George Michael - Older (Best Songs)

No bad tunes here!

 

Agreed, this time the vinyl should a double though seeing that its nearly 59 minutes long.

I bought the double vinyl of Symphonica when it was released and hope to have Older sat next to it in my rack at some point.

 

I voted for Jesus To A Child, Fastlove, Older and Star People. And in that list Fastlove is in a league of its own, extremely awesome.

For the rest it’s 50% nice and 50% filler to my ears. I have no trouble listening to it when I play the disc, but only half of the tracks made it to my iPhone. I also think that some of the remixes were better than the album versions.

 

100% agree with you on this

 

I think the lack of recognition is a result of his reluctance at the time to point blank say what the album was about and how it was made. I remember a lot of critics thought (at least in the U.S. - it's obviously considered differently in the UK and Europe) that ol' George was being melancholy for the sake of it. A lot of critics thought he was still trying to be taken seriously and atone for Wham! like with Listen Without Prejudice.

But the difference between Listen Without Prejudice and Older is that he actually was melancholy and disaffected for the latter, not just trying to lose an image like with LWP.

The issue is that he didn't really communicate the background and impetus for these songs - and given how Older is a very conceptual album about the death of your lover, especially a gay lover, you kinda need to know that background information going in. The European crowd could generally surmise the meaning, but I think the American audiences and critics needed a hand - and he should have given it to them. The album was certainly promoted well enough stateside, given that it was the first release from his new record label, and Fastlove & Jesus to a Child both cracked the top 10 - but the album was never imbued with any greater significance here.

 

I disagree that all his work after Faith was terrific (I'm looking at you Patience!), but LWP and Older are both outstanding albums. Too moody and melancholy for the US audience, unfortunately. If the originally planned dance album LWP Vol 2 had happened in between that would have helped him commercially here. But that damn Sony trial.....

 

But, didn't he dedicate the album to his lover? Besides, there should be some room for interpretation esp when an album or a song is just released.

My theory about the difficulty of GM to be taken "seriously" is one that his image in Wham and Faith era, and second, he did constantly change direction, but was never hailed as "evolving" or "progression" like other more acclaimed song writers. But from Fantastic to Older is pretty dramatic progression.

 

I'm obviously saying that I think he should have came out in 1996 and said "yeah, this album is about a man I loved who was taken from me far too soon", rather than coy games like saying he was a "family friend". Doing so would have added significance for critics & listeners, since with pop stars the personal and the art will always intertwine - so might as well take advantage of it. Regardless, it was for me a good album and that's what matters.

 

Does it get better? And I wouldn't even call myself a GM fan. I have loved Fast love since 1996, of course, but I just heard this about a year ago...what a cover.

 

Older is one of my favorite songs on this album. I think this question is appropriate for this thread.
what do you think about the song "Older" is about?

here is the first verse

"I should have known
It seemed too easy
You were there
And i was breathing blue"

I used to think "you" refers to his previous lover. But the other day when I was listening, it just occurred to me that "you" may mean "fame". Then the meaning of the song would be quite different. I do not know whether GM had ever explained the lyrics of this song.

What do you think?

 

Yes, probably too much of a blanket statement. I love LWP and Older, and even I fell off after that. Agree about Patience.

 

Jesus
Spinning
Strangest
Loved

I might have been tempted to vote for Star People, but I think the remake on the Ladies and Gentlemen set is much better. As a matter of fact I also prefer the remix of The Strangest Thing to the original version.

Also I disagree strongly about Patience, which I think was a worthy successor to Older, but perhaps that's a discussion for another thread.

 

I have always been disappointed that the album did not perform particularly well in the US. I worked for Universal at the time (the distribution arm) and we had a worldwide conference in 1995. David Geffen addressed the audience to introduce the DreamWorks label to all of us. They launched with George Michael and put a lot of effort behind it. Then they brought out George, he talked about the new partnership, and they played "Jesus To A Child."

Back then, it was common for labels to send free stock of cassette singles to stores to sell to help with chart placings; DreamWorks did that with the "Jesus To A Child" single. The singles were given out totally free, and the stores were encouraged to sell them for .49 cents each.

 

Yeah, I was around then, and Older definitely got a commercial push - the problem was that George's time had passed in America. 5 years after an album that didn't do well itself, and not much in the interim really killed him.

 

I think it's presumptuous for any of us to say that he "should have come out" at a certain time. For some of us, the journey to being open about one's sexuality is an extremely difficult one - still the case in 2018, but more so in 1996. The effect on his mother was a major consideration, not so much the sexuality issue per se but the fact that so many gay men were dying from AIDS related illnesses, his lifestyle was what might politely be termed "high risk", and she may have been traumatised at the prospect of losing him. After the famous beat bust in L.A. I think he said that it was almost a relief knowing that he couldn't hide it any more and it was pointless to try, and even suggested that he may have subconsciously been wanting to get caught.

Anyway, for those with ears to hear, some of the lyrics on Older were almost a dead give-away. "One of these days you're gonna bring some home to me". It did not take much to guess what the "some" referred to.

 

I was talking more from the general standpoint of why it isn't more critically lauded which someone had asked. Obviously it was his business to come out or not, but a lot of critics thought it was more of him trying to break his image like had been doing with Listen Without Prejudice, and not the genuine reflection of loss which it was.

 

The weird thing is that I heard from two separate sources saying that there were not enough CD copies placed in some stores when Older was released. One person said that she (a GM fan) had to travel to Minneapolis, the nearest big city, to get a copy. Neither GM nor his label did seem to realize it right away.

 

As often happens, the perception about an artist's or an album's success or lack thereof is different for Americans. "Older" went straight to the top of the charts here on release, as did the first two singles, "Jesus To a Child" and "Fastlove".

 

Yeah, and I was very clear in stating that perspective. For British audiences who had been following him and the tabloids it would be different.

 

But even for Australians, who would not be reading the British tabloids, it was different.

I think it's mostly saying something about the US. Perhaps the US has so much home-grown music that it's more difficult for "Outside" (ha ha) artists to get established there, and once established to keep their popularity there, amid so much intense competition.

 

My God, it's impossible to pick just four. An incredible album!

 

I voted for Fastlove- one of my favorite G.M songs... but really the whole album is a classic.

 

It is the same with me. I was forced to pick only four: JTAC, Older, TST, and YHBL. The next in line would be Free, TBF, FL, STW.... a great album

 

Older is the only George Michael album I have

 

Which remixes do you prefer?