Now That's What I Call Music!

[Katzkatz]

The old compilation albums. Still going strong - even in the digital download age! What are people's memories of them? Many of the early editions are probably collectors' items now.

I haven't brought any for quite a while. The last I have is Now 41. I have Now 2, 4, 7(on vinyl) and a few of the 'Dance' selection ones. I think I got given a few of the 'Dance' ones as Xmas presents. Now 2 is good as it features the 'proper' version of relax by Frankie Goes to Hollywood. Just looking at its track listings and you have : Nenea(99 Red Balloons, Queen(Radio Ga-Ga), Madness(Michael Caine), Nik Kershaw(Wouldn't It Be Good), Eurythmics(Here Comes the Rain Again), David Bowie(Modern Love), Culture Club(It's a Miracle), The Smiths (What Difference Does Love Make?) a pretty good selection on that one.

I do remember going down to Woolworths to see if the newest one was available. I did buy 7 on vinyl, but the record player in my house broke a few weeks after!

[thingonaspring]

I had a load on tape when I was younger, and started collecting them on CD when I was at University. I had most of the CD's that were released when I sold them for a huge profit.
They trialled Now 4 on CD, but the next one's released on CD were 8 & 9, all 3 of which were cut-down single CD versions of the LP/cassette releases. I never had number 4, but have seen it sell for £200-300. 8 & 9 were slightly more common, and when I sold, made about £40 each. Anything below around 20ish was still around £10-20 or so on ebay too. Not looked recently, but did pick up a load of earlier ones not too long ago in a charity shop again, which made me want to collect again...

[thevulture]

damn...reading the track listing, suddenly have a need to hear Nik Kershaw's 'Would'nt It Be Good'...

[Sir Hilary Bray]

:oops: damn...reading the track listing, suddenly have a need to hear Nik Kershaw's 'Would'nt It Be Good'...

Or how about Howard Jones - What Is Love? that song still sounds fresh today, excellent!

[Katzkatz]

They did do a VHS release of some of the earlier ones. These differed from the LP, CD and tape versions. I don't think they featured all of the tracks. I think my Dad might have an early VHS Now!.

P.S. Yeah the Howard Jones song 'What is Love?' is a good track.

I'll think I'll dig out my old tapes of 'Now!', to listen to them again.

P.P.S. When did they stop producing the vinyl editions?

[TwoHeadedBoy]

My mum's got Now volumes 1-18 on vinyl, back when they had a pig on the cover.

Read an article once that said you could determine someone's age by asking them what their favourite Now album was, the idea being that the answer given would be the Now album that was out when that person was 12-14 years old.

My favourite is Now 40, guess how old that makes me

[thingonaspring]

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NOW-THATS-CALL-MUSIC-4-CD-RAREST-RARE-/350469426581?pt=UK_CDsDVDs_CDs_CDs_GL&hash=item51999b0d95

Now 4 on cd finished yesterday on ebay. 18 bids, £325.00. Now 8 & 9 Cd's go up to around £50ish.

[jdanddiet]

I remember when a now album came out it was a real event, a must have...
Used to love the LP's, the fold out covers with all the tracks, artist info etc.
Inevitably however, disc 2 side 2 always got a little odd...
My fave was 13, but they are kinda pointless these days.

[TwoHeadedBoy]

I remember when a now album came out it was a real event, a must have...
Used to love the LP's, the fold out covers with all the tracks, artist info etc.
Inevitably however, disc 2 side 2 always got a little odd...
My fave was 13, but they are kinda pointless these days.

In that case, I estimate your age to be somewhere around 36?

[jdanddiet]

I remember when a now album came out it was a real event, a must have...
Used to love the LP's, the fold out covers with all the tracks, artist info etc.
Inevitably however, disc 2 side 2 always got a little odd...
My fave was 13, but they are kinda pointless these days.

In that case, I estimate your age to be somewhere around 36?

I wish!

[TwoHeadedBoy]

Bah, the theory is flawed!

[thingonaspring]

it's not too far off... but the first one i bought myself was also the second cassette i ever bought, and it was now 10...

[TwoHeadedBoy]

So that'd make you... between 35-37?

[thingonaspring]

not too far off. 34 this year. i was 10 when i bought it, not 12

the first cassette i bought was michael jackson - bad.

[SoupDragon]

Only one I bought was Now 11 on double cassette because it featured Whitesnake and Kiss