NewsSaturday Deluxe / 15 May 2021
George Michael’s Older is getting older.
George Michael’s Older
One of the things that ‘happened’ this week was George Michael‘s Older album turned 25. There are lots of interesting things to say about this record. First off, George was only 32 when he released it. Who’d have thought at that time that he’d have only ONE more studio album of self-penned material left in him? What a waste.
The other thing worth highlighting – although most people of a certain age in the UK will remember this well – is just how successful it was. His Faith album was a monster in America (just the four number one singles…) but it underperformed in the UK, relatively speaking. There’s no other way of looking at it. George’s two previous solo singles (‘Careless Whisper’ and ‘A Different Corner’ had both reached the top-spot in Britain, as had ‘(I Knew You Were) Waiting For Me’, his 1987 duet with Aretha Franklin. And he had four number ones with Wham!. There’s no way anyone was expecting him not to have a bunch of chart-toppers from his first solo album, but it only delivered two really big hits ‘I Want Your Sex’ and ‘Faith’ and neither reached number one.
It’s weird; George transitioned from more or less owning the number one spot in the UK singles chart to, by the time of 1990’s Listen Without Prejudice, being someone who had hit albums but didn’t really chart well with singles. Only one of the five singles from that second solo album went in the UK top 20 (‘Praying For Time’, #6). Everything else could be badged ‘minor hit’, including ‘Freedom 90’ which only reached number 28 (‘Cowboys and Angels’ didn’t even get in the top 40!). Some of this can be put down to George’s ‘I don’t want to make/be in videos, anymore’ stance, but it’s still a curious situation.
While he recovered some ground with two early ’90s duets (one with Elton and one with Queen) by the time of Older, only a brave man would have predicted he’d have SIX top three singles from one album. When Jesus To A Child went to number one, it was George’s first solo number one single in TEN YEARS. Fastlove repeated the feat and it was clear George was back, back, back! He was making videos again, actively participating in his own career and could suddenly do no wrong. Example: The single ‘Older’ got to number three. How? It may have included new material in the form of a cover of Bonnie Raitt’s ‘I Can’t Make You Love Me’ along with some decent bonus remixes of ‘The Strangest Thing’, but it’s a very slow, jazzy, maudlin number, and it charted 23 places higher than ‘Freedom 90’.
‘Spinning the Wheel’ and ‘Star People ’97’ both got to number two, as did ‘You Have Been Loved’. The latter (co-written by George Michael’s now ‘manager’ David Austin) would probably have had no chance, but Princess Diana had died almost exactly a week before the single was released and the British public decided it was the perfect tribute.
All this singles activity, over a long period of time (‘You Have Been Loved’ was issued 21 months after ‘Jesus to a Child’) made Older George’s biggest selling album in the UK. It has sold 1.8m copies – more than both Faith and Listen Without Prejudice.
If the album is 25 years old, the question must be are we going to see an anniversary reissue? One would hope so (the original vinyl goes for hundreds on Discogs) but so far we’ve only had hints and promises from GM’s official social channels and as SDE has commented before, their idea of ‘exciting news’ often differs from fans.
I was unimpressed that they didn’t even mention the album’s birthday on Thursday, when others were mentioning it. The next day they tweeted that “there’s also something very special to come later this year…”
Make of that what you will, but let’s just say I’m not filled with confidence. The Estate have been ‘working’ on reissuing George’s Symphonica album on vinyl since late 2019. This is an album that was only released seven years ago and it’s not as if it wasn’t available on vinyl at the time, because it was. So why would anyone in George’s team even want to work on this as some kind of priority? And if you are going take on a reissue project that no one is interested in, then just do it! Get it out and move on to the next thing.
There’s the two issues neatly summarised. George’s team are not choosing the right reissue projects (if indeed ‘reissue project’ is in their vocabulary) and they cannot deliver anything in a timely manner. The day-late acknowledgement of Older‘s birthday tells you all you need to know. And I’ll warrant they haven’t really worked out what the “something very special” even is at this point in time. If it’s a physical product, the perfect time to announce it is on the anniversary date. But they didn’t do that because, presumably, they aren’t ready.
I will be happy to be proved wrong, but I think the best we can hope for later this year is a vinyl reissue of Older. But I’m not even sure that will happen, because there is a six-month lead time on vinyl at the moment and if it were to be issued in, say, November this year, all the work would have needed to be done already and the job submitted. I don’t think we’ll get an expanded box set or deluxe edition, either. I honestly believe that, in the minds of those who have control of George’s legacy, a CD box set full of rarities is not what they consider to be an exciting project. Never have the fans and those in control of the output been so misaligned.
What you would like to see next? Let the Estate/label know by completing the SDE poll below.
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SDE Poll
My most-wanted George Michael reissue would be:
Manics new album
Nice to see the announcement yesterday of a new album from the Manic Street Preachers.
It’s interesting to note their release strategy has changed a little bit. With the last album Resistance is Futile, the band offered it on their own shop initially and then waited almost two months before giving fans the ability to pre-order through channels like Amazon, JPC, HMV and other independent retailers.
This time around the various products were everywhere, more or less simultaneously. Many of you noted that that UK shipping, via the Manics shop, for the two-CD deluxe of The Ultra Vivid Lament were outrageous. £7.50 for UK first class is at least double what it should be. The SDE shop has a £2.50 second class option for the same item (or tracked 48 for £5)
Shipping charges have definitely increased worldwide, but within the UK prices have not gone up to the same extent and it’s disappointing to see the label happy to charge half the price of the item for shipping. They are already making more money per unit by selling the product direct to fans, so it feels wrong. Blame Kontraband Merch the ‘full services music merchandise company’ who are running the Manics’ shop. This ‘D2C’ operation is owned by Sony!
Incidentally, the indies-only vinyl LP with seven-inch version of The Ultra Vivid Lament is very limited. I know this because Sony are negotiating small allocations to the indies, like the SDE shop, so if you are interested then get your order in.
Yes box set now even cheaper!
There was me wondering if Amazon France would honour the pre-orders for that mammoth Yes Union Live 30 box set (26 CDs and four DVDs). The price highlighted a few weeks back was about €146 but rather than adjust the price upwards, the French retailer has reduced it down to €105! That’s about £90! The same box is £245 on Amazon in the UK. Go figure. It’s out in around five weeks, so it’s squeaky bum time soon. Let’s see if they honour all the pre-orders (you will get the new, cheaper price, thanks to the pre-order guarantee!).
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102 thoughts on “Saturday Deluxe / 15 May 2021”
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I’ll be honest, I personally believe Older is one of his weaker albums. I’ve always loved Fast Love, Older, You Have Been Loved and Jesus To A Child but I wasn’t a big fan of the rest of the song’s. To me it contained too much filler and I felt it produced some of his worst songs such as Star People, Move On, Free, It Doesn’t Really Matter etc. To me George’s heyday was from Make It Big – LWP Vol 1.
Now to discuss about the deluxe edition… What can they really do to target that specific era of his career? He wasn’t on camera anymore, they kinda did a bad job when they added his MTV unplugged performance on the LWP Vol 1 reissue, apparently he doesn’t even much unreleased music. A few demos isn’t going to be enough or even some “booklet.”
I think fans are going to be disappointed with the future reissues of Older and Patience.
@JasonTPG’ s comment below is very interesting. I never considered the increasing age of the fans and thus potential buyers as a major liability in the business that is the release of a particular edition of a record. Indeed, it is a very intelligent and true observation, and evidences the lack of planning / vision of the people in charge.
In this case however I guess that there might be little interest anyway in the sense that possibly the royalties of George’ s music have been transferred to his family (i. e.: a good pension in billions) in addition to his inheritance (i. e.: a present life in billions)? And that the brilliant Austin probably earns a good salary from them so he doesn’ t care much about the thing either? So the only party really losing might be the record company, but we know how these guys work. They too are big managers who earn good salaries anyway and for what they’ re interested they might as well sell groceries or domestic appliances.
On my part I keep always seeing only the aspect of forgetfulness, linked with our advancing age (a sad thought). Us fans getting older means that Wham! and George Michael will simply, slowly, be forgotten. I mean, I had that impression when two years ago I thought that if it wasn’ t for “Bohemian Rhapsody” even Queen would be NOONE for the new generations..! (testified: when speaking about music with two of my fellow gym goers [25 and 27 respectively] two years ago at the mention of Queen the reply was: “Who..?”). Shocking, but inevitable. I mean, if you askd me about the pop sensation who was all the rage in the 1940s I do not think I could reply either.
In the end we rely only on those of the new generation who play an instrument and who inevitably get in touch with older teachers or records to practice and thus learn about these big and wonderful groups. And, The Beatles seem to have their very own special, magical identity to survive across every generation. And hard rock as well is a world in itself which manages to transfer itself from old to young (Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, The Rolling Stones, Deep Purple). But the great personalities in Pop Music… I think they are doomed to being forgotten once enough time has passed. Even if it seems inconceivable, I wonder if master David Bowie too will one day belong to ancient and vanished memories.
I almost realised this approach in myself too: even though I love a good listen to Freedom when it comes up and WUBYGG or Last Christmas or Father Figure, I chose a new GM album in Paul’ s poll. This may be because GM was certainly not prolific, and even though he was a great writer, singer and lovely person he doesn’ t give me that “shiver” of like “Oooh I wonder WHAT may be hidden in the Wham! vaults…” probably because I guess that knowing him there isn’ t much. And the music was quite simple and not elaborate to have too many versions or takes as it would be with a whole band (mind you, I am not as well informed as many superfans who have left their comments: no idea of where to find Trojan Souls or leaked unreleased songs, so I might be very wrong…). So out of this lack of expectancy (or “Faith” in George’ s way of working?) in the Wham! era catalogue I therefore opted for an album of unreleased songs, hoping he actually did record and disregard a lot of stuff, and that he didn’ t use a vocoder too much. I am tending towards the brand new rather than the rare alternative take.
Of course, if some expert will say that he knows that a “heavy metal early rough version” of Everything She Wants exists, I would be all for it… Bring it on, Austin, quickly.
Sounds like you’re showing your age. Are you a Gen Xer who was born in the 70s?
The saddest thing is that there are a lot of unreleased an completed songs on the net. The estate do not cares about them and even about the fans. They hide themselves behind the fact that if George did not released them… Those songs are amazing! They put all George’s catalogue on Spotify or wherever you can get immediate money! But the worst part is how those songs appeared? How’s it possible that a guy on the net has them? Someone is selling them also on the russian market! God bless you George!
There’s also the near two hour footage of George recording Trojan Souls, filmed by Andros at the time. Very interesting in deed. I’ve heard a certain individual may have tried to sell unreleased stuff to individuals and it then ended up on the net.
I can’t vote in the poll due to all the choices being poor ones. It’s like we have got to the point where we expect nothing from the GM Estate, so ANYTHING becomes a great choice. A Complete Wham Box Set would hardly need more than 5 cd if you include all the albums remastered, singles mixes, remixes, live in China, and if anything remains in the vaults. So Complete Wham is a requirement. To pun on words, fans who buy physical products, or downloads, are not getting younger. They are OLDER. The ability and will of these fans to produce any revenue is decreasing by the minute. A star of George’s magnitude should be well-represented in available product. Sadly, the Thompson Twins have probably better treatment, but I won’t bother researching that to see.
It’s so frustrating to be a George Michael fan. The only new song we have since his passing was from his Auto Tune phase, a shame he never revisited the funkiness of “An Easier Affair.” After Wham, An outtakes collection, and an Older reissue make sense. Due to George’s own stubbornness, the full original 12″ of I Want Your Sex has never been remastered, as the original 3″ CD Single sounds ok, but George refused to let it be included on cd ever again. Sure I Want Your Sex sounds a bit cheesy these days, but it’s a great song, and the original 3 part suite is his genius at work. For an artist that does not really have that huge a body of work, it is a shame it can’t be adequately represented by releases that do his outstanding career justice.
The Complete Wham! would run more than 5 CDs.
Officially released Fantastic-era recordings total 32 tracks that would fit onto 3 CDs. (There are a LOT of different official mixes/edits of “Wham Rap!”, and they’re all great!)
Officially released Make It Big-era recordings (not counting George’s collaborations with David Austin and Band Aid) total 20 songs that would fit onto 2 CDs.
The rest of the official Wham! recordings (not counting unreleased live recordings or George’s collaborations with Elton John and David Cassidy) total 20 tracks that would fit onto 2 CDs.
Then there are the 10 ’90s remixes/remakes: I’m Your Man ’96, 8 mixes/edits of Everything She Wants ’97/’98, and the 1998 remix of “A Different Corner.” These would fit onto 1 CD.
If you add in unreleased live recordings from China, Japan, London, and Philadelphia, plus TV appearances, that’s at least another 5 CDs.
I own all of the above in one form or another, except for 2 ultra-rare remixes for Japan and the Philippines. I’d love to see all of it properly remastered and released one day, the sooner the better.
That’s a lot of CDs for a band that only released around two dozen songs! 8 on Fantastic, 8 on Make It Big plus 7 more on The Edge Of Heaven/The Final … maybe add in the megamix single to get to 24 (and ignore the fact at least a couple were really GM solo efforts).
George’s web site is controlled by Sony, do they have the rights for Older? Maybe that’s why there is nothing about the 25th anniversary.
I would praise the day a vinyl release of Patience will see the day of light. Too bad this underestimated and underappreciated album wasn’t one of the choices in your poll. GM didn’t release an album that wasn’t superb. His last studio outing for me is my favorite. For sure.
Patience is his weakest album. I was realy dissapointed about some songs on it, the other albums have no weak spot for me. I dearly hope that we get a Vol. II of LWP some day but I am also in it with some Wham! stuff. I think the short video promo has something to do with Older. A box set ?
His weakest album is Patience. Don´t get me wrong I love George Michael saw him 4 times in concert ( in Munich and 3 times in Austria. ) I dearly hope for unreleaed material as like LWP Vol. II or a Wham! box set. But what I think is it has something to do with Older.
The author is showing his bias about it. There are George Michael fans who do like Patience as well. I did not like his voting poll choices
@PAUL SINCLAIR I don’t know why you didn’t include Patience to be honest.
It wasn’t supposed to be a poll that offered every single option of things they could do, it was supposed to cover the kinds of things that I know most fans are interested in. “Most” fans would not be interested in a reissue of Patience above virtually everything in that list. Not all fans, but most. As for ‘bias’ – the whole article is me expressing an opinion.
@Paul Sinclair Oh… So you think “most” fans would be interested in a Symphonica vinyl reissue according to your poll? That doesn’t make any sense. You can’t speak for “most” fans. There are fans that do like the album Patience.
A Symphonica reissue was/is actively being worked on, which is why it is in the poll. It is what GM’s Estate *think* fans want next. Yes, there are fans who like Patience.
I hope they release signed copies of any reissues by George Michael. If they can lie about Van Morrison, they could do the same with George. They think we are too dim to not believe it.
Further to my earlier comment – A major GM campaign should start at the beginning with Wham! and gradually work through to his final solo releases with some unreleased material in between – pretty much like the current Prince campaign – but in order of release. It’s not a lot to ask! Come on team GM!
You’re spot on, DJTom70! Give us the full Monty chronological reissue set, from earliest Wham! to last George. Do it, GM team!
I’m in my 40’s and I’d love a copy of Older on vinyl…the remixes and edits are out there on Discog’s at affordable prices unlike that 500.00 Older vinyl!
I had my first lads holiday in Ibiza in 1986, Fantastic & Make It Big were played on repeat in our apartment and every bar, when I took my hundreds of cassettes to Oxfam they were 2 of the very few I kept. I think he never liked looking back, the last time I saw him he did Everything She Wants & it brought the house down, it was the only Wham song of the night, maybe he was saving Wham for a separate comeback tour, who knows? I think a straight forward reissue programme with stand alone rarity boxes, it’s not a huge back catalogue ( 3 Wham with the Edge of Heaven ep ), & 5 solo, whatever happens it should be a major event, backed with a new hits compilation ( a bit like Abba Gold ) to back it all up. Presumably Sony know enough archivists ( Heather Trott would have been my choice, God bless her ) to be able to do a clean sweep of what’s left, I guess the big question is why wait? Whatever is done, it shouldn’t be half arsed, he was a major star who is held in huge affection by his fans, and any reissue campaign should reflect that.
Everything she wants is a stone cold Classic. My late wife’s all time favourite.
I forgot that is a Wham! track. Had it in my head it’s a GM solo song. Think that was one of the first signs that this young man was something a bit special and not the teeny Ken doll popette that music papers like the NME would have us believe.
Thanks Paul.
Agree that Older is a fantastic album by a genius. But my all time favourite is Songs From the Last Century – IMO a masterpiece of song choice and delivery – much along the lines of Peter Gabriel’s Scratch My Back / New Blood.
I know music is subjective but SFTC a masterpiece lol? Really?
Great post Paul.
George’s death was tragic. I just loved his music and constantly waited for more. ‘Patience,’ in my opinion, was a very good album, not on par with ‘Older,’ but I was certainly thrilled George released it and hoped it was a harbinger of more new music. It wasn’t. But we did get George back on tour and I was able to see him in Minneapolis. The possibility of ever seeing George Michael live seemed slim to none in the U.S. post ‘LWOP’ (‘Older’ was not the success here that it was in the UK) – and being able to do so was truly one of the greatest moments of my life.
What new music trickled out over the remaining years (a middling cover of “True Faith,” a much better “White Light,” and the lovely, but completely overlooked, “December Song”) was slim indeed. ‘Symphonica’ was fantastic and I cannot say enough about his amazing cover of “Let Her Down Easy,” but the release was incomplete, with a number of songs left off. That was it.
To say the reissues have been disappointing would be a gross understatement. I know that GM was not prolific and that we could never hope to have anything close to the Prince releases, but what we have received, ‘LWOP,’ still left out material which we know exists and included material (unplugged) which was not even contemporaneous with the album. The fact there is so little GM, suggests if “the estate” sat down for an afternoon they could hammer out a coordinated 5-10 year release plan that packages things in a logical and meaningful way. There were three Wham! albums and five solo albums. It’s not splitting the atom to figure out how to package, say ‘Unplugged’ along with the ‘Older” deluxe edition. I’m happy to have the unplugged music, don’t get me wrong – but I’d be happier with a well-coordinated release plan starting with Wham! and working through GM’s catalog. Fans will wait if they know it’s coming – look how well David Bowie has done with the boxsets (not talking about BLA)
Instead, we are left hoping that they’ll get it right next time. So far, they haven’t. When we do get something new, “This Is How” (which I do love), it is tacked onto the soundtrack of a frankly terrible film. OK, publicity, I get it – but use it to tease the release of something really special. But 18 months later, nothing – not even a full release of ‘Symphonica’ which has been rumored for two or three years.
As you said, what a waste.
What a sad year that was :(. Losing Bowie in the January and George on Christmas Day with Prince in the middle. Awful. Always terrible whenever we lose great artists, but that year was particularly heartbreaking.
5-10 year release plan? With physical releases on the verge of extinction, and all the streaming(usually in only passable quality), there is no time for that. It’s not like they can put out a 40 disc set of George. A 5 disc set of Wham Complete could be cheap enough not to slowly release deluxe version of all the albums and take forever on it. A George Solo Box would not need all that much either, perhaps divide up by era, and hurry up! I’m not promised another 20 years on this earth, and they can take my money if they want it, but they are confused. Despite all the praise of the Prince Estate, they left off TONS of superior material on the Sign O The Times Box, and don’t care. But at least there are releases to choose from. George’s fans are left in the dark, and nobody seems to care. Paul is one who does, but unless he can pull some magic, I don’t we will ever see much more from George, other than a picture disc here, a vinyl reissue there. Sad.
I can’t agree that physical releases are “on the verge of extinction.” Vinyl is the most popular it has been in my adult life and seems to become stronger every year. It’s a rare occasion when a release does not receive at least a limited vinyl edition nowadays, often numerous vinyl editions. CDs may be waning compared to where they once were, but Bowie’s boxes, for example, are a testament to the fact they are still very popular (currently selling for over $700 on Amazon).
I think you really underestimate the staying power of physical music. Don’t get me wrong – I’m a big fan of digital music and I’m very excited about Apple Music (my plan of choice) going lossless this summer; however, there is also room for physical music and I spend a whole lot of money on it.
Ich habe für ältere erweiterte Album-Neuauflagen gestimmt. Vor allem wäre es schön, wenn es ein “Older & Upper” Record Box Set gäbe! Ich denke, das wäre ein Meilenstein für alle GM-Fans! Für mich das beste Album von GM. Du musst kein Fan von GM sein, um dieses brillante Album zu lieben.
Ich kann auch nicht verstehen, warum man so viel Unwissenheit während des Tages legt, wenn es um wirklich wichtige Wiederveröffentlichungen geht. Es gibt eine Menge davon mit anderen Künstlern zu dieser Zeit, wobei man sich fragen muss, ob es wirklich Sinn macht, die 1000. Re-Release auf den Markt zu bringen!
Can you repeat that please!
I translated…
“I’ve voted for expanded reissues of Older. It would especially be nice to get an “Older & Upper” LP box set! I think that would be a milestone for all GM fans! For me it’s GM’s best album. You don’t have to be a fan of GM to love this brilliant album.
I also don’t understand why there is so much cluelessness when it comes to really important reissues. There’s a lot of it about other artists at this time, where you really wonder if it makes sense to throw out the 1000th re-release!”
I absolutely love George Michael but he was self sabotaging at times (especially not making music video) And his team have carried on the legacy of unusual decisions! I plumped for the release of a ‘new’ George Michael studio album but I would like all of the above options apart from the Symphonica vinyl reissue. It seems I’m not alone either! Dear GM team please give us all of the above thank you. Just take our money – we want to give you it!
When the movie Last Christmas was released, Emma Thompson said that there were 4 completed never -released songs in the vault for her to choose from – as we know they released This is How. So what on earth are the estate waiting for to release the other three? If they are completed then George was happy with them. Surely, they should understand better than anyone that George wrote his music to be heard and enjoyed, not locked away. It makes me so angry and frustrated. Also, George’s passing, then Melanie, and covid should teach us that time is short and shouldn’t be wasted. Release his songs for his devoted fans PLEASE
Being a 30 year worldwide collector of GM, I have amassed an immense array of great stuff, including numerous demos, remixes and unreleased material.
It is true to say that George was not as prolific as others; he was quoted as saying once, “I’m not a Prince, who thinks just because it’s me, it must be great”, and yes there were long periods of his life where he was unable (or unwilling) to work, but be under no illusion that he did produce way more work than the world has seen, some of course incomplete, but lots that was/is complete.
We didn’t see it because he didn’t feel it was good enough and it’s a difficult position I guess for his estate. I’m as frustrated as everyone else about the apparent lack of effort/plan to maintain his legacy, but sadly, what we all loved George for (his quality and relentless pursuit of excellence) is the very thing that leads to our frustration (the lack of output)
I’m still hopeful that the promised reissue of Older will indeed be pretty good when we see it, albeit as many have said here already, we did get the Older/Upper set “back in the day”
I’m not convinced it will be the ultimate SDE that many of us crave, but we can dream!
Another fellow GM fanatic and myself worked up our own thoughts of what the Older25 SDE should look like about a year ago and we mocked up many images/ideas of how it could look. We even sent it to the estate. I’m quietly hoping they paid attention!
I’ve attached the overview sticker here
Wow, love that sticker! I think David Austin & Co are so massively incapable that hell has to freeze over before anything on that sticker will materialize.
Thank you – yes we we pleased with it. I can only post 1 picture at a time here, but this was the planned box, the vinyl and books would sit on top with the cds/Blu-ray discs set inside a foam insert.
I don’t think that everyone would like this deluxe boxset. Because there are CD collectors that don’t want to have the vinyl. And vinyl collectors don’t want CD’s. So I would change it to a 4 CD / 1 Blu-ray boxset and a seperate vinyl boxset.
That’s a fair point and well made. If we were to make these, you’re right, there should be CD box, a vinyl box and probably an ultimate box with everything in it
Yeah, do it like the Prince – Sign O The Times release
Absolutely brilliant! Well done!
Anything by George is as bonus in your life. Improved and expanded versions of Faith and Older would be good. He was one of the kindest men who ever lived..
If I had to choose from the available options, I would go with the following in order of priority:
1. Wham! The Final expanded with rarities & Foreign Skies etc.
2. New Wham!-era anthology with rarities, remixes & video content
3. Older expanded album reissue
4. Wham! Fantastic expanded album reissue
5. Wham! Make It Big(ger) expanded album reissue
The starting point for any of these deluxe editions needs to be Paul. You only have to look to the Tears For Fears SDE to see what can be done when serious thought, care and respect are given to both the artist and fan. Everyone is a winner.
It’s amazing that the Wham! catalogue hasn’t been given the deluxe edition treatment. Those albums were huge at the time. It’s almost as though Wham! have become a forgotten 80s act. Don’t get it. Have they ever been reissued at all ?
The Final got a CD+DVD reissue around the time of the Faith reissue (apparently part of the deal Sony negotiated when the Faith box was on the table). However it’s not overly exciting being the standard CD edition with a stereo-only DVD. That’s basically it. Fantastic and Make It Big have never been reissued/expanded although their was an SACD of the latter at some point (stereo-only of course).
Slight correction. In 1998 Fantastic was remastered and Super Bit “Mapped” and they added 3 instrumental remixes to that reissue. Make it Big also got the same treatment in 1998 but they did not add any songs.
I think you hit it on the head Paul when you said at the age of 32 George only released one more album. People go on about what George achieved re 100m + record sales etc, but the real fans lament what he didn’t achieve and how much potential was never realised. Patience had some great tracks but suffered from dated and over production. ‘John and Elvis’ is probably one of his best tracks but what should have been a stripped back acoustic affair ended up an overproduced mess. Oh well . . .
Anyway, I’m anticipating an Older super deluxe. Not a hard task given the abundance of bsides on the 2 CD singles per single release, as well as some different tracks on the American releases (the excellent summer mix of Fastlove). Hopefully a few demos like the track ‘Moody’ (Spinning the Wheel) that have been floating around youtube for a quite a while now along with some others, but I doubt the effort will be made. The cover of Morcheeba’s ‘Tapeloop’ was to be a bside at some stage but never was, though assume this won’t make the cut either.
Anyway, certainly room for 2 additional discs of bonus material, and hopefully a 4K of the Unplugged and promo videos and possibly other performances (there weren’t many at the time). And of course an Abbey Road half-speed vinyl release over 2 pieces of wax, with the 4th side possibly incl the 2 new tracks on the Spinning the Wheel CD single, Fastlove summer mix & I can’t make u love me? Something like that anyway. Oh, and a green/black limited swirl to go with his green eye on the black/white cover, and of course a booklet of al those great photos incl in the booklet.
Out of the above choices, I picked a Wham! anthology: the original albums sound good enough on CD (although a remastering would be nice, especially for Music From the Edge of Heaven).
By my count, there are around 58 Wham!-era recordings not on Wham! or George Michael official albums or compilations (including some collaborations and live tracks), plus several full concerts. Given the estate’s track record, I’d rather see them all released at once than as a slow drip of releases a la Prince or Jimi Hendrix. (But if the estate got its act together, I’d be equally happy with remastered deluxe editions of each Wham! album with all of the related eras’ singles tracks, live recordings, and collaborations on bonus CDs; this approach would likely do more for George’s legacy than a single rarities box set.)
My second choice would be a comprehensive live covers compilation: George’s angelic voice absolutely kills live, and there are FAR too many unreleased performances from: the Stand By Me benefit concert, the Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute concert, the Cover to Cover tour, the unedited Freddy Mercury Tribute Concert recordings (including the unreleased “’39”), the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation benefit concert, the Amazon Rainforest Foundation benefit concert, the Concert of Hope, the 1994 MTV European Music Awards, the 1994 AIDS Benefit in England, and Commitment to Life VIII (these last three being his only appearances during his “lost years,” other than “You Spin Me Round” with Infamy and “I’m Your Man” with Lisa Moorish).
My third choice would be completion of the Trojan Souls recordings, with Elton John, Janet Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Seal, etc. finally recording finished vocals over the tracks, but I know that’s likely a pipe dream.
What I’d really like are Faith and Older 5.1 reissues, but those choices weren’t there – sadly!
Well, I already have “Older And Upper” and it seems to me that this qualifies as a Super Deluxe Edition…
Looking at the comments, maybe we need to get Paul Draper on it : use the Mansun Closed For Business box set as the datum, and put his ENTIRE ouvre in one uber-this-will-need-at-least-one-remortgage box….
…but simultaneously announce a concise re-issue plan for every album, sorta Pink Floyd : The Early Years. So buyers get the heads up.
So…do every album (Fantastic through to Symphonica) as a remastered double (with period edits / valid mixes / B-sides etc), and put them all in the box. And a odds and sods set too of the latter singles / recordings.
Then, as much live stuff as possible. As many discs as you like (The Final, Faith Tour, Cover To Cover, 5 Live, MTV Unplugged, 25 Live, Symphonica). Then again, announce you’ll release the sets separate (ala Floyd are now doing with The Later Years sets).
Loads of DVD / Blu-rays : all the concerts / videos / TV appearances / documentaries / etc. Could be a lot there.
Finally as I mentioned earlier (but now as I’m talking an uber box, like the Mansun / Thin Lizzy boxes) a number of books, tours replicas, and other stuff (prints, shuttlecock – great idea!!), with at least one hardcopy monster career retrospective volume.
Such a set could run to some 30 discs (Mansuns was 26, I think?) If you had the entire George Michael output in one place as I’ve described for say…£250? Would that seem reasonable, based on what I’ve described above? And if all the stand-alones were announced as well, over a structured timescale (say 1 year, on a monthly basis, with only the books unique to the box) could that work for people?
Oh, and obviously include Listen Without Prejudice Volume 2…
I am sorry this article does not seem accurate. Faith & Listen albums both well over 1 million copies in the UK. Faith worldwide had 6 hit singles. Listen 2. Plus Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me & Too Funky afterwards. And most importantly all 3 of his first albums including Older all still sound excellent.
The quality went down after that but that happens with all artists. And believe he is most of the most played artists on British radio.
I would like expanded editions of Fantastic, Make It Big, The Final (with Foreign Skies) & Older. Would I like some things from the vault like the demo of ‘Heaven Help Me’ yes but I would be happy if the estate included what was originally released at the time 7″, 12″ + B sides. But make it so it has most everything from each album and the associated singles. And don’t muck around with things like the cover images.
I would also like the albums from Fantastic to Symphonica to be reissued on vinyl. Thank you.
He’d had six number ones in the UK in the three years preceding the release so the singles from Faith definitely underperformed and it sold the least out of the first three albums in the UK. But of course it was a big seller. I did say ‘relatively speaking’. I also mentioned the Elton duet. The LWP singles were a total disaster, commercially. I said nothing about the album.
According to Wikipedia Faith sold 1.3 million in the UK. The singles from around the time I knew You Were Waiting number 1, Faith, I Want Your Sex, One More Try all top 10.
Listen sold 1.4 in the UK. Had Praying top 10 number one in the U.S and further top 10 with Freedom! 90 still one of his most popular songs & videos. Hardly a disaster. He was writing music differently by this time as well. Before with Wham! & Faith he was going for songs that get stuck in your ear. After that record he did not do this anymore for the most part.
It was a negative article. I agree with you the estate is doing a terrible job with physical releases however I hope David Austin gets it together and do something worthwhile to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Older. And the albums all deserve to be re released on vinyl. Thank you.
The article isn’t “negative” it just follows the narrative of what actually happened in the UK. Virtually everything from Wham was number one, then with Faith he had no number ones and a few singles that weren’t even top ten. Then with LWP he had only ONE proper hit, then with Older suddenly he had six top 3 hits. I specifically make the point of saying how massive Faith was in America so I don’t know why you are bringing the US into it. The article is from the British perspective. Freedom 90 was a FLOP. It’s irrelevant how popular it has become or now is. At the time it only just scraped into the UK top 30. It’s also irrelevant that “he was writing music differently”. That doesn’t explain why ‘Cowboys and Angels’ didn’t make the top 40 and Older got to number three. Neither song is particularly commercial like Faith or even Praying For Time.
I’m also from the UK and it’s true what you’re saying. To be honest with you I don’t recall Freedom 90 being popular at all during that time when LWP Vol 1 was released in the UK.
It feels like the last few years it has become popular but that wasn’t the case in 1990 or even in 1991 in the UK. People who are trying to claim Freedom 90 was huge in the UK are lying
I’d love to have a Patience deluxe reissue at some point. Not expecting much from the vaults and the other solo albums have had expanded versions.
I absolutely love Patience – don’t know why it’s so underrated. Music is subjective though, of course. I just really adore it.
Another vote for an all-inclusive Wham! retrospective. Albums, singles, remixes, b-sides, videos, everything please. And (in case any of us need reminding) a shuttlecock as well…
Definitely my favourite of his albums. Brilliant singles too, with some nice remixes and b-sides. Faith never did it for me, LWPv1 is good but not quite up to the standards of Older. I was disappointed at the deluxe LWPv1 set mainly because I never understood why the MTV Unplugged was not saved for an Older reissue. Hopefully they’ll get it right this time.
I think I must be one of the few people who bought LWP Vol1, Older, and Patience who has never heard the Faith album. Never liked the singles from it so I can’t see that changing this late in the day.
You’re not alone, Nigel – Faith was the very last GM album I bought, and even then only last year when I saw it for £1 in a charity shop and couldn’t really say “no.” For me it’s half a great album, the funkier tracks are just too generic for me, and almost all the songs (except the title track, ironically enough) are too long, but that’s my problem,no-one else’s…
While I’m here, I don’t think enough is said about how well produced the Older album is (by GM, of course.) Many different styles across the tracks, and lots of clever touches throughout, it’s a shame he never got to really explore that part of his talent more…
Meh. I’m ambivalent about the prospect of this undertaking. Although I’m glad to see that so many fans are passionate about this Older, I had a really hard time connecting with it. In fact, if I’m being honest, I sold my copy of the cd to a used music shop. I know there we’re some decent remixes created for the singles which would help to fill out a cd. But what else is there to add to it. Also, I was hugely disappointed in the deluxe edition of Listen without prejudice. I wasn’t even able to read the liner notes due to the poor quality of printing. I’m not sure I have much confidence in the team responsible for putting assembling these things.
Re Yes/ Amazon France – they do crazy prices sometimes. They honoured the low price of the Bruce Cockburn set (€45 vs up to £200 elsewhere) so I expect they are likely to in this case. Worth a try if youre interested in this.
I’m more than confused whether Amazon France ships to the UK – Mylene Farmer has a huge re- release schedule coming up and when I tried to order on Amazon France they wouldn’t deliver to the UK – ended up ordering on fnac. Anyone else having similar problems?
I can´t even find any of the upcoming Mylene CD re-issues on the site anymore. The Blu-ray is there but can´t be ordered as of now.
Amazon appears to not be allowing pre orders from overseas customers. This has been going on since covid started causing lockdowns.
Thanks for reminding us the brilliance of George Michael and his excellent albums. A few things:
Eh? George was certainly around for the Faith “deluxe” box set which was delayed/tanked due to his encounters with the law at the time, and of course he signed -ff on the LWP release (which was avge at best), so not David’s fault here. Accept the WTF has David been doing ever since though. One of those rare situations you wish the rights were back with the label, or better still, get someone like Paul to do the donkey work :-)
Whether GM or David Austin screwed up the reissue of Faith (I thought David Austin was George’s go-to guy for these type of things hence David Austin’s current role), the point was that it was a joke of a reissue. GM may have approved the concept of the Listen reissue box but no one knows what that means. Did he approve the dvd to not be in 5.1 or was that a David Austin decision? Did he approve the Older era unplugged concert to be part of the reissue or was that David Austin’s decision? In either case, these were bad & senseless decisions that hurt George’s legacy as it could have been so much better.
It’s a great album and no mistake. Possibly his best album for me too, Faith was good but I hate “One more try” & there’s plenty of filler on it. LWP is very good but it’s all a bit serious. “Older” though, is blazing pop, great tear inducing ballads, the sound of the summer of 1996 & brings back a lot of good memories. “Patience” was pretty good but unfortunately all downhill from then on.
What a shame all that talent ended so badly! He had it all, he could write it, sing it, produce it, looked the part & self destructed! What a massive loss!!
I’m going to be playing this magnificent album tomorrow after reading this article!
An updated singles collection. I’ve compiled one myself on my phone. It runs to three discs though, as it includes everything that was on Ladies and Gentlemen and Twenty Five. Also included is Waltz Away Dreaming, which has never appeared on a George Michael album, If I Told You That (only on Whitney compilations) plus the five latter-day songs – True Faith, Let Her Down Easy, You and I, White Light and Song To The Siren. Most of these five are hard to find, especially in a physical format.
I’ve not included the duet with Lisa Stansfield from Five Live (These Are The Days of Our Lives) – that was on Lisa’s Biography compilation.
I voted for this too, and I’d buy the one you compiled!
Not being the most prolific, I guess there’s little chance he left songs with lyrics discarded at demo-stage. Not sure if it was down to quality-control or laziness/other, but he wasn’t on the Prince (even Weller) spectrum of working on something different every week. But then, I guess not many are like that.
To this day i’ll never understand why the 1996 MTV Unplugged show was tagged onto the Listen Without Prejudice box set.
Regarding Older, this is my favourite album of him so what could you do with it, video wise you could feature the Older documentary, the interview with Kurt Loder and the promo video’s including the alternative version of Jesus To A Child in which George is standing on a balcony. Audio wise, disc 1 is the album, disc 2 the extra tracks along with the remixes and disc 3, something which will not happen, demo’s or outtakes. To make it more attractive, the CD and the vinyl version along with a press kit and a picture book. Do that and you will get my money.
Exactly my thoughts about the MTV Unplugged. It was recorded 1 year later than the Older album release and includes 5 songs from it. It doesn’t belong in the LWP reissue.
MTV unplugged album you mean or the show? Because the show was recorded the same year it was out and premiered in late 96
I chose the option of a new album consisting of previously unreleased studio tracks. For a brilliant artist with such a long and successful career, he has a shockingly small oeuvre. I’ve always imagined that he has tons of unreleased material sitting in the vaults. That may not be the case, but I’m sure there’s at least one album’s worth of material. It would be nice if his fans could hear it before we all age out and die as well. I wish the people managing Prince’s or Bowie’s (not counting Brilliant Live Adventures) estate were in control of GM’s.
Another option that wasn’t on your poll that I really wish we could get a complete deluxe release of the COVER TO COVER tour.
So much covered in one post!
If they were going to do something with the archives, I’d say it’s time for a proper reassessment of Wham!, what with their 40th anniversary coming up. And forget David Austin or anyone else from the GM estate—let Andrew Ridgeley oversee the project. In fact, I’d say let Andrew oversee whatever George Michael project comes next. As George’s early partner in crime, he probably best understands what George’s goals and motivations were.
With Wham!, there are so many possibilities, despite their catalog consisting essentially of 2-1/2 albums plus remixed singles. There could be 2-disc expanded editions of Fantastic, Make it Big, and The Final/Music from the Edge of Heaven. The US CD edition of Make it Big used a flawed master (as I discovered when I bought a new copy in 1988 while in Tokyo), so that’s more than ripe for correction. Or there could be a “career-spanning” box set of 3 or 4 discs.
Faith turned out to be a decent collection of singles, but it was deeply flawed as an album. The three parts of “I Want Your Sex” should have been either presented in full (whether or not the “monogamy mix” was used), or placed at different points of the record. The use of parts 1 & 2 with that inept fade out satisfies no one. “Hand to Mouth” and “Look at Your Hands” are, quite frankly, just horrible songs; I never listen to either one. And the Jam & Lewis remix of “Monkey” released as a single is way better than the album version.
So maybe they could put together a re-imagined version of Faith. Something like:
Listen Without Prejudice, Volume 1 was a far better album. The deluxe edition reissue largely got it right, though some of the edited versions don’t work very well, and the MTV Unplugged performance really does belong with Older (plus “Star People” is censored, whereas the original single B-side was not).
Older would be the obvious choice for a new George Michael reissue. I found it to be uneven as an album, with only “Jesus to a Child” (perhaps his best ballad after “Careless Whisper”), “Fastlove”, and “Star People” standing out. But the singles were a trove of material, from the remixes of “Fastlove” and “Star People” to the MTV Unplugged recordings.
But better yet might be a 20th anniversary edition of Patience, which I liked much better than Older. Except for “American Angel” (which I thought was a bit embarrassing) and “Freeek ’04” (which didn’t fit in well with the rest of the songs), the quality of the material was more consistent—and “John and Elvis Are Dead” contained his best latter-day lyrics, I thought.
Really, though, if not some kind of proper Wham! reissue, I’d like to see the MTV Unplugged set as a standalone reissue in uncensored form.
I can’t believe you said that about my Faith lol. But I agree with your assessment about Older though. I do find it a little funny when his fans claim it to be a “masterpiece.” Is a pretty flawed album to be honest.
Voted for an Older SDE but what I really want is a Cover To Cover live album and accompanying DVD/Blu-Ray.
It’s a shame not to have the ability to vote for several categories in a ranking order, but hey, I went for the unreleased George Michael material. I’ve all the cd singles from the Older phase – it was great that so many songs were released as singles, with the extra tracks.
I still love the first Wham singles for the joy and exuberance of youth flowing through the songs; especially with the bang on social commentary of youth unemployment in Wham Rap! (Enjoy What You Do). There’s something special when a new group appear from nowhere and have such amazing songs. Tears For Fears were another at the time who had brilliant singles from the outset. In reality, the early eighties were full of young pop acts who set the world alight and brightened up my teenage years. Every song in the charts was known. I couldn’t name you one song in the charts now.
Great album that could definitely do with some kind of retrospective treatment. Don’t think it needs remastering as the original master was fine. If it was touched now no doubt the needles would be in the red. Are there lots of unreleased tracks from this era ? I’d be happy with a disk of single edits, B sides, any 12” mixes and the tracks from that bonus CD that came with the album at one point (Think it had Safe on it)
Its criminal that Cowboys and Angels wasn’t a big hit !!! I just assumed it was an auto Top 10 !!! George at his Burt Bacharach best.
Maaaaaybe a vinyl reissue for Older? I’m thinking more an announcement that Upper and some remixes will be streaming, and that some Older era videos are now 4K.
What I really want to see are official blu-rays of Symphonica Live and the George Michael documentary, which I think was Freedom.
I’ve always found it interesting that GM stopped being a singles artist with Faith and then became a massively successful singles artist again with the Older album. I’ve always put it down to two things:
1) It took time for people who’d moved on from vinyl to fully embrace CD singles. They were more expensive than the old 7” format, but once artists started using the additional space with quality content, such as new tracks and any number of remixes, people who were now a little older and had a bit of money in their pockets now found them good value.
2) For the first time in his career, George actually put together some decent singles packages. The B-sides for Wham! and in the Faith and LWP eras were pathetic (with the exception of Blue and Fantasy). The Older CD singles contained some great Forthright remixes, tracks from his Unplugged sessions (which were great) and even bona fide brand new unreleased tracks (the Spinning the Wheel single with Safe and You Know That I Want To was a fantastic package).
When he put quality product out there, the fans responded and Older became the first album to have six top three singles.
Older means so much to me personally, I would love to see a deluxe version but seems unlikely it would include anything unreleased.
the closest there has been is the release with the ‘Upper’ cd which strangely included a edited version of the extended version of fastlove and not the US single Summer Mix.
George Michael: Complete (Half-Speed Remastered at Abbey Road)
Had to laugh at the nod to Smash Hits with the “back, back, back!”
What would an ‘Older’ expanded edition look like, though? They already used the Unplugged performance for the ‘Listen Without Prejudice’ one and other than some alternative edits and remixes there isn’t much of interest, I’d say. Unless, of course, there are unreleased songs from that era – but I find it hard to believe that they would present these, because they didn’t for the previous two albums. As much as I like George Michael’s music, I think expanded editions of ‘Older’ and ‘Patience’ are bound to be disappointing.
I voted for the Wham! new anthology idea, as I doubt there’d be too much to justify separate releases. So a box set of the 2x albums, (heck, you could almost fit them on 1 CD) all the b-sides / remixes, edits, then a DVD AND Blu-ray (cover all bases!!) of the videos, TOTP etc, Foreign Skies and do a Led Zep & recreate Final (or of much of it as possible). Chuck in a big book (think of all the 80’s Look-In / Smash Hits material you could mine), and I think a fair price could be charged for all concerned. And I think it’d do really well.
Re Older : it’s ripe for an SDE. Worth remembering that in 97 there was a bit of a double dip released called Older…And Upper. A bonus disc of new versions, a couple of bonus tracks, and ‘interactive elements’ (i.e a CD-ROM of the videos up to then). I think and Older SDE would be really good to include all this, ALL the mixes / edits / videos…would demos be a thing for this, d’you think?
Thought exactly the same thing. Think of how many versions of Blue (one of Wham!’s great song that you still can’t hear on many streaming services) they could include in this expanded edition.
I always felt that after Faith, George went down the navel gazing (maudlin) route – see Talk Talk and David Sylvian as exhibit 2 and 3.
Brilliant as the songs were, the target audience must have shrunk enormously.
GM’s output was definitely less obviously commercial after Faith, but his next two albums sold a lot more in the U.K., so it seems the audience at home grew, rather than shrank. I think his audience grew older with him and were ready for something a little more introspective.
I feel that way regarding Listen Without prejudice Vol 1. I feel after that record. His records were not as good. To me personally George Michael was at his best from Make It Big – LWP Vol 1.
I’d love to see Wham! SDEs waaaaay before any solo George expanded reissues.
You know, I just realized my comment above sounded snarkier than I meant. I love “Listen Without Prejudice”, but that’s already been SDE’ed (is that a thing). “Older” just didn’t click for me, even though I tried over and over. I enjoyed the first two Wham! albums like nobody’s business, so I’d love to see them revisited and appreciated for the 80s pop gems they are. rbe2021’s Wham! anthology idea above would be an awesome package.
I’ve chosen “The Final expanded…” but the version I want would have to include both a live CD and DVD/Bluray. Sod the quality, I want to re-live one of the most enjoyable days of my life.
Kontraband Merch do make me laugh. They run the PJ Harvey merch store too, and twice they failed to send me the signed print with the record I ordered. They managed to find some in the end thankfully. And most recently they sent me a signed print with the Uh Huh Her release I DIDN’T order! (Not that I was complaining about that last mistake).
After taking a punt on a bargain LWP box, must say I have been blown away by it and it has been played on a regular basis. Must admit, after being a passive fan and only ever owning a Wham compilation and Faith, I am ashamed to say George’s mature genius phase had passed me by. I for one was hoping for the same treatment for Older and Symphonica, so the reappraisal could continue. I am reluctant to buy either in there current formats and live in hope.
I would like to see a “Older expanded album reissue” and/or a “new GM album compiled of unreleased studio outtakes”. Older and Listen Without Prejudice vol1 are my favorite George Michael albums.