On my third listen now and like the other Wham! title, this one is a winner. Chris Porter isn't afraid to get aggressive with spreading different elements around the surround field. (FYI, I am listening downmixed to 5.1). For example, the "ah-ah-ah, oh-oh-oh" vocals in "Everything She Wants" ping-ponging back and forth in the rear channels is very effective, and something that many surround mixers would be too conservative to consider. Lots of discrete stuff happening in the rear channels. Some nice call-and-response stuff with the vocals going from front to rear. I also like how some of the Atmos mixes aren't necessarily just rehashes of the album versions. For example, on the single mix of "Careless Whisper", George's first "whoa-a-whoa-a-whoa" is panned hard rear left, which it isn't on the LP mix.
So whereas
Fantastic was an album that I was completely unfamiliar with (it went pretty much unnoticed here in the States), this album was impossible to avoid when it was released. Four monster hit singles that were all over the radio and MTV. I'll admit that at the time I wasn't at all interested. I was a rock purist and couldn't be bothered with something that on the surface appeared to be flavor-of-the-month teenybopper music. Obviously these guys would come and go as quickly as Andy Gibb, Nick Gilder or Leif Garrett had. OK, I admit it, I was dead wrong. (The first thing that would turn my head a few years later was George's appearance at a 1988 televised
benefit concert from Wembley Stadium). George takes it up a notch in the songwriting department here.
Fantastic had some catchy tunes, but this one has classics. And the deep cuts deliver as well. "Like a Baby" is a stunning ballad. "Heartbeat" has the feel of one of the great Phil Spector produced pop records of the 60's. If The Ramones had covered it or Springsteen had on
The River it wouldn't have sounded out of place. And as another review above said....
The sax solo on Careless Whisper is a hook of biblical proportions.
Biblical proportions indeed. The song is a timeless classic. Songs like this, Cyndi Lauper's "Time After Time" or Tears For Fears' "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" proved that this new breed of 80's artists could deliver the goods and write songs that could survive the decades as well as the acts that came before them. I think that part of the success of the songs here is that George isn't afraid to wear his influences on his sleeve (he clearly loves Motown) but has enough talent of his own to put his own spin on his influences and make it sound current. And he knew how to write a melody that would stick in your head. "Careless Whisper" is one of those songs that is going to be played by jazz combos until the end of time.
As for the package, well.... If you're gonna do it, do it right! And indeed
@PaulatSDE has. An extra hour of bonus tracks in Atmos? And another hour of stereo bonus tracks? (And who other than George Michael would have referred to a 12" remix as an "Extended Stimulation"?
). That's how you fill up a blu-ray! (Pink Floyd, take notice). Let's hope this bodes well for some future releases of George's solo catalog, especially since all six of his albums have already been mixed in Atmos.
Only negative that I can think of is that there are still some alternate mixes from the period that aren't included like the instrumental mix of "Careless Whisper". However, I know that Paul said that he attempted to get that and the other missing mixes, so he still gets an A for effort.
No reason not to give this a solid
10.
Paul still has copies in stock. So what are you waiting for folks? Put on your "Choose Life" t-shirt and go-go over to
The SDE Shop and grab a copy!
