Now! That's What I call Music Volume 1
Harrison Breuer returns, back by popular (i.e., mine) demand!
Hello all as I check in with my second entry in “Galvin Reviews Reader Reviews.” After the smashing success that was my Pink review, my second entry will concentrate on a different genre of CDs. Today’s genre is the compilation, and the offender is the now omnipresent “Now That’s What I Call Music” series, specifically the first entry. Released in October 1998, there have now been like a dozen of these damn things. But the first is my target. Let’s see if what we called “music” in 1998 is still “music” in 2002. The track list is as follows:
1. Together Again – Janet Jackson
2. As Long as You Love Me – Backstreet Boys
3. The Way – Fastball
4. Flagpole Sitta – Harvey Danger
5. Say You’ll Be There – Spice Girls
6. All My Life - K-Ci & Jo Jo
7. Never Ever [Single Edit] - All Saints
8. If You Could Only See - Tonic
9. MMMBop - Hanson
10. Zoot Suit Riot - Cherry Poppin' Daddies
11. Shorty (You Keep Playin' With My Mind) - Imajin
12. Anytime - Brian McKnight
13. Barbie Girl - Aqua
14. Karma Police - Radiohead
15. I Will Buy You a New Life - Everclear
16. Fly Away - Lenny Kravitz
17. Sex and Candy - Marcy Playground
One thing that immediately catches our attention is the presence of two swing songs, because we all remember that in 1997 swing took back the airwaves, and has dominated every since. Cherry Poppin Daddies and Harvey Danger are selling out massive arenas to this day, all based on the strength of swing. I mean, you still cannot turn on a radio now without hearing “Zoot Suit Riot” within 10 minutes, am I right people? What else did “Now etc etc” also successfully predict to last? Hanson is still going strong, dominating the music charts anytime you look at them. Aqua, Imajin, Tonic, and Marcy Playground are all still powerhouses of the music industry. Looks like the “Now blah blah” crew was right on. But what do fans of the CD think?
jumpers from Norman, OK says:
Oh the memorise! Why it seems as only just yesterday that Con Air came out. Do you remeber where you were when they canceled Empty Nest?
Uh what? I have no “memorise” of that. I regret to inform you that no songs from Con Air are on this CD, and Empty Nest was cancelled a few years before Hanson began dominating the charts. Good try though.
Andrew R Carden from Clifton Park, NY writes:
Now has a few really food songs, and nothing at all more then that. Most of the songs on the CD were played so much during the 1996-1997 years, that you don't enjoy them as much here...but the ones that you liked, and weren't played that much are really nice to be able to listen to in this.
Some food songs? I mean, I guess the “Sex and Candy” song involves some food, but what else here does? I should go easy on you Andrew since you are from upstate New York like me. Yeah right. You whine that the songs were played a lot, well what do you expect, it is a collection of hits. We can’t all be cutting-edge indy fans like you, but we shall try.
PerAmore2001 from hell, has this to say:
Now that's what I wouldn't necessarily call "music”. The reason I'm saying this is that there are mostly teen artists on this, one of many in this series. If that's what you'd call "music," fine, then. There's plenty more out there than this. Sorry, but that's my personal opinion. The whole thing is crazy because often adult artists like Phil Collins and Andrea Bocelli can't get on here. Ridiculous.
Oh how witty of you, replacing “what I call” with “wouldn’t necessarily call.” How does it feel to know that your insightful review single-handedly ended the “Now who cares” series? By the way, when did they get internet access in hell? I am sorry there is no Phil Collins or Andrea Bocelli on this CD for you, but they were not trying to tailor the CD to losers who jerk off while listening to adult contemporary shit and review 3 different videos of Dragon Ball Z and call them “unrealistic.” Why don’t you make up your own compilation PerAmore2001 of the crap you like and we’ll see how well it sells, ok?
And now a puzzler, a music fan from marzbc3000:
me cav maan. First me mooie tink'm good. Den me byd 10,000 copy.Den me reliz sukcs. put all on nabors lan.then by 10 more copys?
Where does a cave man get the money to buy 10,000 copies of this excellent album? Ah well no use in wondering. But I am sad to see you turned on this great CD. Where is marzbc3000? Is it on earth or is marz some new planet? Can I visit you there? What kind of music is popular if not “Now whatever” is not? I hope you get in touch with me, I am curious about your world and its many wonders
A music fan from canada Ontario Huntsvilles says:
love the spice girls I have a lot a lot of spice girls stuff
Good work.
Wes from Texas writes:
The subtitle used to market this CD is at best viewed with a certain sense of sarcasam. The NOW series is a take-off from its European counterpart save for being aimed at a slightly younger crowd. This album would have easily received 5 stars had it contained a more diverse, and obviously better-represented selection. While this album does contain a few diamonds in the rough by such notable performers as Fastball, Lenny Kravitz, and K-Ci and JoJo, the artists on this album are predominately fly-by-nights (Harvey Danger, anyone?). Good for a bubblegum/pop-esque romp, but might be overlooked by the more mature listener.
So Wes, is “sarcasam” like that movie with Shaq, you know, Kazam? Does your version do better than his? I must give you credit though Wes, I love guys like you who attempt to sound light years more intelligent than all the other reviews around them. Using words like “counterpart”, “diverse”, and “mature.” And yet your spelling and grammatical errors seem to torpedo your attempt to sound intelligent. And how can you call Harvey Danger a “fly-by-night”, how many hits have you had Wes? Too bad Harvey Danger’s presence prevents you from giving 5 stars (who are you, Scott Keith?), but what do you expect from a “romp”?
groovy_guy04@hotmail.com says:
NOW is an awesome CD with songs for everyone, with artists like Everclear, Lenny Kravitz, and even some new artist like Fastball, this CD has everything! Great for parties, just put this CD in, set your player for shuffle, and party on!
A common theme from a lot of readers is that this CD is great for parties. But I wonder if that is true. I see no comments from people who say they used this CD at a party and got laid, or even had a good time. In fact I see no comments from anyone who actually used this CD at a party at all. Maybe your idea of a party, groovy_guy04, is sitting around at home and wondering why you have no friends while you listen to K-Ci and Jo Jo sing to you. However few others would share that opinion. And a word of advice, if you “put this CD in, set your player for shuffle” you will very likely end up listening to another CD, see shuffle picks a CD at random to play. If you tried this at one of your awesome parties, you could accidentally end up listening to “Now why are you buying this” volume 2, or 3, or 9, or 42, or 990. And that’d mess up your party real fast.
crazylil_partygurl has this to say:
Well Now its Then, but Back then it was Now. Its a collection of 17 popular songs from '98 Its selected some gr8 stuff like Imajin, Hanson, Fastball, Harvy Danger, K-ci&JoJo, Brian Mcknight, Lenny Kravitz, and Everclear. Good cd!
Your first sentence confuses me. When is now but then was now too? What? I’ll just move on. Wait, you are a “partygurl”, that is almost the kind of person groovy_guy04 is looking for, and you both love this CD (even calling it “gr8”). Please, I beg you, write to him and end his nights of partying alone. Just sit back and “Imajin” you two partying it up “All My Life.” I hope you can find time do this when you are not adding to your list of 244 amazon.com reviews. I may have to devote a special review just to you!
Anita Rose
writes:I've been meaning to buy this cd for five years. I guess I should one day. They were all radio hits my 9th grade year of high school when I was 14.
I do not care when you were a freshman. I have an easy rule here, anyone younger than me is stupid. Thank you for reinforcing my convictions.
And finally A Music Fan from California, America, wrote:
This CD has bought all the greatest music artists of the 90s come together to produce the ultimate CD.
You have the nail on the head my friend. When music historians look back on the late great 1990s, they will see a few preeminent bands step to the fore as innovators, groundbreakers, and trailblazers. Among those select few will be the Spice Girls, K-Ci and Jo Jo, Harvey Danger, and Brian McKnight. Songs like “Flagpole Sitta” and “Sex and Candy” are timeless, and will be listened to far into the future, much as Brahms and Mozart are in our time. People of the year 2500, I speak to you: “Now something or other” contains the greatest music humanity was able to produce in the 1990s. Please judge us accordingly.
Well that is how “Now I’m Done” Volume 1 stacks up, everyone loves it except really mature people with good taste. It may also be good at parties, still waiting for the verdict on that. But you are probably best off just going out and getting Harvey Danger’s latest chart-topping album. What’s that? He has none? He was dropped from his label? He’s homeless somewhere in Missouri? Well I guess your only option is buy this CD and keep the Harvey Danger fires burning!