George Soros Biliography

This is the third of four studio dates featuring guitarists George Van Eps and Howard Alden together, except that they are both on seven-string instruments and without a rhythm section this time around. Alden's step up to the more versatile instrument enables him to use a bassline when needed while also enabling him to achieve chord voicings that weren't possible on a six-string instrument. Like their earlier collaborations, this CD concentrates on well-hewn standards that have great melodies which provide inspiration for lyrical improvisations, ranging from a relatively easygoing "Ja-Da" to a shimmering "Skylark." Van Eps goes it alone on his newly written "Salute to Basie" and a very soft "Last Night When We Were Young." Fans of jazz guitar should snap up this gem, along with all other dates by George Van Eps and Howard Alden (whether they're together or featured individually).

Five Live is an EP released in 1993, featuring five (in some countries, where it is considered to be a reduced-length long-playing album, six) tracks, performed by George Michael, Queen, and Lisa Stansfield. "Somebody to Love" and "These Are the Days of Our Lives" were recorded at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert, held on 20 April 1992, at Wembley Stadium. All proceeds from the sale of the EP benefited the Mercury Phoenix Trust. Sales of the record were very strong throughout Europe, where it debuted at number one on the UK Singles Chart, and several European countries, either considered as a single, or charting on album charts as an extended play or an LP.

George Harrison's albums for Dark Horse drifted out of print in the late '90s as his contract with Warner Brothers expired. Over the half-decade, they fetched high prices on the collector's market, as any relatively rare Beatles-related item does, and the demand for these records - along with the Traveling Wilburys albums, which were part of Harrison's Dark Horse/Warner contract - never diminished. At the time of his death in November 2001, the albums were being prepared for reissue, but his passing delayed them for a few more years, and it wasn't until February 2004 that the albums - Thirty Three & 1/3 (1976), George Harrison (1979), Somewhere In England (1981), Gone Troppo (1982), Cloud Nine (1987), and Live in Japan (1992) - were reissued, both individually and as part of the lavish box set Dark Horse Years 1976-1992. All five of the studio albums have been remastered and are graced with a bonus track or two.

George Harrison went quiet not long after the second Traveling Wilburys album, surfacing only for the Beatles' Anthology in the mid-'90s. He was recording all the while, yet he died before completing the album that would have been the follow-up to 1987's Cloud Nine. His son, Dhani, and his longtime friend/collaborator Jeff Lynne completed the recordings, released late in 2002, nearly a year after George's death, as Brainwashed. Given its baggage it's easy to be suspicious about the merits of Brainwashed prior to hearing it. Posthumous efforts often feel incomplete, Harrison's albums were frequently inconsistent, and Lynne favors ornate, cinematic productions that run contrary to George's desire for this project to be simple and low key - nothing that would suggest that Brainwashed would be a success…

In memory of George Michael. While his detractors are many and he was not immune to criticism, George Michael remains a first class musical performer and an entertainer of rare ability whose place in the great cannon of popular music was assured soon after he split up Wham. This document celebrates the startling longevity and consummate professionalism of George Michael.