Review
Now Dance Summer ’95 saw Box Music Limited revert to a single disc compilation containing “20 scorchin’ dance hits”. NOD 16 was released on 17 July; right in the middle of the most glorious weather I had ever experienced. The next volume would not appear until October 1997 – so far ahead that it won’t get reviewed until January. Please note the top summers for heat – 1976, 1983, 1984, 1989, 1995 and 2013.
Boom! Boom! Boom! from The Outhere Brothers gets us into the mood before Shaggy and Rayvon’s grin-inducing update of In The Summertime. Next comes Ini Kamoze’s kick-ass Here Comes The Hotstepper; the lyrical gangster. This trio of ragamuffin reggae was constantly blasted out of random windows as I walked up and down Moyne Road in mid ’95. Slip inside the glass house with Bobby Brown’s slick Humpin’ Round; once again K-Klass are at the helm. Instantly recognisable is Jam and Spoon’s trance anthem Right In The Night (Fall In Love With Music) which is based on Leyenda by the classical composer Isaac Albéniz and features vocals by Californian singer Plavka. The European odyssey continues with Corona’s relentless Try Me Out and Clock’s cheeky banger Whoomph!
1916 and all that. Now for Italian Euro House project, A.D.A.M. and their eternally damned cover of The Cranberries’ Zombie. The video shows a girl in a miniskirt at a car wash. Livin’ Joy’s spotlessly great Dreamer follows along with Blondie’s Heart Of Glass pulsating under Diddy’s Adorable Edit. Then Billie Ray Martin lets fly on the gorgeous clubbing anthem Your Loving Arms. A real end-of-exams classic. Play back to back with Grace’s hedonistic Not Over Yet. Dominique Atkins on vocals and it’s the Perfecto Edit. Frequently confused with Roger Sanchez, Junior Vasquez ups the ante with the fly-life beats of Get Your Hands Off My Man. Isha-D and Stay (Tonight); a vital tune from Dublin’s clubs as its piano sucks you in.
There’s disco juice with Judy Cheeks’ fiery As Long As You’re Good To Me while the Sugarbabies’ Magic In U is a sample-heavy hopper of a tune. Exit planet dust: The Chemical Brothers are reborn and Leave Home is a breakbeat classic and initially appeared on their Xmas Dust Up cassette given away by the NME in December 1994. Pulp Fiction mania was still heavy in summer 1995; the film was still in some cinemas as the UK / Ireland VHS release would not happen until the following March. Spaghetti Surfers’ dance mix of Dick Dale’s Misirlou will surely raise a few smiles. Meanwhile Ann Marie Smith [ex-49er] cuts an absolute screamer on (You’re My One And Only) True Love. Absolutely massive. Slide away with Soul II Soul’s chilled out Love Enuff.
Favourite tracks
Chemical Brothers – Leave Home
Soul II Soul – Love Enuff
Grace – Not Over Yet
Lest we forget
Sugarbabies – Magic In U
A Pop Fan's Dream 
Didn’t 1990 also have a good summer?
Fairly good; but not quite in the league of the others…..
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Hi Paul, It’s interesting to see that this was released a week after Most Excellent Dance, a compilation by EMI on its own. There are 9 shared tracks, albeit that Dreamer is the excellent Rollo Remix. MX Dance is one of my all time favourites, yet this Now Dance comfortably out sold it. While it would need removal of the Bucketheads, MX Dance could easily have been this volume. The Best Dance Album in the World 5 was out a week before MX dance and sold pretty well.
This Now Dance seemed to me to be a bit of an after thought, surprisingly released as a single CD as well.
Thanks Andrew, I will look out for Most Excellent Dance. Looks good. Yes, surprised that this was a one-disc affair, certainly could have done with two CDs given the period.
I wonder if EMI/Virgin had intended to leave the Now Dance series alone after Now Dance 95? It struggled against Dance Zone and some of the Telstar offerings. A year before they released Now Dance Summer 94 several weeks before Best Dance in the World 3, though the first four volumes of that series drew on a broader age of dance track. Now Dance 95 didn’t have a volume attached to it. Each Now that year had a second cd that was mainly dance. Towards the end of the year they released The Best Dance Album in the World 95, which I’ve always taken as being the end of year Now Dance in all bar title.
In 1996 they went down the “In The Mix” route. It was something of a surprise when Now Dance 97 was released.
The non-appearance of a Now Dance in 1996 certainly made me wonder if the jig was up. I agree that Now Dance ’97 was a bit like a bolt out of the blue when it emerged.
I’ve started collecting “In The Mix” do you have blog entries on those?
Hi – I’m afraid not – don’t know it. Have you a link to one of them?
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