NOW Yearbook '89 and EXTRA '89 [2025]

Among the joys/burdens of being a NOW Yearbook collector is guessing which year will be covered next in the ongoing series, as it careens between the Seventies, Eighties, Nineties, and lately, the Sixties. (Great debate occurs over what songs may be included, though you have to figure out the year before you can begin to hypothesize the songs.) I dived in at the genesis when it was nothing but the Eighties, stayed for some of the Seventies, and even less of the Nineties. The obsessive completist collector in me has been subdued to the point that I no longer pre-order each Now Yearbook as they are announced. When NOW Yearbook '89 was announced in late March 2025, I don't even remember bothering to click on the headline on Super Deluxe Edition despite the set wrapping up the decade of the Eighties in a pretty pink NOW bow. When fellow NOW collector friends wanted to discuss NOW Yearbook '89 after its April 25, 2025, release, I pleaded ignorance. Those same friends have been following along as I work my way through the NOW Yearbooks, reviewing some and skipping others entirely. For the sake of this post, a review copy has been generously donated, which will be returned to its original owner ASAP.

Queen takes the pole position as it is the Now That's What I Call An Agreement that Queen struck with NOW Towers way back in the Eighties. Their song "I Want It All" could very well be the NOW collector's battle cry. I skipped the Billy Joel tune, but come back for the Tina Turner and Cher tunes. I tune out again for another couple of ladies of the 80s before catching up with Chris Rea and his tribute to Mark Knopfler and Dire Straits – at least that's how I've always heard it. Against my better judgment, I stick around for the Mike + The Mechanics track, which hits me harder than usual. "Belfast Child" is beautiful, but I've never thought of it as a Simple Minds track, so it gets no love. I'm all in for tracks 10 through 15. Gladys Knight adds a state of the R&B touch to a Bond theme, Lisa Stansfield is soooo smoooth, I had to play "All Around The World" again. The groove continues with "Back To Life" and gets turned up a notch or two with "Buffalo Stance", even with the opening record scratch missing. The drum machine madness continues with "She Drives Me Crazy" and "The Look". CDOne score: 57.89

CDTwo does not start well, but we turn it up once track three, Donna Summer's last great single, "This Time I Know It's For Real", comes on. Then a series of songs that do nothing for us follows until New Order's "Round & Round" rings our bell. Kon Kan's "I Beg Your Pardon" makes an excellent follow-up, and I know that the recurrent riff of the song should drive me batty, but it just makes me want to move. I really enjoy the guitar riffing in "Baby I Don't Care", but can't recall if we've encountered other Transvision Vamp tracks in our NOW Yearbook journey. Roachford is up next with the wonderful "Cuddly Toy," which we love. There's something about the rocking background and the soulful singing; it's a musical peanut butter cup. Roy Orbison rounds out our favorite songs on CDTwo with "You Got It", his first posthumous single. CDTwo score: 30.00

Totally dig that "Sowing The Seeds Of Love" opens CD Three, but immediately disappointed afterwards with the Duran Duran track. I had checked out on the boys after Seven and The Ragged Tiger before briefly jumping back in with the gorgeous "Come Undone". (Sorry, Leslie.) But then it's nine sweet tracks in a row, kicking off with Electronic's "Getting Away With It". Then R.E.M. with "Orange Crush" followed by The Cure and "Lullaby" from their fantastically gloomy and dark album, Disintegration. Yello surprises with the noirish "Of Course I'm Lying", and I had somehow forgotten about "It's Alright" from Pet Shop Boys until hearing it here. The same goes for "Pacific 707" from 808 State; I gotta work these into the Hideaway House Blend. Don't recall ever hearing "The Sun Rising" from The Beloved, but then again I recently turned 60, so the ol' noggin ain't what it used to be. Longtime favorite "Fool's Gold" is rarely heard in its single edit here at The Hideaway. We're big fans of "Edie (Ciao Baby)" and were just a little miffed when the next track was the awful "Poison". Edie Brickell & New Bohemians' "What I Am" is always welcome, and we enjoy the schlock-pop of the disc's final two tracks as well. CD Three score: 72.22

It seems appropriate to skip the first four tracks on CD Four before Paul Abdul moves the needle with "Straight Up". Then there's a nice triple Eurodance feature from Black Box, Coldcut, and Technotronic. We jump back on the dance floor to "Keep On Movin'" from Soul II Soul & Caron Wheeler. We stay for the lesser-known "Girl I'm Gonna Miss You" from Milli Vanilli and Simply Red's great cover of "If You Don't Know Me By Now", but then the disc just peters out for us, with five tracks we just don't care for. This does not bode well for NOW Yearbook EXTRA '89, which we will cover below. I took a few minutes to review Billboard's year-end chart for 1989, and it is indeed pretty bleak. Looks like most of my listening was mainstream rock,  club/dance music, and modern rock. CD Four score: 33.33

I was surprised to find as much stuff to like as I did on NOW Yearbook '89. There were a lot of familiar artists, with many represented by less-liked or weaker tracks. I realize that "Ferry Across The Mersey" and Band Aid II were both charity projects, but man, oh man, they made me want to donate to make them stop playing. We had a listener contact the station one Christmas after we played the original "Do They Know It's Christmas?" from 1984 for the very first time and offer to donate $20 to the Community Food Bank if we never played that track again. We agreed, as the plan was to just play the song once anyway, but he didn't know that, and he sent a screengrab showing his donation. There are 78 tracks on NOW Yearbook '89, and we like 37 of them. Score: 47.44

🎧🎧🎧🎧🎧🎧

NOW Yearbook EXTRA '89 was released on June 6, 2025. I have no memory of the announcement and was surprised to find the album included with the borrowed NOW Yearbook '89. To save everyone time, I will review all three discs of the album in one go. Queen's "Breakthru" nabs track one on CD One, followed by Duran Duran's megamedley "Burning the Ground," which always grabs my attention. I like the Eurythmics and Tears For Fears tracks. The Cure's "Lovesong" might be my favorite track on either of today's albums. It's gonna require a few more listens. Please hold. Dig the Fuzzbox and Transvision Vamp tracks as well as Curiosity Killed The Cat's "Name And Number" and Lisa Stansfield's "This Is The Right Time". CD Two gets cooking with track four, Jody Watley's "Real Love". Bobby Brown follows it up capably with "My Prerogative". Next favorite tracks are Elvis Costello's "Veronica", Deacon Blue's "Fergus Sings The Blues", and "Pure" by The Lightning Seeds. Disc Three has exactly two songs we enjoy listening to: New Order's "Run 2" and The Cure's "Fascination Street". Not a fan of this neon pink. NOW Yearbook EXTRA '89 score: 26.67.

(The review discs have been returned to their owner.)

Click HERE for more NOW Yearbook posts