Our first thoughts when we read the announcement that NOW Yearbook '90 was going to be released on February 2, 2024, were disgust and dismissal. Disgust because we hate the color red and whatever particular hue or tint had been chosen for the cover art. Dismissal because 1990 is not a particular year of music fandom for this listener. Then I started to read the tracklist and counted off thirty tracks I was unfamiliar with, verifying my initial perceptions; more than half of them, I was familiar with the artist, but not the song by title. I decided not to preorder NOW Yearbook '90 that day. Two weeks later, I pushed a couple of buttons and reserved my copy. Still don't know why the about-face.
As is the rule whenever one of his tracks is included on a NOW disc, George Michael takes the pole position. It's not a good start for this listener, but we let the disc play and are rewarded with tracks from New Order and The B-52's. Further through the disc, the sound of a drumline stops me in my tracks. The song is Paul Simon's "The Obvious Child", a Top 20 single in the UK that struggled to 92 here in the U.S. "The Joker" is the next track, revived after featuring in a Levi's commercial. The disc's final three tracks are choice; I went with the one I hadn't heard in a minute, Julee Cruise's "Falling".
Sufficiently mellowed from that last track, I cue up disc three, and "Nothing Compares 2 U" immediately brings to mind two artists gone too soon. I wallow in the emotion through the next few songs before Faith No More's "Epic" grabs me by the ears and brings me back to the living. No, wait – it takes me back to 1990 justlikethat. It rocks so dang hard, and this is just the radio remix edit. A few tracks later, another favorite pops up from Heart. Sure, the band denounced it shortly after its chart run, and the lyrics are Creepy with capital C, but that music though. I'm still singing along when this one comes on.
It's not hard to tell if NOW Yearbook '90 won us over or not. We found a few new-to-us songs and had to listen once again to a few songs we have never liked. Of the seventy-nine tracks, we would gladly listen to twenty-nine of them again – that's only 37%. Our 1990 featured a lot more rock songs from the likes of AC/DC, Black Crowes, and Queensrÿche, among several others. By my count, there are five Number One Songs on NOW Yearbook '90 that topped both the UK and US charts. This may represent some other listener's 1990 but not ours.
NOW Yearbook EXTRA '90 was released on March 15, 2024. We'll see if the EXTRA set is any better because we ordered it without giving it much thought. There may come a day when we skip the regular Yearbook and go for the EXTRA or vice-versa. Right now, it seems we're all or nothing, regularly surrendering to our obsessive compulsiveness.
CD One from NOW Yearbook EXTRA '90 gets off to a wonderful start with the funky-fresh "Freedom! '90" courtesy of George Michael at his artistic peak. The song is engaging and inspirational. It never fails to lift our spirits. We didn't flag "Love Shack" from NOW Yearbook '90 as a favorite, though it most certainly is. "Roam" is also a favorite, although it strikes a different chord within us. Is it possible that The B-52's have a song that moves the listener emotionally? Yup!
Haven't heard Jane Child's "Don't Wanna Fall In Love" in quite some time. It sounds as fresh and unique as it did thirty-five years ago. She plays every instrument on the track except the guitar. Too bad she never found her way back to the charts.
CD Two jumps off to a great start with Aztec Camera teaming up with Mick Jones for the rousing "Good Morning Britain", which features some great stereo effects throughout. The song's chorus is still ringing in my ears. "Close To Me" originally charted in 1985 but returned to the charts in 1990 with a Paul Oakenfold breakbeat up in it for The Cure's album of remixes, Mixed Up. The remix sounds as good as the original and, for those of us playing the mixtape game, the remix worked well. I could have gone 1-2-3 and picked The Farm's "Groovy Train". But for whatever reason, I was drawn to Primal Scream's "Come Together". The song has got a lot going on. A whole lot.
If you're thinking we missed pointing out our favorites from CD Three, you're kinda sorta right. We didn't have any favorite tracks from the third disc of NOW Yearbook EXTRA '90. In fact, I'd say we had a hard time picking even a dozen songs out of the fifty-eight that we'd care to hear again. As we said before, it just wasn't what we were listening to in 1990. Fortunately, we were able to find good homes for both NOW Yearbook '90 and NOW Yearbook EXTRA '90 with listeners who appreciate them more than we ever could. We vowed to ourselves to do a little more research and thinking before preordering, maybe even wait until the Yearbooks are released before ordering. Wonder which year will be covered next?
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