Muzikland

1998年根據George Michael與 Sony唱片的協定﹐於 Epic 旗下發行他首張個人精選輯。多年來因著官司問題﹐他的歌曲散落於各張致敬專輯或籌款合輯中﹐於是這次是很好的機會把歌曲收歸國有。

同期 George Michael 被控﹐事緣他被一名便衣警員跟蹤至 Beverly Hill 的公廁內﹐對方誘騙他互看﹐然後協定幫他以口解決﹐豈料這位警員其後表明身份﹐控告他於公眾場所行為不檢﹐此則新聞立時轟動世界﹐雖然他只是被判罰 $810美元及80小時社會服務令﹐可是他的性向卻真相大白﹐於是從精選輯內﹐發行首張單曲 Outside﹐即講及戶外性愛﹐而且更以 MV揶揄該名警員。此曲只登上英國流行榜第2位。

Outside (1998/Epic) Track List:
01 Outside
02 Fantasy 98
03 Outside (Jon Douglas Remix)




這套精選名為 Ladies & Gentlemen The Best Of George Michael﹐乃收錄近30首歌曲的雙CD﹐Disc 1為慢歌 For The Heart Side﹐而 Disc 2 為快歌 For The Feet Side﹐除了 Wham時期的兩首單飛 Singles﹑Columbia與 Dreamworks時期的歌曲﹐甚至多首收錄於他人專輯的歌曲都包括其中。可是美國版跟歐洲版的曲目有少許不同﹐其一原因是 George Michael的同志身份已被公開﹐與Mary J. Blige合唱的 As沒有收錄於美國版內﹐因為 Mary所屬的MCA唱片﹐不想她跟同志歌手拉上關係。

As (1997) ﹕此單曲只在美國以外發行﹐並且登上英國流行榜第4位﹐原為 Stevie Wonder的歌曲﹐收錄於 Songs In The Key Of Life (1976/ Motown) 專輯中。


Ladies & Gentlemen The Best Of George Michael (1998/Epic) Track List:
Disc 1: For The Heart
01 Jesus To A Child
02 Father Figure
03 Careless Whisper
04 Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me (Live) (with Elton John)
05 You Have Been Loved
06 Kissing A Fool
07 I Can't Make You Love Me
08 Heal The Pain
09 Moment With You
10 Desafinado (with Astrud Gilberto)
11 Cowboys And Angels
12 Praying For Time
13 One More try
14 A Different Corner

Disc 2: For The Feet
01 Outside
02 As (with Mary J. Blige) (UK edition track)
03 Fastlove
04 Too Funky
05 Freedom 90
06 Star People 97
07 Killer/Papa Was A Rollin' Stone
08 I Want Your Sex (Part II)
09 Monkey (US edition track)
10 Strangest Thing 97 (UK edition track)
11 Fantasy (UK edition only)
12 Spinning The Wheel
13 Waiting For The Day / You Can’t Always Get What You Want)
14 I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me) (with Aretha Franklin)
15 Hard Day (US edition track)
16 Faith
17 Somebody To Love (with Queen)

精選的銷售量在美國跟Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1 相同﹐只取得雙白金﹐作為首張精選﹐這樣的成績可謂未盡人意﹐而當時筆者在美國 Music Boulevard 網站﹐也是以一個極低價訂購﹐或者當時唱片公司也在促銷吧。同時間Epic 為配合精選輯的宣傳﹐香港也出版了同名 MV 精選VCD﹐稍後美國方面才推出 DVD﹐這個可令自己愛不釋手﹐因為早期的MV 是以 Laser Disc 形式出版﹐筆者都是錄在 Beat 錄影帶中﹐可是至今論方便及畫面音色﹐當然首推DVD了。DVD 收錄的歌曲與 CD 有少許差異﹐不過 Epic 可說物盡其用﹐因為根據 George Michael 與 Sony 的和解協定﹐Epic 可以使用他加盟 Dreamworks 首張專輯的歌曲﹐於是6首單曲的 MV 全數收錄﹐而且還加上 George 與 Toby Bourke 合作的 Waltz Away Dreaming﹐可說一件不漏。當然還有驚喜收錄Aretha Franklin個人專輯的I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)。

I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me) (1987/Arista)


Ladies & Gentlemen The Best Of George Michael (1998/Epic) DVD Track List:
01 Outside
02 Fastlove
03 Spinning The Wheel
04 Freedom 90
05 Killer / Papa Was A Rollin’ Stone
06 Too Funky
07 Faith
08 I Want Your Sex (Part II)
09 Jesus To A Child
10 Waltz Away Dreaming (with Toby Bourke)
11 Father Figure
12 Older
13 Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me (Live) (with Elton John)
14 Kissing A Fool
15 I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me) (with Aretha Franklin)
16 Somebody To Love (Live) (with Queen)
17 Monkey
18 One More Try
19 Star People 97 (MTV Unplugged)
20 I Can’t Make You Love Me (MTV Unplugged)
21 A Different Corner
22 You Have Been Loved (MTV Unplugged)
23 Careless Whisper



George Michael Official Web: www.georgemichael.com



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