George Michael – “Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1” (1990)
Taken from the PopMatters website, Feb. 9, 2006. Written by Dennis Cook, this review looks back at George Michael’s underrated second solo album…
Poor George Michael. One men’s room peccadillo with a plainclothes cop and a video trail of horrendous 1980s fashion disasters and everyone outside of the UK relegates you to the same dance ghetto where Boy George picks up his stipend. Sure, it’s a classy disco and everyone looks fantastic, but once the man born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou was on track to be the white Stevie Wonder. Scoff if you must, but the boy damned by Wham! and an almost toxic blondness pulled off a pop smart, intensely personal song cycle that rivals Wonder’s 1970s golden age.
After Faith, which sold 20 million copies, Michael decided to get serious. Despite being a mainstream craftsman in the tradition of Smokey Robinson and Neil Diamond, his years of churning out bubblegum had few convinced he was a serious artist. Fed up, Michael painstakingly assembled his sophomore solo release. Writing, arranging and producing everything, and drawing from his growing dissatisfaction with fame and genuine concern Read the rest of this entry »
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