Older (album)


Older is the third studio album by the English singer-songwriter George Michael, released on 14 May 1996 in Europe by Virgin Records and Aegean Records one day later in the United States. The American release was the first ever album released by DreamWorks Records. It was Michael's first album since 1990's Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1 – the five-and-a-half-year gap was due to the legal battle that Michael experienced with his former record company Sony Music. Michael dedicated three years to the recording of Older, and the album found him exploring new musical territories in a more serious fashion compared to his previous work.
At the time of release, the album was a huge commercial hit, particularly in Europe, but was received in America with a lukewarm critical approval. In the UK, the album was particularly notable for producing six top three hit singles in a two-year span, creating a record still unsurpassed. The high sales of the album presaged a re-issue of the album under the name of Older & Upper 18 months after its original release.

Background

Following the release of Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1, Michael accused record label, Epic Records, of failing to promote the album as well as lacklustre support for his charity recordings and requested to be released from his contract. A bitter legal battle ensued through the courts, ultimately resulting in a loss to Michael. During the court battle, Michael stated that he would refuse to release any new material through Epic under his name should he lose the lawsuit. Whilst essentially holding true to his word, Michael was not completely absent from the recording world during the six years between Listen Without Prejudice and Older.
After a huge hit with a live duet with Elton John on "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me", Michael contributed several tracks to the charity album Red Hot + Dance in 1992. The same year, he performed live at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert at Wembley Stadium.

Music

Older found Michael experimenting with new musical styles and expanding his artistic horizons. Particularly notable was the jazz flavour of the album's sound. The album marked a departure from the synthesised production of his previous projects, delivering a more organic sound with the inclusion of brass and strings. Michael was particularly inspired by the music of Brazilian composer Antônio Carlos Jobim, who died in 1994, and to whom the album was dedicated. Another big influence was the album's producer, Johnny Douglas, who has mixed several George Michael songs as B-sides. They first met when Douglas produced Lisa Moorish's version of "I'm Your Man" in 1995, to which Michael added backing vocals. They both began to work together soon after, and they co-wrote "Spinning the Wheel" together and also co-wrote and produced "Fastlove". Douglas also played keyboards on those tracks.
Overall, the style of the album was melancholy, dark and sad. Michael complemented this departure making a dramatic change of his clothes, hair style and overall appearance. The long blonde hair, beard and jeans that Michael was known for during the late eighties were replaced with a buzz cut black hair and mostly leather clothes. Michael commented, on The Oprah Winfrey Show about that new appearance:

"The way my image changed in Europe was that I looked very different, I had very short hair—I had really a kind of gay look in a way. I think I was trying to tell people I was okay with it , I just really didn't want to share it with journalists. The album I made in the middle nineties called Older was a tribute to Anselmo, really; there was a dedication to him on the album and fairly obvious male references. To my fans and the people that were really listening, I felt like I was trying to come out with them."

Michael grew back a longer hair style during 1998, as was first shown on the video he recorded for "Outside", premiered near the end of that year.

Reception

Older was a huge commercial success, especially in the European markets. In the UK the album was largely anticipated, and debuted at with an impressive 281,000 copies, becoming one of the biggest debuts ever in British history. It is also Virgin's fastest-selling album of all time. It became Michael's biggest-selling album in his homeland, achieving over 1.8 million copies sold, and receiving a 6× Platinum certification by the BPI on 5 December 1997. In the UK, it spent a total of 147 weeks inside the top 200, 99 of them on the top 75, and 35 of them on the top 10. The steady sales of the album were the result of good promotion market and the release of six hit singles throughout a two-year period. All of these singles were released and promoted as EP's, in two available formats, most of them containing previously unreleased material. Most of these singles were promoted with live performances at Top of the Pops and also music videos were recorded for the four first singles. All of this helped to push the album sales from one week to another, with the album usually returning to the top 10 in the British charts. For example, when "Star People '97" was released in mid-1997, Older achieved a 21–14–10–7 progression on the charts. Very much the same happened when "You Have Been Loved/The Strangest Thing '97" was issued as the sixth single, and Older showed a 24–14–7 move on the UK charts. In all, Older currently sits as the 97th best-selling album of all time in the United Kingdom.
In the United States, however, the album somewhat stalled and was received with lukewarm success. There, the album release was particularly notable as it was the first album released by the now-defunct DreamWorks Records. Despite leading singles "Jesus to a Child" and "Fastlove" reaching the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100, debut sales for the album were disappointing. The album debuted and peaked at on the Billboard 200 the week of 1 June 1996 with 99,000 units sold, the next week it dropped to and remained on the chart for 24 weeks, it was certified platinum by the RIAA on 21 August 1996 for shipments of one million units. As of October 2006 it has sold 881,000 copies in the US according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Singles

Older was particularly notable for the release of its six singles. All of them reached the UK top 3, hitting a record for the most singles in the British top 3 released from a single album. At the time of release of the fifth of them, "Star People '97", chart specialist James Masterson noted George Michael's success on the UK Singles Chart, writing: "Ironically enough denied by the very man who some say he is trying to emulate, George Michael nonetheless makes an impressive top 3 entry with this single. The Older album has now proved itself to be far and away his most commercially successful recording ever. Five singles now lifted and every single one has been a top 3 hit. Compare this with the two top 3 hits produced by Faith and Listen Without Prejudices scant total of one top tenner and one single which missed the top 40 altogether. This sustained single success has, of course, been achieved with a little help from marketing tricks such as remixes – or in this case a new recording of the album track which gives it a much-needed transformation into a deserved commercial smash."
In 1996, George was voted 'Best British Male', at the MTV Europe Awards and the BRITs; and at The Ivor Novello Awards, he was awarded the prestigious title of 'Songwriter of The Year' for the third time.
At the beginning of October 1996, George performed his first live shows for five years with a gig for Radio 1 FM followed by an Unplugged Session for MTV. The Radio 1FM audience consisted of just 200 people and the MTV Unplugged session slightly larger at 500. Both audiences included competition winners, some of whom had flown to London from all over the world, as well as various specially invited guests.

Re-release

The album was re-released on 1 December 1997 in a box package including two discs: the original album and an extra CD entitled Upper in a cardboard sleeve with the same cover as the box.
The set was issued as Older & Upper, with both compact discs printed in gold Upper includes six tracks previously released on the different singles from the album. The most notable of them is a different version of "Fastlove " from the one included on the "Fastlove" single nor the edit version included on the first "Fastlove" promo. It can only be found on the second "Fastlove" promo single, credited as "Fully Extended Mix – edit".
The Upper CD also includes interactive elements. When released, Older & Upper was not listed in the UK charts as a different album than the original Older, and helped the album to jump from No. 65 to No. 36 during the competitive Christmas season.

Track listing

All tracks written and produced by George Michael except where noted.

Personnel

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications