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Looking back at George Michael’s Older

With rumours and speculation around an Older reissue, SDE takes a look back at the original two-year campaign to promote George Michael’s 1996 album, which included six UK singles and a 2CD deluxe edition.

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12 thoughts on “Looking back at George Michael’s Older”

  1. I must say that labeling your videos as SDE TV, raises an interesting prospect: what if we had a true dedicated TV channel that talked about the releases, the SDE’s, accompanying videos, different formats, comparisons of the audio formats and their qualities and had you as master VJ and various other people on this forum as guest VJ’s….. much alike the good ‘ol days of MTV.

    Eventually, we could have the annual SDE TV awards and when we have the re- re- rerelease of the Oasis albums have Liam accept the award and stage Noel slapping him. How viral would that be? (Theoretical and not advocating violence by any means).

    I’d be glued and have difficulty maintaining a job! My poor family…

  2. Great video and it just reminds me how, done well, a CD single or EP could be a cracking little format, nicely collectable and, when packaged as attractively as these GM ones were, a real value-adding part, for a fan, to the whole experience of following an album’s campaign.

  4. Thank you Paul, I love these little videos, from the fans / anorak point of view. They really are fantastic that you don’t see anywhere else. It’s a stunning album, it suits the car / the bedroom, it can make you dance, cry! It really is one of the greatest albums of the 90’s alongside say the Wedding album, Urban Hymns, OK Computer, it really is up there & nothing will ever change that.

    I bought the “Jesus to a child” CD but I can’t tell you which one cos they’re under the stairs in a box but it’s a phenomenal song, I never bothered with any of the other CD singles as I just bought the album when it came out. By then I’d realised that all these mix CD singles were generally shite ( See PSB for the time )

    As & when the estate ( Mr Austin ) wakes from their eternal slumber, I will definitely buy this as no doubt my 1996 CD needs an update & even though I will probably play it once, it does need a reissue.

    Ideally, we should have the visuals for the Unplugged gig & as time has no logic or consequence in the order of these things, I would love a full “Cover to cover” live gig.

    Thank you Paul!

  5. Yes definitely have all these and a promo or two. What your’e missing is the excellent Summer Mix of Fastlove which was is on the U.S Fastlove CD release. A precursor to studio version of the unplugged you could say.

  6. Track listings for all CD singles from the Older campaign (in case any one is interested):-

    Jesus To A Child – Release Date: 08/01/1996
    CD 1:-

    1. Jesus To A Child
    2. One More Try (Live Gospel Version)
    3. Older (Instrumental Version)

    CD 2:-

    1. Jesus To A Child
    2. Freedom ’93 (Live Version)
    3. One More Try (Live Gospel Version)
    4. Older (Instrumental Version)

    Fastlove – Release Date: 22/04/1996
    CD:-

    1. Fastlove Part I
    2. I’m Your Man
    3. Fastlove Part II (Fully Extended Mix)

    Spinning The Wheel – Release Date: 19/08/1996
    CD 1:-

    1. Spinning The Wheel (Radio Edit)
    2. You Know That I Want To
    3. Safe
    4. Spinning The Wheel (Forthright Edit)

    CD2 (The Dance Remixes):-

    1. Spinning The Wheel (Forthright Club Mix)
    2. Fastlove (Forthright Edit)
    3. Spinning The Wheel (Jon Douglas Remix)

    Older – Release Date: 20/01/1997
    CD:-

    1. Older
    2. I Can’t Make You Love Me
    3. Desafinado (with Astrud Gilberto)
    4. The Strangest Thing (Live)

    Star People ’97 – Release Date: 28/04/1997
    CD 1:-

    1. Star People ’97
    2. Everything She Wants (Unplugged)
    3. Star People (Unplugged)

    CD 2 (The Dance Remixes):-

    1. Star People ’97 (Galaxy Mix)
    2. Star People ’97 (Forthright Club Mix)
    3. Star People ’97 (Galaxy Dub Mix)
    4. Star People ’97 (Forthright Edit)

    You Have Been Loved – Release Date: 08/09/1997
    CD 1:-

    1. You Have Been Loved
    2. The Strangest Thing ’97 (Radio Mix)
    3. Father Figure (Unplugged)
    4. Praying For Time (Unplugged)

    CD 2:-

    1. The Strangest Thing ’97 (Loop Ratz Mix)
    2. The Strangest Thing ’97 (Radio Mix)
    3. You Have Been Loved

  7. I saved all my GM cd singles from my chazzer clear out, all the cd albums went except the Faith double, I hope we’ll get something interesting from the archive, but I’ll believe when I see it, it’s a great catalogue GM has, and it deserves a top drawer reissue campaign, Heather Trott would expect nothing less

  8. Great video, thanks as always, Paul.
    My Older/Upper is the Japanese version, which means it’s in one of those really chunky double jewel cases, and the CDs aren’t gold. I do get the Japanese liner notes, of course.
    Personally, unless there’s some really thrilling new material on the new edition, I’m happy with what I have already in this album, it was never my favorite out of George’s output. But, we’ll just have to see what’s on it when it’s officially released. Of course, for me it would be CDs, no vinyl

    1. The track listing wasn’t really different though, as far as I recall. I suppose I define two ‘different’ CDs as actually offering different audio.

  10. Enjoyed the video and I’m amazed that your Older album jewelcase looks so shiny and new. Jesus To A Child definitely had another UK CD format with a white cover and a close up of his head side on, I don’t think Fastlove did though, I absolutely hammered that CD single, had it on non stop.
    The CD singles felt a lot more premium and you couldn’t beat that smell of a new cd package, thanks for the nostalgia!

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