EDIT OF ORIGINAL ENTRY:

Here's the unboxing video from GM's YT page. Available July 8, 2022.

5 CDs, including Older, Upper, and three disks containing twenty-seven rare tracks and mixes, three twelve-inch art prints, and a beautiful forty-eight page full color booklet. The vinyl is 180gm red or black vinyl.

There's also an LP/cassette bundle.

The Limited Deluxe Edition Box Set is $214.98 | £140.

This limited super deluxe edition celebrates George Michael’s iconic album, Older. Written, arranged and produced by George, it sees him exploring new genres as he reflected on life, loss, love and healing. Originally released in 1996, Older spent three weeks at Number 1 in the UK and spawned 6 singles including "Fastlove" and "Jesus To A Child."
The album was a huge global success, going 6x platinum in the UK, as well as being verified platinum in another 22 countries.

This stunning deluxe set features Older on double 180g vinyl remastered from original tapes plus Upper, available on vinyl for the first time. It also includes 5 CDs, 3 x 12”x12” art prints and a 12”x12” 48 page book The Story of Older with contributions from key people who helped make the album plus rare and previously unseen photos.

The special fan edition, available exclusively from the official George Michael store, also contains 3 replica tour laminates.

Super Deluxe Box Set Track Listing:

OLDER VINYL

SIDE A

1. Jesus to a Child
2. Fastlove, Pt. 1
3. Older

SIDE B

1. Spinning the Wheel
2. It Doesn't Really Matter
3. The Strangest Thing

SIDE C

1. To Be Forgiven
2. Move On
3. Star People

SIDE D

1. You Have Been Loved
2. Free

UPPER VINYL

SIDE A

1. Fastlove, Pt. 2
2. Spinning The Wheel (Forthright Edit)
3. Star People ‘97 (Radio Version) -

SIDE B

1. The Strangest Thing ’97 (Radio Version)
2. You Know That I Want To
3. Safe

CD1 – OLDER

1. Jesus to a Child
2. Fastlove, Pt. 1
3. Older
4. Spinning the Wheel
5. It Doesn’t Really Matter
6. The Strangest Thing
7. To Be Forgiven
8. Move On
9. Star People
10. You Have Been Loved
11. Free

CD2 – UPPER

1. Fastlove, Pt. 2
2. Spinning The Wheel (Forthright Edit)
3. Star People ‘97 (Radio Version)
4. The Strangest Thing ’97 (Radio Version)
5. You Know That I Want To
6. Safe

CD3 – MIXES ONE

1. Fastlove (A/C Summer Mix)
2. Star People ‘97 (Radio Edit) *
3. Freedom '94 (Live Version)
4. One More Try (Live Gospel Version)
5. Star People (Unplugged)
6. Spinning The Wheel (Radio Edit)
7. Fastlove (Promo Edit) *
8. Jesus To A Child (Special Radio Edit) *
9. Spinning The Wheel (Forthright Dub Mix) *
10. Star People (Forthright Club Mix)

CD4 – MIXES TWO

1. Fastlove (Forthright Extended 12" Mix)
2. Star People (Forthright Dub Mix)
3. I'm Your Man (The Jon Douglas Remix)
4. Fastlove Part II (Fully Extended Mix)
5. Spinning The Wheel (Forthright Extended 12" Club Mix) *
6. Star People (Galaxy Dub Mix)
7. Fastlove (Forthright Remix 7” Version) *
8. I Can't Make You Love Me (Studio Version)

CD5 – MIXES THREE

1. Desafinado - George Michael with Astrud Gilberto
2. The Strangest Thing (Live)
3. Star People (Forthright Radio Edit) *
4. The Strangest Thing ‘97 (Loop Ratz Mix)
5. Fastlove (Forthright Dub Remix) *
6. Jesus to a Child (Radio Edit) *
7. Spinning The Wheel (The Jon Douglas Remix) **
8. Star People (Galaxy Mix)
9. Older (Instrumental Version)

* previously commercially unavailable

** previously unreleased

[Edited 4/6/22 9:05am]

That´s cool. Older is my fave GM album

EmmaMcG said:

My favourite George Michael album and one of my favourite albums by ANY artist. I've been looking forward to this for a long time. Which, when I think about it, is kind of weird for me. I'm pretty sure there won't be any unreleased music included that I don't already have. And yet, I can't wait.

.

- How many unreleased songs it´s believed this album had?

GustavoRibas said:

EmmaMcG said:

GustavoRibas said:

.

- How many unreleased songs it´s believed this album had?

No idea. I just have a feeling that I already have them all. I hope I'm wrong though

I would think GM had songs in his vault. We know he started LwP V2, and some of those songs ended up elsewhere. So I can imagine through all his moments of recording, being inspired, having things happen in his life, that there are songs out there. Hell, the Soul Sessions alone are probably enough to actually finish putting together, and releasing at some point (like what they did with MJ's Xscape but not sucking so hard).

But from Older, who knows. I'd be happy with some demos or early versions, or alt takes on something. I always wondered why "Star People" was so bland compared to the '97 version. I guess it fits that album in general, buuuuttt.....

Still, I'm ready for the record. SO ready.

TrivialPursuit said:

EmmaMcG said:

"Star People" is a great song in its own right but you're right, "Star People '97" blows it away and almost makes it seem bad in comparison. Wouldn't it be great if we got a few similar alternate versions of other songs from the album. I don't think we should completely discount the possibility of them including something that you wouldn't normally associate with Older. For example, they included the George Michael Unplugged show with the special edition of Listen Without Prejudice and that show would have fit better as a part of the Older deluxe edition seeing as it was from that period.

Yeah, I was a little confused about that MTV Unplugged disk with LwP. It throws it out of the era for me, because there was so much time between the two albums. Of course, I don't know what else was available to put with that record. But I feel like there was some UK show about that album or something that could've been included. Unplugged definitely feels more Older than LwP.

EmmaMcG said:

GustavoRibas said:

EmmaMcG said:

My favourite George Michael album and one of my favourite albums by ANY artist. I've been looking forward to this for a long time. Which, when I think about it, is kind of weird for me. I'm pretty sure there won't be any unreleased music included that I don't already have. And yet, I can't wait.

.

- How many unreleased songs it´s believed this album had?

No idea. I just have a feeling that I already have them all. I hope I'm wrong though

.... oops

[Edited 4/6/22 9:02am]

I would've whacked the pre-order button so darned hard on a 3-LP Older & Upper set with nothing else added, for £40-£50-ish. Even if it had the deluxe-set extras but was priced anything up to about £70, I might've been like, "oh go on, I'll take the fluff then."

£140, though... obscene. Even in today's world.

It's amusing what contortions artists' estates seem to get into sometimes, with such weird combinations for 'deluxe'/reissue sets like this. The lack of a CD-only set seems really glaring as well.

Still glad for the 2-LP reissue, though.

RODSERLING said:

Pointless

Like every one of your posts.

TrivialPursuit said:

RODSERLING said:

Pointless

Like every one of your posts.

Rimshottbob said:

I already (still) have the "Fastlove" maxi CD single. The FAITH deluxe was beautiful though. It would be lovely to have Older on vinyl.

Cinny said:

I already (still) have the "Fastlove" maxi CD single. The FAITH deluxe was beautiful though. It would be lovely to have Older on vinyl.

One of my favorite finds, that I never knew existed for the longest, was the whole "I Want Your Sex" maxi-single, with all three sections in one long cohesive mix. I had always tried to blend Part I and II with Part III from the CD. Having to boost the volume so much made it a bit hissy in that moment. So to find the 12" (I bought 2 over the years), was nice.

Then, when I heard that long mix of "Fastlove" and "I'm Your Man".... GOD. It was just so great. I loved that he used that in concert.

I missed the Faith deluxe. It'll probably cost me a bit to ever claim a copy.

The Older set is going to be a great journey. I've tried to refrain from listening to the album, just to build some anticipation for the release, but I couldn't resist. I've been listening to F.L.O.P. lately, and I have to say, Older is up there with Patience as his two best records. Patience takes you so many places. As does Older, just in different ways. It's like what SOTT was to Lovesexy, one dark, one light. Yin yang.

I think he missed an opportunity to do the full "I Want Your Sex" suite in a live setting, too. He spent a lot of time on "Fastlove" and "I'm Your Man." The second act would've been a great spot for IWYS.

TrivialPursuit said:

EmmaMcG said:

He didn't seem to like "I Want Your Sex" for some reason. Rarely played it live and it doesn't even feature on his Twenty Five greatest hits package. I love that song but it appears, to me anyway, that it may not have been amongst his favourites. Have you ever heard as anything about that or any reason why he kind of ignored it in live shows?

I hadn't originally, but I also expect a star to distance themselves from the thing that made them the most famous. Even Depeche Mode has never sang "People are People" live. Twats.

But reading the wikipedia page, there are some interesting tidbits about how the song. It was originally "Johnny Sex," and had a totally different vibe. The squelchy bass at the beginning was a mistake and they kept it and edited it, and changed up the drum pattern (a Linn 1), and gave it a tribal feel.

He also said he wanted to write a song that was basic on every level and if you stripped it away, there wouldn't be anything noteable left in it. He said he had to change it up every 16 measures to keep interest. He said Rhythm 2 is his favorite, which probably explains why it's on Ladies and Gentlemen. He considered the song "way too easy" to put together.

But I read this about why he didn't like the song,

"In an interview with Mark Goodier, included in the large-format book released with the 2011 remaster, Michael said that he still likes the second "Rhythm" but not the first, and that he distanced himself from the song because its production sounded too much like Prince; indeed, "Rhythm 1", as well as a few other tracks on the Faith album (such as "Hard Day"), features Michael simulating female vocals by artificially pitching up and altering his own voice, much the same way as Prince was doing at the time with his pseudo-female alter ego Camille. In the interview, Michael admits that he was "deeply enamoured" with Prince, and adds that he thought it was very bad for him to be infatuated with a colleague of his. Rolling Stone editor David Fricke described this song as 'a new bump-and-grind original that sounds more like Prince's stark, sexy “Kiss” than anything in the Wham! catalog'."

Interesting that Camille was specifically mentioned. I also found it interesting that the song (Rhythm 1) was written about two months after Wham! broke up. I mean, Faith came out in 1987, and had a very new sound to it, but he was already finding that a year before. That's incredible.

I never associated IWYS with Prince's sound, per se. Prince was doing Sign O the Times by then, so nothing on there sounds like IWYS. Not to me.

But I guess if you go back to 1986 Prince, or a bit earlier, there are comparisons. I do love that prince was enamored with Prince. Too bad they never recorded together, or even - to my knowledge - appeared on stage together.

TrivialPursuit said:

EmmaMcG said:

Interesting. It is a shame that they never worked together. My memory isn't great at the best of times and it's even worse when it comes to things I'm not particularly interested in, such as drama between pop stars, but I remember watching a show on TV about all the big stars who died in 2016. Naturally, both Prince and George Michael were talked about on the show and it was mentioned that during George Michael's troubles with Sony that Prince had reached out to him over some type of collaboration or something but George essentially told him to fuck off, perhaps sensing that Prince was only interested in the publicity. Now, I may be misremembering parts of that but I'm pretty confident that that was the overall gist of it. There was also a story about how when Prince heard "Too Funky" he said "George Michael ain't shit". So I don't think they were on the best of terms.

I honestly don't believe that to be true. Prince and GM both talked about GM's case and how they were different. Prince also said, "Peace to George Michael" at some Euro award show.

I also don't see Prince trying to use GM for publicity. He was fucking Prince after all. He had all he needed or wanted with that Slave thing going on at the time. If GM was enamoured with Prince at one point, then having such vitriol toward him - that doesn't make sense. GM was always noted as being a sweet person behind the scenes, to most anyone if they didn't cross him.

I honestly don't know if they were on any terms, at all. Much less bad terms.

TrivialPursuit said:

EmmaMcG said:

Yeah that's kind of how I see it too, to be honest. It's easy to make up stories about these kinds of things when both parties are deceased. George Michael was clearly a fan of Prince. He'd said as much himself. And I can only assume that Prince would have at least had a professional respect for George Michael based on GM ticking a lot of boxes in terms of things Prince would praise other artists for (writing his own songs, taking control of his art etc). So yeah, I don't believe a lot of these stories and what little truth there may be in them I think is being exaggerated to make a better story.

I agree that they had big respect for each other.

If you think about it, we constantly hear stories about Prince saying so-n-so "ain't shit." So either people are always making that up to make Prince seems like an arrogant cunt, or Prince was actually an arrogant cunt through and through.

The fact that GM played his instruments, wrote his songs, produced his music had to tick high on Prince's respect list, especially in the 90s when there was a plethora of boy bands and girl groups walking their way through someone else's songwriting and production. GM may have made lighter pop with Wham!, but he still wrote that shit.

I'm sorta surprised Prince never "stole" IWYS in concert, trying to one up GM with his own song. Then again, maybe he had enough respect for him that he didn't feel the need to do that.

what I remember of that whole thing is that prince commented on GM's situation at sony and somehow said he would offered advise or help, if needed.

GM responded that he respected prince but that this was his battle and his lawyers were on it
and he would handle his situation himself.

it never seems like there was anything but respect coming from both sides.

also: i'm sad that there won't be any extra goodies on the Older reissue. but maybe if the estate of GM gets the feedback that there seems to be online (people wanting unreleased material) they will
sometime in the future put together something just like that.

for now, it's nice to see Older get some renewed attention anyway

LILpoundCAKE said:

What I remember of that whole thing is that Prince commented on GM's situation at Sony and somehow said he would offered advise or help, if needed.

GM responded that he respected Prince but that this was his battle and his lawyers were on it
and he would handle his situation himself.

It never seems like there was anything but respect coming from both sides.

Yeah, that sounds more familiar. I remember GM saying in an interview how it was a different sort of fight, and it didn't really compare with Prince's situation with Warner. He was right. GM was contract-centric, Prince was masters-centric (although there were other elements in both suits I'm not delving into here).

It was nice of Prince to lend his services in that. It was probably more of a gesture, and a public statement of solidarity. I remember feeling that energy of these two titans in music fighting huge battles. Both were so public and raw.

It's interesting because Patience was on Sony, not Virgin (who, by the way, had bought out his Sony contract) like Older and Songs from the Last Century. But Symphonica was back on Virgin EMI. Kudos to Richard Branson snapping up some big names. (He lured Janet Jackson to Virgin as well after Rhythm Nation 1814 for her next five albums through 20 Y.O.). Maybe that latter Sony & Virgin deal were each a handshake type thing like Prince had with Sony, Arista, and Warner for distribution and marketing only, not ownership.

LILpoundCAKE said:

also: I'm sad that there won't be any extra goodies on the Older reissue. But maybe if the estate of GM gets the feedback that there seems to be online (people wanting unreleased material) they will
Sometime in the future put together something just like that.

For now, it's nice to see Older get some renewed attention anyway

Older already sounded great, but I am excited to know the original tapes were used for a remastering. The thing about GM is that his product output was always so elite. It was beyond refined when it came to presentation.

I almost think those unheard things will stay that way. For now, they seem very deliberate in going through F.L.O.P., and may very well do the same with Songs from the Last Century. The latter could be a great moment to put some unreleased completed recordings that just didn't make the record. I'm sure he recorded more than ended up on the album.

I told myself I wasn't going to listen to Older until the reissue came out. But I've found myself going through LwP, Older, and Patience. Older is so... grown, mature, thoughtful, and almost experimental. And "Free" is an interesting meshing of sounds and themes from the whole album. The emotion and purity in his voice is stellar.

TrivialPursuit said:

I'm sorta surprised Prince never "stole" IWYS in concert, trying to one up GM with his own song. Then again, maybe he had enough respect for him that he didn't feel the need to do that.

Actually P included IWYS in the 80's Medley performed on the Lovesexy Tour (briefly as all other songs part of it).

It was not an actual cover, but a little aknowledgement anyway.

BoraBora said:

Actually P included IWYS in the 80's Medley performed on the Lovesexy Tour (briefly as all other songs part of it).

It was not an actual cover, but a little aknowledgement anyway.

Since when did Prince play an 80s medley on the Lovesexy Tour? It was 1988. Everything he'd put out, minus two albums, was 80s music. Are you referring to the piano segment?

I'd love to know the date(s) he did that, and hear audio if it exists.