Hot damn! Everybody let's play the GEORGE MICHAEL TRACKS POLL results thread

YEAH

Patience is the only album I wasn't that familiar with before voting so this poll is helping me discover it. Nice to see a lot of people are into it.

Thanks to Brad and this thread for leading me to this fantastic song that I've played all week.

jeez why didn't i put "amazing" higher, everything about it is...amazing

19. Young Guns (Go For It!)

Too high.

patience is one of the best sounding records i've ever heard

Of course it was Dee And Shirley until Make It Big.

patience is one of the best sounding records i've ever heard

It's true. Because it's in the middle of his prolonged standards phase, it took me a long time to realise that it's got barely any MOR to it at all.

I think he means the mix. It's true -- for an early dance '00s record it has surprising warmth and fullness; it reminds me of EBTG's Temperamental.

http://s19.postimg.org/n9w732w6b/17_Outside.jpg

17. Outside
157 points, seven votes
single, 1998

yes I've been bad

I found the redhead here very enchanting. I still do.

Lord, how I adore Outside. It was my no.3.

http://s19.postimg.org/6an8ntkyr/16_Pain.jpg

16. Heal the Pain
157 points, seven votes, one number one
from Listen Without Prejudice vol.1, 1990

That'll do for tonight. He's scuppered my screenshots plan for no.20 down, hence him and Macca up there (they redid Heal the Pain as a duet at some point) - I'd forgotten that the LWP tracks had no videos.

whoa that's pretty high for "heal the pain"!

It's a pretty song.

god "jesus to a child" is so beautiful. i didn't vote for it, and if i had voted for a pretty bossa nova-y george track it would've been "you have been loved," but wow

Hooray for Precious Box which was my number three. What a gorgeous song. The strings are everything.

I was hoping Outside would make the top 10. I love everything about that song. He handled that whole situation so perfectly.

I voted for "Heal the Pain."

i did too i think

oh wait nope, it got cut :\

I'm guessing "Mother's Pride" won't make it. An odd song for him to record in 1990, as if he was trying for respectability with a protest song, then it actually got airplay during the Gulf war.

i voted for "mother's pride" really high, it's sooooooooooooo beautiful

you are doing an excellent job Ismael Klata! don't know George Michael too well outside the singles, so this is an education. thanks for the Spotify as well.

I finally get Andrew Ridgeley's function: besides being the crucial inspiration for starting Wham!, he and Michael's camaraderie looks unforced and I can believe they remain good friends.

― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 21 September 2016 21:29 (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

he made George more human and -- crucially when it was needed -- hetero.

― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 21 September 2016 21:30 (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I'll give a quick shout-out to Pepsi and Shirley here - they had a small but important part to play too.

― Ismael Klata, Wednesday, 21 September 2016 21:32 (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I've been thinking about this non-exchange, and about the significance of Wham! being a band, rather than George starting off as a solo act. I think it's crucial - imagine the strain on him had he been this ultra-talented 22-year-old sole-centre of the nation's' attention, with a *dark secret*. It was evidently too much to bear when he did take it on, with five years' experience, and then he went off the rails often enough in later years anyway.

Also, I was only a kid at the time and too young to be really paying attention - but it did feel to me like Wham! were *an event*, rather than one-guy-plus-a-backdrop. It must have really helped.

Yeah, whether or not Ridgeley had much creative input, having two guys introduces a very different dynamic than a solo act

I #1'd Heal the Pain, a simple and beautiful song, quite an eye opener in the period a few years back when I got proper into GM

Has a good message imo

Are we getting more tracks today Ismael?

in the meantime..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRcAqItYydc

We are xp. It's a tight schedule but I'm planning to take it all the way down to no.1

http://s19.postimg.org/3zu8grgir/15_Go_Go.jpg

15. Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go
163 points, six votes, one number one vote
from Make It Big, 1984

should've been #2. This song is a delight and I've never gotten tired of it and y'all are invited to my A+ karaoke rendition but you gotta buy me shots

Never even considered voting for it. I heard it today and was staggered at how good it is.

JITTERBUG

http://s19.postimg.org/4o32zpf8j/14_Freedom.jpg

14. Freedom
164 points, eight votes
from Make It Big, 1984

at #14????

i couldn't fit "freedom" on my ballot but i am also surprised it's not top ten

15. Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go

Ha, too low! Me and this song have a long history.

'Freedom' also too low.

Freedom's single mix is ever-so-slightly different from the Make It Big mix; the piano in the verses etc. it pops more than the album version. there's no mention that i can see anywhere of the mixes being different but you can really tell. this was just 'a thing' in the mid to late 80s it seems; giving the radio mixes a lick and polish.

and yeah Freedom.. way too low!

I should here express my gratitude to the electorate - bar one ordering query, I never had to clarify any of the ballots.

http://s19.postimg.org/yrhlrnihv/13_Cowboys.jpg

13. Cowboys and Angels
185 points, eight votes
from Listen Without Prejudice, vol.1, 1990

incredible song

The bass

yeah you're right, it was a proper 'stop you in your tracks' record for me, never heard anything like it before or since. a flop single too; didn't go near the charts.

Freedom's single mix is ever-so-slightly different from the Make It Big mix; the piano in the verses etc. it pops more than the album version. there's no mention that i can see anywhere of the mixes being different but you can really tell. this was just 'a thing' in the mid to late 80s it seems; giving the radio mixes a lick and polish.

― piscesx, Thursday, September 22, 2016 8:23 PM (eight minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

It's in mono, too.

Wow these all seem very low, but I guess we're left with mostly huge hits now.

Alfred I'll but the shots if you let me sing "Wake Me Up" with you.

xp yeah i just read that.. weird. i wonder of that was 'a thing' too?