VARIOUS ARTISTS

NOW YEARBOOK 74 / NOW YEARBOOK 90 EXTRA / NOW 12” 80s: 1982 PART 2 / NOW 80s DANCEFLOOR: R&B & FUNK

1974 saw Bacofoil bangers The Sweet and Slade from the previous year’s glam explosion give way to Mud to almost bookend the year with the giant Tiger Feet and Lonely This Christmas, while a rock’n’roll revival offered Showaddywaddy and The Rubettes’ glorious Sugar Baby Love, plus the oncoming mania of The Bay City Rollers.

The beginnings of disco came from George McRae’s mighty Rock Your Baby, The Hues Corporation’s Rock The Boat and the hysterical Disco Tex & His Sex-O-Lettes’ Get Dancin’, next to luxurious soul-pop by The Stylistics, Barry White and The Three Degrees.

All these moods are on Now Yearbook 74, along with some novelties – Kung Fu Fighting, The Wombling Song, the gloomsome Seasons In The

Sun – and oldies-radio staples How Long, You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet, Candle In The Wind and The Air That I Breathe. Sequenced superbly, it’s a solid gold collection.

Having shown how colourful 1990 was with the main volume, Now Yearbook 90 Extra arrives with a further scoop around the year to offer a 58-track 3CD. If you thought the original edition mopped up everything, try brilliance like Doin’ The Do, Deep In Vogue and The Beloved’s still incredible Hello.

Now 12” 80s: 1982 was so brimful of fabulousness that a second volume is called for. It’s another sizzler, with evocative extended mixes from headline acts – Young Guns, Poison Arrow, Hungry Like The Wolf – next to vibers too often overlooked: David Christie’s Saddle Up, Monsoon’s Ever So Lonely and The Mood’s Don’t Stop.

Rounding off Now’s batch, the 80s Dancefloor series gets funky on the vinyl-only R&B And Funk. You can’t argue with Mtume’s Juicy Fruit, René And Angela’s I’ll Be Good or Cameo’s Word Up. There’s also a rare groove eruption via Maceo And The Macks’ Cross The Tracks and the ecstatic I Believe In Miracles by The Jacksons. Get on down, party people. IW