Wham!@ GUSWORLD

The Wham! on CD guide

Club Tropiciana Japanese CD single cover Wham! released just two full albums and a mere 23 songs in their career (24 if you want to really push it). However, like numerous musical acts of the post-LP age, they managed to release more than one version of many of those tracks. Some time ago, this site featured an analysis of the different versions of 'Wham! Rap' which are available, which got me wondering: just how many other Wham! tracks exist in multiple versions, and can I get them all on CD?

This document is my attempt at the answer. In the spirit of a similar (and much harder) project which I've carried out for one of my other musical obsessions, ABBA, it provides a complete guide to different versions of Wham!'s material which are officially available on CD (or have been in the past), and attempts to work out if there are any major omissions in this lineup. (There are, but you'll have to read on to find out about them.)

It is not a full discography (for that, check the links page), and it currently does not include George Michael's latter re-recordings of Wham! hits (I can't think of these as Wham! hits if they're on solo singles, even the new versions on The Best Of Wham! are a stretch). What it does aim to provide is a listing of the CDs you would need to own to have a near-complete collection of everything released on CD under the Wham! name. If you have any additions, corrections or suggestions, please email me.

The songs

Note: version names presented with capitals on all words, e.g. Long Mix, are official release titles, while version names with only an initial capital, e.g. Extended intro version, aren't official titles but are useful for purposes of distinction.

Fantastic cover Bad Boys
Original version on Fantastic and The Final
Instrumental version not available on CD
Extended Club Mix not available on CD

Battlestations
Original version on The Final and Music From The Edge Of Heaven

Blue (Armed With Love)
Original version on Club Tropicana Japanese CD single
Live In China version on Music From The Edge Of Heaven

Careless Whisper
Original version on The Final
Long intro version on Make It Big, The 12" Mixes and Twelve Inch Mixes
- This has a near-acapella mix of the second verse and an instrumental passage before segueing into the original version; none of these CDs credit this remix with a name
Instrumental version on Careless Whisper US CD single
Jerry Wexler version not available on CD

The Best Of Wham! cover Club Tropicana
Original version on Fantastic, The Final, Club Tropicana Japanese CD single and The Best Of Wham!
Extended Club Mix not available on CD

Come On!
Original version on Fantastic

Credit Card Baby
Original version on Make It Big

A Different Corner
Original version on The Final
Long intro version on Music From The Edge Of Heaven
- This is not credited as a different version on the CD sleeve
Instrumental version not available on CD

The Edge Of Heaven
Original version on The Final, Music From The Edge Of Heaven and The Best Of Wham!

Last Christmas CD single cover Everything She Wants
Original version on Make It Big
Remix on The Final, The 12" Mixes, Twelve Inch Mixes and The Best Of Wham!
- This is not credited as a different version on The Best Of Wham!
Edited remix on Last Christmas CD single
- This has the new intro from the remix, but does not include the extra lyrics before the final chorus; it is not credited as a different version on the CD sleeve
'97 version on The Best Of Wham!

Freedom
Original version on Make It Big
Long Mix on The 12" Mixes and Twelve Inch Mixes
Longer original version on The Final and The Best Of Wham!
- This is essentially the original version but has a longer outro, during which flashes of the trumpets and vocals from the Long Mix can be heard; it is not credited as a different version on the CD sleeve
Instrumental version not available on CD

Heartbeat
Original version on Make It Big

Music From The Edge Of Heaven cover I'm Your Man
Original version on The Final and The Best Of Wham!
Extended Stimulation on The 12" Mixes and Twelve Inch Mixes
Extended version on Music From The Edge Of Heaven
- This is a distinct remix, although it has structural similarities with the Extended Stimulation version; it is not credited as a different version on the CD sleeve, although a false running time of 8:05 is given
'96 version on The Best Of Wham!
Do It Right (instrumental version) not available on CD
Acapella version not available on CD

If You Were There
Original version on Make It Big and The Best Of Wham!

Last Christmas
Original version on Last Christmas CD single
Pudding Mix on The Final, Music From The Edge Of Heaven, Last Christmas CD single and The Best Of Wham!
- This is not credited as the Pudding Mix on The Best Of Wham!; on Music From The Edge Of Heaven, it is credited as the Long Version

Make It Big cover Like A Baby
Original version on Make It Big and The Best Of Wham!

Love Machine
Original version on Fantastic
Instrumental Remix on Fantastic

Nothing Looks The Same In The Light
Original version on Fantastic
Instrumental Remix on Fantastic

Piano Outro
Original version on Fantastic and The Best Of Wham!
- This 'hidden track', which has no official name I'm aware of, features a honky-tonk piano player being hit over the head, and was originally found at the end of 'Young Guns (Go For It)', where it adds around 20 seconds to the running time; it is also placed at the end of 'I'm Your Man '96'

A Ray Of Sunshine
Original version on Fantastic
Instrumental Remix on Fantastic
Live version (from The Tube) not available on CD

Wake Me Up Before You Go Go
Original version on Make It Big, The Final, The Best Of Wham! and Wake Me Up Before You Go Go French CD single
Instrumental version on Wake Me Up Before You Go Go French CD single

The 12 Wham Rap! (Enjoy What You Do?)
Extended version available on Fantastic, The Final, Twelve Inch Mixes and The Best Of Wham
- This is not credited as a different version on any of these CDs, except Twelve Inch Mixes where it is incorrectly cited as the Unsocial Mix (see here for a discussion)
Unsocial Mix available on The 12" Mixes
'86 version available on Music From The Edge Of Heaven
Instrumental version not available on CD
Original single version/Social Mix not available on CD (see below)

Where Did Your Heart Go?
Original version on The Final, Music From The Edge Of Heaven and The Best Of Wham!

Young Guns (Go For It!)
Original version on Fantastic and The Best Of Wham!
Extended version on The Final and Twelve Inch Mixes
- This is not credited as a different version on either CD sleeve
Going For It mix not available on CD

The CDs

To own a complete collection of every Wham! CD I know about, you will need all nine of the following CDs (many of which are pictured throughout this listing):

Twelve Inch Mixes cover

If you were feeling cheap, then you could skip either The Final or Twelve Inch Mixes (the extended version of 'Young Guns (Go For It)' is only found on these two discs, but every other track on them features on at least one of the other CDs in the list). If you are obsessed enough to have read this far, it seems unlikely you will skip anything.

Note that the US release of Fantastic does not include the three instrumental versions, although the front cover is identical. Similarly, while the US cover for Make It Big is different, the tracklisting is, to the best of my knowledge, the same.

Of these, Fantastic, Make It Big, If You Were There and either The Final or Music From The Edge Of Heaven (depending on your location) should be readily available (and you shouldn't be paying full price for the earlier albums either!). The 12" Mixes is Australia-only, while Twelve Inch Mixes is UK-only, but both should be available at larger import shops (along with whichever of The Final or Music From The Edge Of Heaven you can't find locally). The Club Tropicana and Last Christmas CD singles are available in 1997 pressings (the latter is also available in earlier versions), and so should not be too hard to track down yet (although the former, like most Japanese recordings, will be pricey). I haven't yet sighted a copy of the rare US Careless Whisper CD single, but the odd French pressing of Wake Me Up Before You Go go is now making regular appearances in online stores.

The major omissions

The Final cover While there are no major Wham! tracks which are unavailable in any version at all, there are many tracks which have variants not yet available on CD:

Even if a Wham! box set was released, I suspect that many of the instrumentals are unlikely to see the light of day, unless more CD singles are released. From a completist point of view, this sucks, but from a general musical point of view it is probably not that great a loss. It would be nice to see a more comprehensive 12" disc with the other remixes and live tracks, however (especially the Wexler mix).

- Last updated February 13 2002 (info on instrumental versions of 'Careless Whisper' and 'Wake Me Up Before You Go Go' updated)


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