Make It Big

by

Wham!

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High school, junior year, 1985. "Freedom" was the first single I heard from Wham! and although I didn't get the whole album until years later, I recognized George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley as an integral part fusing pop and white soul, and pop with funk and brass rhythms.

The fun, swinging, upbeat funky bass, the brass section in the bridge, and George Michael's soulful vocals that reminded me of a more refined El DeBarge makes "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" a piece of classic 1980's pop. Some may cringe at the lyrics used to rhyme with "go-go" like "yo-yo" or "going solo." I'd give anything to have a girl with these qualities: "You get the gray skies outta my way/You make the sun shine brighter than Doris Day/Turn a bright spark into a flame/My beats per minute never been the same."

Yet another single, "Everything She Wants", complete with funky Stevie Wonder-style keyboards is another example of white soul, and has Michael bewailing a marriage where his hard work of giving is not rewarded with equal giving from the woman. He asks in despair, "Somebody tell me/Won't you tell me.../Why I work so hard for you?/All to give you money." Eventually, he believes "All the things we sign/And the things we buy/Ain't gonna keep us together.../Girl, it's just a matter of time." What was it the Beatles said more cogently... "money can't buy you love."

"Heartbeat", with its prominent keyboards sounds like something Bill Steinman might do on a Bonnie Tyler album, say, "Take Me Back" from Faster Than The Speed Of Night crossed with Sheena Easton's "Long Distance Love Affair." A wistful poignant high school love song with a sweet swinging beat.

Things get nighttime mellow with the jazzy keyboards in "Like A Baby." It's this song which is a template to what George Michael would develop in "Kissing A Fool" from Faith. His falsetto really blooms with emotion in certain lines.

Trumpeting brass and keyboards with those three repeated notes herald "Freedom", the song that introduced me to George and Andrew with repeated viewing on MTV. I had my classmate Howard copy this for me. That catchy bridge and chorus will always stay with me: "But you know that I'll forgive you/Just this once...twice...forever/'cause baby, you could drag me to hell and back/Just as long as we're together/And you do...." Chorus says "I don't want your freedom.../I don't want to play around.../I don't want nobody baby/Part time love just brings me down/I don't want your freedom/Girl, all I want right now is you." For sentimental reasons, a classic.

A brass opening and a cantering beat characterizes "Credit Card Baby", who is a materialistic girl using a guy, who's probably got money to spend, as he says, "You can have my credit card baby/But keep your red hot fingers off of my heart lady." It amounts to, "Hey, if you want my money, just say so straight out, but don't try to wheedle it out by saying you love me." And giving another nod to the "money can't buy you love" theme, there's "Between the ocean and the sky/There are things that you can't buy/And if you look you'll see/One of them is me"

A more mid-tempo, relaxing jazz-pop/soul number, "If You Were There" follows. Closest thing to filler on this album.

After "Freedom", my second favourite is the haunting ballad "Careless Whisper", on infidelity and the regret that follows. It's that acoustic guitar during verses, chorus, and sax solo following it that touches me down there: "I'm never gonna dance again/Guilty feet have got no rhythm/Though it's easy to pretend/I know you're not a fool/I should have known better than to cheat a friend/And waste a chance that I'd been given." For other similar melancholy melodies, compare Wham's cover of Was Not Was's "Where Did Your Heart Go" on Music From The Edge Of Heaven and Debbie Gibson's "Foolish Beat."

"Freedom" and the singles from this album, as well as their swansong Music From The Edge Of Heaven became part of my essential 80's music education.

Wham's 1984 album Make It Big certainly did that for the English duo. The lead single "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" received massive rotation on MTV and the single shot all the way up to number one. At the time they were generally dismissed as light weight bubble gummers, but almost thirty years later the album holds up as solid release. George Michael is an r&b singer at heart and the production puts a nice poppy, glossy sheen over his white soul singing. "Careless Whisper" is a true pop gem with a spot on vocal by Mr. Michael and is carried by a longing, wailing sax throughout the plaintive song. "Everything She Wants" has a sultry thumping vibe and "Freedom" like "Wake Me Up" is pure bubblegum.