NOW That’s What I Call Music! – NOW Presents… Electronic

NOW Music is proud to announce the second release in the ‘NOW Presents…’ series, following ‘The 1970s’ with ‘NOW Presents… Electronic’.

The 5-LP box set highlights some of the most innovative and enduringly popular tracks of the genre, and includes some era-defining 12”, extended, and full-length versions alongside the single versions.

‘NOW Presents…Electronic’ is presented in a rigid slip case, with complementary design extending across the 5 individual LPs, with the reverse of the covers featuring track by track annotations that include chart positions, and facts about both song and artist(s).

LP 1 kicks off with an 80’s signature synth pop hit from Queen with ‘Radio Ga Ga’, followed by extended 12” versions of Eurythmics’ ‘Sexcrime (Nineteen Eighty-Four)’ and ‘Torch’ by Soft Cell, and ‘Together In Electric Dreams’, the collaboration between Philip Oakey, and one of the key architects of electronic pop music, Giorgio Moroder. ‘Diversion 10’ of Art Of Noise’s ‘Beat Box’ is found on the Side 2, along with huge chart hits from Paul Hardcastle, Phil Lynott, the 12” version of a-ha’s ‘Take On Me’, and ‘You Spin Me Round (Like A Record)’ the electro/Hi-NRG No. 1 from Dead Or Alive.

Laurie Anderson’s epic ‘O Superman’ opens LP 2 and continues with Kate Bush’s (still) stunningly original ‘The Dreaming’. Produced and co-written with David Bowie, Iggy Pop’s ‘Nightclubbing’ features next, and finishing this first side, two influential album tracks from Japan (‘Taking Islands In Africa’) and Duran Duran (‘The Chauffeur’) both using electronic music to beautiful cinematic effect. The second side for LP 2 brings together (amongst others) debut chart hits from Tears For Fears, Howard Jones, Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark and The Buggles with ‘Video Killed The Radio Star’.

LP 3 starts with the iconic ‘Blue Monday’ from New Order, before moving onto another Bernard Sumner hit project Electronic, with their 1993 hit ‘Disappointed’, where Neil Tennant features on vocals. Pet Shop Boys link the next three tracks on this side: Liza Minnelli’s ‘Losing My Mind’ (produced by them), Eighth Wonder’s ‘I’m Not Scared’ and Dusty Springfield’s ‘Nothing Has Been Proved’ (both composed & produced by Pet Shop Boys). The second side includes Gary Numan’s first solo single ‘Cars’, and features synth-pop classics from John Foxx and The Cure, before closing with another band that featured Bernard Sumner – Joy Division with their defining ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’.

Sparks open LP 4 with the full-length version of the seminal ‘The Number One Song In Heaven’, produced by Giorgio Moroder, who also co-produced the next track, ‘Working The Midnight Shift’ by Donna Summer. Late ‘70’s European disco from Amanda Lear and Telex follows. The second side of LP 4 highlights the huge electro dance tracks of the ‘80s from Chaka Khan, Malcolm McLaren, Freeez and Company B.

The final LP showcases 1981 with a side of timeless synth-pop from that year, including hits from Ultravox, Visage, The Human League, and Spandau Ballet. Yello commence our final side with one of the greatest 12”s ever with 1988s ‘The Race’, followed by the outstanding ‘Dr Mabuse’ from Propaganda and Peter Schilling’s 1983 ‘Major Tom (Coming Home)’ … closing with Falco’s global No. 1 ‘Rock Me Amadeus’.

‘NOW Presents… Electronic’ is strictly limited to 1200 numbered copies.