George Michael leaves behind many unreleased songs. ROLLING STONE introduces some that are circulating on the net – along with songs that have tended to eke out a rather unnoticed existence on compilations or as standalone recordings.
1. Maybe It’s Not Your Time
The “Trojan Souls” project was approached by George Michael after 1990’s “Listen Without Prejudice Vol. I”. The singer, who was increasingly interested in disappearing from the scene, now had the following goal: leave an important footprint as a songwriter in which he gives songs to other artists and he unobtrusively jumps in as a duet partner. Hence the “creeping in with a subsequent cuckoo” as in the record title.
Janet Jackson would have been among them, Bryan Ferry, Seal and Wendy Melvoin. None of this is found later on regular releases.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pkRYCbAsmo
2. Cowboys and Angels (Instrumental)
At over seven minutes, the longest track on “Listen Without Prejudice Vol. I,” a jazz-pop track about admitting that you can’t have everyone. Andy Hamilton played the saxophone solo on this song that juggles with American myths, angels and cowboys, and is almost prettier in the no-vocals version.
3. WTF
The Trojan Souls endeavor would also include this duet with the (working!) title WTF, for which Sade was chosen to sing. The only instrumental version available online is George’s “Freedom ’90” beat, slightly sped up, and calypso percussion tailored for Sade. More interesting than exciting.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1S6D4GlYpCg
4. Heal The Pain featuring Paul McCartney
It is not impossible to win Paul McCartney, along with Bob Dylan the most legendary living musician, for a duet, as Rihanna, Fran Healy or Matt Berry knew last. There was this re-recording of a “Listen Without Prejudice Vol. I” track with George Michael.
More acoustic, more bongo – the song was a Beatles homage from the start, wasn’t it?
Available on the best of “Twenty Five”.
5. Jive Talkin’
Growing up in the 1980s often mistaken the Bee Gees classic for a George Michael song. Andros Georgiou brought the singer related to him into his duet formation Boogie Box High, from which this cover version arose in 1987:
6. A moment with you
George Michael had long since finished with “Older” in 1998, when he pushed this ballad, which is so similar to the album, after it, topic: How do I deal with my sexuality in public? It appeared on his Ladies and Gentlemen best-of.
7. Safe
The “Older” outtake deserved its place on the album but had to give way to dance floor material like “Strangest Thing”. Whether that was a good thing is debatable – the song is included on the “Twenty Five” collection.
8. Kissing A Fool (Instrumental)
The “Faith” single was his first foray into jazz, Frank Sinatra didn’t want the piece. The version without vocals expresses the big band sound even more clearly towards the end.
9. Careless Whisper (album version)
Everyone in the world knows the shorter single or music video version: the saxophone starts after three seconds.
Clever is the long version on disk. George Michael, the rhythm section is quiet, the wind instrument too, sings about being abandoned, only keyboards next to him. Then, after a minute: THE DRUMS AND THE SAX. A build-up of tension with a much greater impact.
10. “You and I” and “December Song (I Dreamed Of Christmas)”
George Michael also discovered MP3 downloads. For the wedding of royals William and Kate, he re-recorded a cover of Stevie Wonder’s You and I (released on Talking Book in 1972) and posted it on his website; a year earlier, Michael released his second Christmas song, which of course received less attention, “December Song (I Dreamed Of Christmas)” – but it’s much nicer than “Last Christmas”.