Turn It On Again -reduxe

 Returns with a twist might of been an expression for what had we'd of been publishing at the time comes back now.

Way back around the mid ninties there were a series of catch all compilations for projects that came from the rock group Genesis, such as Mike & The Mechanics and Phil Collins all of which were issued on cd, the dominant format of the time, cassette and the new fangled for those outside of Japan, Mini Disc.

A MiniDisc itself looks rather like this literally a miniature disc in a protective plastic caddy that you insert into your player or recorder and reads offering similar sound to cd (Mr. Hifi Bore would get into a rant all about the evils of data compression, I'd say I'd struggle to hear it on decent equipment) and pre-recorded ones came in plastic boxes with notes and the like.

Genesis had been going for a long time, the late 1960's as a progressive rock group but by 1998 it was felt a compilation of their songs from 1973 to 1997 was needed for the casual fans who don't want to plow just under two hours of The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway just to hear The Carpet Crawlers and those who liked the singles of the era where Phil Collins took on lead vocal duties such as Misunderstanding and Invisible Touch.

Given by the point I'd got a home recorder and portable player for on the bus listening to over three hundred discs by 1998 I bought that the rather clumsy Turn It On Again-The Hits straight on MiniDisc as that point Emi/Virgin were issuing titles over here.

The world turns in realms of music reproduction as the lp record, very much on life support by the mid nineties is now selling more than the cd, the MiniDisc lives in semi retirement despite calls to bring it back since Sony discontinued selling discs and equipment.

This on May 3rd this year we for the first time get that album on double lp on something that there's no shortage of equipment that works to play it on sounding pretty good with the singles edits and the odd remix that were made back in 1999 so I have now that edition to enjoy just for the hits as much as I have many of their albums on cd.

Updating The Nows - Now Yearbook 1974

Into May and the Now Yearbook return to the past gets back to those pages we favour on vinyl going back to a year that has some parallels, extreme economic and social disruption plus a general election (if you were around you might recall we had two) and while the grown ups were getting worried about the "State of the Nation" we were playing, reading our comics, playing our records and enjoying Vision On.

Getting back to this, we have a record with some 48 tracks, all but one a substantial hit almost the equivalent of four of those cheesy cover girl Top Of The Pops albums that had remakes of all the hits, pressed on three lumps of green vinyl but sadly lacking the informative booklet of the cd version

 

Record One opens with  ‘Killer Queen’ that was first Top 5 single for Queen, and followed by the classic ‘Jet’ by Paul McCartney & Wings the second second from his latest album, and the still breathtakingly original, and hugely influential ‘This Town Ain’t Big Enough For Both Of Us’ from Sparks. This is followed up by run of ‘glam rock" from Sweet and Roxy Music, and including #1s from Suzi Quatro, and the years’ biggest seller ‘Tiger Feet’ from Mud, before closing with Slade’s ‘Far Far Away’. 

Flipping over to side two we start with Elton John with ‘Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me’, before some of the years biggest Rock hits, including ‘You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet’, ‘Radar Love’, ‘Dance With The Devil’ and the Faces ‘Pool Hall Richard’ before concluding with ‘Mike Oldfield’s Single’ – the ‘theme’ from his iconic album ‘Tubular Bells’. 

Record Two's first side is packed with huge hits including 6 #1’s - with chart-toppers from David Essex, The Rubettes, Alvin Stardust and Paper Lace, plus a huge hit from Pilot the Scottish group that promised much and the first Top 3 single for the Bay City Rollers with ‘Shang-A-Lang’. 

To my delight 1974’s biggest selling singles act were The Wombles, and their debut ‘The Wombling Song’ is up next along with the #1 global smash ‘Kung Fu Fighting’ from Carl Douglas inspired by the cult films and sport, before ending with the Reggae-Pop #1 ‘Everything I Own’ from Ken Boothe. 

1974 was a landmark year for Soul music, and it included the first global ‘Disco’ smashes and fittingly this is given a side to itself kicking off with with Barry White’s #1 ‘You’re The First, The Last, My Everything’ before a run of iconic floor-fillers from The Hues Corporation, Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes, and a further #1 ‘Rock Your Baby’ from George McCrae. 

We conclude this side with four of the greatest Soul ballads of all-time from The Isley Brothers, Aretha Franklin, Diana Ross & Marvin Gaye and ‘You Make Me Feel Brand New’ from The Stylistics. 

Record Three kicks off with the title track from the year’s biggest selling album, ‘Band On The Run’ from Paul McCartney & Wings – followed by the iconic ‘Candle In The Wind’ from Elton John, ‘I Honestly Love You’ by Olivia Newton-John which was her first US #1, and the amazing ‘The Air That I Breathe’ from The Hollies, before a run of four songs: John Denver’s ‘Annie’s Song’, ‘She’ from Charles Aznavour’, ‘The Three Degrees with ‘When Will I See You Again’ and ‘Sad Sweet Dreamer’ from Sweet Sensation – all of which hit #1 in 1974. 

The final side of Record Three is an eclectic line-up of pure Pop heaven led by the number ones ‘Seasons In The Sun’ from Terry Jacks and ‘You Won’t Find Another Fool Like Me’ from The New Seekers that charted in December of 1973, and including Stephanie De Sykes, 10cc, and Lulu with ‘The Man Who Sold The World’, featuring David Bowie on backing vocals, before a second appearance from Sparks with ‘Amateur Hour’, plus Cockney Rebel’s ‘Mr Soft’, and Leo Sayer closing out this collection with his debut hit ‘The Show Must Go On’.

As you can see this is a very comprehensive selection of hits, many of which I certainly recall gathered up from the original recordings in the media we were brought up on.

Recommended.