The greatest male voice in popular music of all time (IMO). Been a huge fan since 1984. Saw him in concert at the citrus bowl, 1988. Still have the tour book! Very sad when he passed. He was just incredible. Couldn't pick a favorite song, but Cowboys and Angels is certainly among the best. Need more George threads!
Just finished Listen Without Prejudice today, totally blown away by this album! Gonna give more listens, crazy on what I've been missing.
Absolutely agree. Easily adds to the canon of great Christmas pop songs which largely stems from the 60s to the 80s.
To this day I believe him to be the best male vocalist since Elvis Presley and the best songwriter since Lennon/McCartney. Just an immensely talented individual who was also a producer of his sessions. They guy could make pop songs that just jump out at ya and love songs as profound as any you've heard before. He was the only artist at the Freddie Mercury Tribute concert that not only didn't sound forced but actually sounded as good if not better than Freddie. Make It Big and Faith remain two of the greatest pop albums. Faith is a actually also a great R&B/Soul album and was awarded as such. Listen Without Prejudice is one of the deepest lyrical albums ever. Music From The Edge Of Heaven and Older are darn good in their own right too. George had the most effortlessly broad vocal and such poetic lines. He was big but should have been bigger for as good as he was. He remains underrated to me, at least in the U.S.
George tends to be my go-to artist when I’m down and out and having a bottle to drink. When you can pick up the emotion of an artist and immerse yourself within the song, it’s such an amazing feeling. “One More Try” and “Jesus To A Child” can make me cry... it’s the pure honesty in the words and the heartbreak inside that gets to me.
There are existing threads for most of the solo work, and threads about Wham, not sure about each of their albums.
Interesting, this is how I feel about him too. Although I am not the one who is easy to get depressed, there were a few times when I felt down, I listened to his songs and albums, which comforted me. His voice is smooth, emotional and sincere, and his lyrics can speak to you directly. Here is one example from Kissing A Fool: "People You can never change the way they feel Better let them do just what they will For they will If you let them steal your heart from you"
He had one of the most pleasing to the ear, smooth voices I've ever heard. Check out his Equality Rocks live performance of I Remember You, exquisite. In one of the above posts he was mentioned as "best male singer since Elvis".. I really appreciate Presley and realize his importance to music but I don't feel you can compare them at all. I think George Michael had a much better, more versatile voice than Elvis ever did.
Still enjoying LWP, so I went ahead and ordered the original CD of Faith! Gotta say his music is fantastic!
I'm curious,where have you been?! Did you just never take notice or not hear right song to catch your ear?? Better late than never though.
Blasphemous but I never knew what George Michael did despite hearing his name a lot. I didn't even knew he sang
Oh wow so you didn't grow up in 80's or earlier part of 90's when he was more active I take it? I'm just glad you are enjoying the music now. Older, his third album,is very different to his first two so I would be very interested to hear what you think of it. Not sure if you heard about his last tour Symphonica, he played in front of an orchestra and it was his last album released.
He wrote some of the finest music of the 80s and LWP is a masterpiece, Mother’s Pride is a stunning song. Jesus To A Child was the only track on Older I loved. His Wham classics will never be forgotten, and Faith was a solid gold pop classic. Unfortunately Elton was correct, his lifestyle got in the way of his craft, and after Older he lost his creative genius. Everything after Older is very mediocre, a great voice without the classic material he made his name with. But I love his first 2 albums, and Make It Big is an 80s pop classic.
To each their own but nothing was to your liking on Older? I think it's a brilliant album and he thought his best work. It's fair to say he never wrote the catchy songs he was known for after the 90's but to say everything was mediocre is a little unfair. Listen to Outside, Understand, December Song, Where I Hope You Are for examples, some very well written and sung tunes.
I grew up in the 90's, but my family was very strict on what we listened to (Gospel music basically). One of my parents was very closed-minded to other genres or artists, so there's that.
I saw this years ago, pre YouTube, when I was a big Smiths fan and Morrissey wasn't as much as of a pillock. Being in late primary / early secondary school while Wham were going I dismissed George Michael as girls music and then pompous in his solo career, totally not noticing his blatant talent! Seeing his Somebody To Love performance at the Freddie tribute and then how articulate, open minded and passionate he is on music in this review show made me realise he's the real deal and not a soulless blandmaster. Looking back now, George Michael isn't to my taste still, but I'd never criticise him. Songs like Freedom, I'm Your Man, The Edge of Heaven and many more have proven to be genuinely timeless pop songs with great hooks. Proof that 80s pop was capable of having genuine quality and talent to match just about anything. That voice too, absolutely sensational. I love Queen and wish they had collaborated more, possibly with George becoming their singer for tours and songwriter for new material. Unlike Paul Rodgers, Freddie publicly said that he loved George Michael, probably not just for the music! He admitted to being jealous when George duetted with Aretha Franklin. Aretha was one of Freddie's favourite singers! It's so sad all are no longer with us.
What do you guys think of George and Lisa Stanfield cover of Queen's "These are the days of our lives"? Seems very underrated to me since it was overshadowed by George's other performance "Somebody to love" on the same night .
Thought it was excellent too. I'm surprised Lisa wasn't successful for longer. I read an interesting interview with her just recently. She has a new album out. As George finishes the first verse Lisa is visibly very impressed.
