Older (1996)

Information About the Album

Older is the third solo studio album by George Michael, released in Europe on 13 May 1996. Recorded over a period of three years, the album was a huge commercial success in Europe resulting in six top three hit singles in a two-year span in the United Kingdom. The album was in Billboard 100 charts in the United States for 24 weeks, peaking at number 6.

Older was reissued on 1 December 1997 and included a second disk “Upper,” comprising four remixes, two newish songs, and an interactive element.

In a 1998 article in the Rolling Stone magazine, Older was described as:

Thank you for waiting,” George Michael writes on the back of his first studio album in almost six years. If anyone is really still waiting, they’ll discover Michael hasn’t lost his talent for writing pop songs as contagious as the Ebola virus, if only slightly more cheery…. Older is a surprisingly enjoyable record. From the smooth, moody groove of “It Doesn’t Really Matter” to the bouncy disco concoction “Fastlove” (flavored with Dr. Dre-style whistling synths), Michael proves his guilty feet still have rhythm.

The album received lukewarm reviews from American critics, such as this one from Entertainment Weekly:

Even more so than its predecessor, Older is Michael’s bid for positioning as a mature, adult pop tunesmith — which, in his definition of the term, means dropping the frivolity along with Andrew Ridgeley. Older is one of the most downbeat, low-key comebacks ever made. With only a few exceptions, the arrangements percolate at mid-tempo, gently nudged along by mild synthesizers; it’s as if he pressed the ”bossa nova” button on his keyboard and left it on for an hour…. Older isn’t a disreputable record, but it’s tentative and bland, and it lends itself to its own kind of psychoanalysis.

Charts:

Official Charts (United Kingdom):

• Number of weeks in the chart: 116 weeks
• Peak Position: #1 (for 3 weeks)

Billboard 100 (United States):

• Number of weeks in the chart: 24 weeks
• Peak Position: #6

Track List:

The songs on George Michael’s first solo album ‘Older’ are as follows:

Additional tracks and interactive elements in the Upper CD when the album was reissued as “Older and Upper’:

Videos:

“Jesus to a Child”

“Fastlove”

“Older”

“Spinning the Wheel”

“It Doesn’t Really Matter”

“The Strangest Thing”

“To Be Forgiven”

“Move On”

“Star People”

“You Have Been Loved”

“Free”