Updating the Nows - Now Yearbook 1973

September,eh?

That month which has the last week of the summer vacations, the return to school which for most of this district will be tomorrow building permitting and the return of old friend of a series, the Now Yearbook.

1973 was a year that loomed large in my memory being more of the age you took in more of what was going in the world and you followed pop stars and music more and that is the year Now have strangely enough decided to pick up the seventies.

Our last release was 1978 and the contrast between the late seventies and the remainder was quite big, like if diversity in terms of music styles was a big thing in the decade the early seventies had it big time.

That diversity reflected in my own buys that year from things like the instrumental Eye Level to Slade and Wings via Gary Glitter and Alice Cooper.

As with all the vinyl editions you only get a selection about 47 tracks from the 4 cd set but let's face it if you were around then you associate playing these songs  with plonking the record and playing it on your record player so to pick this up and do that brings it all back.

Talking of Mr Glitter he's not on the set in any form and there is the odd strange choice such as Blinded By The Light by Bruce Springsteen that as much as I love it, just was NEVER a UK hit in that year but on whole most of what should be here such as songs by Wings, Marvin Gaye, Diana Ross, Sweet, Ike & Tina Turner are present and correct  when it comes to versions.

If you want a Glam Fest, this isn't it although there is rightly a good sample of it as it covers the popularity of soul not least the delights of the Philadelphia International catalogue which as a soul fan I just adore.

This is great set overall that only could of been improved on by bumping the number of lps to four and certainly sounds better than those 24 track K Tel compilations we had that year!