Wham! - Make it Big (1984) [EAC-FLAC] [RePoPo]

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Wham! - Make it Big
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Wham! - Make It Big

01. Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go 03:50
02. Everything She Wants 05:02
03. Heartbeat 04:44
04. Like A Baby 04:13
05. Freedom 05:00
06. If You Were There 03:37
07. Credit Card Baby 05:08
08. Careless Whisper 06:33

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Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine

The title was a promise to themselves, Wham!'s assurance that they would make it
big after struggling out of the gates the first time out. They succeeded on a
grander scale than they ever could have imagined, conquering the world and
elsewhere with this effervescent set of giddy new wave pop-soul, thereby making
George Michael a superstar and consigning Andrew Ridgeley to the confines of
Trivial Pursuit. It was so big and the singles were so strong that it's easy to
overlook its patchwork qualities. It's no longer than eight tracks, short even
for the pre-CD era, and while the four singles are strong, the rest is filler,
including an Isley Brothers cover. Thankfully, it's the kind of filler that's so
tied to its time that it's fascinating in its stilted post-disco dance-pop
rhythms and Thatcher/Reagan materialism — an era that encouraged songs called
"Credit Card Baby." If this dichotomy between the A-sides and B-sides is far too
great to make this essential, the way Faith later would be, those A-sides range
from good to terrific. "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" is absolute silliness whose
very stupidity is its strength, and if "Everything She Wants" is merely
agreeable bubblegum, "Freedom" is astounding, a sparkling Motown rip-off
rippling with spirit and a timeless melody later ripped off by Noel Gallagher.
Then, there's the concluding "Careless Whisper," a soulful slow one where
Michael regrets a one-night stand over a richly seductive background and a
yearning saxophone. It was an instant classic, and it was the first indication
of George Michael's strengths as a pop craftsman — which means it points the way
to Faith, not the halfhearted Edge of Heaven.

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WAKE ME UP BEFORE YOU GO-GO

Song Review by Steve Huey

The almost blindingly bright, soul-tinged pop confection "Wake Me up Before You
Go-Go" gave the British duo Wham! their first number one single in 1985,
establishing George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley as the premier bubblegum teen
idol act of the mid-'80s. It was also the first clear evidence of Michael's
seemingly effortless mastery of the pop song form, a facility he would
demonstrate time and time again over the next decade. "Wake Me up Before You Go
-Go" is relentlessly perky, but to dismiss it as mere fluff is to overlook a
tremendous guilty pleasure. The song is tightly and impeccably constructed, and
its inescapable melody and bouncy beat are almost a force of nature, so
difficult are they to resist. Moreover, the song's individual elements are the
work of a fully formed pop craftsman -- from the way the keyboards and bass
interact and leave room for each other to breathe, to the playful bass voice
chanting "jitterbug" at regular intervals, to Michael's accentuation of the
arrangement by adding (and subtracting) a lightly swinging horn section and
soulful backing choir. It often takes some time for the big-picture status of
bubblegum pop tunes to become clear -- at least until the initial backlash
against their ubiquitous popularity wears off -- but in retrospect, it's clear
that "Wake Me up Before You Go-Go" is one of the decade's true mainstream pop
classics, which is why it's become a staple of '80s retro play lists, as well as
the song most listeners immediately identify with Wham!

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EVERYTHING SHE WANTS

Song Review by Amy Hanson

Although ”Everything She Wants” was relegated to b-side status on Wham!’s 1984
Christmas single, the song had flipped the tables by the beginning of the year,
as a remixed version became the club hit. It encountered nary a whiff of
resistance as it stomped up the US charts, too, following both ”Wake Me Up
Before You Go-Go” and ”Careless Whisper” with the band’s third #1 hit the
following March. Another glimpse of R&B driven, synth swept dance grooves, ”
Everything She Wants” brought in elements of classic blue-eyed soul, yet kept
the blast purely in step with the most popular themes of the mid 1980s. Proof
again that, in spite of the snide sideways glances from their own countrymen,
Wham! were able masters of an era they ruled for a solid year, delivering hit
after hit with ease.


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FREEDOM

Song Review by Amy Hanson

The second song from Make it Big to reach #1 in the UK, the song fared slightly
worse in the U.S., resting at a paltry #3 when it followed a string of chart
toppers in early 1985. Light and most certainly of its era, this story of love
and loss and love’s rebirth saw Michael pull out all the stops. Continuing his
penchant for purer pop, the vocalist once again left out the pointed political
and social barbs of his earlier efforts, favoring innocuous patter that was then
swept aside by the music. Here, Michael’s multi-tracked vocals and Ridgeley’s
guitar are awash with elements of 60’s girl group pop, Queen-ish turns and piano
riffing rolls. Lush, luxurious and feel-good all the way, ”Freedom” swept the
band, and their fans into the stratosphere for one more romp.


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Song Review by Amy Hanson

The closing set piece of the duo’s second album, ”Careless Whisper” was one of
the few songs penned by both George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley. But, with
Michael already thinking of a solo career, and with the band’s US label savvy
enough to realize that the charismatic singer was going to stay in the public
eye, the single was credited to Wham! featuring George Michael in America, and
as a full-on Michael solo single in the UK. To fans, however, such distinctions
were merely far-flung annoyances. All that mattered was getting this single,
this album, this band as close to the bone as possible. Built around a simmering
Latin-lite tempo, sultry sax and Michael’s own impassioned delivery, ”Careless
Whisper” touched fans and passive listeners alike to become one of, if not the
only, love songs of 1985. Clocking in at over six minutes, it was perfect for
dance floor canoodling, and topped the charts on both sides of the Atlantic.


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Exact Audio Copy V0.99 prebeta 4 from 23. January 2008

EAC extraction logfile from 13. April 2009, 23:44

Wham! / Make It Big

Used drive : HL-DT-STDVD-RAM GSA-H55N Adapter: 3 ID: 1

Read mode : Secure
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Read offset correction : 102
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Gap handling : Not detected, thus appended to
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TOC of the extracted CD

Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
---------------------------------------------------------
1 | 0:00.00 | 3:50.52 | 0 | 17301
2 | 3:50.52 | 5:02.28 | 17302 | 39979
3 | 8:53.05 | 4:44.15 | 39980 | 61294
4 | 13:37.20 | 4:13.42 | 61295 | 80311
5 | 17:50.62 | 5:00.53 | 80312 | 102864
6 | 22:51.40 | 3:37.32 | 102865 | 119171
7 | 26:28.72 | 5:08.05 | 119172 | 142276
8 | 31:37.02 | 6:33.73 | 142277 | 171824


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