Wham! - Club Tropicana b/w Blue (Armed With Love) (1983)

"Club Tropicana" is a single by English pop duo Wham!, released on 22 July 1983 on Innervision Records. It was written by members George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley.

"Club Tropicana" was written in 1981 in Ridgeley's living room, before the band or bandname had been fully established, and was the second Wham! song they came up with after the initial "Wham Rap!". 

Although only half finished at the time of recording, it became one of the three home demos hastily made on a hired porta-studio which led to their first record contract with Innervision Records. 

The initial song inspiration came from their excitement over the glamour and escapism of the then burgeoning New Romantic club scene, and Michael, Ridgeley and Shirlie Holliman's occasional visits to one such club in London, Le Beat Route. 

The song's lyrical theme was then expanded to also include the hedonism of summery Club 18-30 holidays, whilst musically fusing a Latin jazz rhythm with a groove inspired by the Gap Band's "Burn Rubber on Me".

The song was a mild departure from Wham!'s previous singles, which had all been motivated by social or political issues. "Club Tropicana", however, was a homage to the hedonistic London nightclubs that George and Andrew used to frequent in the early days of the band. 

The B-side, "Blue (Armed with Love)", is a semi-instrumental dub track, which was cut once the Fantastic album was finished – Michael was involved as sole producer. Michael and Ridgeley spent the 11 hours they had available putting the track together, but it wasn't fully finished and ended up being released in its incomplete state as a B-side.

A - Club Tropicana  (4:25)

        Engineer – Tony Tavener

        Producer – George Michael, Steve Brown

        Written-By – Andrew Ridgely, George Michael

B - Blue (Armed With Love)  (3:50

        Engineer – Chris Porter

        Producer – George Michael

        Written-By – George Michael

Companies, etc.

• Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Innervision Records (2)
• Copyright © – CBS Records
• Published By – Morrison Leahy Music Ltd.
• Distributed By – CBS Disques
• Pressed By – CBS, Haarlem – 01-3613

Credits

• Recorded By, Mixed By – George Michael, Steve Brown

Taken from the studio album Wham! - Fantastic.

Notes

Released: 1983

Format:  Vinyl, 7", 45 RPM, Single

Genre:  Dance-pop

Label:  Epic 

Catalog#  A 3613

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1e_GpB-ZIVSbIMHkUSogASquCBRW_YiaU/view?usp=drive_link