George Michael fans can rejoice. A box set edition of his 1996 album Older will come this July, giving fans a definitive version of the record featuring all the remixes and B-sides too.
The album will be available as a 2LP black vinyl release, but stans will want to get their hands on the 3LP + 5 CD version.
The release will include all the remixes that filled the b-sides of the singles. See the full listing of what’s included at SuperDeluxeEdition.
The British singer’s third record came after a long legal dispute against his former record company that saw Michael spend years in the courtroom rather than the studio.
In the five and half years since his previous album, fans had snapped up sporadic releases from the singer. Including Too Funky, his contribution to the HIV charity record Red Hot + Dance, a live recording of Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me with Elton John, and his performance with Queen at the Freddie Mercury tribute concert. Charity records had kept Michael in the public consciousness.
While it would be a few years before Michael would speak publicly about his sexuality, Michael said he always felt the album was his coming out message to fans. Aside form his new short haircut and goatee, on the record there are references to hook up culture, and a dedication to Anselmo Feleppa, a Brazilian fashion designer who had been Michael’s first serious gay relationship.
The couple had met in 1991 and the Rock in Rio concert, but six months into their relationship Feleppa discovered he was HIV positive. He died of a brain hemorrhage in 1993. As he hadn’t come out to his family, Michael privately grieved. Adding to his sense of loss was the death of his mother a few years later.
Prior to Feleppa’s death George Michael had been working on a different record. Focusing on being a song writer rather than a performer Trojan Souls would have seen a range of artists recording new songs written by Michael. Elton John, Anita Baker, Janet Jackson, Seal and Stevie Wonder have all been linked with the project.
Michael abandoned the album. Over the years some of the instrumental tracks have surfaced online, and a few songs with demo vocals from Michael himself.
Older saw George Michael sharing his sorrow and restrained grief through his songs. The first track Jesus to a Child clocked in at nearly seven minutes in length and is his tribute to Anselmo Feleppa.
It entered the UK charts at number 1, and was a hit around the world. After Michael’s death in 2016 it was revealed that he’d donated the profits from the song to the charity ChildLine.
The album’s title track saw the singer musing on relationship breakups and getting older and wiser, while You Have Been Loved was another song remembering his lost lover.
Spinning the Wheel addressed the worries about sex in the time of the HIV crisis, while Fast Love commented on hook-up culture and dating. Star People was also released as a single, after it was given a remix to transform it from a gentle bossa nova to a funky dance tune.
Older is ranked as the 97th greatest selling album of all time on the British charts.
OIP Staff
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