NOW – Yearbook The Vault: 1981

1981 was a seismic year in pop music, with a huge number of new artists making unforgettable chart debuts. We have included a fantastic selection of the year’s singles on the 1981 Yearbook and the 80-84 Final Chapter as part of 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. 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.

45 tracks across 3LPs – NOW Yearbook – The Vault: 1981, pressed in beautiful transparent purple vinyl.

A year away from their Top 40 debut, LP1 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’. John Foxx released ‘Europe After The Rain’ as the lead single from ‘The Garden’, and Gary Numan reunited with his former band members, now called Dramatis on the superb ‘Love Needs No Disguise’. Closing the side, Altered Images feature with their debut ‘Dead Pop Stars’, along with the 1978 debut ‘Young Parisians’ from Adam & The Ants – re-released to become a hit in 1981. Flip the LP over to celebrate some of ‘81’s best soul and disco featuring Rick James, Sister Sledge and Chaka Khan, ahead of funk-pop genre melding from Freeez, Shakatak and Level 42 before this first disc closes with reggae artist Sheila Hylton who made the Top 40 with her cover of The Police track ‘The Bed’s Too Big Without You’.

Bruce Springsteen opens LP2 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. REO Speedwagon are up next with a track, ‘In Your Letter’ from the years’ biggest-selling album in America, and Billy Joel released a live version of ‘Say Goodbye To Hollywood’, giving him a Top 20 hit there. Great singles from Elton John and Joan Armatrading lead to the side finishing with The Alan Parsons Project and another US hit, ‘Time’.

Side B 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 Generation X released ‘Dancing With Myself’, a track that lead singer Billy Idol would revisit in his solo releases. Echo & The Bunnymen, The Teardrop Explodes, and Dexys Midnight Runners all feature ahead of Joe Jackson covering the jazz/blues/swing standard ‘Jumpin’ Jive’, and The Manhattan Transfer – who had a huge US hit with their cover of doo-wop classic ‘Boy From New York City’, which closes LP2.

LP3 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 with ‘Dumb Waiters’. The Clash released the non-album single ‘This Is Radio Clash’, and reggae and new-wave fusion from Scritti Politti with the sublime ‘The “Sweetest Girl”’. The side closes with two chart regulars The Undertones and Squeeze with ‘It’s Going To Happen’ and ‘Is That Love?’ and the final side kicks off with Debbie Harry, as 1981 saw her release her first solo album ‘KooKoo’, and from it here the second single ‘The Jam Was Moving’. Donna Summer released ‘Cold Love’ from her ‘The Wanderer’ album, and Commodores feature with ‘Lady (You Bring Me Up)’. Steve Winwood is up next with ‘While You See A Chance’, and the final three begin with Journey and their rock ballad ‘Who’s Crying Now’, Rush with the epic ‘Tom Sawyer’, and closing the collection, Meat Loaf with the lead single from his album ‘Dead Ringer For Love’, ‘I’m Gonna Love Her For Both Of Us’.

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