Tracklisting the Players

Home , Fastlove, Howard Greenhalgh, Jesus to a Child, Praying for Time, Spinning the Wheel, Vaughan Arnell

OLDER CLASSIC ALBUM

THE PLAYERS RELEASED CLASSIC 14 May 1996 LABEL Virgin/Dreamworks/Aegean PRODUCED BY George Michael and Jon Douglas ENGINEERS Charlie Brocco, Paul Gomersall, ALBUM Chris Porter, Ren Swan RECORDED AT Sarm West and Metropolis Studios, London PERSONNEL George Michael – lead vocals, bass guitar, keyboards, drums, OLDER percussion, programming, arranger, producer; Hugh WORKING THROUGH THE GRIEF OF LOSING HIS PARTNER, Burns – guitar; Danny GEORGE EMERGES FROM A SELF-IMPOSED PERIOD OF SONGWRITING Jacob – guitar; Alan Ross – guitar; John SILENCE WITH A POIGNANT MASTERPIECE LACED WITH HOPE… Themis – guitar; David STEVE HARNELL Austin – keyboards; Chris Cameron – keyboards, strings; t took George Michael record, featuring splashes of in 1993. Jesus To A Child, the experience of losing Anselmo, David Clews – more than half a decade brass and occasional string almost unbearably poignant the period of grief, roughly keyboards; Nick Murdoch – piano; Jon Douglas – keyboards; to release the follow-up to arrangements. One of the ballad that opens the album, two years where I didn’t write Jo Bryant – backing vocals; David Clayton Listen Without Prejudice major musical inspirations – served as the first of many a note of music [came before] – programming; Pete Gleadall – programming; Steve I Vol. 1, but spurred on Older is dedicated to him in tributes to Anselmo on Older. the absolute knowledge that McNichol – programming; Stuart Brooks – trumpet, flugelhorn; by personal tragedy and a the liner notes – is Brazilian Within a week of writing it, the next album I was going John Thirkell – trumpet, flugelhorn; Steve Sidwell – trumpet; Chris Davis dogged defiance, he created composer Antonio Carlos George was singing it in front to write would be about grief – saxophone; Andy Hamilton – saxophone; Phillip Smith – saxophone; his finest work – the expansive Jobim, credited with bringing of the Brandenburg Gate and recovery. Older is my Fayyaz Virji – trombone third solo album Older. bossa nova to the masses and at the MTV Europe Music greatest moment. George himself sees the the man behind the iconic hit Awards in November 1994. “I sat at a keyboard and record as his most artistically The Girl From Ipanema. “I wrote the best, most healing played a very simple string accomplished, and, in his Even more fundamental piece of music. It was all part, stream of consciousness the sessions and the pair pain with fast love, simple to the genesis of the systems go from that moment rubbish comes out of my When you find homeland, it became the most love… George immediately hit it off. as that. There’s not one track commercially successful of his eventual record thematically on,” Michael revealed. head, then I sang ‘like Jesus during filming of Themes of grief, recovery that’s not about Anselmo or career – a record-breaking is George’s late partner In the Freedom documentary to a child’ and I thought ‘Oh the video for Jesus and mortality are threaded the risk of AIDS [for example, six singles reached the Top 3 Anselmo Feleppa, who died the singer added: “The whole my God, that’s him [Anselmo] To A Child throughout Older’s 11 tracks. Spinning The Wheel].” across a two-year span. and me’. I was so excited that The finely-honed collection For a six-month period while Older was released on 14 I finally had been able to put came together slowly, with he was recording Older, May 1996, three days after “I sat at a keyboard and played a simple string my feelings about Anselmo Michael spending three years George felt in reasonable the Knebworth feeding frenzy part, then I sang ‘like Jesus to a child’ and into words.” working on the new material. spirits but then discovered that saw Oasis sell 250,000 Returning to Sarm West It’s arguably the most that his mother had been tickets in the blink of an eye. thought, ‘Oh my God, that’s him and me’. I was Studios where he cut Listen diverse LP of his career. diagnosed with cancer. Britpop was at its peak, but so excited I had finally been able to put my Without Prejudice Vol. 1, this After the elegant opening She died of the disease in George was in no mood to time George had Jon Douglas ballad comes the upbeat, February 1997. Indeed, as feelings into words” GEORGE MICHAEL hang on to the coattails of on board to share production dancefloor-friendlyFastlove , George worked through his this Anglocentric revisionist duties on three tracks. which explores the theme grief for Anselmo and worry movement. Typically, he stuck Douglas had a background of using promiscuous sex about the health of his mother, to his guns, and Older’s in soul and R&B, having as escapism. Meanwhile, the tone of the LP veered reference points remained his already worked with Eternal, Spinning The Wheel flips the between searing insights into trademark touchstones of soul, TRACKLISTING Gabrielle and Pauline Henry theme of promiscuity to warn loss and devastation and a R&B and pop, only this time (he’d later be behind hits for of its danger in an era where defiant sense of hope. The often given a jazzier twist. SIDE A SIDE B Louise Redknapp and team the spectre of HIV and AIDS bare-bones It Doesn’t Really Although Michael deftly Jesus To A Child The Strangest Thing up with Sugababes, Kylie and remained a major concern. Matter – just a beatbox, weaved in synthesised Fastlove To Be Forgiven All Saints, alongside further “For anyone who had a simple keyboard and a few electronic touches to the Older Move On collaborations with George). clue about symbolism, I was piano flourishes – leaves up-tempo tracks and the Douglas first met the singer in coming out,” George later George’s vocal space to Spinning The Wheel Star People stripped-back minimalism 1995 while producing Lisa explained. “Fastlove makes breathe on a song that seems It Doesn’t Really Matter You Have Been Loved of It Doesn’t Really Matter, Moorish’s cover of the Wham! me laugh because it’s all measured and philosophical the overall ambience of Free classic I’m Your Man. Michael about cruising and covering about a relationship that’s Older is of a more organic provided backing vocals on © Duncan Raban/EMPICS Entertainment my pain, blunting out that now in the past.

64 65 CLASSIC ALBUM OLDER ALBUM CLASSIC 66 youtu.be/04-9Gv0FMLg career onhomesoil. and stringofsingleshis commercially successfulalbum Older’s positionashismost for the7”inUKcemented through thescreen.ATop 3 a senseofdislocationseeps backgrounds, against blurry Featuring Georgeshotinfocus setindusty,this wasastatelyaffair sun-drenched countryside. With regularvideographerAndyMorahanbackbehindthelens, DIRECTOR: ANDYMORAHAN OLDER youtu.be/qSoMTkn_Qfg against unprotectedsex. forthissubtlewarning form George isonfinger-snapping Perched behindakeyboard, in apre-warHarlemnightclub. inspiration –wecouldalmostbe full useofthesong’s jazzy moody blackandwhite,making Spinning TheWheeloptsfor Vaughan andAntheaBenton.DitchingFastlove’s Arnell futurism, Like Fastlove,thisquintessentialNinetiesvidwashelmedby DIRECTOR: VAUGHAN ARNELL&ANTHEABENTON SPINNING THEWHEEL youtu.be/SHAQlFq6TFg cool amidthedownpour. trademark Wham!clap,looking sees Georgereinstatehis sequence dispute. Therainstorm nod tohismajorlabelcontract of hisheadphonesisaknowing ‘Fony’ legendwrittenontheside both maleandfemale.The reality-stylesexpartners, virtual a remoteinhandasheflipsthroughcountlessexotically-garbed inaspeaker-packedchairwith A sinisterly-litGeorgeholdscourt DIRECTOR: VAUGHAN ARNELL&ANTHEABENTON FASTLOVE youtu.be/zNBj4EV_hAo parent albuminmotion. in theUK,itsetsuccessofits cannot beoverstated.ANo.1 in Michael’s backcatalogue single forOlder,itsimportance lead ballad wasanunorthodox see. Althoughthisintrospective pain inhiseyesisclearforallto abound inthepromo,and ofgriefandloss.Allusionstosolitude is packedfullofimagery George’s devastatingtributetohislatepartner, AnselmoFeleppa, DIRECTOR: HOWARD GREENHALGH JESUS TOACHILD

THE BIG THE PICTURE THE VIDEOS as that” pain, bluntingoutthatpainwithfastlove,simple because it’s allaboutcruisingandcoveringmy I wascomingout.Fastlovemakesmelaugh “For anyonewhohadaclueaboutsymbolism, the yearsthathave followed. many peoplesuffering griefin would provideabalmfor Michael’s nuancedlyrics simplistic self-helpmanual. it maybe,butthisisno arrangement. Self-aware underpin thetrack’s jazzy club atmosphericsaddedto of hope,withdeftsupper anthem On isawonderful songwriter thanthat.Move Michael’s a far morerounded wallowing inself-pity– be summarisedasone-note (“Save mefrommyself”). Forgiven issimilarlypained Carlos Jobim-influencedTo Be Bacharach andAntonio my head”.ThewistfulBurt land thatIcannotfindinside Lead metosomepeaceful lyric adds:“Take myhand; George’s heart-on-the-sleeve been twistingtheknife”. with painwhere“timehas inhabits atrackshotthrough vibe ofTheStrangestThing Theworldmusic surface. is nevertoofarfromthe Palace, 1996 Awards atAlexandra at theMTVEuropeMusic Performing StarPeople But Older’s can’t story But thesongwriter’s torture GEORGE MICHAEL the timebeing. place ofpeace… atleastfor had broughthimtoa His art whispers quietlyattheend. good… tobefree”,George on anemotionalepic.“Feels the album,drawscurtain nods totrip-hopthatcloses cinematic instrumentalwith befallen him. with thetraumasthathave a songwriteratlastpeace world, itstoneismeasured– ode tohumanisminacruel album’s PrayingForTime. An touched uponintheprevious the ideaofanunlovingGod to ballad oflossandareturn to Anselmo–isadesolate again writtenasatribute Have BeenLoved–once unhappy childhood. a needtofilltheholeofan and approbationcomesfrom desperate searchforfame pack, musingthattheir himself fromtheshowbiz where Georgedistances confrontational StarPeople, Free, thesweeping You The heart-breaking There’s spirit,too,inthe