George Michael TwentyFive Review

Career Retrospective Album in Support of US and Canada Tour

Apr 1, 2008

George Michael releases TwentyFive, a 29-song career retrospective that collects all the highlights from "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" to new song "Feeling Good".

In support of his U.S. and Canada summer tour, George Michael releases TwentyFive. Available elsewhere in the world since autumn 2006, this 29-song collection gathers hits from both his solo years as well as irreplaceable hits from the early years with Wham!

Beginning with the sleek party boy songs from the early days, tracks like “Everything She Wants” launched the career of a man who would become one of the biggest stars of the 1980’s and lead a renewed interest in British music.

The self-fulfilling Make it Big from 1984 propelled Wham! to even newer heights. TwentyFive includes the ever-ready party song “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go” as well as the number one song from that year “Careless Whisper”.

Follow up album, “Music from the Edge of Heaven”, produced “A Different Corner”. Technically a Wham! song, this was by all means Michael’s first solo hit.

George Michael Chooses Freedom

Shortly following the release of ‘Heaven, Wham! announced the end and Michael went on to duet with Aretha Franklin on “I knew you were Waiting (For Me)”, oddly missing from this compilation. It hit number one all over the world but the raunchy and controversial follow-up, “I Want you Sex”, quickly foreshadowed a more mature solo artist moving in a new direction.

Like contemporaries Prince and Madonna, Michael mixed sex with great pop hooks to produce some of the most memorable music from the 80’s and early 90’s. In 1987 Michael released his milestone record, Faith, which spawned six top ten songs including four number one singles "Father Figure", "One More Try", “Faith” and "Monkey", the latter being another number one absent from TwentyFive.

George Michael in the 1990’s

“But when you shake your ass they notice fast, some mistakes were built to last” goes the lyric to his 1990 track “Freedom ’90”. Refusing interviews or even to appear in new videos, Michael wanted to showcase his songwriting and singing and not simply his assets. The results – a long dispute with record company Sony, a brutal court battle and depression.

Michael turned to playing smaller venues and released a couple of live Queen covers as well as “Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me” a duet with Elton John which shot to number one worldwide, his last in the U.S.

In the late 90’s Michael released Older featuring “Jesus to a Child” a ballad dedicated to his late lover. In 1998 Michael had legal battles again, this time he would barely recover. “Outside” a track born from this difficult period pokes fun at the public bathroom incident and Michael’s coming out – and has a killer beat to boot.

George Michael in the 2000’s

Michael has been absent from the US Charts for most of the new decade, even though he has continued to produce great music such as “Amazing” and “Flawless (Go To The City)” from the 2004 album Patience.

TwentyFive also includes “As”, a duet with Mary J. Blige previously unreleased in the U.S., “Freeek!”, his anti-Bush/ anti-Blair Iraq protest song “Shoot the Dog” as well as new tracks for the compilation “An Easier Affair”, “This Is Not Real Love” (featuring Mutya Buena) and “Feeling Good” produced exclusively for the U.S. edition to coincide with his “Eli Stone” appearances on ABC Television.

Full Track Listing for George Michael TwentyFive

George calls TwentyFive the end of a chapter in his life. After his U.S. and Canada tour in support of the album, he plans to release new music for free. TwentyFive is now available iTunes. His summer concert begins June 2008.

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