Michael Ball 'Love Changes Everything'

Chart Peak: 2
YouTube

Yazz fan Michael Ball had raced to No. 2 by 19th February 1989 with this song from the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Aspects Of Love.

I'm no expert on musical theatre but I think it's fair to say that Aspects Of Love is not one of the Llord's better-remembered productions. In fact I only remember it in the context of this song, and even then mostly because I remember a few months later one of our teachers set us an essay called "Aspects of Spring" and the kid sitting next to me started singing "Spring, Spring changes everything..." The teacher responded, "Well, you've just shown how easy it is to write Andrew Lloyd Webber lyrics," so I don't think he was a fan.

Of course, I wouldn't have admitted to liking this song even if I did at the time, but a quarter-century on I can at least say that I understand what people might like about this song in a formulaic sort of way, and I suppose it makes sense as a show opener setting out the themes, although I suppose it's a bit of a double-edged sword when the big song is right at the start of the show. I also think of this as being one of the last times that a song written specifically for a stage musical became such a big crossover hit, presumably for demographic reasons. It is, though, harder to forgive the very cheap-sounding production on this recorded version, which hardly fits with what I'd expect of the West End stage. It's also hard to forgive Michael Ball for his terrible cover version of 'May You Never', which I heard this very morning.

Still, I can see why this makes a fitting end to Now 14, even at the expense of putting it next to Climie Fisher (who had of course had an identically-titled hit less than a year earlier). And as a big hit it makes up for some of the less successful tracks elsewhere on Side 4. I suspect it reassured some buyers. I still don't get the Yazz joke, though I presume it was topical at the time.

Available on: Love Changes Everything: The Collection [+Digital Booklet]

Level 42 'Tracie'

Chart Peak: 25
YouTube

Their 15th Top 40 single in Britain... Made No. 25 in January 1989

It's starting to look like Side 4 is turning into "underperforming January release side", no wonder the sleevenotes are losing interest. It's sort of fitting to hear this track next to Duran Duran: not only were both these tracks taking advantage of the January market to outchart the previous release from the album, but both acts had emerged at the opposite end of the 1980s, and both were now lacking key founder members. The Gould brothers (who were actual brothers, unlike the two Taylors in Duran Duran) had departed and whilst replacement guitarist Alan Murphy was a very talented player who died far too young (less than a year after this in fact) he doesn't get a lot to do on 'Tracie', co-written by Mark King and new drummer Gary Husband. The track is a slightly edited version of the album cut on YouTube (video available on Muzu) and you can hear it's trying for some of the bubbly funk sound of earlier hits like 'Hot Water' but the song itself just doesn't seem to go anywhere and however well King plays the bass it's hard to pay attention.

The group seemed to have lost their way at this stage, though they staggered on a few years. King later revived the name for live work, sometimes joined by co-singer Mike Lindup. A colleague of mine saw that af Watford Collisseum last month, he said they were very good.

Also appearing on: Now 4, 6, 7, 10, 13
Available on: Staring At The Sun (Expanded Version)

Duran Duran 'All She Wants Is'

Chart Peak: 9
YouTube

This became the group's 15th Top 20 single in Britain - it made No. 9 in January 1989

It was probably too early to say this in the spring of 1989, but this turned out to be their last Top 10 hit of the decade where they were perhaps the dominant act in UK pop. That said, it was also a bit of a comeback for them after the previous couple of singles had charted lower; in fact this was the second single from their album Big Thing but managed to outchart the first because it was released into the quiet post-Christmas market. It was too early in their career to sell on nostalgia but too late for them still to be the coolest thing on the block, especially as they were now reduced to a trio - although on the positive side, this meant there was now only one person called Taylor in the band to reduce the confusion. Big Thing - and if you think that title's bad, you should see the cover - was obviously an attempt to try and catch up with modern trends but it doesn't totally work, partly because house music wasn't a style that really suited the talents of the band, nor their rather cynical songwriting style. There's a half-decent chorus kicking off and the song sounds like it might be trying to say something, but in the end it's as incomplete as the title sentence.

Also appearing on: Now 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 24, 25, 31
Available on: The Biggest & The Best

Climie Fisher 'Love Like A River'

Chart Peak: 22
YouTube

Their 5th Top 40 hit in just over a year... Following 'Rise To The Occasion', 'Love Changes Everything', 'This Is Me' and 'I Won't Bleed For You', 'Love Like A River' made No. 22 in January 1989.

The second of the two tracks missing from the official Spotify playlist, this forgotten single between the duo's two albums proved to be their last Top 40 hit.

I've heard this track a few times now and I'm still none the wiser as to how love resembles a river, although like many songs about rivers it has some session gospel singers; I'm not sure of the connection but I suppose everybody really wants to recapture 'Take Me To The River'. Climie Fisher sound like what they were, a couple of jobbing session musicians who got lucky for a while, and this is when the luck started to run out.

Also appearing on: Now 11, 12
Available on: Love Like A River

Brother Beyond 'Be My Twin'

Chart Peak: 14
YouTube

'Be My Twin' was the 3rd hit for Carl, David, Nathan and Steve... It reached No. 14 in late January 1989 following their earlier hits 'The Harder I Try' and 'He Ain't No Competition'.

This isn't a Stock Aitken Waterman production, but the two previous singles mentioned in that sleevenote were of course; I've mentioned before the famous story that EMI bought the services of the production giants in a charity auction and asked them to do these two singles for a British boyband-with-instruments who'd had some success in Italy but failed to wow the home market. They were presumably unable or unwilling to continue the relationship, though, so they returned to the group's debut album for a follow-up single. Indeed, 'Be My Twin' was the opener on the original version of the album, though it was booted to mid-table when the set was re-issued to accommodate the SAW tracks. It did at least receive a remix from big-name 80s producer Stephen Hague (with Don Was also producing one of their other tracks, you can tell they were a big investment for the label) and in places it sounds a bit like an attempt to replicate the SAW sound with the synthesised bass.

What it doesn't really have is the catchiness of the big SAW numbers, which are hard to forget even if you want to. Neither does it do enough to distract you from Nathan Moore's rather weak singing. You can almost hear them falling between stools.

Also appearing on: Now 13, 16 (CD only)
Available on: Get Even

Paula Abdul 'Straight Up'

Chart Peak: 3
YouTube

A former American No. 1 single... Released in Britain on 20th February 1989.

I was slightly surprised to discover that 'Straight Up' was not in fact Paula Abdul's debut single in the UK or US; she'd even made a Top 100 appearance with 'Knocked Out' in 1988, a song that had to be re-issued twice before it finally made the Top 40. It's was certainly her first proper hit though, the start of a massive (if not very long) run of success in her homeland. It's possibly been slightly overshadowed by one or two of her other songs here, but it's surprisingly enjoyable and has aged better than the Robin Beck track. To be honest, it sounds as much like a rock track, thanks to its booming drums. Only the cheap synthesised brass section seems truly dated, and even that gets some credit for not pretending to be the real thing. "Don't want to get my love caught in the slamming door" is an odd metaphor too. There's nothing truly brilliant going on here but it gets a long way on energy and charm.

Also appearing on: Now 17, 20, 21
Available on: Greatest Hits

Robin Beck 'First Time'

Chart Peak: 1 (3 weeks)
YouTube

Of course it's not unusual for a song to be popularised by a TV commercial, but there's something a bit odd about a Now album actually printing a corporate logo (other than its own!) like that. Presumably it was a condition of licensing the track on here; the fact that the song was an advert turned into a single rather than an existing track simply used in ad advert is underlined by the fact that the original single sleeve depicted actors rather than Beck herself. I suppose in these days where everyone talks about "engagement" with brands and we all realise that the cash isn't rolling in for musicians, it doesn't seem so strange that people would effectively pay to listen to an advert, but I did find it slightly strange at the time. Mind you, I found it a bit strange that anybody would pay for this record under any circumstances, it's not really the sort of thing that appeals to ten-year-olds.

26 years later and it's still not appealing. Although we're on a new side of the album here, it seems to follow quite seamlessly from Natalie Cole's drab ballad. In fact I'm slightly surprised to discover from the type of compilation albums it shows up on that this is apparently supposed to be a rock song. I certainly didn't hear it as such at the time, and it doesn't sound any more rocky now. The other thing I didn't realise was that Robin Beck had released an album in 1979 - not that anyone else noticed it either, at the time, but I'd remembered her as being a very young pop star, possibly a teenager. In fact she was in her mid-30s and a successful jingle singer when she recorded this and her 60th birthday is the day after tomorrow. This single also brought her the distinction of being a UK one-hit-wonder by the strict, Guinness book definition: a Number One single and no other Top 75 appearances. None, at least, until she guested on a dance re-recording of this song in 2006, though not all sources give her an artist credit. 

I can't even give this much credit for being catchy considering how many times I heard it in its two incarnations. 

Also appearing on: Now 64 [with Sunblock]
Available on: Soft Rock Highway

Natalie Cole 'I Live For Your Love'

Chart Peak: 23 [86 in 1987]
YouTube

Became her 4th Top 40 hit in the last year making No. 23 in January 1989... Following 'Pink Cadillac', 'Everlasting' and 'Jump Start' into the chart.

I'm quite surprised to note that this was a bigger hit than the latter two mentioned in the sleeve note, because I remember both of those and I don't remember this at all. Admittedly, its chart performance may have been helped by charting at the turn of the year (when there are fewer releases just after Christmas) and Valentine's Day, but it's still odd. I do give myself the excuse that this isn't a very memorable song, though, a rather wishy-washy ballad that's presumably been classed here as a "soul" track to fit in with some of the rest of Side Three. Even the chorus seems a bit unfinished, like it's about to go somewhere and doesn't. In a word, frustrating.

Also appearing on: Everlasting
Available on: Now 12, 15

Tone Loc 'Wild Thing'

Chart Peak: 21
YouTube

'Wild Thing' has now become one of the biggest-selling records of all time in America... Had reached No. 30 in Britain by 19th February 1989.

With three of the previous four tracks being cover versions, the uninitiated might be forgiven for expecting 'Wild Thing' to be a cover of the famous Troggs hit. It's not, of course, although it's not a wholly original track in that it is based on early Van Halen track 'Jamie's Cryin', though as was the way of things in those days, the rockers were not initially credited or paid. Unusually for a rapper, Tone Loc has no writing credit either, the lyric being penned by UK-born rap pioneer Young MC. That lyric is a typical boast about his sexual prowess, set to a repeating riff from the Van Halen track. It gets to the punchline when one potential conquest asks him to pay upfront for her services.

Obviously, this should be terrible but there's something strangely and inexplicably likeable about it. Perhaps it's the very minimalism that now makes a change from present-day hip-hop and boastful as it is, there's nothing aggressive in it. Tone Loc of course went on to become one of the biggest two-hit-wonders ever; indeed the follow-up 'Funky Cold Medina' did slightly better in the UK and is probably the song he's remembered for here. Despite last releasing an album in 1991, he continues to tour in the US. And very conveniently his first album has just been re-issued.

Available on: Loc-ed After Dark (Expanded Edition)

Adeva 'Respect'

Chart Peak: 17
YouTube

This Otis Redding song originally made No. 10 for Aretha Franklin in 1967... Adeva's new version was a worldwide club smash and reached No. 17 in Britain in January 1989.

At this point I think my lack of expertise in club culture - especially club culture when I was ten years old - is quite well-documented. Perhaps if I had known more about it I would understand why Adeva performs the video for this track not only wearing a construction worker's hard hat but actually carrying a hammer around with her. I would suggest that it was some sort of fashion on the scene at the time, but surely nobody would actually be allowed into a club carrying a hammer? However old I might get though, I'm pretty sure I'll never see the day when I understand why an otherwise bald keyboard player would grow a ponytail.

Despite my lack of dancefloor action I do actually remember this track from the time, it being a much-played radio hit at the time. My recollection is, though, that it took me quite a while to recognise this as the same song as the Aretha version I was also familiar with as, unlike many a dance cover version, this is actually quite radical, spreading sections of the original lyric around the track. It almost feels more like a house track that samples 'Respect' than a cover version of it. I'd imagine that if you did want to try that in 1988 it would probably have been easier to get a session singer to redo the vocal than to use the limited capacity of samplers at the time; I'm reminded of A Guy Called Gerald's claim that his classic track 'Voodoo Ray', sadly not featured on a proper Now album, is only so called because his sampler didn't have enough memory for the whole phrase "voodoo rage". It must be said, though, that if Adeva was engaged on those terms she didn't do it, because this is no impersonation of Aretha (or Otis for that matter) but an original performance with its own phrasing and ad-libs: she doesn't even do the famous "R-E-S-P-E-C-T" from the Aretha version. I'm suspicious of glib proverbs like "If you're going to do a cover version, make sure it's different" but this is one case where it's really worked. Perhaps it doesn't pack the emotional punch of the 60s versions, and it doesn't quite have the same proto-feminist anger as Aretha's take, but it's a highly enjoyable

And of course as a loyal Forgotten 80s listener I couldn't let this moment pass without mentioning that this was the first of Adeva's three consecutive solo singles to peak at 17.

Also appearing on: Now 16
Available on: Adeva

The Style Council 'Promised Land'

Chart Peak: 27
YouTube

For their 17th single, the Style Council chose to do a cover version of Joe Smooth's 'Promised Land'... It had reached No. 27 by 19th February 1989.

Exactly how much choice they really had is a matter of some speculation; it's now a well-known story that the Style Council delivered a fifth album called Modernism: A New Decade that reflected Paul Weller's new-found interest in house music (and presumably Mick Talbot's too, though his contributions seem to get less attention generally, I don't even know why he had a beard on Top Of The Pops) and which was rejected by Polydor. With hindsight, delving into house was no more of a shock than the duo's dabbles with gospel, jazz or even classical music; indeed some would go so far as to argue that the late-80s UK house scene was in some respects a successor to the Northern Soul that Weller had been celebrating since the first Jam album. Still, it was probably a bridge too far for an act with a now severely declining audience, some of whom would inevitably be lost to this new direction.

Although it wasn't included on the album, 'Promised Land' supposedly comes from the same sessions, and was picked off as a non-album single in early 1989 - indeed it entered the Top 100 just three weeks after the Joe Smooth original, though that had been released in the US as early as 1987; maybe it was even advance promotion for the Style Council version that gave the original a boost. I would surmise that Polydor were willing to greenlight this single in the hope that a name act covering a club hit was likely to prove a smash. In the event though, it never preceded past that peak of 27, which probably has more to do with devoted Weller fans buying up all five (!) available formats than major interest in the single itself. If this was supposed to be some sort of test case for the band's new direction, it failed and in the event they ever made another album, fulfilling their contract with a singles compilation a few months later, with the "lost" album finally showing up as part of a boxed set in 1998. I know some fans of the original really dislike this version but as I mentioned a few days ago, I've never really been into house music so I'm not precious about it and I can like both versions, though I must say neither of them really moves me. Weller does at least contribute rather a good vocal performance but it's fair to say he doesn't bring much else to the song that wasn't already there: I suspect this might be another case of a cover where he was too much a fan of the original to do anything special with it. At least he earned Joe Smooth some extra money in songwriting royalties and remix fees.

Also appearing on: Now 3, 4, 5, 10
Available on: Gold

Living In A Box 'Blow The House Down'

Chart Peak: 10
YouTube

Their 4th Top 40 single in Britain following 'Living In A Box', 'Scales Of Justice' and 'So The Story Goes'... Had reached No. 31 by 19th February 1989

This could have been awkward, had they ended up including a minor hit from an acts whose bigger hits had missed the cut, but as it turned out their luck held and this was a decent-sized hit though it's probably the first track on Now 14 I have no contemporary memories of: though I can certainly remember the group having several hits I'd have struggled to call any to mind beyond 'Living In A Box', 'Room In Your Heart' and 'So The Story Goes'. Only when I looked this up on YouTube did I learn that this particular track also features an uncredited guitar solo by no less than Brian May.

It's an easy line, but I can't resist saying that this does sound more like huffing and puffing than actually blowing anything down. It's the same trouble I have with a lot of smooth soul from this era; the band are obviously talented but the song just seems to lack body.

Also appearing on: Now 16
Available on: The Very Best Of Living In A Box

S'Xpress 'Hey Music Lover'

Chart Peak:
YouTube

This is the 3rd hit from S'Xpress following 'Theme From S'Express' and 'Superfly Guy'... It had reaced No. 14 by 19th February 1989 and is a cover version of the Sly And The Family Stone original.

All spellings above are as on the original Now 14, and indeed match the image of the single sleeve: it would appear that the first letter E [no puns please] went AWOL from their name somewhere after 'Theme From S-Express', though it was back by the time of their debut album released just a few weeks after this single. And that mimed performance from ITV is the most complete 7" version I could find (to the extent that they even get to be surprised by the fade-out), although you can also find about half the promo video courtesy of German TV.

Mark Moore's second Now appearance is something of a change from the sample-based 'Theme' - indeed all the follow-ups that I can remember were more conventionally song-based than the debut hit, although some of this may I suppose just be a product of the record company's single choices from the material available. 'Hey Music Lover' is slightly closer to the debut hit in the sense that it's directly based on a classic funk track, though with the difference that they actually credited the original writers this time. It's a relatively straight cover of the original, which was issued originally as part of the long track 'Dance To The Medley' (the relevant part starts at about 6:29) and which itself is a development of their hit and album title track 'Dance To The Music', as well as quoting from other Family Stone songs like 'I Wanna Take You Higher'. Some of the more specific references are dropped but essentially this is a simple transposition into the acid house style of the time with various vocalists (including a young Billie Ray Martin) delivering parts of the lyric. You can see the point he was trying to make and it sounds OK but isn't particularly impressive. I'd rather have had 'Superfly Guy', actually.

Also appearing on: Now 12
Available on: Original Soundtrack

Inner City 'Good Life'

Chart Peak: 4
YouTube

'Big Fun' and 'Good Life' were two of the biggest dance hits of 1988... 'Good Life' made No. 4 going into 1989 and was still in the Top 75 on 19 February 1989.

It'll be obvious to anyone who reads this blog regularly (if such people exist) but I've never really been at ease with club culture. It doesn't mean I can't like the music, but sometimes I find it hard to equate it to its original context and the way it was meant to be heard. With 'Good Life' though, I feel like I can have a go because there is something very seductive about the promise of a good life, particularly in the dark days of winter in the late 1980s, which I don't recall as an especially optimistic time.

It's a deceptively simple song, one which combines the sort of house/garage beats [see, I told you I didn't understand club culture] that Kevin Saunderson had pioneered with a genuinely soulful vocal from Paris Grey. It's a common idea in dance, but often seems to end up with just an instrumental track thudding away while a vocalist over-emotes on top of it. It's rarer to find a track where the two parts seem to fit together so neatly, and despite or because of the relative simplicity of what they're both doing (obviously, the title phrase is repeated with great insistence), it feels for once as if music and vocals are both pointing in the same direction, both conveying the same mood, both making the same invitation. It has a very warm, welcoming quality about it that's utterly lovable and makes me want to believe in it.

Also appearing on: Now 13, 15, 16
Available on: Paradise

Neneh Cherry 'Buffalo Stance'

Chart Peak: 3
YouTube

Neneh was born in Sweden and used to be in the band Rip, Rig & Panic... 'Buffalo Stance', the scratch/rap/house record produced by Bomb The Bass, became her first UK hit making No. 3 in January 1989.

Disc Two kicks off in a change of mood from Simple Minds. The internet is awash with different explanations of exactly what a Buffalo stance is, but what I do know is that this song is a reworking of
'Looking Good Diving With The Wild Bunch', itself a B-side remix of a 1986 song by Morgan McVey, a duo that included her future husband. At the time, though, to those us unfamiliar with the flipsides of singles that missed the Top 100, this arrived as something very fresh and different. Remarkably, it still rather feels that way 26 years on; it's one of a lot of tracks that I sort of rediscovered when I developed my habit of buying old compilations in charity shops. In fact the first compilation CD I got with this track on was scratched, but I was pleased to find it on another soon enough, enabling repeated listens with adult ears. Also. posterity has connected me with a cassette of her debut album Raw Like Sushi, which opens with a longer version of this track, and also adds a remix as a tape bonus track.

But enough about me, what of the song itself? I'm always reluctant to praise a record for having "attitude", because it's not only a greatly overused word but one that often seems to connote less than admirable qualities. Indeed it often feels like a euphemism for music that actually has little or nothing going for it but that has to be praised anyway. Still with this track it's hard to avoid because Ms Cherry really is all over this track, brimming with deserved confidence and seemingly trying on voices, melodies and ideas for fun. In fact it's interesting to hear the original track because this sounds so spontaneous, though in fact most of the sections are adapted from that B-side. In fact I prefer this 7" edit to the album track because the shorter running time makes it feel like they've packed as much as possible into this track and creates an energy it's hard to resist joining in with.

Also appearing on: Now 15, 16, 18, 29 [with Youssou N'Dour], 30 [with Cher, Chrissie Hynde and Eric Clapton], 35
Available on: Now That's What I Call 80s Dance

Simple Minds 'Belfast Child'

Chart Peak: 1
YouTube

The first Scottish group to top the UK singles chart since Wet Wet Wet way back in May 1988!... Stormed in at No. 2 on February 1989, [sic] progressed to No.1 the following week.

Presumably the reference to Wet Wet Wet is intended to be somewhat tongue-in-cheek, since May to February is a gap of less than nine months and I doubt that's anything like the longest gap between Scottish acts at the top of the chart. Still, though 'Belfast Child' isn't the best-known or biggest-selling Simple Minds single, it is their only Number One over here (sometimes listed as a double A-side with 'Mandela Day' or as Ballad Of The Streets EP'). It's also the second track on this side based on a traditional tune, after Status Quo, though the source here is the relatively well-known 'She Moved Through The Fair'. The reasons for using an Irish tune in the context of a song about the Troubles in Northern Ireland are obvious, and Jim Kerr says he was inspired to do so after the atrocity of the Enniskillen bombing on Remembrance Day 1987. I've no doubt he was well-intentioned in doing so and I can imagine how a more subtle take on this idea may have worked, maybe as a brief acoustic track at the end of an album. Unfortunately, Simple Minds never really seem to have understood simplicity, and the finished article, even at the five-minute duration of the radio edit, seems to drag as it strains to carry the weight of its own pomposity; not helped at all by the super-slick production which ramps up the sentimentality at the expense of any genuine feeling, nor the airbrushed-looking video. My copy of Now 14 is scratched during this track so I've never been able to confirm exactly which edit is on there.

I will be fair and say that this might actually have sounded better at the time than it does now, and at least its heart is in the right place. What the band themselves might think of it at this point I don't know, but I suspect they might be prouder of this than 'Don't You Forget About Me'.

Also appearing on: Now 1, 5, 6, 7, 15, 23, 30
Available on: Celebrate: The Collection

Poison 'Every Rose Has Its Thorn'

Chart Peak: 13
YouTube

An American No. 1 single that has become the group's first hit in Britain - had reached No. 20 by 19th February 1989.

I was going to suggest that Morrissey might not have felt totally comfortable with his song next to this one, although it did occur to me when I was typing the phrase "Poison every rose" into various search boxes to set up this post that I could imagine him singing those words.

Poison, who had in fact had a Number 35 hit with 'Nothin' But A Good Time' in 1988 but were new to the Top 20, of course started out as a glam metal band but like so any of their colleagues, hit paydirt with a big power ballad. I suppose maybe the idea was that people thought it was OK to like a soppy MOR song if it was sung by a hard-rock band when they wouldn't have liked it otherwise; and of course people who would have liked it anyway still did and it swiftly became their signature hit, even if it wasn't quite as big in the UK as you might think.

Either way, it is of course ghastly, poorly sung and sounds horribly dated now. It's not even among the few metal songs I can claim to like ironically. Let's move on.

Available on: Poison Love Songs

Morrissey 'The Last Of The Famous International Playboys'

Chart Peak: 6
YouTube

His 3rd solo single since leaving the Smiths... followed 'Suedehead' and 'Every Day Is Like Sunday' into the 10 making No. 6 in February 1989.

This could be interesting - last time I wrote about this chap on the blog I got my first and so far only DMCA takedown notice (for a post with no media content at all, just a link to the YouTube video). I've linked to an official EMI upload so fingers crossed.

Three Top 10 hits out of three for the solo Moz (which is more than the Smiths had managed in their entire career, though they did sneak a third Top 10 with a re-issued single in 1992), and three Now appearances out of three too - again, that's more than the Smiths but possibly explained by the fact that he was now signed to EMI. Or was it? Although he continued to add to his tally of Top 10 singles until as recently as 2006, he's never been back on a main-series Now album, perhaps he thinks he's too important for them. At least we can savour what we have though because at the risk of posting a spoiler for anything I might write about Now 11, these first three Morrissey singles represent a run of brilliance he hasn't come close to since. Continuing to write with Stephen Street, he also assembled a partial Smiths reunion for the backing group: no Johnny Marr of course, but rhythm section Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce and sometime rhythm guitarist Craig Gannon. Excellent playing of one of his most perceptive songs, which seems almost to anticipate the gangster chic trend of the 1990s, with its tale of a criminal idolising the Kray twins (both still alive in 1989 of course). Apparently not everyone at the time understood the satire (and I was ten years old when this came out, so I didn't even know what a playboy was, but I remembered the chorus) and some might find it ironic in the light of the hero-worship Morrissey himself sometimes garners, but at least his fans don't kill people.

And this is about as close as I think I've come to understanding a fan's love for the man. Obviously, it wasn't as modern as some of the rock tracks on this side, although the synthesiser solo (played by Street) is a surprise from Moz, much as it's more Ziggy Stardust than Paradise Garage. There may be a parallel universe where he carried on in this vein and at this level instead of falling out with people and descending into pointless arrogance. But like I said, let's savour what we have, at least as long as this post stays up.

Also appearing on: Now 11, 12
Available on: Brits In The 80s

Then Jerico 'Big Area'

Chart Peak: 13
YouTube

Their 2nd British Top 20 hit following the success of 'The Motive' in September 1987... 'Big Area' made No. 13 in late January 1989.

Side 2 is obviously supposed to be the the rock side of the album, and here we find another permutation of late-80s rock with this bombastic stadium sound. Everything about this track wants to be "Big", even the title, and the production thuds along for an unnecessary five minutes.It's obviously supposed to be a big statement but it rings hollow, and placing it close to the modernity of INXS and FYC or even the good-time cameraderie of Status Quo does it no favours.

Also appearing on: Now 16
Available on: The Big Area

Status Quo 'Burning Bridges (On And Off And On Again)'

Chart Peak: 5
YouTube

Reckoned to be about their 37th Top 40 single in Britain, 'Burning Bridges' turned out to be one their biggest hits in recent years - it reached No. 5 in December 1988.

After two tracks of reinvented rock music, we can turn to one act you can trust not to modernise their sound. At least, I'm sure it seemed that way at the time but the odd thing is that when you listen back to this track now it does actually seem very 1980s. More so than most of their other Now appearances, in fact, and certainly more than 'The Wanderer' four years earlier, though it's still more recogniseably Quo than 'In The Army Now'. Perhaps it's a sign that in those days an act like Status Quo could still hope to have mainstream success by applying a vaguely modern production to their typical songwriting, whereas nowadays they have to work more on a nostalgic basis. Either way, though, it's not a song I remember hearing at the time (or hearing much since, come to that) and the effect is of something written to order, going through the motions as the subtitle suggests.

The most notable thing about this song is that they later recycled it as 'Come On You Reds' by Manchester United, the only single by a football club (ie other than England) ever to top the UK charts, and a single that accounts for a majority of Quo's time at Number One as songwriters.

Also appearing on: Now 4, 8, 18, 33 (with the Beach Boys), 53
Available on: The Essential Status Quo