Pink Floyd’s long-awaited reissue of their 1977 studio album Animals will be issued in September (and October) of this year.
The band’s tenth studio album, Animals was recorded by band members David Gilmour, Nick Mason, Roger Waters and Richard Wright at Britannia Row Studios in London throughout 1976 and early 1977, and was produced by the band themselves. The record peaked at number two in the UK and number three in the US, and is considered as one of the band’s best works.
Deluxe gatefold edition includes vinyl, CD, DVD and blu-ray (click image to enlarge)
The reissue features a 2018 stereo remix and some formats offer a 5.1 surround mix, both of which were created by James Guthrie.
The formats are as follows:
CD+DVD+blu-ray+vinyl LP deluxe gatefold edition
Gatefold vinyl LP
CD edition
standalone blu-ray audio
All formats offer the new 2018 stereo mix (by James Guthrie). The DVD and blu-ray offer this mix along with Guthrie’s 5.1 mix and the original mix (in 2011 remaster guise).
The deluxe set comes with a 32 page book. The standalone blu-ray can be ordered via the SDE shop using this link or directly via the (‘add to cart’) button below (it comes packaged in a card wallet with a 16-page booklet).
Animals 2018 mix will be reissued in all formats on 16 September, except for the deluxe gatefold edition which is 7 October 2022.
Limited edition seven-inch coloured vinyl box set • 1000 units worldwide • One time pressing • Includes 64-page booklet
When These Memories Fade, is a new seven-inch singles box set celebrating the short, but amazing, career of early 90s American rock band Jellyfish.
Jellyfish formed in the late ‘80s out of the ashes of Beatnik Beatch, a power-pop band that included Bay Area high school pals Andy Sturmer and Roger Joseph Manning, Jr. That band released one album on Atlantic then split up, leaving Sturmer and Manning to their own devices. This resulted in Jellyfish, a band who were influenced by classic 1970s rock-pop, whether that be Wings, ELO, Queen, Badfinger or Elton John. Critically acclaimed, they struggled commercially in America in particular, where hair metal and grunge were the order of the day, although enjoyed reasonable success in the UK, even if only one single penetrated the UK top 40 (their debut ‘The King Is Half-Undressed’).
This new box set features all six UK singles, pulled from the two albums – 1990’s Bellybutton and 1993’s Spilt Milk – (including the 4-track ‘Scary-Go-Round’ EP) which are pressed on multi-coloured seven-inch vinyl. Additionally, a unique bonus seven-inch featuring two covers, one of which is ‘Think About Your Troubles’, a tribute to Harry Nilsson, recorded by Roger Manning Jr and Andy Sturmer in February 1994, a few weeks after Nilsson’s death (“it was the last thing Jellyfish did as a group”, Roger recalls).
The audio has all been remastered especially for vinyl and as well as the singles in picture sleeves, this box set includes a 64-page booklet with very detailed and entertaining track-by-track guides (not the same as those in the 2015 Omnivore CDs) from Roger Manning Jr, Jason Falkner, Chris Manning, Tim Smith, Eric Dover and band members and a newly written essay by Maura K. Johnston. The booklet is packed with previously unseen photographs, rare memorabilia and promotional items.
When These Memories Fade – the limited edition Jellyfish seven-inch box set (click image to enlarge)
This lift-off lid box set is rounded off with an exclusive 3D poster alongside custom Jellyfish 3D glasses (in case you’ve lost your pair from the ‘I Wanna Stay Home’ CD single!).
When These Memories Fade is limited to just 1000 units worldwide and is a one-time pressing. It will be released on 30 September 2022, via Newland Records. Don’t miss out, pre-order your copy from the SDE shop using this link or the button below.
EU SHIPPING NOTES: If you are ordering from the EU please be aware that that goods may be subject to import VAT when they arrive from the UK. The prices the SDE shop charge you do not include VAT.
Tracklisting
When Memories FadeJellyfish /7″ coloured vinyl box set
Disc 1: The King Is Half-Undressed
The King Is Half-Undressed
Calling Sarah
Disc 2: Baby’s Coming Back
Baby’s Coming Back
All I Want Is Everything
Disc 3: The Scary-Go-Round EP
Now She Knows She’s Wrong
Bedspring Kiss
She Still Loves Him – Live
Baby Come Back/ Baby’s Coming Back (Medley) – Live
Disc 4: I Wanna Stay Home
I Wanna Stay Home
Jet – Live At The Hard Rock Cafe, San Francisco, 1991
Disc 5: The Ghost At Number One
The Ghost At Number One
All Is Forgiven
Disc 6: New Mistake
New Mistake
He’s My Best Friend
Disc 7: Covers
No Matter What – Live at Roxy, Hollywood, October 25th 1990
Think About Your Troubles – Recorded February 1994 in North Hollywood, CA.
SDEtv take a close look at the new Rolling Stones seven-inch singles box set. 7″ Singles 1963-1966 contains 18 vinyl singles, a booklet, some art cards and a poster. Watch the unboxing video…
Betty Boo, the pop-rap singer, who scored three UK top ten singles in the late 80s/early 90s, returns with a new album Boomerang, in October.
The kitsch alter-ego of London-born Alison Clarkson, Betty Boo first came to prominence with ‘Hey DJ / I Can’t Dance (To That Music You’re Playing)’ the 1989 collaboration with The Beatmasters. Two albums followed (Boomania and Grrr! It’s Betty Boo) along with a clutch of hit singles including ‘Doin’ The Do’, ‘Where Are You Baby’ and ‘Let Me Take You There’.
Clarkson stepped back from pop’s frontline not long after this success to care for her terminally ill mother and returned only occasionally for a few ad hoc, and largely low-profile collaborations (WigWam was a short-lived project in 2006 with Blur bassist Alex James and a year later there was a single with London-based dance act Jack Rokka).
In the new millennium, Alison Clarkson forged a career as writer of pop songs for others, and enjoyed enormous success with ‘Pure and Simple’ a song initially written for Spice Girls wannabes Girl Thing, but later given to Hear’Say, the winners of the UK reality TV show, Popstars (in 2001). It spent three weeks at number one in Britain, sold over a million copies and won Clarkson an Ivor Novello Award. She went on to write for the likes of Girls Aloud, Louise Nurding, Dannii Minogue and Sophie Ellis-Bextor.
Get Me To The Weekend was the first single from Boomerang
Betty Boo is now back, three decades after her last album and the 12-track Boomerang is described as “pop music done properly – eccentric, eclectic, surprising and electric”. It includes the recent singles ‘Get Me To The Weekend’ and ‘Shining Star’ and features collaborations with Chuck D, David Gray and Sophie Ellis-Bextor (the latter via a bonus track). “I’ve made the record I should have made when I was 25” says Betty Boo.
Bundle buyers get a free 5-track album sampler CD which ship from 18 July, well ahead of the October release date of the album. There are only 500 of these sampler CDs available in total.
In Electronically Yours Vol 1: My Autobiography Martyn takes us through his route to stardom; from his austere upbringing in various council houses and close teenage friendship with former-bandmate Phil Oakey; his success with Glenn Gregory and Ian Craig Marsh with Heaven 17 and and his production career, with the likes of Tina Turner and Terence Trent D’Arby (now Sananda Maitreya).
A proud socialist, Martyn also writes about politics in the book – how he sees it as a soulful, personal, moral duty – and its role in his music creation and Britain today. With charming meditations on culture, humour, travel and sport, Martyn also shares his love of 60s films, explains why Venice is the most beautiful city in the world, and reveals how Sheffield Wednesday has forever been his first and eternal passion.
The book is said to be full of “amusing anecdotes, raw confessions, and moving reflections of a life well and truly lived at the height of the music industry”.
Electronically Yours Vol 1: My Autobiography will be published on 25 August 2022 via LIttle Brown imprint Constable & Robinson. SIGNED copies are available in the UK via Rough Trade and come with some exclusive postcards.
Neil Youngwill release a new live album that celebrates his 2019 European tour with his occasional backing band Promise Of The Real.
Noise & Flowers documents a nine-date tour that began just two weeks after Young’s lifetime friend and manager of more than 50 years, Elliot Roberts, passed away at the age of 76. Young approached each show as a celebratory memorial service to honour his late friend. It’s a trek he describes as “wondrous.”
In the album’s sleeve notes, Young says, “Playing in his memory [made it] one of the most special tours ever. We hit the road and took his great spirit with us into every song. This music belongs to no one. It’s in the air. Every note was played for music’s great friend, Elliot.”
The live album (#21 in Young’s ongoing Archives Performance Series) includes songs such as ‘Mr. Soul’, ‘Helpless’, ‘Rockin’ in the Free World’, ‘On The Beach’ and ‘From Hank to Hendrix’. The audio is offered on CD and a 2LP vinyl presentation, and a concert film was made at the time directed by NY alter-ego Bernard Shakey and Daryl Hannah (who Neil had married the year before). This is included on blu-ray in the CD+2LP+blu-ray box set and is available separately via Neil’s The Greedy Hand online store (and now on Amazon).
Noise & Flowers will be released on 5 August 2022 via Warner Records.
The Now That’s What I Call Music Team follow up their very well received Yearbook 81 release (watch the SDEtv unboxing video) with a companion ‘Extra’ set which offers “66 More Essential Hits From 1981”.
Keane’s 2013 ‘best of’ is issued on vinyl for the first time. It contains singles from the band’s first four studio albums, Hopes and Fears, Under the Iron Sea, Perfect Symmetry and Strangeland. The latter is also being reissued on vinyl this week.
Spear of Destiny / Liberators The Best of 1983-88 (2CD set)
New double-CD package from Edsel that brings together Spear of Destiny music from the Sony and Virgin eras in the 1980s. 29 tracks on the two CDs and a coloured vinyl LP edition offers 12 tracks.
Kate Bush’s 1985 single ‘Running Up That Hill’ is number one in the UK singles chart for the second week running, which continues to be rather surreal. It’s also number one in the Irish chart and rides high around the globe.
The big news this week was that Kate had conducted an interview (broadcast on Wednesday) for BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour. Emma Barnett talked to Kate about the recent success of Running Up That Hill.
While the prospect of Kate being interviewed (her first for six years, I believe) is always exciting, it often remains a deeply frustrating experience for fans, because without wishing to be rude, Kate rarely says anything very interesting. With no new album to discuss or promote, Bush simply verbalised her recent comments posted on her website about how thrilled she was with the new found success of RUTH, how thankful she was to the Duffer Brothers, blah, blah, blah.
While I know Woman’s Hour isn’t a music programme and I wasn’t expecting Barnett to quiz Kate about why she felt the need to remix ‘Sat In Your Lap’ for The Dreaming, the conversation was so bland and gushing, it was frankly embarrassing and not what you’d expect from a journalist who used to present BBC 2’s Newsnight. No one was expecting Kate to be ‘grilled’, but the entire conversation was clearly conducted within the narrow tramlines of what Kate’s PR had determined could, and could not, be talked about, making it as dull as dishwater.
“Kate, can you supply a recent photo of yourself to promote the interview?”. “Sure, check your inbox…”
For example, what’s Kate up to right now? No idea, she wasn’t asked. Is she working on a new album? No idea, she wasn’t asked. Will Kate ever play live again? No idea, she wasn’t asked. With all these new fans would Kate consider updating the now misleadingly-titled The Whole Story hits collection, which is 36 years old? No idea, she wasn’t asked. Last year Kate was amongst 150 artists who signed a petition urging the UK Prime Minister to “fix streaming”. Given that Kate’s new found success is entirely down to streaming and she is now making a fortune from it (reported to be as much as £250,000 a week) how does she feel now? We don’t know, because she wasn’t asked. Kate can be evasive, and most probably would have given vague/bland answers to most of the above, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t ask the questions!
So keen and excited were the BBC about securing an exclusive interview with Kate, they obviously agreed to so many concessions that it rendered the whole thing pointless. They even used a photo of Kate that was over 40 years old to promote it! Not one person at the Beeb apparently thought to point out that Emma Barnett wasn’t even born when the photo of Kate was taken that they chose to Photoshop next to Emma to visually represent the conversation between the two women (Emma was six months old when Running Up That Hill was first released).
Sadly, Kate is a bit like Paul McCartney these days. A national treasure who is virtually beyond criticism. Not playing the game is heralded as a positive “it’s what we love about her” etc. But coming on the radio and apparently not allowing the interviewer to ask a few reasonable questions isn’t admirable, it’s just annoying.
The reissue of George Michael’s 1996 album Older has been pushed back. In a statement, team GM said the following:
“Due to the overwhelming demand, the Older release will be coming a little later on 12th August so we can match expectations. Thank you everyone for your patience and love for this release already”.
Today would have been George’s 59th birthday, which is a horrible reminder of how young he was when he died. This week has seen the theatrical release of the Freedom Uncut documentary. Read SDE’s review of the original TV broadcast from 2017.
Music On Vinyl’s Elvis Costello reissue campaign continues with a limited edition purple vinyl pressing of The Juliet Letters, his 1993 studio album written and recorded in collaboration with The Brodsky Quartet, a British string ensemble, from Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire.
The album’s concept focused on a series of imaginary letters being sent to an imaginary recipient, Juliet Capulet. It was recorded live in the studio with no overdubs and did surprisingly well in the UK album charts, peaking at number 18.
Chronologically, the album is positioned between 1991’s Mighty Like A Rose (reissued next month on gold-coloured vinyl) and 1994’s Brutal Youth. The Juliet Letters actually followed another non-pop offering, the 1991 soundtrack to Alan Bleasdale’s acclaimed political drama G.B.H., which was written with Richard Harvey.
Like most of Costello’s Warner output, this album was later issued as a 2CD set with bonus tracks. This MOV vinyl reissue is the original album only and is pressed on 180g purple coloured vinyl. They are all numbered and limited to 2500 units worldwide.
The Juliet Letters will be released on 5 August 2022, via Music On Vinyl. You can place your order via the SDE shop using this link or the button below.
EU SHIPPING NOTES: If you are ordering from the EU please be aware that that goods may be subject to import VAT when they arrive from the UK. The prices the SDE shop charge you do not include VAT.
Tracklisting
The Juliet LettersElvis Costello and the Brodsky Quartet/Vinyl reissue
‘Hey Hey Rise Up’, Pink Floyd‘s digital single issued in April in support of the people of Ukraine will be released as a CD single and on seven-inch vinyl, in July.
The song saw DavidGilmour and Nick Mason joined by long time Pink Floyd bass player Guy Pratt and Nitin Sawhney on keyboards and features an extraordinary vocal performance by Andriy Khlyvnyuk of Ukrainian band Boombox.
For the two limited edition physical releases there is a bonus track. David Gilmour has revisited The Division Bell track ‘A Great Day For Freedom’. He has reworked the song using the original tapes which, as well as David, feature Nick Mason on drums and Richard Wright on keyboards, along with backing vocals from Sam Brown, Claudia Fontaine and Durga McBroom.
The CD single and seven-inch vinyl will be released on 15 July 2022, via Parlophone.
Mercury Studios are to release a special package that combines a 2020 documentary on Thin Lizzy frontman Phil Lynott with a classic 1978 concert outside the famed Sydney Opera House.
Songs For While I’m Away is the documentary. It was directed by Emer Reynolds and first shown on BBC 2 in the UK in October 2020. It chronicles the life and music of Phil Lynott, utilizing archival footage, interview snippets from the man himself, and music from both the Thin Lizzy and Phil Lynott solo catalog. It includes notable conversations with Midge Ure (an unofficial member of Thin Lizzy between 1979 and 1980), Darren Wharton, Scott Gorham, Adam Clayton, Huey Lewis, James Hetfield and others, as well as Phil’s wife Caroline
The Thin Lizzy / Phil Lynott triple-disc set (click image to enlarge)
The 1978 concert in Australia features an array of fan favourites including ‘Jailbreak’, ‘The Boys Are Back In Town’, ‘Bad Reputation’ & more. Although this has been out before on VHS, Laserdisc and DVD this new edition features remixed audio, restored visuals, and includes five additional performances from the concert that have never been officially available. Apparently, the visuals of these newly-found performances don’t match the main concert, so you can choose to watch separately or view in sequence.
There’s two versions of this package: A blu-ray, DVD and CD set, or a two-DVD set with CD. The only difference is the first has the Songs For While I’m Away on blu-ray, while the second includes that film on DVD. In other words, both versions have the Thin Lizzy Sydney Opera House concert on DVD. The CD includes the 13-tracks from the concert in the order they were played.
The Boys Are Back in Town: Live at the Sydney Opera House 1978 / Songs For While I’m Away is released on 24 June via Mercury Studios.
The six studio albums inside Parlophone’s fifth David Bowie ‘era’ box, 2021’s Brilliant Adventure [1992-2001], will be available separately on vinyl and CD in August.
The albums in question are 1993’s Black Tie White Noise, The Buddha of Suburbia (also from 1993 but not issued in the US until much later), 1. Outside from ’95, 1997’s Earthling, ‘Hours…’ from 1999 and finally the Toy album is available for the first time as a single vinyl LP and a single CD. That leaves the Re:Call 5 compilation and the full, unexpurgated BBC Radio Theatre concert from 27 June 2000 as the only box set exclusives.
It has to be said that Toy is a case of ‘be careful what you wish for’. It has gone from being an unreleased curiosity to a collection of songs that have fallen into the Parlophone industrial milking machine. The single albums really should probably have stayed exclusive to the big boxes, but it’s not the case. So as well as being in both Brilliant Adventure sets, we’ve had the 3CD standalone box, the 6×10″ vinyl package, the cassette, the RSD EP and now these standalone releases! Time to close the lid of the Toy box for good, surely?
All the standalone vinyl albums are 2LP sets on black vinyl, except for ‘Hours…’ which is a single LP. You’ll notice significant price variants on the 2LP sets in the UK (although not in America), this ripples back to the label and is not retailers making it up as they go along. The CDs won’t be in fancy vinyl-replica packaging and will most likely be jewel cases, which is what has happened before.
SDE’s pick of the albums would be the first three: Black Tie White Noise, The Buddha of Suburbia and 1. Outside. Arguably, the strongest consecutive run of three albums since Heroes, Lodger and Scary Monsters(And Super Creeps).
These ‘break out’ album reissues will all be released on 5 August 2022.
Now That’s What I Call Music 12, the various artists compilation first issued in July 1988, will be reissued as a 2CD set next month.
This collection features the big hits of the day including singles from Belinda Carlisle, Climie Fisher, Elton John, Morrissey, Scritti Politti, Hothouse Flowers, T’Pau, Communards, S’Express, Salt-N-Pepa and more.
Unfortunately, we get ’31 Top Chart Hits’ and not the ’32 Top Chart Hits’ of the original. The ’88 Mix’ of Phil Collins’ ‘In The Air Tonight’ is missing from the first CD.
SDEtv takes a look at the forthcoming 40th anniversary 3CD+vinyl LP deluxe edition of the Associates 1982 album Sulk. Watch the video and pre-order the SDE exclusive version which includes a unique 6-track CD single of ‘Party Fears Two’ using this link or the button below. It is released on 15 July 2022.
EU SHIPPING NOTES: If you are ordering from the EU please be aware that that goods may be subject to import VAT when they arrive from the UK. The prices the SDE shop charge you do not include VAT.
The previously announced Swing Out Sisterbox set always had temporary front cover artwork, but SDE can now confirm that the image above will be the finished, confirmed cover art for, Blue Mood, Breakout & Beyond, the forthcoming 8CD box set.
The handwritten text is by Corinne Drewery and the image is familiar, but a classic, originally taken by Nick Knight for the front cover of the Feb 1986 issue of I-D Magazine (“The Cool Issue”) and subsequently reused for the Breakout single.
The previously published cover art was always a placeholder image
The box set will feature the group’s first three studio albums, It’s Better To Travel (1987), Kaleidoscope World (1989) and Get In Touch With Yourself (1992) and the Japan-only live album Live at the Jazz Café (1993). Corinne has re-interpreted the artwork for the various albums and created new artwork for the bonus discs (three CDs of remixes and a final disc collecting B-sides).
I spoke to band members Corinne Drewery and Andy Connell along with producer Paul O’Duffy about this era, and my interviews with them feature in the included booklet as they talk through the various albums (and the B-sides!).
Blue Mood, Breakout and Beyond will be released on 29 July 2022, via Cherry Red.
Last year’s tribute to Macca’sRAM album – Ram On: The 50th Anniversary Tribute to Paul & Linda McCartney’s Ram – is to be released on vinyl for the first time in August.
The album saw a collective of musicians, lead by Denny Seiwell – the original drummer on the record (and Wings member from 1971-1973) – and producer/multi-instrumentalist Fernando Perdomo, recreate the album to exacting detail with a few bonus numbers at the end.
SDE really enjoyed this record and interviewed Denny Seiwell at the time. The three bonus tracks appended to the album are ‘Another Day’, ‘Oh Woman Oh Why’ and ‘Too Many People Slight Return’. Adding these to the vinyl means it’s a 2LP set, with LP 2 starting with ‘Monkberry Moon Delight’.
Ram On: The 50th Anniversary Tribute to Paul & Linda McCartney’s Ram is released on vinyl on 19 August 2022 via Spirit of Unicorn Music.
Nothing But The Blues features previously unreleased Eric Clapton live performances which “serve as a vital counterpart to From The Cradle, which was recorded in the studio. Several songs appear on both (‘Motherless Child’, ‘Standing ‘Round Crying’, and ‘I’m Tore Down’), but the performances are entirely different. The release also includes songs that did not appear on From the Cradle, including Jimmy Rogers’, ‘Blues All Day Long’, and Robert Johnson’s ‘Malted Milk’, as well as the standards ‘Every Day I Have The Blues’ and ‘Forty-Four’. The box set includes the documentary on blu-ray, the soundtrack on both vinyl and CD, a bonus CD with four extra tracks, a hardcover book, memorabilia, including a numbered lithograph, 12×24 poster, Clapton guitar string set, custom guitar picks, and “an exclusive bandana”.
XTC’s 1978 debut album is reissued on vinyl, newly cut from masters by Jason Mitchell at LOUD mastering and approved by Andy Partridge. Pressed on 200g heavyweight vinyl at the Vinyl Factory in the UK.
Macca proves you can reheat a soufflé with this ill-advised reissue
On the eve of his 80th birthday, Paul McCartney has announced some new product. His three solo albums –McCartney (1970), McCartney II (1980) and McCartney III (2020) – will form a vinyl, or CD box set, called simply, McCartney.
This will be available as a limited edition 3LP coloured vinyl set (clear, white and creamy white vinyl, respectively) that comes with three 8 x 10” photo prints with introductions from Paul. This is available initially from Paul’s online shop. A black vinyl edition will be available from normal retail channels from Monday. The three-CD box includes three smaller photo prints.
The 3LP coloured vinyl box set.
Given that there were at least NINE coloured vinyl editions of 2020’s McCartney III (not forgetting the four CDs with different bonus tracks) and that the McCartney album from 1970 was issued as a half-speed mastered vinyl pressing only two years ago as well as the fact that McCartney II was issued on limited edition clear vinyl in 2017 (McCartney was issued on red vinyl at the same time!) you do have to question THE POINT of this box set which offers nothing in the way of bonus audio and zilch that hardcore fan doesn’t already own. Hell, the 1987 CD edition of McCartney II had two bonus tracks (‘Check My Machine’ and ‘Secret Friend’) which won’t be included 35 years later on this box. Progress?
We love Paul and wish him the best for his 80th, but this product isn’t much more than a mechanism to allow Macca to put his hand in your wallet and take out £100 (while whistling ‘Happy Birthday’ to himself as he does so). Putting the three McCartney albums in a box is an obvious, but nevertheless dumb, idea.
Paul has now put out just one Archive Collection reissue (Flaming Pie) in the last three-and-a-half years. Fans will be hoping that MPL and Capitol and get this “multi-year” campaign back on track and finally get all the Wings albums over the line by delivering London Town and Back to the Egg at some point this year.
McCartney will be released on 5 August 2022. The coloured version is available via McCartney’s website but the black vinyl and CD sets are also available below.
The Now That’s What I Call Music team step back to 1980, the year began arguably the best decade in pop, for a fifth full volume of their ever popular Yearbook releases. NOW Yearbook ’80 comes as a 4CD deluxe hardcover book edition and a 3LP set pressed on clear vinyl.
The 4CD set (also available in cheaper ‘standard’ packaging) offer 85 tracks across the four discs and is a wonderful reminder of just how good 1980 was, with its intersection of pure pop, new wave, post-punk, the beginnings of new romanticism, disco hangovers from the ’70s along with some weird and wonderful ‘forgotten’ tracks.
The big names endure of course and Queen’s timeless ‘Another One Bites The Dust’ (track 1, CD 1, au naturellement) welcomes us to the new decade and this collection offers not only what is widely regarded as ABBA’s best song (‘The Winner Takes It All’) but two of Paul McCartney’s finest solo compositions in ‘Coming Up’ and ‘Waterfalls’ (highlights from the patchy, but inspired, McCartney II). That current talk of the town (or globe?), Kate Bush, is represented by the brilliant ‘Babooshka’ (her second biggest hit single in the UK after ‘Wuthering Heights’ until ‘Running Up That Hill’ superseded it in 1985) and the first CD has contributions from era stalwarts The Police (‘Don’t Stand So Close To Me’), Blondie (‘Atomic’), Adam and the Ants (‘Dog Eat Dog’), Dexys Midnight Runners (‘Geno’), Pretenders (‘Brass in Pocket’), The Jam (‘Start!’), Madness (‘Baggy Trousers’), Ultravox (‘Sleepwalk’), Roxy Music (‘Oh Yeah’), OMD (‘Enola Gay’) and many more.
Now Yearbook ’80 Limited deluxe hardcover book 4CD set (click image to enlarge)
John Lennon’s ‘(Just Like) Starting Over’ (the song that was falling down the charts when he was murdered and then subsequently rose to the top) starts CD 2 which then goes into ‘rock mode’ for a bit, with contributions from The Rolling Stones (‘Emotional Rescue’), Stray Cats (‘Runaway Boys’), Status Quo (‘What You’re Proposing’), Rainbow (‘All Night Long’), Judas Priest (‘Breaking The Law’) and Motörhead (‘Ace of Spades’). Disco & soul tells rock to move over and so songs by Donna Summer, The Gap Band, Jermaine Jackson and Tom Browne feature later on.
There’s no let up. CD 3 offers more Jam, Pretenders, Roxy Music, Madness, plus The Vapors, The Tourists, Joy Division, Bad Manners, Ramones, Elvis Costello & The Attractions, Martha and the Muffins, Joe Jackson, The Boomtown Rats etc.
Now Yearbook ’80 Limited edition 3LP clear vinyl set (click image to enlarge)
Highlights from the final CD include the aforementioned McCartney and ABBA, plus the non-guilty pleasures of Olivia Newton-John (‘Magic’), Sheena Easton (‘9 to 5 (Morning Train)’), The Nolans (‘I’m In The Mood For Dancing’), Kelly Marie (‘Feels Like I’m In Love’), Dollar (‘I Wanna Hold Your Hand’), Andrew Lloyd Webber & Marti Webb (‘Take That Look Off Your Face’), The Mash and that perennial festive favourite Jona Lewie’s ‘Stop The Cavalry’.
As always, the 3LP edition offers an unavoidable, cut-down selection, in this instance highlighting 47 tracks from 1980, but both tracklistings are available in full, below. Both the vinyl and hardcover CD deluxe book sets are limited so the usual advice applies – don’t wait around to get your pre-order in.
Now Yearbook ’80 will be released on 15 July 2022.
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Various Artists
Now Yearbook 1980 - 4CD hardcover deluxe book edition
