12" : Innervision IVL TA3586
CHARTED : 03 DEC 83
HIGHEST CHART POSITION : 15
Number of Weeks : 8
U.K 7" FRONT COVER
Club Fantastic Megamix was released three months after Wham! had begun proceedings to leave the label Innevision, and was disapproved of by the band. Wham! advised their fans not to buy the single and refused to promote it. Cynics might see this as merely a result of the protracted legal wranglings, and a reluctance to allow the record company to make more money out of them, bit it seems that Wham! were genuinely concerned that fans shold not be ripped off with a product which they felt to be sub-standard, and about which they felt had not been consulted.
Consisted of a mix of the tracks A Ray Of Sunshine, Love Machine and Come On off the album Fantastic, the single nevertheless wrent straight into the Top 30 and reached number 15 on the UK Singles Chart.
Listening to this megamix, or half the first Wham! album for that matter, one really can't help but wonder whether or not George Michael got caught up in the whole Saturday Night Fever frenzy that gripped the world in the late 70s. And you need not just listen to his early work. Throughout his entire career, if he wasn't penning distinctly personal numbers, he was letting it rip with tracks that hark back to the days of the uninhibited Funk and Disco of the late 70s. You have to admit, this talented and occasionally brilliant songwriter was born with a black gene or two.
U.K 7" BACK COVER
Back to the megamix at hand, it's comprised of three tracks from the Fantastic album, interestingly none of which made it as singles and rightly so as they were not consistent with the image the duo was then famous for (associations with the dole, leather jackets and skanky chics).
No, these tracks here are nothing but out and out disco, borrowing heavily from acts like The Gap Band and Earth, Wind & Fire, yet fused with Michael's unmistakable blue-eyed impetus. "Love Machine", in particular, is virtually identical to the Supermax original. The tracks are littered with infectious bass lines, hot horns and of course, Michael's already commendable vocals. The three songs are seamlessly edited together and the vibe continues non-stop for eight minutes and forty seconds.
Make no mistake, this is early Wham! at its best, yet without the pretentious pokes at "trying" to be cool...
U.K 7" LABEL - SIDE ONE
U.K 7" LABEL - SIDE TWO
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