Now Millennium series revisted Pt.III

 

The last time we looked at this twenty-first century series in in late March when we rediscovered Crazy Frog but this last week the next instalment came out during the period I didn't get any Now discs but did get single artist titles instead.

As ever there are two years to this set, 2006 and 2007 and I elected to get the four cd book form for the extra notes on each track.

2006 kicks off on disc 1  with the lead single from Amy Winehouse's defining 'Back To Black' album, 'Rehab', followed by Gnarls Barkley's 'Crazy' - the biggest selling single of 2006 and the first single to reach #1 on download only sales. I really like the vocal on that track.

Furtado collaborated with Timbaland with huge success and her #1 'Maneater' is up next. Christina Aguilera showcases powerhouse vocals on 'Ain't No Other Man', while Corinne Bailey Rae's 'Put Your Records On' relaxes the vibe. I loved her debut album that year.

Fergie turns up the temperature with her first solo hit 'London Bridge (Oh Shh)' before  collaborations from The Pussycat Dolls and Snoop Dogg with their sizzling smash 'Buttons', and LL COOL J and Jennifer Lopez on the beat-bumping 'Control Myself, whilst dancefloor smash 'Thunder In My Heart (Again)' by Meck feat. Leo Sayer is next. 

That helped to revive his career and spark interest in his back catalogue.

 The irresistible riff from Orson's #1'No Tomorrow' leads into hits from P!nk, Kelly Clarkson, James Morrison and The Feeling - before Pop ballads from Shayne Ward and Will Young, and hit cover versions from McFly, Emma Bunton, Ronan Keating and Westlife. 

The second disc opens with the huge track 'Patience' from Take That which returned them to #1 after a 10 year absence, and the contemporary classic 'Chasing Cars' from Snow Patrol, before big hits from Keane and Lily Allen with her debut and first #1 'Smile'. 

Scissor Sisters 'I Don't Feel Like Dancin'' was a massive hit, a personal fav too and leads to superstars Robbie Williams, Pet Shop Boys and The Killers. A great run of Indie-Pop is next, including hits from Fall Out Boy, The Zutons, The Fratellis, and the #1 'America' from Razorlight. Leona Lewis won the 'X-Factor' and features alongside crossover club smashes from Fedde Le Grand, Booty Luv, and Infernal. 

2007: Britney Spears announces her intention to be heard on disc 3 with 'Gimme More', followed by more huge giant Pop acts - Girls Aloud's with 'Call The Shots', Sugababes with 'About You Now', and MIKA dazzles with his infectious #1 'Grace Kelly'. 

He was much talked about that year.

The irresistible '2 Hearts' from Kylie Minogue gives way to two massive floor-fillers; 'Proper Education' from Eric Prydz vs. Floyd and Freemasons feat. Bailey Tzuke with 'Uninvited'. A stellar selection of some of the best R&B smashes of the decade follows, from Justin Timberlake, Ne-Yo, Amerie, and Akon. Sean Kingston and Newton Faulkner both enjoyed debut success in 2007, while celebrated songwriters John Mayer, and Rufus Wainwright showcase their skills and lead into the closing tracks on the disc from legendary stars Céline Dion and Michael Bublé with their outstanding vocals. So good.

CD4 delivers hit after hit, starting with Leona Lewis's powerhouse ballad, 'Bleeding Love' - 2007's biggest selling single, before Fergie's global smash 'Big Girls Don't Cry (Personal)'. OneRepublic's 'Apologize' and another timeless gem from Take That with 'Rule The World' and other brilliantly crafted tracks from singer-songwriters, lead by '1973' from James Blunt and 'Hey There Delilah' from The Plain White T's, alongside huge radio records from The Fray with 'How To Save A Life', and Mark Ronson feat. Amy Winehouse on their version of 'Valerie'.

 Anthemic Alt-Rock hits from Kaiser Chiefs, The View and Scouting For Girls all feature, as do Top 40 debuts from Kate Nash, Just Jack, The Hoosiers and Peter, Bjorn and John, whilst the last word is given to Pop royalty the Spice Girls with 'Headlines (Friendship Never Ends)' - their first single to feature the original line-up in nearly ten years.

It was an interesting two years and it's been grear hearing  these tracks I recall from radio play again.

Updating the NOW'S: Now Yearbook 1980-1984 Vol. 2

The last time we mentioned The Now Yearbook Extra '80-84 was on January 9th last year in a group of post Christmas post that looked at that, the vinyl edition of the 80-84 The Final Chapter and after then we all thought that was it for this part of the New Yearbook series.

A couple of weeks back the reactivated with a Vaults sub series that looked at less compiled lower down in charts songs from 1983 coupled with hits in America rather than the U.K which I didn't bother with as 1983 is well represented on vinyl here.

Then this thing was announced for issue on Friday June 14.

 A volume 2 following the same form as the original set, one album per year in individual sleeves with a outer box with printed track details which rather like the original caused some soul searching as with the last set, having original Nows 1 to 4 and Hits 1 and 2  and a number of the better Ronco compilation the 1983 and 1984 volumes for me were a bit redundant.

That said the 1980 -1982 discs were useful so I bought that and much of the reason for getting this unexpected follow up is the same.

This package adds some 78 tracks not previously issued on the vinyl Now Yearbook editions on coloured vinyl, one colour per year.

1980: Queen’s classic ‘Flash’ opens the record before a track selection including Paul McCartney with ‘Waterfalls’ from McCartney II, The Clash with ‘Bankrobber’, The Cure, Grace Jones and Madness.

Disco hits from Diana Ross and The Gap Band, are joined by electronic pop from Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark, John Foxx, and Devo.

1981: The Police start a procession of  classic hits that includes on Side One, The Jam, The Teardrop Explodes, Siouxsie and The Banshees and pure pop from Dave Stewart & Barbara Gaskin and Aneka with their #1s

The second side celebrates the explosion of artists enjoying massive synth based hits in 1981, featuring The Human League, Soft Cell, Visage, Spandau Ballet and Heaven 17 – coupled soul ballads from Randy Crawford and Grover Washington featuring Bill Withers.

1982: Roxy Music, ABC, Dollar, Haircut 100, Japan, The Associates, Toyah, and Gary Numan all presented hits in a great year for classic pop, included here alongside huge soul-pop crossover hits from Shalamar, Dionne Warwick and Fat Larry’s Band classic Zoom.

1983: Flashdance (What A Feeling)’ one of ‘83’s biggest hits for Irene Cara, starts this record and it features the best of the year’s contemporary chart stars including New Order, Altered Images with Don't Talk To Me About Love, Echo And The Bunnymen and Aztec Camera… plus pop smashes from Duran Duran, Adam Ant with Puss And Boots, and Nick Heyward (Swoon!) – before Marillion’s debut hit ‘Garden Party’, Tom Robinson’s timeless ‘War Baby’ – and a perennial Christmas favourite, ‘2000 Miles’ from the Pretenders.

1984: A fantastic year for pop is celebrated here with a selection of hits from Eurythmics, Ultravox, Nik Kershaw, Culture Club, and Bananarama on the first side.

 Side two highlights the emergent  Hi-NRG and Electro-dance classics from Bronski Beat, Dead Or Alive, Evelyn Thomas, Divine, Shannon and signing off with the enduring feel-good anthem ‘It’s Raining Men’ from The Weather Girls’.

While I'd of preferred a set of double albums for each year other the clumsy feel of the two box sets , cherry picking the 80 to 82 volumes, there is plenty which is of value given pre 1983 we only had the twenty track edited and thin sounding K Tel compilations and these are better sounding.

For the £75 I was able to pay after looking around, it's worth it.

An update

 

Sometimes the influence some post you may of made over a decade or so and pretty much left alone for all these years comes back, often being cited.

My best friend at the time, Dani, an African-American, always cautioned me on the perils of been seen as a Guru from the days we spent time on Experience Project, being lauded, lionized and often misunderstood which both of us were imperfect girls just trying to find our way in this world both on and offline.

One thing tends to be you talk and write of the world you have encountered wherever and however that was but that may not of been the whole and as far as individual identities go - and they're front and centre in today's world - some of what you saw may of been wide of the mark as it applied to individual people.

We did talk way way back then around the differences between Little Girls, specifically those who came male background and Sissies at that gets to nub it.

Definitions is a notoriously difficult and some might say almost impossible game to play with as many exemptions to common traits and certainly the online image of sissies is one which is very much adult, sexual and with what is often called "humiliation play".

That as I think most us us accept tends to run away from where Little Girl tends to be, a world of girlish innocence and play, very much the child.

However, there can be some who see themselves as being more both Little and Sissy, less girl and more gurl but sharing much of the same interests, dress still rooted in being a child.

They may see themselves at some point being neither boys nor at least psychologically speaking girls but "something else" but in practical terms does it matter where we share spaces?

Can we all join in a dollies tea party?

Yes - and sadly some saw my previous words as saying that little sissies couldn't exist so they could never - and were unwelcome.

If that was anyone's feeling as the author of that post, I do apologize as that certainly was not my intention as Tammy knows.

Leave the little sissies alone to skip and play with anyone else who does love being little.

 

 

Four seasons in a day

 'Twas a topsy turvey week with four seasons in a day only really improving towards the very end so by the time you'd got ready to go out , sorting your clothes, brushing your hair and all that after finishing off any chores, it was raining hard!

Fortunately I do have a few things around that can help with that that don't feature small screens as I'm trying to reduce my screen time down such as the last Phoenix No Country cartoon strip about a group of children fleeing a civil war which is the end for now.

Apart from the Beano there's a number of books I can pick up to read too.

 

Although I have to be mindful of the impact of using pencils for long times given how damaged my hands are, I do enjoy colouring both traditional ones with illustrations of flowers animal and fashion and more sporty ones.

I like watching sports.

The Smartphone and the child

It's been a rough few days feeling really rather off with a viral infection that's left me with a temperature, achy head and crazy tummy but as it is both Monday and a Bank Holiday it's time to do something.

Usually I've little time for Polly Ticks and all her  friends but one thing that is being talked about as the groan ups are getting rather noisy about a General Election is mobile phone usage.

That's because there does seem to be some evidence that high levels of usage are having a very bad effect on children's mental health feeding into anxiety, increased use in bullying and scams.

You may of noticed children walking past your home from school peering down at their smartphones oblivious to all around them coming back to school even though their peers have been in class with them while you recall walking home, talking with your mates.

Seemingly some younger people just do not feel comfortable even making a traditional phone call even.

That's one reason there is talk not just about regulation when it comes to what children can see at the end of their phones but dealing with the ever decreasing age of children having a smartphone of their own.

Apparently a quarter of five to seven year olds have their own in the UK, children who still learning to read and comprehend fluently, their are children on social media platforms who are underage - and accounts have set up by parents shockingly with fake ages.

The risks from being seen at that age a few years older than they actually are are considerable.

This is leading to pressure working within the political parties to effectively ban usage for children under 14 and in school.

It isn't a great idea from a safeguarding point of view for adults to be contacting children in school, some children may have restricted access to a parent or ongoing issues in families might put them at risk.

Any urgent message about being picked up, having someone to oversee them on return can be handled by school.

Younger children often don't understand that games often require things to be bought which can soon mount up, far too many children are being bullied by threats, pictures into behaviours that either put them at risk or lead to them wanting to end their lives.

A world where the corner phone box may have gone and many of us recall using doesn't mean a child cannot be give a simple call and text mobile phone to use if needed but a pocket computer with the internet isn't needed for that purpose.

Learning to just enjoying playing and socializing face to face before they develop the abilities to really understand how to navigate the risks as a well as the pleasurable uses of the internet it seems to me is needed rather more.

Time for a reset methinks.

The Beano Summer Special 2024

 It's May and something starts every year around this time as we move through Whit Bank Holiday not so far away and then we build up to the school holidays which takes us your time away whither or not it's a caravan park, seaside guest house or foreign resort.

Something needs to help fill that time that doesn't have batteries that go flat, internet connections that cut out, is in your language and you can easily return to.

For many of it was the Summer Special of our favourite comics, Tammy, Dandy or for a good many of us The Beano that we got and took with us to deal things like wet afternoons.

In the past they were just special editions of your regular comic with new exclusive stories but with the Beano in recent years there has been more of an attempt to program a theme across the whole edition involving many of the other characters and more fun activities.

This years is et more around the notion of a set of Pranks in Beanotown often at the expense of the adult  authority figures like Teacher from the Bash Street Kids, the Mayor of Beanotown, Walter's Dad or attraction bosses.

Here Dennis is working on something (he's ceased to be "The Menace") and like society today is more multicultural but it's still recognizably a child's world we enter and today's child would recognize where many things are but just a smartphone away.

And that's really the point, we enter that world again, the signs may be different, the Public Telephone isn't on the street corner but it's the basically the same so we enjoy our time.

I'm enjoying it.

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.