I bought this album today - not on the strength of the reviews featured on here (!), but on the strength of the tracks featured. In my opinion this is one of the best NOW compilations. It features both recent best sellers killer tracks like Beyoncé's 'Crazy In Love' and Elton's 'Are you ready?' and also good tracks which are currently in the charts, Kylie's 'Slow', Blue's 'Guilty', Sugababes' 'Hole in the Head' etc. There are no obscure tracks or ones which didn't dent the charts, and I appreciate the variety of pop styles featured: pure UK pop (Rachel Stevens, Lemar, Emma, Girls Aloud etc) and trendy American pop (Amy Studt, Ashanti, Justin Timberlake etc) and the greatly adored 'Busted' and America's coolest rapper 50 Cent. The second CD closes with some serious pop/rock sounds ( Starsailor, Stereophonics etc) and the last track is amazing - a new version of Tears for Fears' 'Mad World' which I remember first time round (1982!)- this version is completely different from the original and it is truly inspirational. This NOW compilation is, in my opinion, fantastic - the variety of pop musical styles is great, the sequencing is fab, the songs fit together to make for a nice package. On the down side - the Fatman Scoop 'song' is truly awful and demands a quick forwarding when it comes on, and the lame 'Swing Low' by UB40 could have been omitted- it's hardly their best song, is it? Well, one shouldn't complain, CD 1 lasts for 79 mins - this is the longest CD I know! - and given most tracks are good ones, three cheers for NOW!!
