Wham! – Make It BigEAC Rip | Included: EAC Log + CUE + Flac + Covers | Size: 249 MB | RAR files
Orig Release: Oct 23, 1984 | Release Date: Sep 14, 1989 | Label: Epic / Sony Music
Number: EPC 465576 2 | Original sound recording made by CBS Records
Genre: Pop | Mono/Stereo: 2 Channel | RS.com & Letitbit.net
Album Notes
“Make It Big” is the second album from British pop duo Wham!, released in 1984. The album was a critical and commercial success, hitting #1 in both the UK and the USA and spawning four singles, all topping the charts on both sides of the Atlantic.
“Careless Whisper” was credited as a George Michael solo effort upon its release as a single, while “Everything She Wants” was released as a double A-side with “Last Christmas” which would later appear on the following album Music From The Edge Of Heaven.
It was certified 6x platinum in the U.S.A. within weeks of the album’s tenth anniversary.
The Singles
“Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go” Released: May 1984
Michael’s inspiration for the song was a scribbled note left by his Wham! partner Andrew Ridgeley for Andrew’s parents, originally intended to read “wake me up before you go” but with “up” accidentally written twice, so Ridgeley wrote “go” twice on purpose. Released in May 1984, it heralded the beginning of a softer, sunnier image for Wham!, who had spent the previous year as a moodier, more politically themed duo, with songs about unemployment, young marriage, and battles of will between parents and their children. With the release of “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go”, they re-emerged with wider smiles, more colourful clothing, and a more positive disposition in interviews.
The song entered the UK singles chart at number four — after much hype from the duo claiming they would go straight in at number one, which was a rare occurrence then — and climbed to the top seven days later, staying there for three weeks.
The song also went to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 in the USA and Michael followed it up with a solo single, “Careless Whisper” and another Wham! hit, “Freedom”, both of which were also UK number-one hits. The album, Make It Big, was an unqualified success. Wham! had three more UK number one singles and split at their height in 1986.
Another band, Babs & The Bopettes, sang phonetically by Tress MacNeille as Babs Bunny along with her friends, Gail Matthius as Shirley the Loon, Kath Soucie as Fifi Le Fume and Cree Summer as Mary Melody. The “Jitterbug!” part is by Charles Adler as Buster Bunny, Joe Alaskey as Plucky Duck and Don Messick as Hamton J. Pig. The chorus is when Babs Bunny lectures Gogo Dodo to wake Babs up before Gogo does. At the end, she laughs and says, “Well c’mon, do you want me to see Buster, or not?”.
“Careless Whisper” Released: July 1984
“Careless Whisper” is a 1984 single by George Michael (credited to Wham! featuring George Michael in the USA), released by Epic Records in the UK, Japan, and other countries; and by Columbia Records in North America. The song was George Michael’s first solo single although he was still performing in Wham! at the time (the song is included on Wham!’s album Make it Big). The song features a prominent saxophone riff, and has been covered by a number of artists since its first release. It was released as a single and became a huge commercial success on both sides of the Atlantic. It reached number one in nearly 25 countries, selling about six million copies worldwide.
Unlike all the Wham! singles (except “Wham Rap!”), it was co-written by Andrew Ridgeley, the other member of the duo. The two had written it together as unknowns three years earlier, when Michael was working as a cinema usher in Watford, England. In a June 2006 interview on London radio station Magic 105.4, Michael said that he wrote it “in his head” during work and that he recalls coming up with the saxophone riff whilst boarding a number 32 bus on the way home. Originally the riff had words, but Michael declined to state them, saying that they were very poor lyrics.
The song went through at least two rounds of production. The first was during a trip Michael made to Muscle Shoals, Alabama, where he went to work with the legendary producer Jerry Wexler at the venerable Muscle Shoals Studio. Michael was unhappy with the version that was originally produced and decided to re-record and produce the song himself, this time coming up with the version that was finally released. The version Wexler produced did, however, see the light of day, but only later on, as a (4:41) B-side “Special Version” on 12″, released in England.
The officially released single, a mid-tempo ballad with soulful production and a remarkable saxophone solo by Steve Gregory, was issued in August 1984, entering the UK singles chart at number twelve. Within two weeks, it was at number one, ending a nine-week run at the top for “Two Tribes” by Frankie Goes to Hollywood. It stayed at number one for three weeks, going on to become the fifth best-selling single of 1984 in the United Kingdom; it was outsold only by the two Frankie Goes to Hollywood tracks “Two Tribes” and “Relax,” Stevie Wonder with “I Just Called to Say I Love You” and Band Aid with “Do They Know It’s Christmas.” The song also topped the charts in 17 other countries, including the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States in February 1985 under the credit “Wham! featuring George Michael”; spending three weeks at the top in America, the song was later named Billboard’s number-one song of 1985.
In a 2006 poll for a programme Britain’s Favourite Break-up Songs, “Careless Whisper” was voted sixth.
“Freedom” Released: August 1984
Wham! had already enjoyed a successful 1984 by the time Freedom was released in August of the year. “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go” had given them their first UK #1 and had then reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100 in the USA. George had then gone to #1 with a solo single, “Careless Whisper”.
“Freedom” was #1 in the UK for three weeks and featured on the album Make It Big, which was issued at the same time. “Freedom” was the 10th biggest selling single of 1984. This song also reached #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US. The lyrics are full of the turmoil one experiences of staying in a destructive relationship where one partner loves another more than the other “part-time love just brings me down” and the inevitable hurt this causes. A situation that Michael finally appears to resolve in the song ‘Faith’ where he is building the confidence to meet someone new and get the ‘freedom’ he has been dreaming of.
The music video features the band touring around Beijing, China. They were the first British group ever to tour in Asia.
The single was also released as a square picture disc, with a the record being white and having a picture of Michael on the right side.
“Freedom” was covered in 1999 by New Zealand girl group TrueBliss on their debut album Dream. It was released as the TrueBliss’s final single in September 1999. It was also covered by The Supernaturals in 1997.
The song was used in a Japanese commercial for Maxell audio cassettes, with altered lyrics. (“I can’t wait to see you, why don’t you come here no more?”)
“Everything She Wants” Released: December 1984
Upon release, “Last Christmas” took the majority of the attention and airplay as it was appropriate in early December as Christmas approached. However, the presence of an equally-billed flip side meant that radio stations had something else to play once “Last Christmas” had lost its topicality.
A five-minute song (there also exists a six-and-a-half-minutes-long version with an added bridge), “Everything She Wants” is written from the angle of a man rapidly approaching desperation at the material demands of his partner which seem to be coming to a head, despite the amount of work he does to keep them happy. In a twist, the second verse takes the story a step further by revealing that the woman is pregnant but the man cannot find any happiness in the announcement because of the extra pressure a baby will put upon him.
The presence of the Band Aid project meant that the double A-side peaked at number two in the UK singles chart, although in the process it became the biggest selling record not to get to number one. However, in the USA, the song did reach the summit of the Billboard Hot 100, and became the third number-one song in a row from 1984’s Make It Big album.
Wham! would go on to have two more number-one hits in the UK before splitting at their height in 1986.
Although Michael bemoaned much of Wham!’s material as he began his solo career, “Everything She Wants” remained a song of which he was proud, and he continued to perform it in his shows. Furthermore, Michael remarked in an interview (to promote 25 Live tour) that “Everything She Wants” is his favourite Wham! song.
The song was remixed and re-released as “Everything She Wants ’97” for the greatest hits album If You Were There in 1997.
Court Case
The song was also mentioned in a landmark 1998 sampling copyright decision in the case of Santrayll v. Burrell. Federal Court Judge Peter K. Leisure concluded that MC Hammer had sampled music by another rap group (The Legend). The Legend admitted to sampling Wham!’s “Everything She Wants” (among other songs) and not disclosing the sampled works when filing for copyright registration. In essence, Hammer argued that because The Legend admitted to sampling (i.e. “Everything She Wants”), this constituted a knowing failure to advise the Copyright Office of facts that might have led to the rejection of the copyright application. Meaning: no copyright protection, no lawsuit for infringement against Hammer. The court disagreed and found that: (1) it was possible that a jury might find that the failure to disclose the samples was not deliberate and (2) the samples played such a minor role in The Legend’s song that the unauthorized use of samples “could not possibly have led the Copyright Office to reject the copyright applications.”
Legacy
The popular Canadian teen drama Degrassi: The Next Generation, which named each episode after an 80s hit song, named an episode after this song.
Rapper Foxy Brown sampled “Everything She Wants” on the single “I Can’t” from her number one album Chyna Doll.
“Make It Big” is the second album from British pop duo Wham!, released in 1984. The album was a critical and commercial success, hitting #1 in both the UK and the USA and spawning four singles, all topping the charts on both sides of the Atlantic.
“Careless Whisper” was credited as a George Michael solo effort upon its release as a single, while “Everything She Wants” was released as a double A-side with “Last Christmas” which would later appear on the following album Music From The Edge Of Heaven.
It was certified 6x platinum in the U.S.A. within weeks of the album’s tenth anniversary.
The Singles
“Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go” Released: May 1984
Michael’s inspiration for the song was a scribbled note left by his Wham! partner Andrew Ridgeley for Andrew’s parents, originally intended to read “wake me up before you go” but with “up” accidentally written twice, so Ridgeley wrote “go” twice on purpose. Released in May 1984, it heralded the beginning of a softer, sunnier image for Wham!, who had spent the previous year as a moodier, more politically themed duo, with songs about unemployment, young marriage, and battles of will between parents and their children. With the release of “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go”, they re-emerged with wider smiles, more colourful clothing, and a more positive disposition in interviews.
The song entered the UK singles chart at number four — after much hype from the duo claiming they would go straight in at number one, which was a rare occurrence then — and climbed to the top seven days later, staying there for three weeks.
The song also went to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 in the USA and Michael followed it up with a solo single, “Careless Whisper” and another Wham! hit, “Freedom”, both of which were also UK number-one hits. The album, Make It Big, was an unqualified success. Wham! had three more UK number one singles and split at their height in 1986.
Another band, Babs & The Bopettes, sang phonetically by Tress MacNeille as Babs Bunny along with her friends, Gail Matthius as Shirley the Loon, Kath Soucie as Fifi Le Fume and Cree Summer as Mary Melody. The “Jitterbug!” part is by Charles Adler as Buster Bunny, Joe Alaskey as Plucky Duck and Don Messick as Hamton J. Pig. The chorus is when Babs Bunny lectures Gogo Dodo to wake Babs up before Gogo does. At the end, she laughs and says, “Well c’mon, do you want me to see Buster, or not?”.
“Careless Whisper” Released: July 1984
“Careless Whisper” is a 1984 single by George Michael (credited to Wham! featuring George Michael in the USA), released by Epic Records in the UK, Japan, and other countries; and by Columbia Records in North America. The song was George Michael’s first solo single although he was still performing in Wham! at the time (the song is included on Wham!’s album Make it Big). The song features a prominent saxophone riff, and has been covered by a number of artists since its first release. It was released as a single and became a huge commercial success on both sides of the Atlantic. It reached number one in nearly 25 countries, selling about six million copies worldwide.
Unlike all the Wham! singles (except “Wham Rap!”), it was co-written by Andrew Ridgeley, the other member of the duo. The two had written it together as unknowns three years earlier, when Michael was working as a cinema usher in Watford, England. In a June 2006 interview on London radio station Magic 105.4, Michael said that he wrote it “in his head” during work and that he recalls coming up with the saxophone riff whilst boarding a number 32 bus on the way home. Originally the riff had words, but Michael declined to state them, saying that they were very poor lyrics.
The song went through at least two rounds of production. The first was during a trip Michael made to Muscle Shoals, Alabama, where he went to work with the legendary producer Jerry Wexler at the venerable Muscle Shoals Studio. Michael was unhappy with the version that was originally produced and decided to re-record and produce the song himself, this time coming up with the version that was finally released. The version Wexler produced did, however, see the light of day, but only later on, as a (4:41) B-side “Special Version” on 12″, released in England.
The officially released single, a mid-tempo ballad with soulful production and a remarkable saxophone solo by Steve Gregory, was issued in August 1984, entering the UK singles chart at number twelve. Within two weeks, it was at number one, ending a nine-week run at the top for “Two Tribes” by Frankie Goes to Hollywood. It stayed at number one for three weeks, going on to become the fifth best-selling single of 1984 in the United Kingdom; it was outsold only by the two Frankie Goes to Hollywood tracks “Two Tribes” and “Relax,” Stevie Wonder with “I Just Called to Say I Love You” and Band Aid with “Do They Know It’s Christmas.” The song also topped the charts in 17 other countries, including the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States in February 1985 under the credit “Wham! featuring George Michael”; spending three weeks at the top in America, the song was later named Billboard’s number-one song of 1985.
In a 2006 poll for a programme Britain’s Favourite Break-up Songs, “Careless Whisper” was voted sixth.
“Freedom” Released: August 1984
Wham! had already enjoyed a successful 1984 by the time Freedom was released in August of the year. “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go” had given them their first UK #1 and had then reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100 in the USA. George had then gone to #1 with a solo single, “Careless Whisper”.
“Freedom” was #1 in the UK for three weeks and featured on the album Make It Big, which was issued at the same time. “Freedom” was the 10th biggest selling single of 1984. This song also reached #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US. The lyrics are full of the turmoil one experiences of staying in a destructive relationship where one partner loves another more than the other “part-time love just brings me down” and the inevitable hurt this causes. A situation that Michael finally appears to resolve in the song ‘Faith’ where he is building the confidence to meet someone new and get the ‘freedom’ he has been dreaming of.
The music video features the band touring around Beijing, China. They were the first British group ever to tour in Asia.
The single was also released as a square picture disc, with a the record being white and having a picture of Michael on the right side.
“Freedom” was covered in 1999 by New Zealand girl group TrueBliss on their debut album Dream. It was released as the TrueBliss’s final single in September 1999. It was also covered by The Supernaturals in 1997.
The song was used in a Japanese commercial for Maxell audio cassettes, with altered lyrics. (“I can’t wait to see you, why don’t you come here no more?”)
“Everything She Wants” Released: December 1984
Upon release, “Last Christmas” took the majority of the attention and airplay as it was appropriate in early December as Christmas approached. However, the presence of an equally-billed flip side meant that radio stations had something else to play once “Last Christmas” had lost its topicality.
A five-minute song (there also exists a six-and-a-half-minutes-long version with an added bridge), “Everything She Wants” is written from the angle of a man rapidly approaching desperation at the material demands of his partner which seem to be coming to a head, despite the amount of work he does to keep them happy. In a twist, the second verse takes the story a step further by revealing that the woman is pregnant but the man cannot find any happiness in the announcement because of the extra pressure a baby will put upon him.
The presence of the Band Aid project meant that the double A-side peaked at number two in the UK singles chart, although in the process it became the biggest selling record not to get to number one. However, in the USA, the song did reach the summit of the Billboard Hot 100, and became the third number-one song in a row from 1984’s Make It Big album.
Wham! would go on to have two more number-one hits in the UK before splitting at their height in 1986.
Although Michael bemoaned much of Wham!’s material as he began his solo career, “Everything She Wants” remained a song of which he was proud, and he continued to perform it in his shows. Furthermore, Michael remarked in an interview (to promote 25 Live tour) that “Everything She Wants” is his favourite Wham! song.
The song was remixed and re-released as “Everything She Wants ’97” for the greatest hits album If You Were There in 1997.
Court Case
The song was also mentioned in a landmark 1998 sampling copyright decision in the case of Santrayll v. Burrell. Federal Court Judge Peter K. Leisure concluded that MC Hammer had sampled music by another rap group (The Legend). The Legend admitted to sampling Wham!’s “Everything She Wants” (among other songs) and not disclosing the sampled works when filing for copyright registration. In essence, Hammer argued that because The Legend admitted to sampling (i.e. “Everything She Wants”), this constituted a knowing failure to advise the Copyright Office of facts that might have led to the rejection of the copyright application. Meaning: no copyright protection, no lawsuit for infringement against Hammer. The court disagreed and found that: (1) it was possible that a jury might find that the failure to disclose the samples was not deliberate and (2) the samples played such a minor role in The Legend’s song that the unauthorized use of samples “could not possibly have led the Copyright Office to reject the copyright applications.”
Legacy
The popular Canadian teen drama Degrassi: The Next Generation, which named each episode after an 80s hit song, named an episode after this song.
Rapper Foxy Brown sampled “Everything She Wants” on the single “I Can’t” from her number one album Chyna Doll.
Track Listing:
==========================================
01. Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go
02. Everything She Wants
03. Heartbeat
04. Like A Baby
05. Freedom
06. If You Were There
07. Credit Card Baby
08. Careless Whisper
Total Time: 00:38:11
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EktorasClub 