards, and Diana Ross.
Now! In The Nineties
The second CD celebrates the music of the nineties, the decade of Brit Pop and the debut single from the Spice Girls, Wannabe (Now 34) in 1996. CD2 begins in a melancholic mood with REM's Everybody Hurts (Now 25), the biggest Male solo artist of the nineties, Robbie Williams, with Angels (Now 39) and Boyzone's 1998 number one No Matter What (Now 41).
Oasis' Wonderwall (Now 34), one of the biggest UK number ones of all time from Wet Wet Wet and Cher's seven week number one from 1998, Believe (Now 42) round off the second disc only to make way for the most recent chart hits on the third disc.
Now Music In 2009 And Beyond
The final disc mixes many of the biggest number one hits of recent years from Rihanna's mighty Umbrella (Now 67) to Peter Kay and Tony Christie's Comic Relief collaboration from 2005 Is This The Way To Amarillo? (Now 60) as well as tracks from Kylie Minogue, Sugababes, Gnarls Barkley and Coldplay's haunting track Fix You (Now 62).
Now That's What I Call 25 Years! is a testament to the strong appeal of this series of albums that after a quarter of a century a series that was going to originally be trialled for three issues has now reached its 72nd installment, due for release in April 2009. With over 80 million album sales to date and rising, the team behind these albums must be doing something right in convincing the public that these are the albums to buy.
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