Wham! – The Edge Of Heaven

If George Michael gave one hint on what his debut solo album would comprise of whilst still in Wham!, 'Battlestations' is most certainly it. This unusual track, as atypical Wham! as they come, saw the group move away from the bubblegum pop they were best known for and head towards a more subtle, cooler and infinitely slicker direction. Gone are the happy go lucky choruses, the keyboards abundant in positive energy and the quirky basslines. What we're left with now is a raw, stripped-down electro-powered backing track and atop of it a bassline so seductively groovy, it would embarrass Rick James himself. The lyrics deal with your typical battle-of-the-sexes (hence the title 'Battlestations'.), but what else would you expect from George Michael in the mid 80s? "When you talk, it's like a razor / You use your words like weapons / Here we go - Battlestations!" On the whole, it sounds like a track that was recorded for 'Faith', but was ultimately left off because it competed too much with the already arrestable 'I Want Your Sex'. Fortunately, 'Battlestations' ended up on Wham! last album, 'Music From The Edge of Heaven' and was amongst the highlights on an otherwise great final effort from one of the 80's most successful groups.