Ladies & Gentlemen: The Best of George Michael

Technically, Ladies & Gentlemen: The Best of George Michael isn't really a new set for me. A friend of mine made me a copy of this set at some point in time, and I did enjoy listening to it. However, while it was cool having the tunes (which are great), I wanted to buy the actual set, which also includes two nice booklets with lyrics (one per disc) and photos of George Michael. Good stuff. I'm glad to have the actual set.

Those of you who noticed my recent entries for the extensive Twenty Five collection and the album Listen Without Prejudice, Vol. 1 may be wondering what advantage there is to purchasing this compilation. Well, in addition to the aforementioned booklets and art, this set contains the Astrud Gilberto duet "Desafinado" from the Red Hot + Tango album. It also contains "Star People '97," the single version of the track "Star People" from the Older album, and "I Can't Make You Love Me," an excellent, excellent remake which was included on the "Older" single. Also included are the two singles from the Five Live EP, "Killer/Papa Was a Rollin' Stone" and "Somebody to Love." Since I don't have Five Live, those are nice additions. It is also, I believe, currently the only George Michael album to contain his big hit duet with Aretha Franklin, "I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)." You also get the very pretty "A Moment With You," which is exclusive to this set. This is my case for why Michael fans (or at least, why I) would want to own both sets. If forced to choose just one, I would recommend Twenty Five, which contains a more complete representation in that it spans his career even after this set was released.

Let me reaffirm that all of the music included here is great, lest you think I'm ignoring or forgetting it. I thought I'd take a more discographic approach to this one since I already did a bit of musical commenting on the previously mentioned Michael entries. Just for fun, after the track list, see my recommendation for what would give one a George Michael collection that contained all the essentials. This is just my opinion, of course; others could opt for a more or less sparse version.

Tracks:
Disc 1 (For the Heart)
1. Jesus to a Child
2. Father Figure
3. Careless Whisper
4. Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me (with Elton John)
5. You Have Been Loved
6. Kissing a Fool
7. I Can't Make You Love Me
8. Heal the Pain
9. A Moment With You
10. Desafinado (with Astrud Gilberto)
11. Cowboys and Angels
12. Praying for Time
13. One More Try
14. A Different Corner

Disc 2 (For the Feet)
15. Outside
16. Fastlove
17. Too Funky
18. Freedom
19. Star People '97
20. Killer/Papa Was a Rollin' Stone
21. I Want Your Sex (Pt. II)
22. Monkey
23. Spinning the Wheel
24. Waiting or That Day
25. I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me) (with Aretha Franklin)
26. Hard Day
27. Faith
28. Somebody to Love (with Queen)

And here's what will net you a good George Michael collection:
*These studio albums: Faith (The killer "Look at Your Hands" is never on any compilations), Listen Without Prejudice, Vol. 1 (The awesome remake of "They Won't Go When I Go" is a must, as is "Mothers Pride"), Older (taking this based on advice and acclaim - have not heard the album tracks to be able to point to what make it worthwhile), Songs from the Last Century (Awesome interpretations of a cool selection of tracks, based on the tracks I've heard)
*These compilations: Twenty Five (3-disc edition), Ladies & Gentlemen: The Best of George Michael, Wham!'s The Final
*These singles: "You Have Been Loved" (for "The Strangest Thing '97"), "Round Here" (not necessary if you own the Patience album, as I do, but you get every other track from that album on the 3-disc version of Twenty Five, so it's just as well to buy the single and get the mixes), "If I Told You That" (a duet with Whitney Houston released to promote a compilation of hers)
*Another Lost Decade: The '80s Hard to Find - this disc contains the Deon Estus and George Michael hit "Heaven Help Me," as well as some other cool 80s tunes, some of which are rarer than others. There are other albums that contain this track, but this is the only one I can find which is still in print.

Did I really just type all that out? I sure do entertain easily.