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''Fantastic'' is the debut studio album by English pop duo
Wham! Wham! were an English pop duo formed in Bushey in 1981 consisting of George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley. They were one of the most successful pop acts during the 1980s, selling more than 30 million certified records worldwide from 1982 to ...
, released on 1 July 1983. It reached number one on the
UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...
. It included the previously released singles " Young Guns", " Wham Rap!" and " Bad Boys". " Club Tropicana" was released as a single to coincide with the album's release. Although not on the album, " Club Fantastic Megamix" (a medley of songs from the album) was released against the band's wishes by Innervision soon after ''Fantastic'', and whilst they were in proceedings to leave the label. According to
Andrew Ridgeley Andrew John Ridgeley (born 26 January 1963) is an English musician, best known for his work in the 1980s in the musical duo Wham! consisting of Ridgeley and George Michael. Associated with the MTV-driven Second British Invasion of the US, th ...
in his 2019 book ''Wham! George and Me'', it was during the early stages of writing and recording of this album that the pair agreed that
George Michael George Michael (born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou; 25 June 1963 – 25 December 2016) was an English singer-songwriter and record producer. Regarded as a pop culture icon, he is one of the List of best-selling music artists, best-selling rec ...
should take sole responsibility for writing the group's material. Before securing their first record deal, they had written songs together, and made their first demos with these songs. When work started in the studio, Michael—according to Ridgeley—started working "at lightning speed", and it quickly became clear that he was by far the better songwriter. Ridgeley would later say that it was not something that he particularly wanted, but there was no doubt it was the way to go to achieve the success they both wanted. Two new songs, "Golden Soul" and "Soul Boy", were written for the album but both were shelved as "neither of them were any good". The album features a
hidden track In the field of recorded music, a hidden track (sometimes called a ghost track, secret track or unlisted track) is a song or a piece of audio that has been placed on a CD, audio cassette, LP record, or other recorded medium, in such a way as t ...
(played on a
honky-tonk A honky-tonk (also called honkatonk, honkey-tonk, honky tonk, or tonk) is either a bar that provides country music for the entertainment of its patrons or the style of music played in such establishments. It can also refer to the type of piano ...
-style piano) after the final 20 seconds of "Young Guns (Go for It!)". In the US, the album was originally released as the group "WHAM! U.K.", due to a conflict with a US group with the same name (Columbia BFC-38911).


Track listing


Original


Reissue

The track listing of the first edition of the CD and the original cassette tape feature three bonus tracks interspersed within the original track listing, consisting of instrumental remixes. This track listing was again used for the 1998 reissue of the CD.


Personnel

Wham! *
George Michael George Michael (born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou; 25 June 1963 – 25 December 2016) was an English singer-songwriter and record producer. Regarded as a pop culture icon, he is one of the List of best-selling music artists, best-selling rec ...
– lead vocals (1–4, 7, 8), backing vocals (1–3), arrangements (4–7), all vocals (5, 6), horn arrangements (5), instruments (6) *
Andrew Ridgeley Andrew John Ridgeley (born 26 January 1963) is an English musician, best known for his work in the 1980s in the musical duo Wham! consisting of Ridgeley and George Michael. Associated with the MTV-driven Second British Invasion of the US, th ...
– guitars (1–5, 7, 8), arrangements (4) Additional musicians * Jess Bailey – keyboards (1) * Anne Dudley – keyboards (1, 8) *
Tommy Eyre Tommy Eyre (5 June 1949 – 23 May 2001) was an English session keyboardist from Sheffield, England, who appeared on records by Joe Cocker, John Martyn, Gary Moore, Michael Schenker, the Sensational Alex Harvey Band, Greg Lake, B.B. King, Jo ...
– keyboards (2, 3, 5, 7) * Bob Carter – keyboards (4) * Robert Ahwai – guitars (1–3, 7, 8) * Deon Estus – bass (1–3, 5, 7), backing vocals (1) * John McKenzie – bass (4) * Brad Lang – bass (8) * Trevor Murrell – drums (1–3, 5, 6) * Andy Duncan – drums (4), percussion (4, 5) *
Graham Broad Graham Broad (born 10 March 1957) is an English drummer who has been playing professionally since the age of fifteen, after attending the Royal College of Music in 1970. He is a former pupil of drumming educator Lloyd Ryan, who also taught Phi ...
– drums (7, 8) * Luís Jardim – percussion (1, 3) * Tony Moroni – percussion (2) * Jeff Daly – saxophones (1) * David Baptiste – saxophones (2, 3, 7) * Chris Hunter – saxophones (4) * Ian Ritchie – saxophones (5), horn arrangements (5) * Andy Mackintosh – saxophones (8) * Paul Cox – trumpet (1) * Martin Drover – trumpet (1) * Colin Graham – trumpet (2, 3, 7) * Raul D'Oliveria – trumpet (2, 3, 7) * Guy Barker – trumpet (4) * Roddy Lorimer – trumpet (5) * Bert Ezard – trumpet (8) * J. Healey – trumpet (8) * Linton Ace – string arrangements (3) * Dee C. Lee – backing vocals (1, 8) * Ruby Mason – backing vocals (1) * Jimmy Chambers – backing vocals (3) * George Chandler – backing vocals (3) * Tony Jackson – backing vocals (3) * Katie Kissoon – backing vocals (7) * Stevie Lange – backing vocals (7) * Sylvia Mason-James – backing vocals (7) * Lynda Hayes – backing vocals (8) * Shirlie Holliman – backing vocals (8) * Josie James – backing vocals (8) Shouting on "Wham Rap! (Enjoy What You Do?)" * Bob Carter, George Michael, David Mortimer, Andrew Ridgeley and Paul Ridgeley Handclaps on "Club Tropicana" * Deon Estus, Steve Evans, George Michael, Andrew Ridgeley and Phil Wilcox


Production

* George Michael – producer (1–3, 5–8) * Steve Brown – producer (1–3, 5–8) * Bob Carter – producer (4) * Tony Taverner – engineer * Wham! – cover design * Shoot That Tiger! – cover design * Chris Craymer – front cover photography, inner sleeve photography * Janusz Guttner – inner sleeve photography


Charts


Weekly charts


Year-end charts


Certifications and sales


Club Fantastic Tour

Michael and Ridgeley embarked on a UK tour to promote the album in October 1983, opening at Aberdeen's Capitol Theatre, before going on to dates in Scotland, England and Wales, and ending in November at the
Centre Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...
in Brighton.


References

{{Authority control 1983 debut albums Wham! albums Columbia Records albums Innvervision Records albums