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    For The Record: George Michael’s “Faith”

    Columbia Records 40867
    Produced by George Michael

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    faithWhen news of George Michael’s passing surfaced on Christmas Day, I felt compelled to write about him. It took me almost a week to figure out what angle I could possibly take in paying appropriate homage to his legacy; but since I’ve spent much of the last year or so writing reviews of one sort or another, I decided to stick with what I know.

    I was eleven when Michael’s debut solo album, Faith, hit the shelves in October 1987. Aside from Madonna and Michael Jackson, his music was among the first that I consciously registered as a pop phenomenon – after Wham!’s “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go” made its initial dent on the radio in the fall of 1984, it seemed as if he was perpetually on the airwaves. Michael had a rich and emotive voice that stood out among its contemporaries; some consider it kitsch, but I still can’t listen to “Careless Whisper” without being in awe of the then-21-year-old’s absolute conviction. It was also the first of three singles that would give Michael a taste of success without his Wham! counterpart, Andrew Ridgeley; by the time he and R&B legend Aretha Franklin released their Grammy Award-winning duet “I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)” in early 1987, the duo’s fate became permanently sealed.

    Faith is more than just a hit album that solidified Michael’s star status – it’s one of the most successful records in US chart history. It reached number one on Billboard‘s Top 200 album chart and sustained its run for twelve weeks, eventually selling eleven million copies solely on American soil. Michael also achieved the distinction of being the first white solo artist to land at number one on Billboard‘s Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. Nearly thirty years later, Faith is still among the top sixty best-selling US albums of all time. Seven of its ten tracks were released as singles – four of which reached number one on Billboard‘s Hot 100 chart; two others made the top ten. In 2012, Rolling Stone ranked Faith as 472 on its list of “500 Greatest Albums of All Time”. Worldwide, the album has sold over 25 million copies and counting.

    For anyone counting on Faith being a continuation of the confectionery factory that was Wham!’s wheelhouse for the previous six years, eyebrows were swiftly raised upon the album’s release – and Michael’s reputation shifted from pop prince to provocateur. The first single “I Want Your Sex” incited anxiety among radio and video programmers who scrambled to dodge, deflect, and even outright ban the song from mainstream play due to its arguably explicit lyrics and imagery. Despite its uneven reception within the industry, the synth-driven epic (the album version clocked in at over nine minutes in length) still reached number two on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the US. “The media has divided love and sex incredibly,” Michael commented to Rolling Stone regarding the song’s controversy. “The emphasis of the AIDS campaign has been on safe sex, but the campaign has missed relationships. It’s missed emotion. It’s missed monogamy. ‘I Want Your Sex’ is about attaching lust to love, not just to strangers.”

    The album’s title track was chosen as its second single in stark contrast to the first – a short, playful nouveau rockabilly jaunt. “Faith” begins with a dramatic pipe organ intro (that cleverly mimics the chorus of Wham!’s hit “Freedom”) before it reduces to a tinny acoustic guitar riff and a whispered lead vocal by Michael. It’s a brilliant exercise in less-is-more restraint. It peaked atop Billboard‘s Hot 100 on December 12, 1987, spending four weeks in the pole position and becoming the chart’s top single of the entire year. It made just slightly less noise in Michael’s native UK, held from the number one spot by the Bee Gees’ “You Win Again” – a group that Michael had coincidentally covered just a few months prior with dance music collaborative Boogie Box High, landing a revamped version of their 1975 standard “Jive Talkin'” in the UK top ten.

    “Hard Day”, following closely in “I Want Your Sex”‘s synth funk vein, was serviced as single number three exclusively in the US and Australia. It performed well in American R&B and dance markets, but didn’t make a significant impact on pop radio. Not that it would matter – the album’s fourth extract “Father Figure”, would more than fill the gap. It reportedly started its life as a dance song until Michael tinkered with the rhythm track and removed the snare drum; the silky, mid-tempo result would return him to the summit of the Billboard Hot 100 in February 1988. “Father Figure” did more than just rack up additional chart statistics for Michael – it helped him to bridge cultural boundaries. Rolling Stone‘s Armond White recently quipped that “it is the most impressive and the most enduring of Faith‘s many hit singles that made Michael a competing force during the high-pressure era of Michael and Janet Jackson blockbusters. Its blend of pop-gospel balladry and R&B sensuality made Michael a crossover artist of similar huge significance – attracting racially diverse listeners among Eighties radio and music video’s ever-expanding audience.”

    “One More Try” is a debatable candidate for the album’s best track, but Michael’s passionate, soulful delivery is undeniable. Subtle ambient keys and sparse electronic drums permit Michael’s voice to be the centerpiece of the six-minute ballad. His mastery of the slow jam would serve him well in future projects, but in 1988, it would earn him another three weeks at number one on the US singles chart, and another top ten hit in the UK.

    Two of the album’s non-singles laid a foundation of concrete social commentary in which Michael would indulge to an even greater extent on 1990’s Listen Without Prejudice. “Hand to Mouth” is a sharp criticism of the Reagan administration and a grim portrait of two people prevented from achieving the American Dream. Although a bit obfuscated by the drum machine backdrop, the tempo and melody leans toward folk-pop – something that wasn’t lost on chanteuse Joan Baez when she released a cover of the song two years later. “Look At Your Hands” explores anger and dysfunctional relationships, its message augmented by the near sneer of Michael’s lead and assertive pulse.

    “Monkey” returns the set to Prince-influenced funk/R&B with staccato synths and layered harmonies – although it was the fourth US number one single generated by the album, it’s perhaps one of the least enduring of Michael’s large string of hits. More interesting is the album’s final charting track, “Kissing A Fool”, which ditches the punchy keyboards and programmed rhythms for a piano and understated rim-and-cymbal line. Michael’s vocal is smooth and unostentatious, further proving his versatility as a performer and songwriter.

    The substance and success of Faith was no accident; Michael worked intently on crafting an album that would challenge assumptions about who he was as an artist. “I think it says something for the power of the music,” he told Rolling Stone in 1988, “that I’ve managed to change the perception of what I do to the degree that I have in this short a time. Because it’s something that a lot of people thought wasn’t possible. I really think that anyone who doesn’t like anything on my new album has no right to say they like pop music. If you can listen to this album and not like anything on it, then you do not like pop music.”

    Michael’s life and career after Faith was complicated at points, but he fulfilled the hope of a long-term musical legacy. “I think, to tell you the truth,” he asserted to Rolling Stone, “that I’m already regarded as one of the main pop writers for the Eighties. But I want to be regarded as that through the Nineties and do something to carry on, something that’s really memorable, so the music becomes something historical. I think that my music deserves it.” Faith showed a level of expertise and determination that laid important groundwork for Michael to sell over 100 million records over the next thirty years.

    It’s never easy to listen to a beloved album posthumously; knowing that George Michael will never grace a stage or be recorded in a studio again is heartbreaking. But there’s joy in seeing tributes surface that shine light on his humor, generosity, advocacy, and talent – and a meaningful catalog of music articulated by a powerful and distinctive voice.

    Rest well, Mr. Michael. We won’t forget you.

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    Grant Walters
    Grant Waltershttps://columbusunderground.com
    Grant is a freelance writer for Columbus Underground who primarily focuses on music and comedy. He's a Canadian transplant, born and raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and schooled in Vancouver, British Columbia. Grant is also the co-author of two internationally acclaimed books: "Decades: The Bee Gees in the 1960s" and "Decades: The Bee Gees in the 1970s." He has also penned numerous articles and artist interviews for the nationally recognized site, Albumism.
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