Almost four months to the day since it had crashed its way through the charts and teenage bedrooms of the UK, NOW! would launch a second onslaught on the nation. And whilst at first glance it seems just like more of the same (including the first use of the ubiquitous phrase “Top Chart Hits”), if you dig deeper, things do seem a little bit stranger this time around.
Yes, there are the huge hits (Radio Ga Ga, Relax, Girls Just Want To Have Fun), but there’s also some things that have slipped through the cracks of time. As good a track as More, More, More is (and it’s not a cover of the Andrea True disco classic), I’d never heard of Carmel. Nor was I familiar with Julia & Company, Snowy White, Re-Flex or Matthew Wilder (though his track Break My Stride is fairly well-known).
So what’s happened here then? Has NOW! blown it already, and only on volume 2? Well, no. Of course not, otherwise I wouldn’t be planning to review all 80 odd albums in the series that has lasted for 30 years.
What happened was the inevitable result of a shorter window in which to choose tracks from. Whereas NOW! had had a whole year to pilfer from, NOW 2 had the unenviable task of replicating that massive track listing from just four months of hits, ranging from November 1983 (The Thompson Twins’ Hold Me Now) to March 1984 (Culture Club’s soon to be released It’s A Miracle, which it would have been if that had been as successful as their previous singles). A task as difficult as this required a professional, and so Richard Branson brought one in: Ashley Abram.
Now, Ashley Abram may sound like a runner-up on The X-Factor or Masterchef, but he is probably the most important person in the history of the entire NOW! series, being the compiler of the albums since NOW 2 all the way to NOW 81. He may not be the most recognisable name in pop, but thanks to him unsuspecting teenagers everywhere probably had their first taste of house music, heavy metal or garage. Not much is known about him, and trawling the net for info turns up more discrepancies than an MP’s account of an indiscretion. The most common story is that Branson brought in Abram’s Box Music, a professional music consultancy, to take the NOW! concept to the next level. Other sources say he was Ronco’s chief compiler in the 1970s, another says he was a record buyer for Woolworths, some say that Box Music was his company, others that he was simply an employee. It’s a minefield to be honest and unless I get to speak to him personally, I’m not going any deeper into the background. All I’ll say is, it’s Abram’s name on the back of the albums (at least from Now 4) as ‘Now Co-ordinator’, so he’s the man we thank.
Whoever made the decision to increase the frequency of releases, it made sound commercial sense, but it was bound to affect the quality. NOW! had been such a huge, unprecedented success, the desire to quickly cash-in is completely understandable, but looking at the track listing here, you have to wonder if three a year (one every four months) was the wisest decision. But then you realise that the releases tie in with the major school holidays (Easter, Summer and Christmas) and of course it makes perfect sense.
But as a result of the increased frequency, NOW albums would rarely hit as hard as that first release. Already with NOW 2, the quality threshold has dropped considerably, and where the hits may hit even harder than they did before (Relax, still banned by Radio 1 at the time is the masterstroke here), there are far too many duffers. Side 2 would have been swiped off most kids record players after the first two tracks (Nena’s 99 Red Balloons and Cyndi Lauper), with its mix of mullets and tracks that were probably more popular with their parents, a theme continued later on with the inclusion of Slade, Paul McCartney and The Rolling Stones (in the first of only two appearances in the series) . The other casualty is the volume of number 1’s, dropping from the massive eleven chart toppers on NOW! to just four here (Only You, 99 Red Balloons, Relax, Pipes of Peace(!)).
Side Three would see the first attempt to theme a whole side (remember this was back in the day when the albums would have four sides, rather than two CDs, a CD still being as futuristic as a jetpack to the average Woolworths customer). These would generally be undertaken when a particular musical style dominates the charts for a certain period. I first became aware of it on NOW 11, where a whole side was devoted to the burgeoning House scene, and goes some way to making that album one of the best in the series. Here, Side Three is almost entirely devoted to post-New wave acts, an odd mix of alternative electro-pop, guitar bands and just general oddness of a kind that wouldn’t normally be seen bothering the charts which at the time were dominated by the likes of Duran Duran. But is that true? As is so often the case people like to misremember the past. Of the eight tracks on Side Three, five of them were top ten hits and Relax is still one of the biggest selling singles ever in the UK. The appearance of The Smiths is rather special though; they would never appear again, though Morrissey’s solo career was a good standby for the series, at least until he stopped having top ten hits at the end of the 80s.
No idea who’s doing the voice over here, so if anyone can enlighten me I’d be most grateful. I suspect she was a DJ on either Radio 1 or Capital, but it’s not a voice I recognise.
It does a great job of convincing you that you have to have it, reeling off the list of winners with great pride, and any self-respecting pop fan would have killed for this album at the time. Sadly, NOW 2 has not aged well, appearing to modern eyes exactly like the kind of cheap cash-in that NOW! itself would have to contend with in the months and years ahead. It was going to take something special to convince the record-buying public that this was more than a fly-by-night operation…
NOW THAT’S WHAT I CALL MUSIC II
Release date
26th March 1984
Biggest tracks
Relax – Frankie Goes to Hollywood
Radio Ga Ga – Queen
Lost gems
Forgotten tracks
Bird of Paradise – Snowy White
Breaking Down (Sugar Samba) – Julia & Company
Politics of Dancing – Re-Flex
What’s missing
Doctor Doctor – The Thompson Twins (would later appear on NOW 4)
Holiday – Madonna
Track listing
| Side One | |
| Radio Ga Ga | Queen |
| Wouldn’t It Be Good | Nik Kershaw |
| Hold Me Now | The Thompson Twins |
| Get Out Of Your Lazy Bed | Matt Bianco |
| More, More, More | Carmel |
| Michael Caine | Madness |
| Only You | The Flying Pickets |
| Side Two | |
| 99 Red Balloons | Nena |
| Girls Just Wanna Have Fun | Cyndi Lauper |
| My Guy | Tracey Ullman |
| Break My Stride | Matthew Wilder |
| Breakin’ Down (Sugar Samba) | Julia & Company |
| That’s Livin’ Alright | Joe Fagin |
| I Gave You My Heart (Didn’t I) | Hot Chocolate |
| Bird Of Paradise | Snowy White |
| Side Three | |
| Relax | Frankie Goes To Hollywood |
| Here Comes The Rain Again | Eurythmics |
| What Is Love? | Howard Jones |
| What Difference Does It Make | The Smiths |
| Feels Like Heaven | Fiction Factory |
| The Politics Of Dancing | Re-Flex |
| Hyperactive! | Thomas Dolby |
| Wishful Thinking | China Crisis |
| Side Four | |
| Modern Love | David Bowie |
| It’s A Miracle | Culture Club |
| Undercover (Of The Night) | The Rolling Stones |
| Wonderland | Big Country |
| Run Runaway | Slade |
| New Moon On Monday | Duran Duran |
| Pipes Of Peace | Paul McCartney |
Video edition
The video version is even more of a mixed bag than for NOW!
20 tracks, but only eleven of them are on the accompanying album. One track (Victims) is from NOW!, one that would appear on NOW 4 (Doctor, Doctor) and seven that never appeared on any NOW! album (Help, Marguerita Time, Let The Music Play, Birds Fly, Breaking Point, Cry and Be Free, The Lion’s Mouth).
| Nik Kershaw – Wouldn’t It Be Good |
| Thompson Twins – Doctor, Doctor |
| Howard Jones – What is Love? |
| Duran Duran – New Moon on Monday |
| China Crisis – Wishful Thinking |
| Tina Turner – Help |
| Status Quo – Marguerita Time |
| Carmel – More, More, More |
| Shannon – Let the Music Play |
| Icicle Works – Birds Fly |
| Bourgie Bourgie – Breaking Point |
| Re-Flex – The Politics of Dancing |
| Thomas Dolby – Hyperactive |
| Matt Bianco – Get Out of Your Lazy Bed |
| Big Country – Wonderland |
| Marilyn – Cry and Be Free |
| Snowy White – Bird of Paradise |
| The Flying Pickets – Only You |
| Kajagoogoo – The Lion’s Mouth |
| Culture Club – Victims |