George Michael 25

Billboard revealed the tracklist for George Michael's upcoming greatest hits collection, Twenty Five. The album will be sold as a 2-disc or 3-disc set. There will also be a DVD videos collection. The collection does include some good stuff left off his previous hits collection, 1998's Ladies and Gentlemen, but as is usually the case with these things, there are some obvious omissions.

On the plus side:
1. This collection includes four Wham! hits.
2. Almost all of his singles since the 1998 set are here (the six Patience singles, plus the two newer singles recorded for the album, "An Easier Affair" and "This Is Not Real Love (with Mutya Buena)."
3. There's a new version of "Heal the Pain," re-recorded as a duet with Paul McCartney
4. "As" is included. "As" is a duet with Mary J. Blige that was included as a new song on the UK version of the Ladies and Gentlemen set, but omitted from the US version. I presume this was because her record company didn't want her associated with him so soon after his toilet incident. Pity, because it was a fantastic single, hitting #4 in Britain.
5. "Older," which was omitted from the last collection, is included here.

On the minus side:
1. The single version of "I Want Your Sex," which was missing from Ladies and Gentlemen, is once again missing here.
2. Several other big hits that made the last set are missing, including #1 hits like "I'm Your Man," "Edge of Heaven," "I Knew You Were Waiting," and "Monkey."
3. Nothing from the Five Live EP was included.
4. George Michael's duet with Whitney Houston, "If I Told You That," a top 10 hit for them, is not here.

Disc 3 seems like kind of waste. It's made up of mostly album cuts, including seven tracks from Patience and three tracks from his 1999 covers album, Songs from the Last Century.

Here's the track list for the 2-discs of hits:

"Everything She Wants," Wham!
"Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go," Wham!
"Freedom," Wham!
"Faith"
"Too Funky"
"Fastlove"
"Freedom '90"
"Spinning the Wheel"
"Outside"
"As" with Mary J. Blige
"Freeek!"
"Shoot the Dog"
"Amazing"
"Flawless (radio edition)"
"An Easier Affair"

Disc two:
"Careless Whisper"
"Last Christmas," Wham!
"A Different Corner"
"Father Figure"
"One More Try"
"Praying for Time"
"Heal the Pain" with Paul McCartney
"Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" with Elton John
"Jesus to a Child"
"Older"
"Round Here"
"You Have Been Loved"
"John and Elvis Are Dead"
"This Is Not Real Love" with Mutya