This came out in 1999 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
A covers album, by George.
A year after his best-of set Ladies And Gentlemen, pop icon George Michael returns with another retrospective — this time spanning the last century. Pulling a Bryan Ferry, he reinterprets tunes all the way from the dirty ’30s (Brother Can You Spare A Dime?, My Baby Just Cares For Me) up to the ’90s (U2’s Miss Sarajevo), often using jazzy, period arrangements and crooning like a lounge lizard working the big room. Along the way, he proves two things: 1) Pop music has changed plenty in 100 years, but a great song is still a great song; and 2) Even though his voice has matured since the Wham! days, Michael still doesn’t have the chops for Frank Sinatra classics like Where Or When. Still, this interesting diversion beats hearing another rendition of Careless Whisper.
