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Older (George Michael album)

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Untitled

Older is the third solo album from George Michael, released May 14 1996 (see 1996 in music). The album's US and Canada release was particularly notable as it was the first album released by the now-defunct DreamWorks Records (the first DreamWorks album released internationally, however, was Beautiful Freak by Eels).

Following the release of Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1, Michael accused his record company, Epic Records, of failing to promote the album as well as lacklustre support for his charity recordings (particularly contributions to the Red Hot AIDS Benefit Series) 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 wasn't completely absent from the recording world during the six years between Listen Without Prejudice and Older, contributing several tracks to the charity album Red Hot + Dance in 1992 (see 1992 in music), as well as performing at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert at Wembley Stadium (an EP of Michael's performances with Queen and Lisa Stansfield was released in 1993 on Parlophone and Hollywood Records for the US and Canada markets).

Despite this, the six year gap between official releases hurt Michael's commercial momentum considerably. Whilst Older initially sold well, debuting at number one in the UK and number 6 on the Billboard 200, sales were down on previous releases. Critical reaction to the album was decidedly lukewarm, with All Music Guide's Stephen Thomas Erlewine declaring that it "lack[ed] the carefree spark of his earlier work." To date, Older has reached worldwide sales of approximately 6 million.

Track listing

All songs written by George Michael except where indicated.

  1. "Jesus To A Child" – 6:51 (#1 UK, #7 US)
  2. "Fastlove" (George Michael, Jon Douglas) – 5:24 (#1 UK, #8 US)
  3. "Older" – 5:33 (#3 UK)
  4. "Spinning The Wheel" (George Michael, Jon Douglas) – 6:21 (#2 UK)
  5. "It Doesn't Really Matter" – 4:50
  6. "The Strangest Thing" – 6:01
  7. "To Be Forgiven" – 5:21
  8. "Move On" – 4:45
  9. "Star People"* – 5:16
  10. "You Have Been Loved" (George Michael, David Austin) – 5:30 (#2 UK)
  11. "Free" – 3:00
  • A remixed version of "Star People," titled "Star People '97" reached number 2 on the UK Singles Chart.
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