essential
Listen Without Prejudice, Vol. 1 (1990)
George Michael knew he would always be a white boy. But he kept going. He laid a sample of James Brown’s “Funky Drummer” beat over a campfire guitar (“Waiting For That Day”), his waltz “Cowboys And Angels” was illustrated by Andy Hamilton’s saxophone, Stevie Wonder’s “They Won’t Go When I Go” he recorded alone, live on the piano. Michael was 27, he was planning to say goodbye to pop star existence, which he would work through unsuccessfully until his death.
In the clip for “Freedom! ’90” the exceptional singer destroyed his image as a hip-swinging jeans monster and burned the “Faith” sunglasses. There’s a lot of movement on this record, but anything written for the dancefloor sounds like music to be listened to in spite of everything can dance – like the dirty dub of “Soul Free”. And he managed to be taken more seriously. “Mother’s Pride,” a ballad about a fallen boy soldier, became a radio hit during the 1991 Gulf War – the most important peace songs are not those released in wartime, but those that were already there, that seem to have foreshadowed the war .
He placed his most significant recording at the beginning of his best album (the one he liked least): “Praying For Time” about a God who has lost faith in people who love war: “God can’t come back/ Cause he has no children to come back for.” A rare example of a believable protest song written by a superstar of his day. George Michel does not appear in the video clip – he only shows the lyrics on a black background.
Older (1996)
The heroin came later, here he only smoked weed to endure the grief he would never get over. After the death of his idol Antônio Carlos Jobim, his partner Anselmo Feleppa also died. Michael would not compose a more desperate farewell song than “You Have Been Loved”, even if the album coincides with the lounge revival – unfortunately heralded by Austin Powers and Mike Flowers.
The text associations of “To Be Forgiven”: the river, the seasons as a symbol of death and birth, show how much he was able to immerse himself in the bossa nova à la Jobim and João Gilberto. In the UK he amassed a record six Top 3 singles, five of which were held back from the throne only by stiff competition, including Spice Girls’ ‘Wannabe’ and Elton John’s ‘Candle In The Wind 1997’. “Jesus To A Child” is probably the only number one in which a gay man mourns his partner’s death from AIDS. In the USA he was done after coming out two years later.
Patience (2004)
The last studio album. He only died twelve years later, and yet there are traces of an old work on this record by the only 41-year-old. He danced over shadows with house and R&B, but the ballads are about pain. Suicide in the family (“My Mother Had A Brother”), growing up as the son of a Greek immigrant (“Round Here”) and, a theme since the Wham! days, doubts about the value pop stars have for society (” John And Elvis Are Dead”).
In the “Shoot The Dog” video he parodies Tony Blair and George W. Bush, against whose Iraq war he positioned himself – his most important political song. In “Precious Box” it says: “Have I a family? I guess not/ Because no one comes in the morning/ No one comes in the evening time.” He was lonely lately. The “Last Christmas” singer was found dead in his bed on Christmas Day 2016.
Rewarding
Faith (1987)
“The Joshua Tree”, “Hysteria”, “Appetite For Destruction”, “Bad”, “Kick” and “Sign O’ The Times”: No music year of the eighties was more competitive – and yet the solo debut of the 24-year-old was that best selling album of the year. George was unsure, practicing homages to Otis Redding (“One More Try”) and Prince (“I Want Your Sex”), plus the theme song was more Shakin’ Stevens than Elvis, the video looked like a Levi’s commercial. Sinatra had rejected the “Kissing A Fool” composed for him.
A total of four number one hits in the US (only Michael Jackson had more with five from “Bad”), and in 1988 George Michael embarked on his last major world tour – Jackson and Prince booked stadiums in that tightly packed summer of concerts, himself amazingly only halls.
wham!
Make It Big (1984)
Wouldn’t the duo be called Wham! and had its singer not released “Last Christmas” that same year, this album would have been recognized for what it is: SophistiPop. “Careless Whisper”, but especially “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go” could have been recorded by The Style Council – nobody would have grinned. Michael wrote the saxophone solo of “Careless Whisper” when he was seventeen, “Everything She Wants” is the unrivaled working-class anthem of the electro-pop generation.
wham!
Fantastic (1983)
The Debut. “Whamrap! (Enjoy What You Do)” included the band’s name as a proclamation (adopted from punk, sadly out of fashion) and is about a freeloader who collects welfare instead of looking for a job. Like so many white artists, George Michael confronted the halfway new genre of rap with satire – he raps as if read from the sheet. Rarely recognized at the time, the wonderfully swinging “Club Tropicana” is pure irony, a comment against all-inclusive tourism.
supplementary
Songs From The Last Century (1999)
The turn of the millennium inspired some artists to canonize the music of the 20th century. With producer Phil Ramone, George Michael gracefully dressed ten pieces in a swing and jazz arrangement. Eight songs were already jazz in the template, with two other pop pickings (“Roxanne”, “Miss Sarajevo”) he proved his taste.
FiveLive (1993)
Hugely successful, cleverly compiled EP that kept him talking in the middle of a six year album hiatus. The five songs weren’t originals, but covers like the “Papa Was A Rollin’ Stone/Killer” medley and the great “Somebody To Love” from the Freddie Mercury tribute concert.
Weaker
Symphony (2014)
Orchestral albums can be visionary – when a musician records new material with the orchestra. If it only accompanies old hits, the reinterpretation of a back catalog always seems a bit helpless, smells warmed up. Some sounds creepy (“A Different Corner”), but at least the choice of cover tracks, such as “Let Her Down Easy” by Terence Trent D’Arby, testifies to Michael’s extravagance. “Me and orchestra? That would have been something of Rod Stewart,” he dismissed a few years earlier. well
Movie
A Different Story (2004)
Documentary about the release of the album “Patience” that is unsurpassable in terms of lack of vanity. Stoically, Michael also answers superfluous questions: “Did I like Andrew Ridgeley? Not my type!” It’s fun and sad at the same time to see how he laughs and sneaks through the hedges of his parents’ garden and remarks that unfortunately that time is over.
gems
Demos, live recordings, duets and tributes
“You And I”
His last Stevie Wonder cover, following “They Won’t Go When I Go”, “Blame It On The Sun”, “Love’s In Need Of Love Today” and “As”. Wedding present for William and Kate.
“Desafinado”
Bossa Nova legend Astrud Gilberto, now 81, lived a secluded life as early as 1996. Here she sang with Michael – both in Portuguese.
“December Song (I Dreamed Of Christmas)”
Last Christmas is very similar to the Peaches & Herb classic Reunited. With this second Christmas single, released in 2009, he wanted to do it again. And: This song is actually more beautiful!
“White Light”
At the opening of the London 2012 Olympic Games, pop stars sang British evergreens. Only Michael really wanted to promote his new single in front of an audience of millions. Technoid wasteland about alleged near-death experiences – hard to associate with the Olympics.
“Blue (Armed With Love)”
The only original Wham! B-side is available only on a Japanese best-of and live version on the VHS of Wham! In China”.
“Trojan Souls”
On SoundCloud: Instrumental version of the 1993 and until now unreleased album with songs for other artists and meaningful working titles like “Seal’s Song”.
“Jive Talkin'”
Anyone growing up in the ’80s might have mistaken the Bee Gees song for George Michael. Andros Georgiou brought the singer related to him into his duet formation Boogie Box High, from which this cover version arose in 1987.
“Heal The Pain”
The Beatlesque “Listen Without Prejudice” song re-recorded together, of course, with Paul McCartney.
“This Is How (We Want You To Get High)”
First posthumously released single of 2019. The singer’s estate administrators have kept a low profile regarding possible archive treasures for years. Perhaps it was not without reason that George Michael left this Eurodance song with scraps of classical music in his safe.