|
Amazon.co.uk allows you to pay for your items in your local currency. Restrictions apply. Learn More. |
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
Track Listings
| Disc: 1 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Wham Rap! (Enjoy What You Do?) | |||
| 2. Young Guns (Go For It!) | |||
| 3. Bad Boys | |||
| 4. Club Tropicana | |||
| 5. Wake Me Up Before You Go Go | |||
| 6. Careless Whisper | |||
| 7. Freedom | |||
| 8. Last Christmas (Pudding Mix) | |||
| 9. Everything She Wants (Remix) | |||
| 10. I'm Your Man | |||
See all 14 tracks on this disc
| |||
| Disc: 2 | |||
| 1. Wham Rap! (Enjoy What You Do?) | |||
| 2. Young Guns (Go For It!) | |||
| 3. Bad Boys | |||
| 4. Club Tropicana | |||
| 5. Wake Me Up Before You Go Go | |||
| 6. Careless Whisper | |||
| 7. Freedom | |||
| 8. Last Christmas (Pudding Mix) | |||
| 9. Everything She Wants (Remix) | |||
| 10. Im Your Man | |||
|
See all 13 tracks on this disc
| |||
Product Description
Review
The story of Wham! is the story of 80s life – fame, making pots of cash and having amazing hair, a willingness to go BIG and wave two fingers at your non-fun contemporaries while you eat the globe in the time it took them to make their own albums. Originally released 25 years ago, The Final is the duo’s definitive album – possibly even their greatest album ever made (even if it is a compilation). To some people, this is their The Queen Is Dead, their Nevermind, their Tago Mago – an album that distils a key era of their life into a glorious whole.
Wham! first entered Planet Pop’s atmosphere in 1982 with their Wham Rap!, a tune extolling what a ROFL it was to be on the dole, where George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley seemed to be using their time to work on dance routines and look manly in culottes, which came as a nice diversion from the more seriousface bards of the day such as Paul Weller and The Specials.
Next up came Young Guns (Go For It!), which warned of shacking up instead of going out and pulling the laydeez, and declaring "Death. By. Matrimony! BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM" as it shoved a shuttlecock down its shorts. They completed that opening trio with Bad Boys, which has always been the slight runt of the Wham! catalogue, and was brushed aside on 1997’s The Best of Wham! – but in truth it has aged the worst of these earliest cuts. Then, the future Wham! – the group of fabulous hair and being screamed at by the world – made its first appearance with Club Tropicana, offering evidence that the pair didn’t exclusively trade in shouty funk bluster. After this, they were an unstoppable chart-topping hit machine.
Come 1984 and Freedom arrives. Released a few months after future school disco cheesefest Wake Me Up Before You Go Go, and just weeks after George’s first solo single Careless Whisper (was the duo founded for this to happen, hmm?), it’s a track that can be occasionally neglected. But Freedom is a stone-cold, Motown-coloured classic, and it’s followed here by the evergreen festive nugget Last Christmas – magical, deathless, and a song that’s installed them into Christmas legend forever. I’m Your Man soon comes along, followed by a second tremendous George solo turn (A Different Corner); then, the collection is rounded off with the three tracks from 1986’s The Edge of Heaven EP, on which the thrill of their imperial phase is lacking.
And then they were gone, splitting at their height so that Andrew could slink away to a life of relative normality and racing cars, while George went on to invent designer stubble and become a solo colossus. The Final remains their epitaph, with the brand dying young and leaving a fantastic Greatest Hits. Amazing.
--Ian Wade
Find more music at the BBC This link will take you off Amazon in a new window
CD Description
George Michael and Andrew Ridgley defined the musical sound of the era with their hugely successful feel-good, pure pop sound. In the space of four years they had four number ones, made one of the best, most enduring Christmas songs of all time and no less than 10 Top 10 hits. First released in 1986 The Final collected together all the hits on one album (plus George’s first two solo number ones; "Careless Whisper" and "A Different Corner"). With its iconic Peter Saville designed front cover it spent no less than 47 weeks in the chart and was on every Christmas list in December ’86.
In addition it features all the videos, fully restored on bonus DVD for the first time.
In addition it features all the videos, fully restored on bonus DVD for the first time.
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Once again the mastering of a re-issue has been done by amateurs.
First of all the tracklisting is different from the original CD.
A few extended mixes have been replaced by poor sounding edits.
Second big problem is the fact that no one took the time to check the
loudness and colour of the different tracks.
It's bad enough to use the original CD as master without any equalizing
(so you get the typical mid-80's digital sound), but everytime you get
a "replacement" track (like Bad Boys or Careless Whispers), the level drops by a few db's.
Bad Boys for example sounds really bad.
So my advice : DON't BUY THIS
First of all the tracklisting is different from the original CD.
A few extended mixes have been replaced by poor sounding edits.
Second big problem is the fact that no one took the time to check the
loudness and colour of the different tracks.
It's bad enough to use the original CD as master without any equalizing
(so you get the typical mid-80's digital sound), but everytime you get
a "replacement" track (like Bad Boys or Careless Whispers), the level drops by a few db's.
Bad Boys for example sounds really bad.
So my advice : DON't BUY THIS
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
I'm thinking that the major selling point of this reissue of Wham!'s final album was not only to commemorate the 25th anniversary but to also include a track by track dvd equivalent.In this respect,it succeeds.It's great to finally,no pun intended,have the videos for "Bad Boys" and "Young Guns" on dvd but that unfortunately is the ONLY reason to buy this appalling compilation from Sony.Whoever did the remastering for the cd re-release shall remain nameless,they get no credit on the inner booklet or slipcase and that's probably just as well.If it was me I'd be embarrassed to admit I had a hand in this mess.The first two tracks sound great,then I'm afraid it's all downhill from there."Bad Boys" sounds like they used the old seven inch single master or took the track from the "Fantastic" master as is.And where's all the leftover cuts like "Blue" and the relevant alternate mixes,instrumentals and b-sides.The quality of audio on the dvd is not much better either.
Instead of rehashing all the Wham videos,why not finally,no pun intended again,release "Foreign Skies:Wham!In China" on dvd.My vhs copy of that is now so frail I'm scared to play it.
This was an opportunity completely wasted to put out a bona-fide deluxe edition of this iconic 80's album.
I wonder if George knows how poorly Sony are treating his music?
If it's superbly mastered Wham! audio classics you're after,click here "The Best of Wham!",there is also a dvd (with 5.1 surround sound) that was released in tandem with this best of.If you don't need the videos for the two aforementioned tracks,you can't go wrong,click here "Wham - the Best of Wham [DVD]".My advice is to make your own cd of "The Final" using the above best of and the re-released albums.
Trust me it will sound better than what's on this reissue.Now...
"Take Me To The Edge of Heaven,One Last Time Might Be Forever!"
Instead of rehashing all the Wham videos,why not finally,no pun intended again,release "Foreign Skies:Wham!In China" on dvd.My vhs copy of that is now so frail I'm scared to play it.
This was an opportunity completely wasted to put out a bona-fide deluxe edition of this iconic 80's album.
I wonder if George knows how poorly Sony are treating his music?
If it's superbly mastered Wham! audio classics you're after,click here "The Best of Wham!",there is also a dvd (with 5.1 surround sound) that was released in tandem with this best of.If you don't need the videos for the two aforementioned tracks,you can't go wrong,click here "Wham - the Best of Wham [DVD]".My advice is to make your own cd of "The Final" using the above best of and the re-released albums.
Trust me it will sound better than what's on this reissue.Now...
"Take Me To The Edge of Heaven,One Last Time Might Be Forever!"
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Sony did good job by including 2 videos (Bad Boys and Young guns) which were never released officially before. Other than that, there are no changes, but reasonable price allows to have it just because of these 2 videos :)
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Wham!
I Grew up in the day's of wham so this is a Great CD to have Plus a DVD with 13 Video's all in great picture and the colour why I like this so much it has BAD BOY'S video on it as... Read more
Published 8 days ago by Mr. A. Nicholls
Fab!
Bought for my sister who was a B-I-G Wham! fan back in the day...she loves it! All the big hits included - great value for a fiver! :-)
Published 4 months ago by Lynn
Christmas Gift
Got it for my mother in law for christams and she loved it! Perfect for any Wham fan. Highly recommend.
Published 4 months ago by HB
Awesome
I love George Michael and Wham just epitomised the 80's feel for me. The main stays are included here, Club Tropicana etc. The plus being a DVD! Read more
Published 5 months ago by Jackiesmackie
Missed opportunity
Have to agree with the proceeding reviews. Also where is one of my favourite tracks "Blue (Armed With Love)"? Read more
Published 5 months ago by Mr. M. D. Tiller
Nothing special about this version - get the cheaper original!
I pre-ordered this, expecting something a little special, perhaps extra tracks, or remastered, but no, this is nothing more than the original 1986 version but with a cardboard... Read more
Published 5 months ago by Narked
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
