NOW Music proudly presents NOW 12” 80s: 1984 – Part One, a 4CD set packed with 46 extended, full-length, and remixed versions from one of the greatest years ever in the singles charts. The collection showcases the diversity of the era, with genres including synth-pop, alt-pop, disco, hi-nrg, electro, and hip-hop, featuring the essential 12" mixes, that ruled the charts and the dance-floor.

 

CD1 opens with Queen’s timeless ‘I Want To Break Free’, in its’ extended mix and begins  a run of 1984 Pop gold - Alison Moyet’s Top 10 debut ‘Love Resurrection (Love Injected Mix)’, and Duran Duran’s ‘New Moon On Monday’ are followed by Culture Club, who scored a huge worldwide hit on 12” single with ‘It’s A Miracle / Miss Me Blind’ and Bananarama, who delivered a Top 3 smash with ‘Robert De Niro’s Waiting’. More gems feature from Matthew Wilder with ‘Break My Stride’, Ray Parker Jr.’s blockbuster soundtrack theme ‘Ghostbusters (Extended Mix)’, and Nik Kershaw’s ‘The Riddle’, with Howard Jones and Ultravox bringing the first disc to a close.

 

CD2 is a celebration of electro-dance, hi-nrg and 80’s disco, kicking off with Freddie Mercury’s synth classic ‘Love Kills’ and Shannon’s electro classic ‘Let The Music Play’ – still sounding as fresh today as it did in ‘84. Sister Sledge feature with the 1984 Bernard Edwards & Nile Rodgers Remix of their peerless ‘Lost In Music’, while The Pointer Sisters' ‘Jump (For My Love)’ and Dead Or Alive’s cover of ‘That’s The Way (I Like It)’ are guaranteed floor-fillers. Hi-NRG made a huge chart impact in 1984 – and the 12” single was made for the genre – Bronski Beat and Laura Branigan feature alongside early chart smashes for production team Stock, Aitken & Waterman from Divine with ‘You Think You’re A Man’ and Hazell Dean with ‘Whatever I Do’.  The genre defining anthem ‘High Energy’ from Evelyn Thomas ruled the clubs dance-floors, and the disc still has room for party favourite ‘It’s Raining Men’ from The Weather Girls and Kim Wilde’s synth-pop hidden gem ‘The Touch’.

 

CD3 opens on the dancefloor with soulful vocals and electro beats from Chaka Khan’s ‘I Feel For You’, followed by Womack & Womack’s ‘Love Wars’ and the sublime full-length version of Jocelyn Brown’s ‘Somebody Else’s Guy’. The often-sampled old-school hip-hop of The World’s Famous Supreme Team and Grandmaster Melle Mel’s ‘White Lines (Don’t Do It)’ are up next ahead of Nick Heyward’s pop-dance essential ‘Warning Sign’, and synth gold from Tears For Fears and Scritti Politti. The remainder of the disc celebrates some of the years’ greatest alt-pop 12”’s, featuring Propaganda’s incredible ‘Das Testament Des Dr Mabuse’, Cocteau Twins with the sublime ‘Pearly Dewdrops’ Drops’ and Echo and the Bunnymen’s stunning ‘The Killing Moon’.

 

CD4 delivers a charged mix of iconic chart gold:- Frankie Goes To Hollywood’s 9 week #1 ‘Two Tribes (Annihilation)’ opens a stellar run featuring Duran Duran’s epic 12” of ‘The Wild Boys’ and Spandau Ballet’s ‘Only When You Leave’. Paul Young’s ‘I’m Gonna Tear Your Playhouse Down’ is next, and leads into Adam Ant’s superb ‘Apollo 9 (Francois K Splashdown Mix)’. ‘Up On The Catwalk’ from Simple Minds has a great extended version and synth-pop essentials from Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark with ‘Tesla Girls’, Blancmange with ‘Don’t Tell Me’ Alphaville’s ‘Big In Japan’, and Howard Jones second appearance on this collection with the ‘International Mix’ of ‘Like To Get To Know You Well’ leads the set to its’ conclusion – not only 1984’s biggest selling single, but at the time the U.K.’s biggest ever seller – ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas’ from Band Aid in its full 12” mix…a fitting finale and that’s where we leave our salute to the 12” singles from this incredible year – for now.

 

NOW 12” 80s: 1984 – Part One - An essential celebration of the incredible year in music that was 1984!... and coming soon, the second part of one of pop’s greatest ever years – as our journey through the decades’ unforgettable 12” singles continues…