WHAM ! (Enjoy What You Do): FANTASTIC

LP : Innervision IVL 25328

CHARTED : 9 JUL 83

HIGHEST CHART POSITION : 1

Number of Weeks : 116

FRONT COVER

Photography Chris Craymer / Design Shoot That Tiger ! & Wham!

Released on July 9, 1983, Fantastic entered the album chart at #1. Wham! joined The Pretenders, Phil Collins and ABC, as the only acts, thus far in the Eighties, to have their debut LP enter the chart at the top.
In addition to the three previously-released singles Young Guns (Go For It), Wham! Rap (Enjoy What You Do) and Bad Boys, there was a George Michael solo number, the love song Nothing Looks The Same In The Light, a cover of the Miracle's hit Love Machine, and three other numbers new to the public which saw them moving away from semi-autobiographical material, to a world of holidays in the sun, exotic parties, and good times in general - as the next single, Club Tropicana.

The album features a sort of "hidden track" (played on a honky tonk piano), which is included in the final 20 seconds of Young Guns (Go For It).

However, all was not well between Wham! and Innervision. The label was funded by CBS, who therefore had the final say in how the group's promotional budget was spent : in this case n advertising on T.V and other media, whilst Andrew and George were anxious to put a group together and play to their fans. The duo's first move was to put their career in the hands of Simon Napier-Bell, who had previously managed the Yardbirds and Marc Bolan. His brief was to free the group from their contract with Innervision - a contract that was rumoured (according to an article in "The Face") to be unfavourable to the duo that they received no royalties on the sales of 12" singles - and to put them on the road.