BURNING THE GROUND EXCLUSIVE 1990

Happy belated birthday George Michael! I meant to post this yesterday for GM’s birthday but didn’t get it finished in time. So here it is today. Enjoy!!

Black Wax is an early 1990s bootleg remix label which put out remixes and megamixes of music covering everything from ’50s to ’90s music. Many of the single artist remixes have new production under them making them very unique.

On this 12″ we have the Wham! “Summer Fun Megamix”. A really nice mix featuring some of Wham!’s biggest hits including “Wham! Rap”, Freedom, I’m Your Man” and more. On the filip side is a megamix of early 80′s disco/funk/r&b tracks, including “Love Come Down” by Evelyn King, “Get Down Saturday Night” by Oliver Cheatham, and “You’re The One For Me” by D-Train.

SIDE A:
Wham! - Wham Summer Fun Mega Mix 5:42

SIDE B:
Various - Classic Grooves Mega Mix 3:14

VINYL GRADE:
Vinyl: Near Mint
Sleeve: Near Mint (generic)

RELEASE INFORMATION:
Label: Black Wax – BW4
Format: Vinyl, 12″, 45 RPM, Unofficial Release
Country: US
Released: 1990
Genre: Electronic
Style: Synth-pop

Find The 12″ On DISCOGS

EQUIPMENT USED:
Turntable: Pro-Ject Debut III
Cartridge: Ortofon Super
Stylus: Ortofon OM Stylus 30
Bellari VP130 Tube Phono Preamp
Soundcard: ESI Juli@
VPI HW 16.5 Record Cleaning Machine
Brother MFC-6490CW Professional Series Scanner

SOFTWARE USED:
Adobe Audition 3.0 (Recording)
Adobe Photoshop CS5
ClickRepair
dBpoweramp
Playlist Creator

RESTORATION NOTES:
All vinyl rips are recorded @ 32bit/float
Downsampled to 24bit/96kHz and16bit /44kHz using iZotope RX Advanced 2
FLAC (Level Eight)
MP3 (320kbps)
Artwork scanned at 600dpi

PW: burningtheground

You can help show your support for this blog by making a donation using PayPal. Thank you for your help.

BURNING THE GROUND EXCLUSIVE 1990

Andrew John Ridgeley (born 26 January 1963) is an English former pop singer-songwriter, guitarist and environmentalist. He was a member (with George Michael) of the 1980s pop music duo Wham!.

Wham! went on to enjoy worldwide success between 1982 and 1986. They made their U.S. debut appearance on Dick Clark’s American Bandstand but broke up in late 1986, whereupon Ridgeley moved to Monaco, and tried his hand at Formula Three motor racing. Meeting with little success, Ridgeley moved to Los Angeles in pursuit of a career in acting. He returned to Britain permanently in 1990. Regardless, CBS Records, having taken up the option on Wham!’s contract that specified solo albums from Michael and Ridgeley, released a guitar-and-drum-driven solo effort from Ridgeley, Son of Albert, in 1990. His brother Paul—a frequent percussionist for Bananarama—played drums on the album.

“Shake” was the first single released fron Son Of Albert the track peaked at #77 on the US Billboard Hot 100 on December 5. 1990.

SIDE A:
Shake (Extended) 4:54
Written-By – Andrew Ridgeley, David Austin

SIDE B:
Hangin’ (Extended) 6:10
Written-By – N. Rogers/B. Edwards*

VINYL GRADE:
Vinyl: Near Mint
Sleeve: Near Mint

CHARTS:

RELEASE INFORMATION:
Label: Epic – AJR GT1
Format: Vinyl, 12″, 45 RPM, Gatefold Sleeve
Country: UK
Released: 1990
Genre: Rock
Style: Pop Rock
Credits: Producer, Arranged By – Andrew Ridgeley, Gary Bromham

NOTES:
Original versions appear on the LP “SON OF ALBERT”

Find The 12″ On DISCOGS

EQUIPMENT USED:
Turntable: Pro-Ject Debut III
Cartridge: Ortofon Super
Stylus: Ortofon OM Stylus 30
Bellari VP130 Tube Phono Preamp
Soundcard: ESI Juli@
VPI HW 16.5 Record Cleaning Machine
Brother MFC-6490CW Professional Series Scanner

SOFTWARE USED:
Adobe Audition 3.0 (Recording)
Adobe Photoshop CS5
ClickRepair
dBpoweramp
Playlist Creator

RESTORATION NOTES:
All vinyl rips are recorded @ 32bit/float
Downsampled to 24bit/96kHz and16bit /44kHz using iZotope RX Advanced 2
FLAC (Level Eight)
MP3 (320kbps)
Artwork scanned at 600dpi

PW: burningtheground

You can help show your support for this blog by making a donation using PayPal. Thank you for your help.

BURNING THE GROUND EXCLUSIVE 1983

“Club Fantastic Megamix” was a single released by Wham! in 1983, and was the last single release for the duo on Inner Vision Records. The single was released three months after Wham! had begun proceedings to leave the label, and was disapproved of by George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley. The single, which consisted of a mix of the tracks “A Ray of Sunshine”, “Love Machine”, and “Come On” off the album Fantastic, reached number 15 on the UK Singles Chart. The single was not released in the US.

SIDE A:
Club Fantastic Megamix 8:32
Mixed By, Arranged By – Megamix Club, The

(A.1) A Ray Of Sunshine
Written-By – George Michael

(A.2) Love Machine
Written-By – W Griffin*, W Moore*

(A.3) Come On
Written-By – George Michael

SIDE B:
A Ray Of Sunshine (Instrumental Remix) 5:40
Written-By, Arranged By – George Michael

VINYL GRADE:
Vinyl: Near Mint
Sleeve: Near Mint

RELEASE INFORMATION:
Label: Inner Vision
Catalog#: TA 3586
Format: Vinyl, 12″, 45 RPM
Country: UK
Released: 1983
Genre: Electronic
Style: Synth-pop
Credits: Design [Sleeve] – Shoot That Tiger!
Photography – Chris Craymer
Producer – George Michael, Steve Brown

NOTES:
The album ‘Fantastic’ (IVL 25328) also available on cassette.

Find The 12″ On DISCOGS

EQUIPMENT USED:
Turntable: Pro-Ject Debut III
Cartridge: Ortofon Super 20
Bellari VP130 Tube Phono Preamp
Soundcard: ESI Juli@
VPI HW 16.5 Record Cleaning Machine
Brother MFC-6490CW Professional Series Scanner

SOFTWARE USED:
Adobe Audition 3.0 (Recording)
Adobe Photoshop CS5
ClickRepair
dBpoweramp
Playlist Creator

RESTORATION NOTES:
All vinyl rips are recorded @ 32bit/float
Downsampled to 16bit 44kHz using Adobe batch processing
FLAC (Level Eight)
MP3 (320kbps)
Artwork scanned at 600dpi PNG format, resized to JPEG format for posting.

PW: burningtheground

You can help show your support for this blog by making a donation using PayPal. Thank you for your help.

BURNING THE GROUND EXCLUSIVE 1982

REQUEST

“Wham Rap! (Enjoy What You Do)”‘ is a 1982 song by British pop duo Wham! on Innervision Records. It was written by Wham! members George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley.

The song, which had been tentatively released in June 1982 when Wham! were unknowns and failed to make any impact, was re-issued in January 1983 after the duo had achieved their breakthrough with “Young Guns (Go For It!)”.

Although rap was still an underground and almost exclusively American phenomenon in the early 1980s, as the title implies, George rapped a number of verses about the joys of living every day to the fullest, which meant that being gainfully employed was not an option, and ‘having fun with the boys down the (welfare) line’. The chorus asked the question “Do you enjoy what you do?”, which brought about the bracketed section of the title. The video depicted George and Andrew Ridgeley in their leather jackets, combining their moody image with a bright, effervescent choreography.

Wham Rap! (Enjoy What You Do) – the full version of which was almost seven minutes long – reached #8 in the UK singles chart, the second of four hits from Wham!’s debut album Fantastic. The duo would go on to enjoy four UK #1 hits before splitting at their height in 1986. On the flip side of their farewell single The Edge of Heaven was an updated version of the song, entitled Wham! Rap ’86.

The song was explicitly political and slightly revolutionary. It flew in the face of the conventional British Left-wing who were talking about the ‘Right to work’ at the time.

SIDE A:
Wham Rap! (Unsocial Mix) 6:36

SIDE B:
Wham Rap! (Social Mix) 6:46

VINYL GRADE:
Vinyl: Near Mint
Cover: Mint (Generic)

CHARTS:

RELEASE INFORMATION:
Label: Inner Vision
Catalog#: IVL A13 2442
Format: Vinyl, 12″, 45 RPM
Country: UK
Released: 1982
Genre: Electronic, Hip Hop, Pop
Style: Pop Rap, Synth-pop
Credits: Producer – Bob Carter
Written-By – Ridgeley*, Panos (2)

NOTES:
Made in England

Find the 12″ on DISCOGS

EQUIPMENT USED:
Turntable: Pro-Ject Debut III
Cartridge: Ortofon Super 20
Bellari VP130 Tube Phono Preamp
Soundcard: ESI Juli@
VPI HW 16.5 Record Cleaning Machine
Brother MFC-6490CW Professional Series Scanner

SOFTWARE USED:
Adobe Audition 3.0 (Recording)
Adobe Photoshop CS5
ClickRepair
dBpoweramp
Playlist Creator

RESTORATION NOTES:
All vinyl rips are recorded @ 32bit/float
Downsampled to 16bit 44kHz using Adobe batch processing
FLAC (Level Eight)
MP3 (320kbps)
Artwork scanned at 600dpi PNG format, resized to JPEG format for posting.

PW: burningtheground

You can help show your support for this blog by making a donation using PayPal. Thank you for your help.

BURNING THE GROUND EXCLUSIVE 1984

Request
Re-Rip Remastered

I originally posted this rare 12″ on the old blogger site on November 5, 2009, at the time I was was not posting in FLAC Lossless format, and was never really happy with the original rip so after getting several requests to re-post it, I decided to re-rip the 12″ using new equipment that I did not have back when It was originally posted on blogger. I am also happy to be able to make it available in FLAC Lossless format for the first time. Another great thing about this particular 12″ is that it contains the rare Jerry Wexler “Special Version”. I hope that you like the ne remaster.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“Careless Whisper” is a 1984 single by George Michael (credited to Wham! featuring George Michael in the US), 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.

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 (4:40) B-side “Special Version” on 12″, released in the UK and Japan.

The officially released single, a mid-tempo ballad with a 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.

SIDE A:
Careless Whisper (Extended Mix)      6:23
Arranged By, Producer – George Michael
Written-By – Andrew Ridgeley , George Michael

SIDE B:
Careless Whisper (Special Version)     4:40
Producer – Jerry Wexler
Written-By – Andrew Ridgeley , George Michael

Careless Whisper (Instrumental)     5:00
Arranged By, Producer – George Michael

VINYL GRADE:
Vinyl: Mint
Cover: Mint

CHARTS:

RELEASE INFORMATION:
Label: Epic
Catalog#: 12.3P-570
Format: Vinyl, 45 RPM, 12″
Country: Japan
Released: 1984
Genre: Pop
Style: Ballad

NOTES:
from the lp “MAKE IT BIG”

Find the 12″ on DISCOGS

EQUIPMENT USED:
Turntable: Pro-Ject Debut III
Cartridge: Ortofon Super 20
Bellari VP130 Tube Phono Preamp
Soundcard: ESI Juli@
VPI HW 16.5 Record Cleaning Machine
Brother MFC-6490CW Professional Series Scanner

SOFTWARE USED:
Adobe Audition 3.0 (Recording)
Adobe Photoshop CS5
ClickRepair
dBpoweramp
Playlist Creator

RESTORATION NOTES:
All vinyl rips are recorded @ 32bit/float
Downsampled to 16bit 44kHz using Adobe batch processing
FLAC (Level Eight)
MP3 (320kbps)
Artwork scanned at 600dpi PNG format, resized to JPEG format for posting.

PW: burningtheground

You can help show your support for this blog by making a donation using PayPal. Thank you for your help.

BURNING THE GROUND EXCLUSIVE 1984

Re-Rip Remastered

I originally posted this fabulous 12″ on the old blogger site but at the time I was was not posting in FLAC Lossless format, so this year I decided to re-rip the 12″ using equipment that I did not have back when I originally posted it on blogger. I am also happy to be able to make it available in FLAC Lossless format for those who enjoy hearing the music in it’s lossless uncompressed glory. Another great thing about this particular 12″ is that the mix that is used is an alternate mix that is exclusive to this Japanese 12″.  I hope that you enjoy the new transfer and Happy Holidays.

~ DjPaulT (December, 2010)

“Last Christmas” is a song by British pop duo Wham!, released on Epic Records in 1984, on a double A-side with “Everything She Wants”. It was written by George Michael, one half of the duo. The song has been covered by many artists throughout the years.

Wham! had been a dominant force in the UK Singles Chart in 1984 and news that they were planning a Christmas single meant that a battle for the coveted Christmas #1 spot in the UK seemed set to be between Wham! and the year’s other big act, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, who had achieved a third #1 in early December with “The Power of Love”. However, the Band Aid project, helmed by Bob Geldof, produced the #1 single. Wham!’s offering peaked at #2 for much of the period, although George’s involvement in Band Aid meant that Wham! still had an input. Wham! subsequently topped the monies raised by Band Aid by donating all of their “Last Christmas/Everything She Wants” royalties to the Ethiopian famine appeal.

“Last Christmas” did make #1 in various other countries.

The single sold well over a million copies and became the biggest selling single in UK chart history not to reach #1. A year later, it was re-issued for Christmas again (this time without a billed flip-side) and got to #6. A second re-issue at Christmas 1986 – by which time Wham! had split – stalled outside the top 40.

The song gradually sold in Japan, and finally became the best-selling single that did not reach that country’s top-10 chart, selling more than 600,000 copies and peaking on the chart at #12 in 1992.

Since 1997, the song enters the German Singlecharts every year and peaked at #4 in 2007. In the airplay charts the songs enters every year the Top 5.

In 2007, the track re-entered the UK Top 20 and hit the UK iTunes Top 10.

In 2008, the song re-entered the UK Singles Chart again, this time at #36 and peaked at #26.

In 2009, the song re-entered the UK Singles Chart at number #39.

Due to perceived similarities between “Last Christmas” and the song “Can’t Smile Without You” as popularised by Barry Manilow, an out of court settlement was reached in which the first year’s royalties were donated to the one-year-old “Band Aid” charity.

The video to “Last Christmas” saw George and partner Andrew Ridgeley accompanying girlfriends to see friends at their home in an unspecified ski resort, although the cable-car that can be seen in two shots is from Saas-Fee, Switzerland. It became clear early on, however, that Andrew’s girlfriend had previously been in a relationship with George, and it was to her character the song was aimed. The video also featured the duo’s erstwhile backing singers Pepsi and Shirlie and Spandau Ballet bassist Martin Kemp, the boyfriend and future husband of Shirlie Holliman.

SIDE A:
Last Christmas (Pudding Mix) (Alternate Version) 4:45

SIDE B:
Credit Card Baby 5:09

RELEASE INFORMATION:
Label: Epic/Sony
Catalog#: 123P 575
Format: Vinyl, 12″, Single
Country: Japan
Released: 1984
Genre: Electronic
Style: Synth-pop
Credits: Producer, Arranged By, Written-By – George Michael

NOTES:
Comes with a lyric insert and obi strip.
Side A is listed as “Pudding Mix” “Long Version” but actuallly plays an alternate 4:45 version exclusive to this release.

DISCOGS

EQUIPMENT USED:
Turntable: Pro-Ject Debut III
Cartridge: Ortofon Super
Stylus: Ortofon OM Stylus 30
Bellari VP130 Tube Phono Preamp
Soundcard: ESI Juli@
VPI HW 16.5 Record Cleaning Machine
Brother MFC-6490CW Professional Series Scanner

SOFTWARE USED:
Adobe Audition 3.0 (Recording)
Adobe Photoshop CS5
ClickRepair
dBpoweramp
Playlist Creator

RESTORATION NOTES:
All vinyl rips are recorded @ 32bit/float
Downsampled to 24bit/96kHz and16bit /44kHz using iZotope RX Advanced 2
FLAC (Level Eight)
MP3 (320kbps)
Artwork scanned at 600dpi

PW: burningtheground

You can help show your support for this blog by making a donation using PayPal. Thank you for your help.