George Michael - Faith
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Free Music Notes for Faith
Free Music Review: George's maturation process started slowly here
Hit: 5 Stars
When people look back at George Michael's days with Wham!, it is either with disdain or as the beginning of a career in pop music that still shows some promise if the public will just accept it. True, George may have been both the brains & brawn behind Wham!, but he hadn't been accepted as his own man yet. So when he officially went solo in 1986, he set about conquering the world & proving that he wasn't one-half of Wham!, he was George Michael.FAITH hit the shelves in the summer of 1987 & naturally took the charts & the world by storm. With an album that would eventually spawn 6 top 5 hits (a record not beaten until Janet Jackson did with RHYTHM NATION) & sell 10+ million copies, anyone would be a fool to say George didn't deserve it. The music was catchy & fresh & of course, George was not a bad looker either. While he would soon rebel against the things that he said held him back as an artist, I'm sure during the blockbuster success of FAITH, he wasn't complaining all that much.
The first song to reach the public was the controversial "I Want Your Sex". Featured in the movie BEVERLY HILLS COP II, the video for the song was only shown on MTV after midnight & in the now-AIDS-conscious time that was the 1980s, a song about wanting to have sex was more than a bit daring. George would defend it by saying it was about monogamy. You could see his point, but really the scorching nature of the song would have you believe otherwise. Either way, the song peaked at #2 on the charts, but wouldn't be the last we'd hear of George & FAITH.
The title track was a rockabilly-inspired number that was a far cry from, say, "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go". The change in sound proves that George really did have some more aces up his sleeve than just a dance-floor one. "Faith" topped the charts for 4 weeks & today remains a classic not even blemished by Limp Bizkit's sacrilegious "cover" of it. Three more songs would reach the pop summit: the sultry yet heartfelt "Father Figure" (later sampled by P.M. Dawn on their hit "Looking Through Patient Eyes & even later by LL Cool J on his hit "Father"); the soulful "One More Try" (which actually topped the R&B charts!) & the wonderfully funky "Monkey" (after it was remixed from its rather limp album version by Jam & Lewis).
The remaining songs on the album are equally pointed towards the dance floor with one exception. "Hard Day", "Hand To Mouth" (later covered by Joan Baez, no kidding!) & "Look At Your Hands" were overlooked in all the hoopla surrounding the songs that became hits, but they show the wonderful way George has of getting people to dance. These songs would become bigger club hits than chart singles.
Finally, we have the album's 6th & last top 5 hit, "Kissing A Fool". Probably the best-written song on the album, this jazzy ballad features one of George's best-ever vocal performances & shockingly only reached #5 on the charts. My guess is because it was released more than a year after FAITH first hit the stores, people were starting to grow tired of the album from overexposure. But the song is still an overlooked classic & the title to an equally-underrated romantic comedy.
With a blockbuster album & his face plastered on girls' bedroom walls all over the world, George Michael should have been & was probably rightfully happy with his accomplishments. But I guess George wanted to prove that FAITH only scratched the surface of what he could do. He must have thought the only way to prove to his fans new & old that he was about much more was to break from his past & virtually dismiss any of the adulation he had won courtesy of FAITH.
Unfortunately, George's record label Columbia didn't feel the same way & failed to stand behind his follow-up, 1990's LISTEN WITHOUT PREJUDICE, VOL. 1, as much as they did its predecessor. It would be the beginning of a long stand-off between George & Columbia that would win him his freedom, but alienate his audience. By the time 1996's OLDER came out, George's old fans had moved on to other things & to them, George was a relic of the past. But he hasn't given up, for there has been talk of a new album coming out sometime in 2002. The first single is said to be titled "Freeek", so perhaps George is returning to the winning way he has always had with dance tunes. Until that appears, we'll have an album like FAITH, which is truly a 1980s classic, to both bring back memories & remind us that George Michael is an artist whose talents are not to be underestimated.
Free Music Review: The REAL king of pop at his best
Hit: 5 Stars
A blockbuster album if there ever was one, the level of success that Faith achieved was nothing short of phenomenal. The album shot straight to #1 on the Hot 200, sold over 10 million copies in the US alone, spawned no less than six Top 10 singles on the Hot 100, and even took home the highly-coveted "Album of the Year" Grammy award. The album launched George Michael's solo career, while simultaneously sending him through fame's stratosphere. Writing eight of the nine songs himself (he shares a co-writing credit on "Look at Those Hands"), and producing and arranging the entire disc himself, FAITH is a testament to Michael's undeniable gifts as pop craftsman. More to the point, from start to finish, it's still an amazing record!
The Prince-esque smash "I Want Your Sex" (#2 Pop, #2 Dance, #3 UK Pop) was first heard on the BEVERLY HILLS COP II soundtrack, and created a minor controversy with some conservative groups. They must not have been listening very carefully, however, because the lyrics actually promote adventurous monogamy rather than straight out promiscuity. Either way, the song is as sexy as it is fun, and has a killer groove. The album's fifth single, the almost ridiculously catchy "Monkey" (#1 Pop, #6 R&B, #1 Dance), is similar in spirit, and somehow succeeds at the nearly impossible task of incorporating a meaningful analogy (in this case, the pain of being in love with someone who is a drug addict) into a irresistibly silly pop ditty. Against all odds, it works!
Michael also crafts some more haunting balladry, in the same vein as "Careless Whisper," yet he manages to vary the formula and never rehashes that signature hit. The moody "Father Figure" (#1 Pop, #6 R&B, #3 Adult Contemporary) is possibly one of the most atmospheric pop ballads of the eighties, while the jazzy "Kissing a Fool" ( #5 Pop, #33 R&B, #1 Adult Contemporary) is pure throwback to the big band era of torch singers. My favorite of the disc's ballads, however, is the gorgeous radio-staple "One More Try" (#1 Pop, #2 R&B, #1 Adult Contemporary), with it's beautiful melody and touching-yet-non-cliched lyrics, Michael's cry to a former lover breaks my heart every time I hear it. It is also a prominent vocal showcase for the singer - with it's aching sentiment and soaring chorus, no one can sing this song like George Michael did in 1987.
To my ears, however, the highlight on an album chock full of highlights is the swinging title track (#1 Pop, #5 Adult Contemporary, #2 UK Pop), which plays like a tribute to rockabilly greats like Bo Diddley, Chuck Berry, and Elvis Presley, while managing to contribute something new to the genre as well. From Michael's impressively soulful guitar playing to his then-uncharacteristically impassioned vocal, "Faith" is rivaled only by Queen's 1980, Freddie Mercury-penned smash "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" as the best rockabilly recording since the death of Elvis in 1977. It's ironic that, since Elvis, only two Brits have even come close to mastering one of America's defining genres.
Any nine-song album (the other two tracks are a remix of "Hard Day" and a reprise of "I Want Your Sex") that contains six classic singles would be a worthwhile investment even if the remaining three tracks were rubbish. Impressively, Faith's three non-singles are nearly on par with the classic hits. The sputtering "Hand to Mouth" features a slinkily memorable refrain, the terrific "Look at Those Hands" is simmering piano-based rocker that would make Jerry Lee Lewis proud, and the hard-hitting club cut "Hard Day" (#5 Dance) is the type of eighties dance song that many of us miss today. Though not an official single release, "Hard Day" was released as a 12-inch promo and managed to garner a good deal of radio airplay in addition to becoming a big club hit.
Containing a group of sturdily-constructed pop songs, flawlessly performed and arranged with impeccable style, George Michael's FAITH is a pop music classic. Years after it's original release, it remains fresh and appealing, completely untarnished by Michael's personal scandals, his erratic schedule of new material, or the unflappable desire to be taken seriously in his later years. It's a vivid snapshot of an largely underrated artist at the peak of his powers. It does exactly what great music is supposed to do: endure.
Free Music Review: The Emancipation of George
Hit: 5 Stars
"Why can't you do it, why can't you set your monkey free?" Long before the embarrassing sex and drug scandals, long before the regrettable images of a wasted, baggy eyed gray beard slouched over a steering wheel, there was a young hungry artist who, upon shedding a stifling teeny bopper image and an increasingly superfluous musical partner in Andrew Ridgeley, blossomed into an artist of amazing depth and maturity. The album Faith was his emancipation. For my money the most accomplished and sophisticated popular album of the 1980s, Faith blends influences seamlessly- from 50s rockabilly, to 30s jazzy torchsong, to futuristic funk, to bluesy balladry- into an organic trip. It was also the album that established Michael as the biggest solo artist of the late 80s.
Pre album release, Michael's "solo" era had gotten off to a fitful start. The majestic Careless Whisper (ironically co-written with Ridgeley), embellished with flamenco guitar and silky sax flourishes, was officially a solo single, at least in the UK- but in the States, released as Wham! featuring George Michael, as the band were not as established there, their debut album having flopped.
Next came the atmospheric, elegant A Different Corner. By this point, Wham! had played their farewell show at Wembley Stadium and the trademark image of the leather-jacketed, tight stonewashed jean wearing, 3-day stub-bearded archetypical Michael style was well established, having already been previewed the previous year at Live Aid. Ridgeley had been instrumental in the early days of the group as motivating force, image creator, business negotiator, and occasional co-songwriter, but by 1986, his constant flogging at the hands of the press for his perceived meaningless role in Wham! forced the increasingly suffocated Michael's hand.
Just prior to Faith's release, Michael courted his first real controversy with the futuristic, Prince-influenced synthetic funk thrust of first album single I Want Your Sex (also on the Beverly Hills 2 soundtrack). Ostensibly promoting monogamy, this song with the irresistible groove but naughty hook was castigated relentlessly by the press as it rose in the charts, denied a #1 placing in both Billboard and the UK charts primarily due more to its censor by the media than its popularity or sales. As its music video showed, Michael was not yet ready to come out of the closet- a wise move, at least in terms of career.
Album opener Faith is a 'faith'ful tip of the hat to rockabilly, fading in cleverly with a slow church organ dirge that on closer inspection turns out to be the melody for the chorus of Wham! hit Freedom- a not-so-clandestine message that here is an artist breaking free of the shackles of teen pop stardom.
Second track Father Figure has a similar heartbeat bass line to A Different Corner, establishing a mysterious vibe, while somehow avoiding controversy despite its incestuous/religious allusions.
Bluesy slow-waltz ballad One More Try is a showcase for Michael's pleading vocals, and is in my opinion a distant relative of Aretha's Natural Woman- of course Michael dueted with her on the #1 Knew You Were Waiting; she surely inspired him. The funky Hard Day was a hit on the US Dance Chart, the syncopated Hand To Mouth lent a sceptical eye towards Reagan's trickle-down America, Look At Your Hands is decent 80s pop, Monkey was a pop #1 and dance floor filler despite its incrongruent accusatory anti-drug message- and is ironic in light of Mr Michael's recent travails. Kissing A Fool is a gorgeous jazzy period piece lament to a lover lost due to the suggestions of others. The fuzzy double bass tones by sidekick Deon Estus give the song a warm glow, despite its sad imagery.
Michael has created some stunning music since this album, but all in all, Faith is the one to get for George Michael at his very best and hungriest, pre record company battles, sex controversies and drug problems. It will be great to see him on stage again!
Free Music Review: Do Always Have " Faith "
Hit: 5 Stars
{ INTROLUDE } Year: 1987. Place: US. Everybody, ok... almost everybody, were crazy for Michael Jackson , Prince as still known as Prince, Madonna ( at the time of no black crowes, red geisha costumes, etc. ) and this recently broken-up superduo, Wham ! Everybody, ok... almost everybody, predicted that both George Michael and Andrew what's-his-face would sooner or later vanish from the scene. Well.... they were only half right. Law of averages has it that a cute-looking singer / front man who emerged from a lightweight pop duo, then released his first solo album which certainly was expected by self-proclaimed gurus, critics, etc. to either be something quite like those Wham! days stuffs or something that could be a hit or a flop but for sure, in all cases, would disappear in a short period of time to come. Well... in Michael's case it couldn' t be MORE wrong.... { THE ALBUM } Faith: The representative of Elvis-esque style of music in 80's... Father Figure: The sexy heartfelt, seductive ballad that shows both sensitive, feminine side of Michael and strong influence from American R&B music and, for me for some reason, some kind of Arabian flava too... Monkey: The funkiest number in this album with full extent of utmost satisfaction guaranteed ( For those who like TOO FUNKY, you will for sure LOVE this one )... One More Try: For those skeptics who have reasonable doubts in Michael's vocal talents, listen to his angelic sound of vocals and be enlightened by his stunning crooning talents normally reserved by those Afro-american talents only... Kissing A Fool: Blue-jazz style that you will love singing along. Oh.. by the way, if i' m not mistaken, Michael played bass on his own to this song too... I Want Your Sex: The most UNFAIRLY controversial, state-of-the art R&B song containing verses like " Sex is natural / Sex is good / Not everybody does it / But everybody should..."... Hard Day: Shep Pettibone's Mix with hip hop flava that shows you that you don' t have to be in mid-90's to love hip hop; you could be in mid-80's when Run DMC ruled and still love hip hop by a non-black hip hop talent... Look at Your Hands: Who says you could find great piano / keyboard solo in Billy Joel's or Elton John's only ?; you'll find it right here too. Hand to Mouth: Sarcastic yet intelligent lyrics. Lovely yet not too loud beat. Great, manipulated sound of vocals. Great bridge with great, corresponding keyboard on the background. What more could you ask for? Just be my guest and feel free to dance. { The Final } With more than 5 top 10 hits from only one album on the most prestigious music chart in the planet, namely, Billboard Hot 100 Single Chart, the record set as the first solo male singer whose more than 1 million copies of album in CD format had been sold in US alone, the stunning, WOWs results of Grammy Awards ( using former numbers of categories )and American Music Award, the latter of which included that / those category (ies ) traditionally reserved for Afro-american talents only, this album is like a state-of-art Greatest Hits one. The only main difference is that you don' t have to wait for the record company to compile all songs from several albums by the same artist into one Hits album... Michael, with no doubts, proved that you can create an almost, if not, perfect album herein full of only great numbers only if you are as talented as he was ( is )... And to do so, you don' t have to be aggressive, anti-social, depressed type singing about racism, semitism, hatred, suicidal, etc. either. For those of you who have never listend to songs in this album, chances are you are now in your early teens and / or did not buy Ladies & Gentlemen ( his Hits ) either. I DO RECOMMEND this album for you, if you like quality pop music in 90's you will also at least enjoy some, if not all, songs in this album. Have a nice day of Listening Without Prejudice. Shin H. Piyakulkunakon ( MICHAEL )Free Music Review: Faith in George!
Hit: 5 Stars
After that Wham! broke up it was almost inevitable that George Michael would become a solo star, he had already had a solo hit with "Careless Whisper" "A Diffrent Corner" and his duet with Aretha Franklin "I Know You Were Waiting" was also a hit. "Faith" was released in 1987 and it also sold around 10 millions copies, it was without a doubt George's most comercially succesful album. "Faith" shows maturity but it also continues with catchy uptempo songs that Wham! were famous for, it's a great mix between effective soul-pop like the title track and slow personal ballads like "Father Figure". It also had a great streak of 5 #1 hits on the billboard charts. George also became the first white male artist to reach #1 at the R&b charts.
First single "Faith" is a catchy uptempo that almost became a trademark for him. It starts with a face-up organ for most of the song but eventually a one-chord guitar is introduced too. It's a hell of a song. "Father Figure" is a far more moody song, infact it's a soulish ballad that feautures gospel choirs and a somewhat mysterious sound. Both Faith and Father Figure were #1 hits.
"I Want You Sex l&ll" Is indeed 2 diffrent version of the song, it's 9 minutes long. The first one is soul-pop but the second in more retro-soul with horns, something that Phil Collins would have been proud of. The song was considered very controvercial upon it's release, both the title and the lyrics were offensive to many people and the song was banned from certain stations and would only be played at late night on MTV. The song was a #1 hit in US nonetheless.
"One More Try" is a touching ballad about a man not willing to get into a new relationshiop cause he had been hurt so many times before. It was his 4th #1 hit from "Faith". "Hard Day" was never released on single but would have become a hit too I think. It's a uptempo song that reminds me of "I Want Your Sex".
"Hand to Mouth" was also a non-single, it a great touching slow paced song about the American Dream. It tells the story of 2 diffrent people that both want to experience the American Dream, but none succeeds one shoots at people and the other one ends up becoming a prostitute. Critizism to Reagan's America, simular to the recent single "Shoot the Dog" towards Bush.
"Look At Your Hands" is a jazzy song that also brings up social issues, this time domestic violence. "Monkey" is a catchy uptempo aswell, it was his 5th #1 hit and it's not hard to understand why. The ballad "Kissing A Fool" only reached #5
and was the last single from this album. It sound alot like the upcoming material he was going to release later on. The upcoming song are remix of "Hard Day" and the last one being a third version of "I Want Your Sex" this one is very slow paced though.
Overall, A great solo debut for George that not only sold incredibly well but also is flawless from song 1 to song 11. All songs are worthwile, and he makes a good mix of catchy uptempo's to touching ballads. A 80's classic without a doubt.