NOW Yearbook – THE VAULT: 1981 (4CD)

1981 was a seismic year in pop music, with a huge number of new artists making unforgettable chart debuts. We have included more than 160 tracks on the CDs of the 1981 Yearbook, the 80-84 Final Chapter, and their extras so far in our appreciation of the year.

Those tracks were generally the bigger hits of the year, with their chart achievement a factor in their inclusion – however – that’s not the whole singles story of the year, and our celebration of 1981 wouldn’t be complete without shining a light on some of the years’ singles that have been compiled much less frequently over the past 40 years.

Welcome to THE VAULT for 1981, 4-CDs featuring 82 tracks. Some of the tracks included were Top 40 hits, some missed the chart completely. Some were representative of massive selling albums, and some were big hits in the U.S. and not in the U.K but all are part of the wonderful pop story of 1981.

A year away from their Top 40 debut, CD1 opens with Simple Minds with ‘Sweat In Bullet’ from their ‘Sons And Fascination’ album and followed by Spandau Ballet with ‘Paint Me Down’ from their second album ‘Diamond’. Heaven 17 are up next with their debut single ‘(We Don’t Need This) Fascist Groove Thang’, alongside the debut from Eurythmics ‘Never Gonna Cry Again’. 1981 saw Debbie Harry release her first solo album ‘KooKoo’, and from it here the second single ‘The Jam Was Moving’ and Donna Summer released ‘Cold Love’ also the second single from her ‘The Wanderer’ album.  Gary Numan reunited with his former band members, now called Dramatis on the superb ‘Love Needs No Disguise’, and John Foxx released ‘Europe After The Rain’ as the lead single from ‘The Garden’. Generation X released ‘Dancing With Myself’, a track that lead singer Billy Idol would revisit in his solo releases. Post-Punk new wave from Hazel O’Connor, Bow Wow Wow, Honey Bane and Altered Images feature along with the 1978 debut ‘Young Parisians’ from Adam & The Ants – re-released to become a hit in 1981. Squeeze, Split Enz and The Boomtown Rats are up next before the first disc closes with pop nuggets from Hot Chocolate and Boney M with ‘We Kill The World…’, their last original Top 40 single.

Bruce Springsteen opens Disc 2 with the title track from his #2 album ‘The River’ which gave him his first UK Top 40 single, and John Mellencamp – who would have to wait another year for his UK chart debut – with ‘Ain’t Even Done With The Night’, his first Top 20 hit in the US. Great tracks from Steve Winwood, Elton John and Joan Armatrading come ahead of a run of the years’ best rock including ‘Tom Sawyer’ from Rush, Rainbow, Girlschool, Thin Lizzy and Gillan, along with Foreigner with their US Top 5 smash ‘Urgent’ and Meat Loaf with the lead single from his album ‘Dead Ringer For Love’, ‘I’m Gonna Love Her For Both Of Us’.

The rest of CD2 celebrates some of ‘81’s best soul and disco featuring Commodores, Rick James, Chaka Khan, Evelyn ‘Champaign’ King, Sister Sledge, Odyssey, Voggue and the dance-floor essential ‘Can You Handle It’ from Sharon Redd.

CD3 opens with an incredible run of alt-pop: The Creatures - Siouxsie Sioux and Budgie from Siouxsie And The Banshees - released their debut ‘Mad Eyed Screamer’ along with ‘Primary’, the single from The Cure’s ‘Faith’ album, New Order with ‘Procession’, plus The Psychedelic Furs, Echo & The Bunnymen, The Teardrop Explodes, The Undertones and The Stranglers. Dexys Midnight Runners & Kevin Rowland had a #1 in 1980 and would again in 1982, and in 1981 ‘Show Me’ made the Top 20. The Clash released the non-album single ‘This Is Radio Clash’, and reggae and new-wave fusion came from The Beat and Scritti Politti – whilst reggae artist Sheila Hylton made the Top 40 with her cover of The Police track ‘The Bed’s Too Big Without You’. More funk-pop genre melding from Freeez, Level 42 and Shakatak lead to The Manhattan Transfer – who had a huge US hit with their cover of doo-wop classic ‘Boy From New York City’, and the disc closes with Joe Jackson covering the jazz/blues/swing standard ‘Jumpin’ Jive’.

The final disc opens with the Pretenders from their second album, and a single ‘Louie Louie’ that got a US, but not a UK release. Pat Benatar led into her ‘Precious Time’ album with ‘Fire And Ice’, and Billy Joel released a live version of ‘Say Goodbye To Hollywood’, giving him a US Top 20 hit. Bruce Springsteen wrote ‘This Little Girl, giving Gary U.S. Bonds a big US hit, and other stars enjoying success in America in 1981 include REO Speedwagon who had the years’ biggest selling album, Rick Springfield, Journey, and Kim Carnes. The Alan Parsons Project saw ‘Time’ become a Top 20 hit, and Juice Newton hit #2 with ‘Queen Of Hearts’. Missing the UK Top 40, but going all the way to #1 in the US, Eddie Rabbitt’s ‘I Love A Rainy Night’ is up next ahead of Dolly Parton with ‘But You Know I Love You’. A Taste Of Honey had a huge hit back in 1978 with ‘Boogie Oogie Oogie’ (UK #3 / US #1) – and hit Top 3 in ’81 with ‘Sukiyaki’ in the US, and that track leads into the final four in our collection – and a stunning closing run of vocalists: Aretha Franklin and George Benson duetting on ‘Love All The Hurt Away’, Diana Ross, ‘Sailing’ from Christopher Cross – another US #1, and signing off with Neil Diamond with the second single from the soundtrack of ‘The Jazz Singer’, ‘Hello Again’.

NOW Yearbook – The Vault: 1981 – A continued celebration of this magical year in pop!