George Michael - Older (Best Songs)

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Interpolantics, Oct 12, 2018.

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  1. Osato

    Osato Forum Resident

    Location:
    Pennsylvania
    He still had a very good voice, it just was far softer and didn't have quite the raw power it did before.

    And that's not really a good thing. Your voice is like a muscle - the more you use it (properly) the stronger it gets, and stays strong. That's why a guy like Tony Bennett still sounds great at 90.
     
  2. Price.pittsburgh

    Price.pittsburgh Forum Resident

    Location:
    Florida
    My original point was just that on Older, Songs From The Last Century and Patience he doesn't have those broad commanding moments as with Heartbeat, I Knew You Were Waiting, Don't Let The Sun, One More Try, Praying For Time, Freedom 90, Both Waiting tracks etc.
     
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  3. BlueGangsta

    BlueGangsta Forum Resident

    Location:
    Australia
    I've heard a lot of conflicting things about that album. But yes, something will at some point in the future.

    It wouldn't surprise me. Personally, I would like the Unplugged rehearsals release - given that a bunch of songs were rehearsed that weren't included in the show (Hand To Mouth, Waiting, Waiting For That Day, Spinning The Wheel, different arrangements...). We'll probably get the BBC Unplugged concert or some ish.
     
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  4. Osato

    Osato Forum Resident

    Location:
    Pennsylvania
    Yeah, though I'm surprised that the Unplugged show/rehearsals never saw the light of day while he was still around - especially since he thought he did well, and it was the last time his mother saw him perform, if I recall correctly.
     
  5. qJulia

    qJulia Forum Resident

    I saw some clips of Cover to Cover and Faith concert on Youtube, and would really love to have official releases of them. GM's vocals sounded fantastic, and were probably at his peak.
     
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  6. qJulia

    qJulia Forum Resident

    You Have Been Loved is one of my favorite songs ever. Both lyrics and music are sublime. It is sad and beautiful, but yet somewhat hopeful at the same time.

    The song written credits include GM and David Austin. Does any know their respective contributions? My guess is that the lyrics were mainly from GM?
     
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  7. BLUESJAZZMAN

    BLUESJAZZMAN I Love Blues, Jazz, Rock, My Son & Honest People

    Location:
    Essex , England.
    I would have to go with Jesus To A Child. Ended annoying me because in the UK it was really overplayed but it is a really beautiful song.
     
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  8. bob60

    bob60 Forum Resident

    Location:
    London UK
    I am not too optimistic about new stuff given what has already been released.
    They included Fantasy on both Faith And Listen Without Prejudice which was just plain lazy and daft. Then we got unplugged with LWT which is from a completely different era. And to make it worse the 2CD version had a photo on the cover from a photo session taken about 20 years after the album was released. And let’s forget about the lousy new version of Fantasy by Nile Rodgers.
    Sadly, it may actually be easier for the record label and whoever is in charge of these things to release new stuff without George’s interference. He was well known to be a control freak, unfortunately this maybe didn’t help later on in his career for obvious reasons...
     
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  9. Osato

    Osato Forum Resident

    Location:
    Pennsylvania
    Yeah, they're great. I'm lucky to have seen both (especially C2C since it was such a limited affair), and the guy was just in his total prime. The fact that they've languished in the vaults is almost criminal.

    David Austin wrote it in response to the murder of Stephen Lawrence and then George adapted it as a more personal song relating to Anselmo.

    I think you're right that sadly without George in the picture things might be better. He stifled several releases because he didn't think they were perfect (The Final and Foreign Skys with Wham!), and I'm not sure he had any better understanding of his vault in the end then his associates do now. It's definitely not a Prince-like situation, and we've heard a lot (if not all) of the finished songs from the 90s. I've always wondered more about the Faith sessions - about that early version of Crazyman Dance, and I imagine he must have worked on demos to stuff we've never heard for that album.
     
  10. qJulia

    qJulia Forum Resident

    It would be great if "Foreign Skys with Wham!" would be officially released someday. I heard there were two different versions.

    As to Faith tour concert, I could imagine that it was properly filmed at some point. Even the one on youtube that was supposedly shot by a fan from distance, still sounds great. That George did not want to release the concert was probably because he did not want people to have long-lasting memory of his Faith image. He seemed to do everything to destroy that image (Freedom 90 video). Since George is gone now, maybe we will get a DVD or at least a CD someday. As to Cover to Cover, was it even probably filmed?

    As to GM's decision of his career, he seemed to do no wrong from Wham! until LWP including Cover to Cover tour, although it could have been better if he had done a tour to promote LWP too as the album deserves to be heard by more people. Afterwards, he encountered lots of misfortune in life. But he still came up with Older, a fantastic album.
     
  11. GMfan87'

    GMfan87' Forum Resident

    Location:
    CT.
    It was talked about by fans that he was referring to going back to Brad Branson, the photographer he was involved with in late 80's ,maybe very early 90's . I'm not sure if they knew this somehow or it was purely conjecture. Either way I guess my opinion is it was a person he was referring to.
     
  12. GMfan87'

    GMfan87' Forum Resident

    Location:
    CT.
    I wholeheartedly agree with this. He sang in a soft voice on Older overall to fit the very different musical style. In 98' he gave IMO one of his best performances with his rendition of "Long And Winding Road" at LM tribute, 99' he performed at Netaid in very good voice and in 2000 at the Pavarotti and Friends show where he blew them away with his vocals on "Brother Can You Spare A Dime"and that same year I believe was Equality Rocks where he sang an exquisite "I Remember You", showcased the amazing control he had over his voice just accompanied by a harp. I think with "Patience" those songs were all different genres that didn't require the big notes he put forth in the 80's. On 25 Live he was still in very good voice for a man in his mid 40's who hadn't toured in 17 years and didn't take care of himself . Yes you saw some loss of range and not going for the notes he had in the past, but to me it didn't affect the songs , and it's good to hear different interpretations live anyway. On his last tour Symphonica he is often in very strong voice , in some ways it's richer and quite impressive to hear him then . Probably because we know he had been thru a lot and hadn't stayed as focused on his career as he and we would of wanted. Overall voice was there still, albeit not always as capable on all the songs that he used to hit those notes on but he was in his twenties back then to be fair .
     
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  13. GMfan87'

    GMfan87' Forum Resident

    Location:
    CT.
    It's so good to see an ongoing discussion like this after all the negative noise surrounding him since his untimely passing .
    Oakvale- Lucky you to see two of the tours,where did you see him , please share any details you recall. :)
    I think his voice was in its prime for C2C . I agree with the poster who said won't be surprised if a cd and/or DVD from that tour gets thrown in with Older box set.(We have to wait 3 more years for 25th anniv!)
    When you look at it most of his output could and should of been out years ago . While he was still with us he could of complied something from Wham , certainly the Final with Greatest Hits after they broke up but he wanted to move on . Faith box set should of included one live show cd / DVD and any b-sides from that time . He should of released a C2C cd / DVD with b-sides from Vol 2 that never was and/ or competed his few tracks from TSouls in the 90's. He seemed to have this propensity for few remixes and putting them all on cd. I didn't care for that on the bonus cd for LWP box set, decide on one remix IMO., took up space. If he had worked on getting these things together besides being great for us , good for him to stay busy during all his inactivity and he could of made money. I realize he wasn't all about that but seems to me it would of been good idea for him. But things weren't managed that way unfortunately . Now it looks like the same glacial pace unless complications with the estate hold things up, don't know, doubt it.
    What do you guys think of article saying unreleased songs will be included in the Last Christmas movie?
    Seems like an unusual choice for them but guess if it gets them out there to wider audience it's a positive. We as fans know he had no vault so to speak so it's hard to comprehend why it would take long to get them together and out in a timely manner. David Austin had been on his team for the 2000's and without him here operating in same fashion. The box set and doc were in works before he passed on so that should have no bearing on working on other releases. In such a fast moving world appropriate to get things out while interest is higher . Certainly after the year passed we should of seen something else . Disappointing to read their time frame is 10-15 years(!!) Someone from Universal and DA said enough material for that. I don't believe that , must be repackaging Greatest Hits , things of that nature mostly .
     
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  14. richbdd01

    richbdd01 Forum Resident

    Location:
    London
    A vinyl reissue is surely way overdue?
     
  15. GMfan87'

    GMfan87' Forum Resident

    Location:
    CT.
    Everything is overdue , lol
     
  16. JeffMo

    JeffMo Format Agnostic

    Location:
    New England
    I posted in the thread "boxsets you wish were available":

    1. GM live anthology
    2. GM shelved studio albums

    I will now add:
    3. Wham! Complete Recordings 1982-1986 (including all b-sides, live in China, Wembley '86 gig)
     
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  17. qJulia

    qJulia Forum Resident

    The only thing I can think of (regarding the slow pace of releasing anything after GM's passing) is that the estate and label want to maintain his legacy for a long term. If you think about what happened to the Beatles' materials, there are still sth things coming out from time to time after so many years. In that case, of course both Paul and Ringo are still active,which helps too.

    I really hope at some point, some live materials would come out, like Faith concert, C&C tour, and some Wham concert. Also some concerts in the 90s as GMfan87' mention above.

    What about Trojan Soul? anything possible coming out from there?
     
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  18. GMfan87'

    GMfan87' Forum Resident

    Location:
    CT.
    Everything you heard on YT sounds like what was semi completed but not up to his complete standards - This Kind Of Love, One Day I'll Know, You Slipped Away From Me (sounds more partial than the first two) , Ain't No Stopping Us Now( which he performed on C2C live) then not even full minute of Maybe It's Not Your Time and the other few are instrumentals meant for other artists . To me , TKOL, ODIK sound pretty complete and great , it's too bad he couldn't have continued with the project . It would of been interesting to hear his collaborations and kept him on top longer in the 90's.
    I see your point about the legacy but his fan base is long due something and the silence doesn't gain new fans , time is of the essence . (I'm glad nothing was rushed out given his very sad demise.) Get out the few dance trax that are in existence and whatever bsides that haven't gotten out and the long overdue releases from the two tours. It isn't a lot, lets face it new fans won't buy box sets and live DVDs of old tours , that's his old loyalists. That will leave reissues and repackages for the future to keep him out there. At this stage CDs have lost their popularity with younger generation anyway so they won't have that market . Streaming and you tube and one social media site ( I say keep Twitter as his tweets are still there ) and his official one is where they need to maintain his presence for that . If his songs are used in current movies that's where younger set can seek him out.
    When you look at what's been done for Prince and Tom Petty- already !- it's very poorly handled. He already was largely forgotten in the states, don't let that happen to his memory now :(
    By the way about Foreign Skies , they always said the director made a dull film , along the lines of the Freedom video, focus on China, not them. So if there's more live footage and behind scenes ,then yes, let that be bonus DVD stuff otherwise I think we aren't missing anything .
    Things like this ( especially given Wham broke up decades ago and were popular a short time in US) could simply be put up on his site if they ever do anything with it , and fans would want it . There wouldn't be a market for things like that in stores IMO as DVDs aren't even that well sold anymore , I'd think especially music ones wouldn't have much of an audience .
     
  19. Osato

    Osato Forum Resident

    Location:
    Pennsylvania
    I think the issue with that is that you eventually run into a wall wherein the number of people actually buying the releases shrinks. A lot of Elvis collections are seeing this - you just reach a point where the original fans/buyers aren't around to buy the stuff anymore. There are more George Michael fans now then there will be in 10 years, let alone 20.

    I saw him 10/9/88 in Philadelphia for the Faith tour and then 29/10/91 for C2C, both times at the old Spectrum (RIP - great venue that has since been demolished). I remember enjoying the latter a bit more since it wasn't sold out and he wasn't having to sing over as many screaming teenage girls. The Faith tour had a really cool stage/light show though, and it was kinda fun to see him come out of a clam-shell thing in the beginning. But I don't think I've ever been to a show attended by so many young girls before - it was sort of insane, and I'm pretty sure I was one of the only guys there that night. The C2C date was sort of interesting because it wasn't promoted super well, but all things being equal it still drew a reasonable crowd. A lot of familiar faces between the Faith and C2C tours, and I still remember Lynn Mabry quite vividly. :love:
     
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  20. GMfan87'

    GMfan87' Forum Resident

    Location:
    CT.
    That is true , you'd think after the years of Elvis releases and other stars that were around for decades , the market would be saturated after a while . There's also fans that just don't want another cd , they either have all of it elsewhere or the new release offers them only couple bonus songs and it's not worthwhile. For a long time record companies have rereleased greatest hits like that and it's a money grab . You are right too in that the fan base gets older and may not want to purchase anything or not here , although I don't think majority of his fans are that up in age.
    His career from Sony onwards was mismanaged IMO , he made a lot of right moves before and then got swept up in the case (which while I understood his principle I wish he didn't go there, handled it another way)
    and then his issues took over, and he either didn't take advice or didn't get any good advice. I just hope the right moves start getting made on his behalf, he deserves to have his music remembered.
    Thanks for sharing your concert experiences.
    I technically could of gone with a chaperone for the Faith tour but as a young kid didn't even think of concerts but the C2C I know my best friend's Dad would of taken us , too bad didn't think to ask. I really debated going to 25 Live but had a big trip to Europe coming up very soon after so I decided I shouldn't do it - wasn't close by me so it would of been a big ticket and overall costly night. At least we got the Live in London DVD to see what the show was like.
    I wish my timing was in line with his Symphonica tour or he ended up coming here for some shows. Looking back I regret that most because I think those were very special shows and turned out to be his last .
     
  21. Osato

    Osato Forum Resident

    Location:
    Pennsylvania
    Well, there is the saturation point, but I was mainly getting at the fact that we all shuffle off our mortal coil eventually, and aren't too worried about picking up new CDs in the afterlife.

    The 25 Live tour was a weird one for me. The Wells Fargo Center wasn't a great venue at the time, and I remember the AC being cranked to the point that George begged to have it turned down. He sounded good, but not great and the setlist didn't exactly flow (bit too much stuff from Patience). But I think the biggest thing was that everyone was older - it was such a stark difference from the 88 concert with all the teenage girls and a teenage me with George being in his mid-20s. Such is the passage of time, but it was just a lot for me to process. The Live in London DVD is great, and I enjoyed it more than the concert I was actually at.

    It wouldn't have been possible for me to hit any of the Symphonica tour dates, but even if he had done some in the States I doubt I would have gone. Can't say I was terribly impressed with Sting's similarly orchestral Symphonicity tour.
     
  22. GMfan87'

    GMfan87' Forum Resident

    Location:
    CT.
    I get your point , and I say strike while fans are here and there are people still wanting CDs . I remember him being disappointed in the screaming during the Faith tour . However the way he presented himself and being such a big star , I'm not quite sure why he thought he wouldn't get that .. I was just thinking about what you said too many Patience songs , off top of my head , he did Flawless, STDog, Amazing , My Mother Had A Brother , Precious Box and showed J & E video, not sure if they were in every show , if I have all of them listed. Yes that is a bit much however it was his most recent and he didn't have a ton of other albums , wasn't going to perform many Wham hits. Think he regularly did ADC, IYM,ESW, CW, EOH and LXmas came in at times .. More than I thought .
    Essentially a greatest hits tour and more upbeat show so that leaves out most of Older. That's too bad that your show was rather lackluster. I know what you are saying about the audience but I don't normally look around at them much . I suppose in the states he wouldn't have gotten younger audience as he faded from the scene here, maybe some didn't even know who he was.
    It's encouraging to see positive comments from younger , newer fans on YT under some of the Wham and Faith videos. You mention the orchestra wasn't your cup of tea but have you seen any of the video from the Symphonica tour ?
    There were some more lively songs performed and it was impressive to see him in those settings just letting his voice shine.
     
  23. qJulia

    qJulia Forum Resident

    Since Symphonica tour was mentioned, I want to share my experience with listening to the CD.
    I in general like the CD as GM's voice is pretty strong. Recently when I accidentally listened to it with a (slightly) better sound system with a decent headset, it was like wow, as both the instrumental and GM's voice sounded really great. so now, I think I found a good way to enjoy this CD.

    Because of my positive experience with this last CD from GM, I actually look forward to his rumored unreleased dance album.
     
  24. NunoBento

    NunoBento Rock 'n' Roll Star

    Location:
    London
    It's all in this comment. I'll just add that George, generally speaking, doesn't get even nearly the credit his due. Tremendous, tremendous songwriter.
     
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  25. NunoBento

    NunoBento Rock 'n' Roll Star

    Location:
    London
    An "Older" reissue with the MTV Unplugged video is a no-brainer.
    We also need an "Older+Upper" vinyl box set.
     
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