Issue # 4. All the glitches are worked out. Unless of course people
aren't getting their list, in which case, e mail me. But wait, if you're aren't getting your YOGMAIL, then you won't get this
message, so never mind!
But seriously, some notes: 1. If anyone has not received the Welcome to YOGMAIL letter, please e
me. 2. Anyone who did not receive their YOGMAIL for Aug. 26th, 27th or 28th, e me. 3. NEVER REPLY TO ALL! 4. POST! POST!
POST! POST! POST! 5. I want the network to have 100 people on it, TELL YOUR FRIENDS!!!!
AND AWAY WE GO...
"I
think there's something you should know..."
From the desk of our illustrious fave WEB site manager-- thatu-at-ozgate.aussy.ingr.com
(Tim Hatu) writes:
Congratulations on Introducing a fantastic mailing list Amanda, keep up the good work.
(I live to
serve... AG)
Spinning the Wheel has made its debut in the UK singles chart at # 2 this week.
(Hear that America??? AG)
Here
are some comments on Older as they appeared in the MBI Chartwatch: "The biggest music news from England over the past couple
of months has been the release of the new album by George Michael, his first in six years and the first since he signed to
DreamWorks SKG (for North America) and Virgin (for the rest of the world). He did not exactly have a dream start at DreamWorks: in
Canada he has so far peaked at five, while in the US his best position has been six. He has done better in the rest of the world,
where album sales are estimated at 3m. In his home country he accomplished his third consecutive number one album debut, while both
of the singles Jesus To A Child and FastLove also entered in pole position. Older also went to number one in Australia, Chile,
Denmark, France, Greece, Hungary, Holland, Iceland, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden."
(OK, so even
though Canada peaked too soon, at least the land of my parents--Hungary--has taste. This is why I send $ back the cousins, to buy
massive quantities of good music... AG)
On the subject of tours, in Australia, they are giving a chance for two to go see
George live in concert in Europe (anyone who purchases Older qualifies). I will check with Virgin on more details.
TRIVIA: Answering
the question about YOG, it is from Andrew, this was very easy as it is on the first line in the Bare section of my WEB page!!
"Yog--which
is what my closest friends and family call me--comes from Andrew. He was at my house and heard my sisters or mother calling me
Georgios--Yorgos--which they would shorten to just Yorg. And so Andrew went back to school and said, ho-ho-ho, it's really funny
round at his house, they all call him Yog. Yog - ho-ho - it's like Yoghurt, innit? So I used to get called Yoghurt a lot too. A lot
of my teachers used to call me George-gee-os, which is a dumb English way to pronounce Georgios, and that really annoyed me. But
most of my friends, because of Andrew, ended up just calling me Yog."
That is all for now !!
Cheers Tim H
"The
future may still give you a chance..."
From the desk of Bananarama Mailing list moderator--and the man who taught me
everything I know about mailing lists--fratboytx-at-aol.com (JT) writes:
Hey Amanda! Great job on getting the list started!
Two questions:
1. When Listen Without Prejudice - Volume 1 was released, I was told that Volume 2 would be released soon
after. That, of course, was right before his long legal battle with Columbia/Sony. Were songs recorded for Volume 2 and never
released? If so, who owns the rights?
(Volume 2 was scrapped when George was less than impressed with sales of Volume 1. Some
of the songs from it went on to become various B sides and parts of EP's I do believe. To the best of my knowledge, there is no lost
album. Anyone know anything more? AG)
2. Is George friends with any members of Bananarama? (I have to ask this one -- I'm
assuming they've met since Keren Woodward is dating/married/?? to Andrew Ridgeley). Have they ever considered recording together?
(Since
I fancy myself quite the Andrew fan, here goes: According to Boy George's autobiography "Take it Like a Man", at some
point in time in 1994 Boy George, (Man) George, Sara Dallin and Keren Woodward--of Bananarama--went out to dinner. I take that to be
a yes, they must be friends, because I doubt it was just business.
I do believe Andrew and Keren are merely living together.
They live in the British surfing community of Cornwall, so that Andrew can indulge in his fave hobby--since smacking up one too many
race cars--surfing. Keren moved out of London to join her man with her son (9yr old) Thomas--from her marriage to Dave Evans. There
are no plans as yet for marriage or having children together. According to 1991 interview, Keren says that Andrew and Thomas get
along very well.
As some may know, George did remix a Bananarama song, "Tripping On Your Love" from their 1991
album Pop Life, calling his versions the Metropolis Mixes. I assume the remix was done a favour--right around the time Andrew and
Keren got serious (?). I guess a studio recording could be a possibility now that George "is back". The girls don't have a
record contract in the UK however. Maybe George will sign them to Ęgean? AG)
Thanks! JT
"It's
playing (in) my mind..."
smm-at-pequod.otago.ac.nz (Sarah Mager) writes: Hey I would just like to say that the new
George video is very New Orleans. It's been shown once on tv here (New Zealand - grab your atlases if you don't know where that is);
of course its B&W with '20's black dancers and all those sort of clothes, there is of course the weird sequinned car; and the
begginning and end of the video has a shot of a gun barrel spinning with one bullet in it. I don't think you get enough shots of him
though :( And he looks kinda scary with the black clothes and black leather jacket....
(Sounds good. I logged 12 hours
watching MuchMusic--the Canadian MTV--today, but to avail. AG)
oh well - apparently the song has 2-3 remixes on the single -
to pump it up a little and two b-sides? Hmn it ain't out here yet (due next week sometime!)
Hey I though "Older"
was going to be the next single by all the accounts that I heard?
(That's what I thought too. Anyone know what happened? AG)
Oh
yeah, here's a tit bit - according to an *extremely* reliable source: in Sara Dallin's (aka Bananarama) house (in London--the suburb
escapes me) she has a few pictures of George and Keren & Andy scattered around thelounge.....(proof that they are really great
friends...)
(OK, so you and JT obviously set that one up right? AG)
regards sarah
"Counting
your money until your soul turns green..."
Was a
wondering..... does anyone know how sales for Older are going? The last I heard was from the GREAT! Unofficial GM-website which said
that Older was closing on 4 mill. copies worldwide after just three weeks on the market (courtesy of Billboard magazine). It has now
been several months and I wanted to know how the album was doing... Especially in the US where it has faded REALLY badly :( on the
album chart. So if you know any official/unofficial worldwide sales figures please share...
(Platinum--1 million copies--in
the U.S. AG)
Does anyone think that STW will make it to #1 on the UK-singles chart? James Masterton usually does a chart
commentary on the UK Charts (which is located by the way at www.dotmusic.com), and he normally would give a clue as to how the
singles are doing ie. if Georgie can make it to #1 next week. The idiotic Spice Girls single is catchy but REALLY can't compare to
Georgie! Is this his best run ever on the British charts as a solo artist? (ie. has he ever done better than 2 #1's and a #2 from
one album!!!)
(By all accounts Older is selling really well everywhere but in North America. AG)
I thought Older was
to be the next single released. STW was released instead. Reasons? Also which are the other possible singles remaining on the album?
Older, Move On, Star People, The Strangest Thing, You Have Been Loved... what does everyone think?
(According to my most
reliable source, there will be only one more single released. Star People. Any idea why Alan? I do think TST should be released
though. AG)
Ok that is all I can think of writing for now....
Cheers Ioannis Tefanis
"The
things that I know..."
stefank-at-hildesheim.sgh-net.de (Stefan Kirchfeld) writes: Hi, my name is Stefan Kirchfeld
from Hildesheim, Germany and i would like to participate in some of your "discussions". First i wanna give an answer on
the following, which was published in the Yogmail edition of the 28th of August:
>Now for my contribution (Alicia): I
wondered if anyone knew where I could get a >copy of George singing "Lady Marmalade"? > >(Any Faith tour
bootleg I assume. AG) > >To the person that asked about "Love's in Need..." (SV) I believe I saw it >released
as a single on the B-side of the "Father Figure" vinyl single. If I >find it--I'll definitely let you know!:) >
To
(hopefully) finally end this discussion: I've got a live-bootleg of George's Faith Tour on which both tracks - "lady marmalade
_and_ love's in need of love today - are! I've bought it in a import store near Munich called "Music Point"! At the
moment i ain't got the address but i'm gonna post it to you as soon as i can. From that store i also got another pretty good bootleg
featuring George's cover to cover tour. The names of the bootlegs are "Everything you want"(Faith Tour) and "Praying
for faith"(cover to cover tour).
(I've heard of these, but was afraid of poor quality, do you recommend these? AG)
By
the way i know two more songs George has performed on his cover to cover tour which were missing in your list you published in your
last edition: - Pastime Paradise by Stevie Wonder - Ain't nobody by Chaka Khan
Concerning the first one i want to add
the question if it wouldn't be cool if George released "Pastime Paradise" on one of his next singles considering the smash
hit "Gangstas Paradise" by Coolio. I could imagine that George would be equally successful.
(Do we really want
George to follow Coolio's lead? AG)
By the way i really think that George would have a huge success if he only released a
live album of his cover to cover tour.
(I TOTALLY AGREE!!!!!! AG)
Because in my opinion this tour was absolutely
ingenious; i also want to agree to the following;
>marti-at-grn.es (Marti Blesa) writes: >"Hi to all Yog fans! >For
me one of the best recordings from him is a strange CD I >found in a Shop that has no title and on the cover George Michael - >Elton
John and there are three songs, Don't let the Sun go down on me, I >believe (one of the best songs he's ever sung) and
Fantasy. It's great, even >if we consider that two of these songs aren't written by him. because "I believe" is
definately one of George's best cover versions he has ever done and i even think he should have released it instead of "Don't
let the sun go down on me" as the main single!(and Marti: This "strange" CD you got there is just the ordinary maxi
of George's release "Don't let the sun go down on me" of 1991)
Finally i also want to say something to Marti's
statement that LWP is better than Older. I think what is missing on Older is a song like "Freedom '90" in which George
really sings with a quite powerful voice. On Older he too often slows his voice down (out of in "Star People").
In
general i think that Older is a very good album but George has to tour again to really reach a successful comeback! Besides he has
to perform on TV again because nearly no one, not even his great idols Stevie Wonder or Elton John isolate(d) themselves so much
from the outside world and from the media.
Just one more add: Yogmail is great but you can make more out of it! What about a
"News - corner" where the latest releases or tour dates are listed? Or what about an "Exchange corner" in which
the readers can exchange or buy albums, videos etc. of George?
(YOU WANT IT, YOU GOT IT! Look for them in future YOGMAILS!
AG)
Post you soon again, bye from Germany, Stefan
Stefan Kirchfeld,Burgstr.42,31134 Hildesheim,Germany phone:+49
5121/132726 Email:stefank-at-hildesheim.sgh-net.de
Something that I want you to
know...
ericst-at-meganet.nl (Eric Steenbergen) writes: Yes, this is the first Yogmail contribution from The Netherlands!
First I want to make a compliment to Amanda for doing this great job. Even her comments are great. Is becoming an attorney really
what you want, because you have to much humor I think?
(I'm honoured you feel that way Eric. Glad I'm apprecitated. AG)
Anyway,
I'm responding to the message from Marti Blesa. The strange CD you found is a single CD from Don't let the sun go down. I have same
CD in my collection, however with 4 tracks. The CD starts with a live version from Don't let the sun go down (with Elton John),
followed by I believe (when I fall in love it will be forever)(also live-version), If you were my woman and Fantasy. The song If you
were my woman (also a cover, from Gladys Knight I think) was also sung by George during the Nelson Mandela tribute in 1987or 1988.
It's really a great song and one of my favorite single CD's.
(It was June of 88, and he did that Mandela tribute at Wembley
Stadium in the afternoon before heading over to Earl's Court to play a Faith gig that night. AG)
Furthermore I noticed 2
different single CD's of Jesus to a child. Most sold is the one with 3 tracks. Besides Jesus to a child, you can hear a live gospel
version of One more try and an instrumental version of Older. There is a release with an additional track also, which is a live
version of Freedom (from LWP).
(The standard 3 track was the US DreamWorks issue, the 4 track was the UK Virgin release, or
at least that's what I have. AG)
As the cover to cover tour has never been to Europe, I would really like to find an audio or
video recording of this performance. Can sombody help me?
(See Stefan's posting above. AG)
Seeya! Eric
"Looking
for some education..."
flex-at-idirect.com (Bruce Colero) writes: Anyone know where i can get a copy (or if there is
one) of the cover to cover tour? or the wham final? thanx
(Popular question today isn't it? Hey Stefan, better find that
address quick!!! As for Final Wham! concert: I know a source for the video, but it's not cheap, and to some might not be worth the
$. The audio is a bit better, and more worth the $. I bought the video--which contains only excerpts--for I think $20 US, and the
audio tape--full show--for $6. BEWARE: I HAVE HEARD COMPLAINTS ABOUT HER, but here is her name and e mail address: Nancy Schnitzler
yogfan-at-adnetsol.com. She has quite a selection of videos and audios, but I beg to differ on her grading system. E mail her for
more details. AG)
"Change is a stranger you have yet to know..."
mpatter2-at-ic3.ithaca.edu
writes: George Michael's songs touch me completely. His lyrics and mellow music pretty much sum up the sensitive side of this
nineteen year old from Ithaca, New York. I think George's best are "Waiting for That Day", "Jesus To A Child",
"Older", "It Doesn't Really Matter", and "To Be Forgiven". They are all truly beautiful songs and have
helped to open a lot of my friend's eyes to his incredible passion for his music.
(Thanks for sharing. AG)
I
know I promised trivia answers, but I mean, come on, only one of you even attempted any!!! Will post them in Saturday's YOGMAIL, so
come on everybody, give them a shot!
LOTS OF POSTINGS, THIS IS GOOD! KEEP IT UP EVERYBODY!!!!