1984 Extra

NOW Music was delighted to see the fantastic response to NOW - Yearbook 1984, with the album reaching No.1. Clearly, 1984 has a place in people’s hearts (and collections). However, we couldn’t possibly fit the full range of amazing tracks available on one compilation. NOW is proud to present NOW - Yearbook Extra 1984 with 60 more essential hits from the year. Released as a limited edition 3CD set, collectors and 80s pop lovers will find it a great compliment to their Yearbook collection. Including massive hits from Queen, Tina Turner, Michael Jackson, Sade, Elton John, Eurythmics, and Billy Joel, together with pop gems from Spandau Ballet, Culture Club, Allison Moyet, Duran Duran, Paul Young, and Frankie Goes To Hollywood.

Each release in our Yearbook series contains a vinyl edition with a selection of tracks from the complete line-up of the CD version. Inevitably, this means that a large number of fabulous tracks are not included on the LP versions… and we also released a companion CD Extra for each year. At the end of 2022 we released NOW Yearbook 1980 - 1984: Vinyl Extra a 5LP boxset containing one album per year for the period 1980-1984, each with an incredible selection of tracks taken from either Yearbook or the Extra and not previously included on a vinyl edition.

Each release in our ‘Yearbook’ series includes a vinyl edition, featuring a selection of tracks taken from the full line-up found on the CD version. Inevitably, this has meant that a huge number of fabulous tracks have not been included on the LP versions… plus we have also released an accompanying CD ‘Extra’ for each of the years.

XTC’s 1984 album The Big Express will be reissued as a CD+blu-ray edition with new Dolby Atmos, 5.1 and stereo mixes by Steven Wilson. This is the seventh in the ongoing series of expanded XTC reissues and as with the others it includes a wealth of audio including four album remixes by Wilson (Atmos, 5.1, stereo and instrumental), the whole album in demo form, plus extra demos and bonus tracks.

The Now That’s What I Call Music team are effectively issuing a companion 3CD set to Now Yearbook 1980-1984: The Final Chapter, itself a companion to the ten previous Yearbook releases covering those five years.The ‘Extra’ version of Yearbook 1980-1984 is, as usual, a 3CD set in a card sleeve and this one features 63 “essential hits” from the period. Remarkably, the early 1980s can handle what is in effect a ‘fourth level’ of examination (Yearbook > Yearbook Extra > Final Chapter > Final Chapter Extra) and this is far from ‘the dregs’ of the era with loads of classic pop hits from Queen, Eurythmics, Pretenders, Elvis Costello, The Smiths, Daryl Hall and John Oates, Japan, Heaven 17, Level 42, Nik Kershaw, XTC, Elton John and more.

Five CD set. Second collection of rare and unreleased live recordings by Alcatrazz. Kicking off at the Golden Bear in Huntingdon Beach, California, in December 1983 on Disc 1 which features a healthy selection of songs from Alcatrazz's debut.. A Japanese tour was booked for early 1984, from which the Osaka date on 24th January 1984 was recorded at the Festival Hall, included here on Disc 2. Disc 3 features a set recorded at Graham Central Station in Albuquerque in New Mexico. Highlights are Too Young To Die… Too Drunk To Live. The Agora Ballroom in Cleveland, Ohio, had long been an important mid-west venue for touring rock bands in the 1970s and 1980s, so the band were guaranteed a warm welcome for their show there on 23rd May 1984, reproduced here on Disc 4. This collection concludes with Disc 5's gig on 8th June 1984 at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson, New Jersey. As an extra bonus, CD5 finishes with an interview originally released as a single promo B-Side, a Public Service Announcement from Graham, warning against drunk driving, plus three instrumental demo tracks.

40th Anniversary Edition of Ultravox’s Lament album, originally released in April 1984, followed 3 successful albums with Midge Ure on vocals, along with two full world tours. Produced by the band themselves in the later half of 1983.
The album includes the album includes the worldwide hit Dancing With Tears In My Eyes, along with One Small Day and the title track Lament. This new 72 track Deluxe Edition box set pulls together a newly remastered version of the album, all the single versions, b-sides, 12” remixes and rarities, along with 45 previously unreleased tracks, including a brand new 1980s style extended remix of every track on the album by Moby, Steve Wilson and Blank& Jones and Midge Ure, new 5.1 and Stereo mixes by Steven Wilson (Porcupine Tree), newly mixed full concert from Hammersmith Odeon 1984, and a handful of work in progress mixes.

It’s great to see John Lennon’s posthumous hit ‘Nobody Told Me’ on CD 3 as well as singles from Lloyd Cole and The Commotions, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Sandie Shaw, Pretenders, Marillion, The Stranglers and Echo and the Bunnymen. There’s also some interesting selections on the second disc including Talk Talk, David Sylvian, Tears For Fears and The Kane Gang.