Sound Advice: CD Reviews - George Michael (Faith)

CD Review:
Even though George Michael suffers from the bubblegum pop star label that most serious music lovers tag him with, not necessarily without merit as his days with Wham! show, he does have talent.

Faith, his first solo album, transcends this simple label (bubble gum) some what. Although "I Want Your Sex," in all its versions, is unabashedly a dance-pop song, George doesn't stick to the formula. Mixing in R&B and Soul, George shows off his voice to great benefit.

One thing George does have is a great voice. On many occasions, outside his own songs, he shows off this voice. The occasion that strikes me most was his duet with Elton John on John's song "Don't Let the Sun Go down on me." Elton John is shown to have an average voice when compared to Michael's.

Faith is Michael's tour de force. Spawning at least 5 hit singles, it was all over the radio and in the clubs in the late '80s and becomes my pick as the 2nd best pop album from the decade (behind Thriller). What people seem to not realize is that George arranged, produced, and wrote all the music you hear on the album. A feat usually left for better people from one dimensional pop singers.

Being the first white man to hit #1 on the R&B charts in the States was no small feat. Aretha Franklin had enough respect for his talent (as well as the aforementioned Elton John) that she sang with him on the song "I Knew You Were Waiting for Me." Through some actions partly of his own making, George became a one album wonder and presently is hardly even taken any notice of.

It took three years for Michael to release his second studio album for Columbia and it didn't sell the way Faith did. Faith has sold over 10 million copies and Listen Without Prejudice, Part I reached the million mark and sputtered. "Freedom" and Praying For Time," two singles from his sophomore effort hit the top ten on Billboard in 1990, but the album was not considered in the same light as Faith. Michael sued Columbia for not promoting the album properly and thus began Michael's fall from stardom.

How much lack of promotion, compared with the actual music on the album, had to contributing for its mediocre sales is anyone's guess, but Michael spent way too much time trying to get Columbia to release him from his contract, that the public moved on leaving Michael behind. It took six years for him to release his 3rd album and no one paid any attention. He hit his ultimate low when Songs from the Last Century was released in 1999. The album had no original material at all.

But for those days in the late '80s when "Father Figure," "Kissing A Fool," "Monkey," "Faith" and "I Want Your Sex" were playing everywhere, George was at his creative best. Like so many other casualties of the '80s, releasing one or two albums and then being thrown aside, George couldn't get out of it and Faith will be the epitaph for his musical life.

Scott D. Brown