R.I.P. George Michael

What a crappy year this has been... :sigh:

Another shocker for sure. He had a good run through the early 90s. Wham! made it big (sorry, bad pun :D ), then his solo album Faith turned out a handful of hits. My favorite, though, has to be Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1. Where he sheds the image he created with his other albums, his most mature effort in other words. His cover of Stevie Wonder's "They Won't Go When I Go" is one of the highlights for me.

It will be interesting to see what the cause of death was.
 
I've heard the cause of death was heart failure. I was not a fan of Wham! at all, although I did find "Careless Whisper" to be a guilty favorite. I did like a couple of Michael's solo tunes, such as "Kissing A Fool" and "Freedom".
 
I pretty much hated Wham!'s music but I kind of liked George Micheal's hits. I have always disliked the live duet version of Elton John's "Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me" though....I think the original version is about a billion times better, but the George-live-with-Elton version has supplanted it on a lot of "oldies" stations.

Regardless of that, he was a talented guy. R.I.P.
 
The old running joke about Wham! was that Andrew Ridgeley's role was to smash up race cars. :laugh: But there was kind of a vague line between the group and George Michael on his own--some of the group's later songs weren't that far off from his solo recordings, although one characteristic is that there was more "production" on the group's songs. And "Careless Whisper" was credited to Michael alone, although Ridgeley was shared the songwriting credit.

In the early CD days, I grabbed an import anthology called The Final, which compiled hits from the two albums plus the non-album singles (including the holiday staple "Last Christmas," which countless modern performers have slaughtered mercilessly). It's pretty much everything anyone would ever need. It appears to be available worldwide now.

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It's a shame that Columbia derailed his career (contractual issues). It seems like he lost momentum after Listen Without Prejudice, Vol. 1. And I haven't found much in his latter day recordings that captured the winning formula he employed on his first two albums.
 
If I were to choose a Wham track, it would be Club Tropicana. I bought the 12" record, it sounded incredible. During his solo recordings, the album Patience caught my attention. Symphonica remains his most sophisticated recording, it's the orchestra and his vocals that just grab me every time. My favourite TV session recorded was Unplugged for MTV.
 
Symphonica will be shown tonight on BBC One HD @ 22:00. (GMT) It's a wonderful show, with a tribute to Phil Ramone.
 
It seems like he lost momentum after Listen Without Prejudice, Vol. 1. And I haven't found much in his latter day recordings that captured the winning formula he employed on his first two albums.

His third solo album, Older, was excellent and, in my opinion, a bit stronger than Listen Without Prejudice. America didn't take to it, but it did much better than LWP in the UK. Older had 6 top three singles in the UK (Two #1s, three #2s and a #3). "Praying for Time" was the only one of LWP's five singles that made the UK Top 10 (#6).

Patience had several really good tracks, but overall was a bit disappointing in comparison to the previous three. (I'm not counting Songs From The Last Century since that was a cover album.) I certainly had higher expectations after an 8 year wait.
 
Yeah, I agree with Actorman, Older is really underrated. It's got a lot of strong cuts. The opener, "Jesus to a Child," is one of the most hauntingly beautiful sides he ever cut, and the following cut, "Fastlove," is one of his better club-minded tunes. (It also incorporates a sample of Patrice Rushen's "Forget Me Nots," but it's used in a much more subtle way than it was on Will Smith's title theme for Men in Black.) Patience is definitely more hit-and-miss and really takes a downhill turn towards the end, but its best cuts tend to be really overlooked; "Amazing" in particular is easily one of my favorite post-'80s songs of his.

Most of my favorite songs of his tend to be ones that really didn't get the attention they deserved. My favorite song off of Faith was easily "Kissing a Fool," which did crack the Top Five, but I don't think I've heard that one on the radio in at least twenty years. And I think I like some of the album cuts off of Listen without Prejudice even better than the singles; "Heal the Pain" especially never ceases to make my jaw drop with those multi-layered vocals (there's also an alternate version of that song on his best-of package Twenty Five that's done as a duet with Paul McCartney, which is pretty interesting), and "Mother's Pride" and "They Won't Go When I Go" are both breathtakingly pretty. And I absolutely love - love - the song he sang with and co-wrote/produced for former Wham! bassist Deon Estus, "Heaven Help Me." I don't know if anyone else here remembers that one - it did reach the Top Five, but it vanished from the radio for good not too shortly after, sadly - but it is really, really pretty. There are some arrangement touches on that single that are just brilliant, like the muted trumpet you can hear in the background during the instrumental breaks or the Spanish guitar. It's never showed up on a Michael best-of - probably due to licensing issues - and is consequently not easy to find on CD, but it really deserves a reissue.

He's got some really cool rarities, too. He does a surprisingly great cover of Bonnie Raitt's "I Can't Make You Love Me" that was originally only released as a B-side in the mid-'90s but was fortunately included on his best-of package Ladies and Gentlemen: The Best of George Michael. I can honestly say I enjoy it nearly every bit as much as Bonnie's version. The same best-of package also has a cover of "Desafinado" done as a duet with, fittingly enough, Astrud Gilberto - it's certainly no substitute for the original, of course, but it's still quite lovely. I don't know if they're available on CD, but he's also done some GREAT covers of Stevie Wonder's "Love's in Need of Love Today" and "I Believe (When I Fall in Love It Will Be Forever)" that have popped up as B-sides on his 45s. [I think the latter appeared as the flip of "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me," but I'm not positive about that. I do have the 45 to that, though, so I'll check that later.] The U.K. version of that best-of also includes a cover of Stevie's "As" that was done as a duet with Mary J. Blige and is also quite good. It never got released over here for some reason, but it's worth picking up via import.
 
One (or more?) of those B-sides was on a CD EP that featured that Elton John track. "I Believe (When....)" and "If You Were My Woman" (another Motown tune?), along with a "Back to Reality Mix" of "Freedom." I see there is a CD single for "As," making me wonder if it is Stevie's tune. Going to check it out shortly.

I'm spinning Faith at the moment, just revisiting the album tracks. I forgot how much I liked some of these, like "Hard Day" and "Hand to Mouth."
 
Haven't listened to those in a while myself (I'll have to break that album out tonight), but I agree, "Hard Day" and "Hand to Mouth" are both great. Not sure why "Hard Day" wasn't issued as a single. I seem to remember it doing fairly well on the dance and R&B charts just on the basis of airplay. "Look at Your Hands" is certainly catchy enough to have been a hit as well, but it had already been used as a B-side for "One More Try."
 
"Amazing" in particular is easily one of my favorite post-'80s songs of his.
Agree! That song is fantastic. Best track on Patience.
I think I like some of the album cuts off of Listen without Prejudice even better than the singles;
"Something to Save" is my favorite track off of LWP.
And I absolutely love - love - the song he sang with and co-wrote/produced for former Wham! bassist Deon Estus, "Heaven Help Me." I don't know if anyone else here remembers that one
I do! I really love that song, too. I actually managed to find it several years ago on a CD called Another Lost Decade: The 80s Hard to Find Hits. To my knowledge, that is the only compilation it's ever appeared on.
I don't know if they're available on CD, but he's also done some GREAT covers of Stevie Wonder's "Love's in Need of Love Today" and "I Believe (When I Fall in Love It Will Be Forever)" that have popped up as B-sides on his 45s.
"Love's in Need of Love Today" and "I Believe (When I Fall in Love It Will Be Forever)" were included on the 2011 Deluxe Edition of Faith.
The U.K. version of that best-of also includes a cover of Stevie's "As" that was done as a duet with Mary J. Blige and is also quite good. It never got released over here for some reason, but it's worth picking up via import.
Yes, it hit #4 in the UK and charted in many other countries as well. There were reports at the time that Mary J.'s label (MCA) wouldn't allow Sony to release the track in the US due to George's recent Beverly Hills restroom incident.
"If You Were My Woman" (another Motown tune?)...
I see there is a CD single for "As," making me wonder if it is Stevie's tune.
"If You Were My Woman" (a Gladys Knight cover) is supposed to be included on the upcoming 25th Anniversary Edition of LWP due later this year.
The "As" CD single is indeed the Stevie Wonder cover. It's a duet with Mary J. Blige. (See comment above.)
Not sure why "Hard Day" wasn't issued as a single. I seem to remember it doing fairly well on the dance and R&B charts just on the basis of airplay.
If I recall correctly, "Hard Day" was originally pegged to be the 8th single released. It was even used in a Pepsi campaign. Then Columbia changed its mind at the last minute and decided 7 was enough. Seven singles seemed to be the "magic number" for CBS's superstar mega-albums at the time. Both Thriller and Born in the USA released seven singles too.
 
I've just finished watching the George Michael Channel 5 documentary. It's very well done, and highlights the good and not so good parts of his life. Rupert Murdoch and the right wing UK press were relentless in trying to destroy him during his career. Luckily he was loved by his fans who outnumbered the haters.
 
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