The release schedule for the NOW Yearbook series as it was released in 2021-2022 followed anything but a straight-forward, chronological order. It began simply enough with music from 1983 which was followed expectedly by the music of 1984. And then it was up and down all over the timeline before releasing NOW Yearbook '85 as the series' thirteenth album in November 2022. Due to myriad reasons, not every popular UK single from each year made it onto the Yearbooks or their supplemental Extras. Our friend Paul, over at A Pop Fan's Dream, has been doing a magnificent job of rounding up stragglers after each release with his Now Yearbook Extra Plus playlists, limited solely by what is available through Spotify. NOW fans like myself settled into a rhythm: the release of a new NOW Yearbook, the release of a NOW Yearbook Extra, and then Paul's supplemental playlist followed by various levels of criticism and speculation as to what would be coming next. Buy. Listen. Repeat. All was going well until those rascals at NOW Towers defied expectations with their November 2022 announcement of the 14th album in the NOW Yearbook series, a wrap-up collection of the previously covered years of 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, and 1984. NOW Yearbook '80-'84: The Final Chapter features 81 songs from the half-decade on 4 CD sets with 43 of those songs making the transparent gold-colored vinyl 3LP edition.
Released on December 2, 2022, NOW Yearbook '80-'84: The Final Chapter has 4 UK Number Ones that had fallen through the cracks of previous Yearbooks. And according to the AI-enhanced research team here at The Hideaway, two songs from the album did not chart in the UK: 1982's "We Got The Beat" from The Go-Go's and U2's non-LP single from 1980, "11 O'Clock Tick-Tock". While it's not rare for a portion of these NOW Yearbook UK-based tracklists to have evaded the US Hot 100, a whopping 52 songs share that distinction though nearly half of that subset did land on the Billboard Dance or Mainstream Rock charts.
Our first impression after listening to all five-plus hours of this album? It is the most all-over-the-board
NOW Yearbook album thus far. Given the obvious lack of American chart crossovers, we were pleasantly surprised how many memories were invoked by the eclectic, year-hopping tracklist although we would rate our unfamiliarity ratio with all the songs at just below 50%.
Several of our all-time favorites (Simple Minds, Jeffrey Osborne, and Adam Ant) snuck up on us along with a few almost-forgotten favorites (Bronski Beat, Thomas Dolby, Donna Summer). Once again the mastering is all over the spectrum and not every track is the "hit single" or even an optimally sourced version that we may remember/desire from 40+ years ago but these are standard if not acceptable complaints with the entire series that are easily remedied. Replay Gain smooths out the volume levels and we can usually find our preferred version of a song within our existing music collection. There may come a day when we'll cease to acquire future albums in the
NOW Yearbook series but that day is not today. Bring on the next album!
| year | dsc- trk | title | artist | time | UK | US |
| 1984 | 1-1 | Freedom | Wham! | 5:21 | 1 | 3 |
| 1983 | 1-2 | Love Is A Stranger | Eurythmics | 3:45 | 6 | 23 |
| 1981 | 1-3 | O Superman | Laurie Anderson | 8:23 | 2 | |
| 1981 | 1-4 | Sat In Your Lap | Kate Bush | 3:30 | 11 | |
| 1984 | 1-5 | What Difference Does It Make? | The Smiths | 3:51 | 12 | |
| 1984 | 1-6 | Absolute | Scritti Politti | 4:24 | 17 | |
| 1984 | 1-7 | Why? | Bronski Beat | 3:57 | 6 | |
| 1984 | 1-8 | When Am I Going To Make A Living | Sade | 3:26 | 36 | |
| 1983 | 1-9 | War Baby | Tom Robinson | 4:05 | 6 | |
| 1983 | 1-10 | Shipbuilding | Robert Wyatt | 3:03 | 35 | |
| 1985 | 1-11 | Round And Round | Spandau Ballet | 4:33 | 18 | |
| 1982 | 1-12 | Take A Chance With Me | Roxy Music | 4:41 | 26 | |
| 1980 | 1-13 | So Lonely | The Police | 3:07 | 6 | |
| 1984 | 1-14 | Nelson Mandela | The Specials | 4:08 | 9 | |
| 1983 | 1-15 | Our Lips Are Sealed | Fun Boy Three | 2:52 | 7 | |
| 1983 | 1-16 | Kiss The Bride | Elton John | 4:22 | 20 | 25 |
| 1984 | 1-17 | The Longest Time | Billy Joel | 3:37 | 25 | 14 |
| 1981 | 1-18 | Love On The Rocks | Neil Diamond | 3:37 | 17 | 2 |
| 1984 | 1-19 | We All Stand Together | Paul McCartney | 4:24 | 3 | |
| 1983 | 2-1 | Na Na Hey Hey (Kiss Him Goodbye) | Bananarama | 3:29 | 5 | |
| 1982 | 2-2 | Desperate But Not Serious | Adam Ant | 4:14 | 33 | 66 |
| 1981 | 2-3 | Water On Glass | Kim Wilde | 3:36 | 11 | |
| 1981 | 2-4 | Thunder In The Mountains | Toyah | 3:50 | 4 | |
| 1980 | 2-5 | We Are Glass | Gary Numan | 4:46 | 5 | |
| 1983 | 2-6 | Hymn | Ultravox | 4:26 | 11 | |
| 1982 | 2-7 | Living On The Ceiling | Blancmange | 4:01 | 7 | |
| 1982 | 2-8 | Talk Talk | Talk Talk | 3:16 | 23 | 75 |
| 1984 | 2-9 | Tesla Girls | Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark | 3:32 | 21 | |
| 1984 | 2-10 | Hyperactive! | Thomas Dolby | 4:13 | 17 | 62 |
| 1983 | 2-11 | Crushed By The Wheels Of Industry | Heaven 17 | 3:44 | 17 | |
| 1982 | 2-12 | Someone Somewhere (In Summertime) | Simple Minds | 3:58 | 36 | |
| 1982 | 2-13 | Where The Heart Is | Soft Cell | 4:32 | 21 | |
| 1984 | 2-14 | Louise | The Human League | 4:06 | 13 | |
| 1984 | 2-15 | Hide And Seek | Howard Jones | 4:47 | 12 | |
| 1984 | 2-16 | Human Racing | Nik Kershaw | 4:24 | 19 | |
| 1985 | 2-17 | Lay Your Hands On Me | Thompson Twins | 4:08 | 13 | 6 |
| 1983 | 2-18 | Hang On Now | Kajagoogoo | 3:23 | 13 | 78 |
| 1984 | 2-19 | The Medal Song | Culture Club | 4:14 | 32 | |
| 1983 | 2-20 | Move Over Darling | Tracey Ullman | 2:34 | 8 | |
| 1982 | 3-1 | Run To The Hills | Iron Maiden | 3:54 | 7 | |
| 1984 | 3-2 | Modern Girl | Meat Loaf | 4:24 | 17 | |
| 1981 | 3-3 | Day After Day | Pretenders | 4:02 | 45 | |
| 1984 | 3-4 | Human Touch | Rick Springfield | 3:51 | 23 | 18 |
| 1984 | 3-5 | The Lucky One | Laura Branigan | 4:11 | 56 | 20 |
| 1984 | 3-6 | Hard Habit To Break | Chicago | 4:45 | 8 | 3 |
| 1983 | 3-7 | Say It Isn't So | Hall & Oates | 4:16 | 69 | 2 |
| 1984 | 3-8 | Better Be Good To Me | Tina Turner | 3:36 | 45 | 5 |
| 1983 | 3-9 | One Thing Leads To Another | The Fixx | 3:16 | 86 | 4 |
| 1981 | 3-10 | Grey Day | Madness | 3:39 | 4 | |
| 1984 | 3-11 | Cherry Oh Baby | UB40 | 3:17 | 12 | |
| 1983 | 3-12 | A Solid Bond In Your Heart | The Style Council | 3:17 | 11 | |
| 1983 | 3-13 | Just Got Lucky | Jo Boxers | 3:40 | 7 | 36 |
| 1982 | 3-14 | We Got The Beat | The Go-Go's | 2:31 | | 2 |
| 1981 | 3-15 | D-Days | Hazel O'Connor | 2:49 | 10 | |
| 1983 | 3-16 | Miss The Girl | The Creatures | 2:36 | 21 | |
| 1982 | 3-17 | Just Who Is The 5 O'Clock Hero? | The Jam | 2:13 | 8 | |
| 1980 | 3-18 | 11 O’Clock Tick Tock | U2 | 3:47 | | |
| 1981 | 3-19 | Everything’s Gone Green | New Order | 4:19 | 38 | |
| 1984 | 3-20 | Silver | Echo And The Bunnymen | 3:19 | 30 | |
| 1982 | 3-21 | 18 Carat Love Affair | Associates | 3:39 | 21 | |
| 1982 | 3-22 | Cantonese Boy | Japan | 3:49 | 24 | |
| 1984 | 4-1 | Running With The Night | Lionel Richie | 4:10 | 9 | 7 |
| 1982 | 4-2 | Love Is In Control (Finger On The Trigger) | Donna Summer | 3:42 | 18 | 10 |
| 1982 | 4-3 | Friends | Shalamar | 3:43 | 12 | |
| 1984 | 4-4 | I’m So Excited | The Pointer Sisters | 3:53 | 11 | 9 |
| 1983 | 4-5 | Waiting For A Train | Flash And The Pan | 3:44 | 7 | |
| 1982 | 4-6 | Forget Me Nots | Patrice Rushen | 4:04 | 8 | 23 |
| 1984 | 4-7 | Fresh | Kool & The Gang | 3:48 | 11 | 9 |
| 1984 | 4-8 | Stay With Me Tonight | Jeffrey Osborne | 4:57 | 18 | 30 |
| 1984 | 4-9 | Treat Her Like A Lady | The Temptations | 4:15 | 12 | 48 |
| 1981 | 4-10 | Intuition | Linx | 3:21 | 7 | |
| 1984 | 4-11 | Mr. Solitaire | Animal Nightlife | 3:58 | 25 | |
| 1983 | 4-12 | Don't Stop That Crazy Rhythm | Modern Romance | 3:43 | 14 | |
| 1981 | 4-13 | More Stars (Abba Medley) / Stars On 45 Vol.2 | Stars On 45 / Starsound | 4:30 | 2 | 55 |
| 1981 | 4-14 | Piece Of The Action | Bucks Fizz | 3:36 | 12 | |
| 1983 | 4-15 | Words | F.R. David | 3:27 | 2 | 62 |
| 1981 | 4-16 | When He Shines | Sheena Easton | 3:56 | 12 | 30 |
| 1980 | 4-17 | Coward Of The Country | Kenny Rogers | 4:19 | 1 | 3 |
| 1984 | 4-18 | Susanna | The Art Company | 4:46 | 12 | |
| 1982 | 4-19 | Seven Tears | Goombay Dance Band | 3:47 | 1 | |
| 1982 | 4-20 | Save Your Love | Renée & Renato | 3:08 | 1 | 0 |
NOW Yearbook Series
(as covered here on The Hideaway)
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