Listen without prejudice, volume 1 --- George Michael --- 1990 (Columbia)
Let's be clear on one point: I was
never into Wham! Few guys I think will admit they were, but I genuinely hated the band, and I use that term very loosely and grudgingly. They stood for everything I despise about music, and I was glad when they broke up. I had to amend my opinion though when George Michael went solo. There was a lot of his work I didn't like --- mostly the dance stuff --- but by gum he knew how to write a ballad! So although “Faith” passed me by, I decided to take a chance when his second solo album came out, mostly on the recommedation of my boss at the time.
“Listen without prejudice, volume 1” (there never was a volume 2, though one had been planned) lives up to its title. It's a stark departure from the pop/dance tunes with which his previous album is laced, and for which, along with his involvement in Wham!, he had become identified with. It's a much more mature album, and at times, yeah, it rocks!
The first thing to help sway my opinion of this guy was the first single released from the album, which is also the opening track. It's a power ballad, with great heavy keyboards, acoustic guitar and thumping drums, with a “save the world” lyric with some excellent lines:
”I guess somewhere along the way/ He must have let us all out to play/ Turned His back/ And all God's children/ Crept out the back door.” Not the sort of subject matter we had been used to hearing from this ex-pretty boy popstar. His voice is powerful and passionate on the song, and there's real emotion there. He doesn't just sing either: George Michael plays guitar, keyboards, even percussion, and also arranges the horns used on the more soul-type tracks later. “Praying for time” is a powerful, dramatic opener and puts you in the frame of mind that says this may not be such a bad album after all!
Then it's followed by “Freedom 90”, and we're back to the days of Wham! Dancey, poppy, with insistent keyboard, handclaps and not too much guitar, but with an interesting lyric where Michael recalls his previous approach to the music business when he sings
”Didn't know what I wanted to be/ I was every little/ Hungry schoolgirl's pride and joy/ And I guess it was not for me.” It's obvious he's trying to break out here, establish himself as a more credible artist and not just a pretty boy singer, and there's a nod back to his Wham! Days when he grins
”What a kick/ Just a buddy and me.”
Things unfortunately don't get any better with his cover of Stevie Wonder's “They won't go when I go.” It's slow, monotonous, almost gospel and to me very depressing, especially the “backing moans”, but things start to look up when “Something to save” makes its entrance. With a nice acoustic guitar melody and some lovely violin it's a simple song, short but very memorable. It's followed by one of the standout tracks, “Cowboys and angels”, which comes in on tinkling piano, courtesy of Chris Cameron, and synth-wind noises, then carried on a fizzing keyboard line and a great beat, with a breathy vocal by George Michael, and lovely saxophone from Andy Hamilton. A lovely mid-paced ballad with minimal percussion and some really nice bass lines too.
Now my faith (pardon the pun!) in this album is rekindled, and I'm really beginning to enjoy it. “Waiting for that day” keeps the quality high, another mid-pacer with lovely organ and a melody very reminiscent of that old Stones chestnut, “You can't always get what you want”, to the point that Michael actually includes the chorus at the end of the song as it fades out. Superb. But that's nothing compared to what's to come.
Without question one of the greatest ballads, and anti-war songs, of the past decade, “Mother's pride” probably edges it in the fight for top track. On a simple piano and keyboard line, it decries the practice of men going off to war, the way it's glamourised by, among others, the mothers who send their sons to fight for their country:
”Still hear the women say/ Your daddy died a hero.” The lyric cleverly and emtionally goes through several changes, reflecting the state of the boy to a man to a soldier to a corpse, as he starts off as
”A baby boy/ In his father's eyes to
”Just a boy/ In his country's eyes/ He's a soldier” and to
”Crazy boy/ His lifeless eyes/ He's a soldier now forevermore.” Stunning, absolutely stunning. If anything was to elevate George Michael to the status of serious artist, this is it. And it does. Heartbreakingly perfect.
After that, it's hard to get too excited about “Heal the pain”, which though it's a good acoustic semi-ballad, is a bit of an anti-climax, and “Soul free” is just annoying funk and ruins the good feeling I've been getting from this album. Closer “Waiting (reprise)” is nice though, an acoustic ballad that, though short, manages to encompass the feel not only of its parent track, but somehow, of the entire album.
As you probably realised by now, “Listen without prejudice” was a big surprise to me, and a pleasant one at that. I haven't bought a George Michael album since, nor do I plan to, and as this was a commercial flop for the artist it's a path he didn't retread, which is a pity, but means that this album stands as a testament to the other side of George Michael, the personal and senstiive side, the mature and serious side, what he could do when he really pushed himself and freed himself from the constraints put on him by record labels and fans alike. It's a tribute to him that he managed to see his vision realised, even if it didn't open up a whole new style of music for him. He went on to become mega-successful, selling over one hundred million albums. Not bad for a poor boy from Greece!
So, do like it says on the tin, and you're unlikely to be disappointed with this album. Just a pity he never got to write Volume 2...
TRACKLISTING
1. Praying for time
2. Freedom 90
3. They won't go when I go
4. Something to save
5. Cowboys and angels
6. Waiting for that day
7. Mother's pride
8. Heal the pain
9. Soul free
10. Waiting (reprise)