Three of a Kind #83

Three videos from 1984's Now That's What I Call Music 3 VHS today - all of which are ace, and none of which made it on to the actual record! This was a curious quirk of the early Now releases - presumably because of rights issues, or the expense, or whatever, a lot of the songs from the bigger artists that appeared on the albums never actually made it on to the accompanying videos, and were instead replaced by contemporaneous songs from less famous (i.e. cheaper) acts. (The fact that these replacement tracks were often superior to the ones they were standing in for was, well, just a lovely bonus, really.)

Anyway, let's compare and contrast the track listings for Now 3 the album and Now 3 the video, shall we? Why not. All hail the god of copy and paste!

NOW 3 THE ALBUM:

Side One

Duran Duran : "The Reflex"
Nik Kershaw : "I Won't Let the Sun Go Down on Me"
Sister Sledge : "Thinking of You"
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark : "Locomotion"
Ultravox : "Dancing with Tears in My Eyes"
Howard Jones : "Pearl in the Shell"
Blancmange : "Don't Tell Me"
Phil Collins : "Against All Odds"

Side Two

Frankie Goes to Hollywood : "Two Tribes"
Grandmaster Flash & Melle Mel : "White Lines (Don't Don't Do It)"
The Special A.K.A : "Nelson Mandela"
Womack & Womack : "Love Wars"
The Style Council : "You're The Best Thing"
Bob Marley & The Wailers : "One Love"
Bronski Beat : "Smalltown Boy"

Side Three

Queen : "I Want to Break Free"
Cyndi Lauper : "Time After Time"
Alison Moyet : "Love Resurrection"
The Bluebells : "Young at Heart"
Bananarama : "Robert DeNiro's Waiting"
Propaganda : "Dr. Mabuse"
Tina Turner : "What's Love Got to Do with It"
The Flying Pickets : "When You're Young and in Love"

Side Four

Wham! : "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go"
The Thompson Twins : "You Take Me Up"
The Weather Girls : "It's Raining Men"
Gary Glitter : "Dance Me Up"
The Art Company : "Suzanna"
Madness : "One Better Day"
David Sylvian : "Red Guitar"

NOW 3 THE VID:

1. Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark - Locomotion
2. Simple Minds - Up On The Catwalk
3. Thompson Twins - You Take Me Up
4. Madness - One Better Day
5. Farmers Boys - In The Country
6. Helen Terry - Love Lies Lost
7. Loose Ends - Emergency (Dial 999)
8. Working Week - Venceremos
9. Tina Turner - What's Love Got To Do With It
10. Phil Collins - Take A Look At Me Now (Against All Odds)
11. Talk Talk - Dum Dum Girl
12. Kajagoogoo - Turn Your Back On Me
13. Gary Glitter - Dance Me Up
14. The Mighty Wah! - Come Back
15. i-Level - Our Song
16. Limahl - Too Much Trouble
17. Flying Pickets - When You're Young And In Love
18. Thomas Dolby - I Scare Myself
19. Blue Nile - Tinseltown In The Rain
20. David Sylvian - Red Guitar

Oh, and have a squiz at this, the original TV advert promoting the album - with a voiceover from that renowned fan of eighties pop Brian Glover!



But back to the respective track listings. Quite a bit of difference there, to say the least, with a whopping 12 of the 20 tracks on the video failing to make the actual record(s). Cripes, though, what an especially strong line-up the vinyl version of Now 3 had. It's hard to pick any weak links really (although I must admit I've always had a strong dislike for It's Raining Men despite the fact that it's essentially just a bit of harmless disco fluff; oh, and the less said about Gareth Glitter nowadays the better!).

But yes, a mostly fantastic double album and one of the finest in the entire series, for me. And, although vastly different, the video definitely has its moments as well. The ones I've chosen today are all good (at least I think so), but my absolute favourite just has to be the Talk Talk one, sung live, and featuring a rather addled/stoned spoken-word preamble from singer Mark Hollis, in which he comes across not unlike ex-Portsmouth F.C. manager Tony Adams at a post-match press conference!

Talk Talk - Dum Dum Girl (Trousers)






For more 80s video-based nostalgia visit the excellent Tracklister blog, where Mick has been busy uploading and posting some rarely-seen music video gems.