Distributed by
Sony Music

Cat.no: 200962 9

Cert: 15

Running time: 119 minutes

Year: 1999

Pressing: 1999

Region(s): 2, PAL

Chapters: 24

Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1, Stereo

Languages: English

Subtitles: English, French, Spanish and Italian

Presented in Fullscreen

16:9-enhanced: No

Macrovision: No

Disc Format: DVD 5

Price: £19.99

Extras : Scene index, Discography, Parkinson interview

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The answer is a resounding yes. After calling time on Wham! with Andrew Ridgeley in the summer of 1986 after "The Edge of Heaven" made No.1, George and his designer stubble went solo, starting with a ballad in "A Different Corner", although he previously hit the top slot with "Careless Whisper" two years before. Three superb albums later, "Faith", "Listen Without Prejudice Vol.1" and "Older" and the musical man from Greece has established himself as one of the biggest selling artists in the UK and has recorded duets with the likes of Elton John, Queen and Aretha Franklin.

He's also no stranger to controversy. In 1998 he was arrested in a public toilet on the other side of the 'big pond' for exposing himself to a police officer. His sexuality was confirmed later that year when he came out and confessed he was gay. As a consequence, he made light of the subject by recording the single "Outside", with a dodgy video to match (the 15-cert on here covers this and the "I Want Your Sex" promos) and went in depth on the matter in an interview on BBC1's Parkinson show.

His singles chart history to the end of 1999 is as follows :

Aug 84	No. 1	Careless Whisper
Apr 86	No. 1	A Different Corner
Jan 87	No. 1	I Knew You Were Waiting For Me (with Aretha Franklin)
Jun 87	No. 3	I Want Your Sex
Oct 87	No. 2	Faith
Jan 88	No.11	Father Figure
Apr 88	No. 8	One More Try
Jul 88	No.13	Monkey
Dec 88	No.18	Kissing A Fool
Aug 90	No. 6	Praying For Time
Oct 90	No.23	Waiting For That Day
Dec 90	No.28	Freedom
Feb 91	No.31	Heal The Pain
Mar 91	No.45	Cowboys And Angels
Dec 91	No. 1	Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me (with Elton John)
Jun 92	No. 4	Too Funky
May 93	No. 1	Somebody To Love (with Queen)
Jan 96	No. 1	Jesus To A Child
May 96	No. 1	Fastlove
Aug 96	No. 2	Spinning The Wheel
Feb 97	No. 3	Older / I Can't Make You Love Me
May 97	No. 2	Star People '97
Jun 97	No.10	Waltz Away Dreaming (with Toby Bourke)
Sep 97	No. 2	You Have Been Loved / The Strangest Thing '97
Oct 98	No. 2	Outside
Mar 99	No. 4	As (with Mary J. Blige)

The picture quality is perfect, bar the occasional minor artifact that is really nothing to worry about. The average bitrate is a fine 6.49Mb/s, frequently peaking over 9Mb/s for the music videos, plus 5.39Mb/s for the Parkinson programme. I've noted the ratio of the disc at the start of this review as fullscreen, but it tends to vary during the videos depending on the ratio used. None of them are anamorphic, but the promo video for "Older" is a curiosity and a widescreen TV's anamorphic mode does improve upon it.

The sound comes in Stereo and Dolby Digital 5.1 and is perfect. Full-stop. No complaints whatsoever.

Extras. :

Chapters :

1. Outside

2. Fastlove

3. Spinning The Wheel

4. Freedom 90

5. Killer / Papa Was A Rolling Stone

6. Too Funky

7. Faith

8. I Want Your Sex

9. Jesus To A Child

10. Waltz Away Dreaming (with Toby Bourke)

11. Father Figure

12. Older

13. Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me

14. Kissing A Fool

15. I Knew You Were Waiting For Me (with Aretha Franklin)

16. Somebody To Love (with Queen)

17. Monkey

18. One More Try

19. Star People '97

20. I Can't Make You Love Me

21. A Different Corner

22. You Have Been Loved

23. Careless Whisper

Languages & Subtitles :

And there's more... :

Menu :

The menu is static and functional, but exhibits the classy look of the album.

Overall, this beats both the compilation album and the accompanying video tape releases into a cocked hat by combining the benefits of both (i.e. skipping to whichever video you want as instantly as possible). If I had any wishes for extra material I'd include promos for his recent collaboration with Mary J. Blige plus any other singles he released for which he never actually made videos (if miracles were on the cards), not to mention the 1987 interview he made for Channel 4, George Michael and Jonathan Ross Have Words, in the light of the "I Want Your Sex" single which was banned from many radio stations during prime-time listening, which is the last time I recall seeing him interviewed on TV before Parkinson.

However, what we have here looks and sounds superb and if you're a fan too, get down to your local DVD emporium and purchase a copy - just don't make an exhibition of yourself when you're out and about (!)

FILM	 		: *****
PICTURE QUALITY		: ****½
SOUND QUALITY		: *****
EXTRAS			: **½
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OVERALL			: ****

Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 2000.