future noise music

1954 - now, that's what we call an exceptional year! Perhaps best remembered in Britain for the end of rationing after 14 years, 1954 also saw the marriage of Marilyn Monroe to Joe Di Maggio, the first royal tour of Australia, the breaking of the four-minute mile by runner Roger Bannister, and the first World Cup to be televised.

Much memorable music was also made that year, and you can hear many of the most popular hits from back then right now on THEN 1954, continuing the new series from Fantastic Voyage, the label that brings you the highly popular British Hit Parade compilations. Unlike that series, which provides two multi-disc sets per year intended for the serious chart completists out there, the THEN series has the more casual music buyer in mind.

Although THEN 1954 includes many UK and US chart-toppers, the series is not constrained by chart position or label in its aim of presenting the most memorable sounds of each year. Successive volumes of THEN will follow over the coming months. Each one is compiled and annotated by eminent chartwatcher Dave McAleer, the former chief consultant and contributor to the now defunct Guinness Book Of British Hit Singles, who is currently devising pop quiz books for the Official Charts Company and assisting with the Virgin Book Of British Hit Albums.

Dave's sleeve notes spend as much time recalling the news events of the year as they do exploring the musical highlights. If you are looking to build up a library of the most enduring British hits from each year, THEN is the series for you. If you are looking for a souvenir of a particular year - to remember a birth, a first kiss, or a wedding - THEN will provide the soundtrack to those memories.

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英国チャート「ブリティッシュ·ヒット·パレード」シリーズを余す所なく網羅したレーベル新リーズ第２弾。このコンピは年代別に楽曲を集めたい人に向いています。このシリーズの続編は１９５５〜１９５９としてリリースする予定。1954年代の27曲ものヒット曲が収録されています。ミュージックチャート専門デイヴ·マクアリアによるコンパイルと解説付き。理想的な音楽の記念碑的作品。