Novelty Hits

Novelty songs, spoken-word recordings, topical songs, parodies these were the records that made you stop what you were doing and look at the radio in amazement. The ones that made you exclaim, "How do they come up with this stuff?"
Now Complete 60s has gathered 30+ years' worth of the best and hardest-to-find novelties on a 28-track package called Three Decades Of Classic Novelty Hits. It offers more than just laughs, though: You'll find plenty of funny songs like Guy Marks' "Loving You Has Made Me Bananas" and Susan Christie's "I Love Onions" but also a number of oddball hits that are just plain different.

We got to know music composer Vic Van De Reijt on his previous compilations (with his hundred favorite French, German and 'Suri-Vlame' hits) as a man with an omnivorous taste in music, who managed to forge well-known and obscure hits together into a beautiful whole. The fifties are central to this compilation album. An exciting job, because there are quite a few fifties collectors in circulation. In the accompanying booklet, Van de Reijt defends his choices, especially to opt for the original versions and why he did not choose a Dutch repertoire ('they simply couldn't compete with other countries'). The five CDs are divided into one with instrumental songs, one with male and one with female soloists, one rock and roll CD and, the best, a CD with novelty hits.

Annette was discovered at a very young age and quickly became one of the first and most popular Mousketeer. Her squeaky clean image and fame made it clear that she quickly needed to make records in order to cash in on her teen star status. This marvellous 2CD set includes all her recordings from 1957-1960 and features her hits "First Name Initial", "O Dio Mio", "Lonely Guitar", "Dream Boy" and her breakthrough hit "Tall Paul". Most of these songs have not been available for many years and some are appearing on CD for the first time, and if that wasn't enough some like "Pineapple Princess" are in glorious true stereo!

Freddy Fender was an American Tejano, country and rock and roll musician, known for his work as a solo artist and in the groups Los Super Seven and the Texas Tornados. He is best known for his 1975 hits Before the Next Teardrop Falls and the subsequent remake of his own song Wasted Days and Wasted Nights. While notable for his genre-crossing appeal, several of Fender's hits featured verses or choruses in Spanish. Bilingual songs rarely hit the pop charts, often perceived as novelty hits, but Fender developed a track record of bi-lingual hits, expanding the rich culture of Tex-Mex (Texan-Mexican) music.

By concentrating on his biggest straight country hits for Capitol and Dot Records ("Tips of My Fingers," "Yesterday, When I Was Young," "Thank God and Greyhound," "Come Live with Me") and sidestepping many of the novelty numbers that were associated with Hee-Haw, the 14-song Greatest Hits makes a case for Roy Clark's talents as songwriter and performer, providing a good introduction to his career.

NOW is proud to present the next instalment in our ongoing ‘Yearbook’ series – and take a trip back 50 years in Pop history – with 82 tracks on 4 CDs, to celebrate a stellar year of Pop singles… NOW – Yearbook 1974. This format is Special Edition 4CD set housed in ‘hard-back-book’ packaging, including a 28-page booklet featuring a summary of the year, a track-by-track guide, a quiz. Opening with ‘Killer Queen’ the first Top 5 single for Queen, and followed by the classic ‘Jet’ by Paul McCartney & Wings, and the still breathtakingly original, and hugely influential ‘This Town Ain’t Big Enough For Both Of Us’ from Sparks - this epic beginning to the 1974 Yearbook continues with a run of ‘glamtastic’ Pop from Sweet and Slade, and including #1s from Suzi Quatro, Alvin Stardust and the years’ biggest seller ‘Tiger Feet’ from Mud. The #1’s keep coming with Pop gold from David Essex, The Rubettes and Paper Lace, plus a huge hit from Pilot and the first Top 3 singles for the Bay City Rollers with ‘Shang-A-Lang’, and Leo Sayer with ‘The Show Must Go On’. 1974’s biggest selling singles act was The Wombles, and their debut ‘The Wombling Song’ is up next along with the global smash ‘Kung Fu Fighting’ from Carl Douglas.

NOW is proud to present the next instalment in our ongoing ‘Yearbook’ series – and take a trip back 50 years in Pop history – with 82 tracks on 4 CDs, to celebrate a stellar year of Pop singles… NOW – Yearbook 1974. This format is Special Edition 4CD set housed in ‘hard-back-book’ packaging, including a 28-page booklet featuring a summary of the year, a track-by-track guide, a quiz. Opening with ‘Killer Queen’ the first Top 5 single for Queen, and followed by the classic ‘Jet’ by Paul McCartney & Wings, and the still breathtakingly original, and hugely influential ‘This Town Ain’t Big Enough For Both Of Us’ from Sparks - this epic beginning to the 1974 Yearbook continues with a run of ‘glamtastic’ Pop from Sweet and Slade, and including #1s from Suzi Quatro, Alvin Stardust and the years’ biggest seller ‘Tiger Feet’ from Mud. The #1’s keep coming with Pop gold from David Essex, The Rubettes and Paper Lace, plus a huge hit from Pilot and the first Top 3 singles for the Bay City Rollers with ‘Shang-A-Lang’, and Leo Sayer with ‘The Show Must Go On’. 1974’s biggest selling singles act was The Wombles, and their debut ‘The Wombling Song’ is up next along with the global smash ‘Kung Fu Fighting’ from Carl Douglas.

The much loved 100 Hits range is back in a brand new sleek slim digipak housing 5 discs of your favourite tracks from the War era featuring beautiful, nostalgic tracks from the greatest singers of the time such as The Andrews Sisters, Glenn Miller and Vera Lynn plus many more in this golden classic collection.