If You Were There (The Best Of Wham) - Wham

...greatest hits collection is entitled, If You Were There, The Best of Wham. It's one of my feel good CD's, awfully tacky and fun but great to sing along to. It was released in 1997 and got to number 4 on the UK charts.

Wham were a duo made up of George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley. They formed way back in 1981, gosh I was barely alive at that point and had success as a dancec/pop act. They were teenagers when they formed the group and ...
...carefree life without work or commitment.

I guess I really got into Wham years later when I was a bit older and started going to parties, clubs etc. They are one of those bands whose music is played at just about every wedding you go to and cheesy 80's nights at clubs, just the kind of music I like.

One of my favourite songs on the album has to be "Wake Me Up Before You Go Go." This was their first number one ... more

At Club Tropicana drinks are free.

Wham the greatest hits collection is entitled, If You Were There, The Best of Wham. It's one of my feel good CD's, awfully tacky and fun but great to sing along to. It was released in 1997 and got to number 4 on the UK charts.

Wham were a duo made up of George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley. They formed way back in 1981, gosh I was barely alive at that point and had success as a dancec/pop act. They were teenagers when they formed the group and so came across as hedonistic youngsters, proud to live a carefree life without work or commitment.

I guess I really got into Wham years later when I was a bit older and started going to parties, clubs etc. They are one of those bands whose music is played at just about every wedding you go to and cheesy 80's nights at clubs, just the kind of music I like.

One of my favourite songs on the album has to be "Wake Me Up Before You Go Go." This was their first number one hit. It's such an upbeat, happy song and is so much fun to sing and dance too. My other favourite song on the album is one of the best Christmas songs in my opinion, "Last Christmas." It's on just about every Christmas compilation album that you c an buy. This song came out in 1984 and was written by George Michael. In fact he wrote quite a lot of the songs on this album, I guess proving that he is more than just a cheesy pop singer and a credible song writer too. He has gone on, out of the two of them to have an amazing solo career.

The video for Last Christmas is absolutely great. It features a picture perfect Christmas scene. George and Andrew are in a ski resorts with some friends and their girlfriends. It's snowing outside, they are all opening presents and having a lovely time but unfortunately the story goes that Andrew's girlfriend had previously been in a relationship with George, and it was to her character the song was aimed, ie George missing her and saying that last christmas he gave her his heart but this year it's all over, ahhhh!

Probably the worst cheesiest song on this album is the Wham Rap. It's really awful and just goes to show that not everyone can rap. Apparently, according to an article I read it was released in 1982 when Wham! were unknowns and failed to make any impact and was re-issued in January 1983 after the duo had achieved their breakthrough with "Young Guns (Go For It!)".

The rest of the tracks on the album are as follows:

"If You Were There" (Isley Brothers) 3:43
"I'm Your Man" (Michael) 4:06
"Everything She Wants" (Michael) 6:29
"Club Tropicana" (Michael/Ridgeley) 4:30
"Wake Me Up Before You Go Go" (Michael) 3:51
"Like A Baby" (Michael) 4:16
"Freedom" (Michael) 5:20
"The Edge of Heaven" (Michael) 4:37
"Wham Rap! (Enjoy What You Do)" (Michael) 6:46
"Young Guns (Go For It!)" (Michael) 3:41
"Last Christmas" (Michael) 6:48
"Where Did Your Heart Go?" (Was/Was) 5:42
"Everything She Wants '97" (Michael) 6:01
"I'm Your Man '96" (Michael) 4:33 

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