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Who else could title a song “Jesus To a Child” if not him, the Lucio Dalla of England, the Franti with the infamous smile, the genius who was not misunderstood, indeed, we understood him all too well, Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou, more commonly known as George Michael?
Free from compromises and master of himself from the start, lyricist, composer, almost always involved in production and approach to instruments, he reached 1996 at the age of thirty-three with an already consumed and multi-award-winning band with his friend Ridgeley, two albums, one of which (Faith) is considered one of the most profitable debuts of all time, and the other (Listen Without Prejudice - Vol 1) less impactful but still epochal and followed by a haul of awards. He had legal battles with Sony because the results achieved were not enough for him, live concerts where he revealed a resounding, spontaneous, never uncertain voice, explosive and harmonic across multiple octaves, so much so that Queen sought him out after Freddie’s death to celebrate him, but he only engaged minimally, out of respect. That’s how he was.
Just before gathering the strength to prepare “Older”, he lost, in 1993, the love of his life, Anselmo Feleppa. From this emerged “Jesus To a Child”, where the smiling gaze of his lost partner appears, and “You Have Been Loved”, where he recounts a day he met his partner's mother at the cemetery. In 2004, “Send Me an Angel” would come, closing the triptych. The writer of these words has never thoroughly dissected it because they don’t love it.
“Older” arrived six years after its predecessor in a haze of opiates duly rolled by an employee hired for that purpose, with a heterogeneous Michael, physically in shape (well, except for the cloud of smoke rising between the masters, editor's note) who provided 11 honest tracks, with some of rarefied organoleptic quality, others less so, others revisitable. But the structure stands on solid foundations.
The beams are undoubtedly the soft and painful plots of the slow tracks. “Jesus To a Child”, “Older”, “To Be Forgiven”, and “You Have Been Loved” are truly milestones if taken as a benchmark in the artist’s catalog, which isn’t vast.
Produced with an abundance of strings and synths, they shine with their own light and have solitude as their common denominator, which makes it easy, perhaps predictably, to compare him with the lamented Dalla. It’s not commiseration: it’s an almost methodical search for pain, not to drown in it, but just enough to have that suffering which taints, which creates the aura to compose, and almost always masterpieces come out of it.
In strictly club terms, the album only accelerates on the occasion of “Fastlove”, which is radio-friendly, sexy, and 'Michaelian' just the right way. It pleases even the most distracted listener, in short.
“The Strangest Thing” deserves a separate mention, another embedded pearl, which isn’t a slow song nor a dance number, but pure introspection.
Like all geniuses, or rather, like all serial killers, George always left a trace. By now, you knew that the next album of unpublished songs would come out centuries later (other than “Patience” would arrive in 2004, editor's note) and then you started wondering: in the meantime, who will he target? What will he do? Who will he get involved with? He would get involved with a policeman, two years later, in a bar; he would be caught, arrested, and sentenced to community service. He wouldn’t be fazed: between sweeping an atrium and sorting recycling, he’d start whistling a tune, find it cool, lay it on a track, call it “Outside” and it would be another hit. Who was it again that produced hits by whistling? Hi, Lucio.
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
01 Jesus to a Child (06:51)
Kindness in your eyes
I guess you heard me cry
You smiled at me like Jesus to a child
I'm blessed I know
Heaven sent and heaven stole
You smiled at me like Jesus to a child
And what have I learned from all this pain
I thought I never feel the same about anyone or anything again
But now I know
Chorus:
When you find a love
When you know that it exists
Then the lover that you miss
Will come to you on those cold, cold nights
When you've been loved
When you know it holds such bliss
Then the lover that you kissed
Will comfort you when there's no hope in sight
Sadness in my eyes
No one guessed and no one tried
You smiled at me like Jesus to a child
Loveless and cold
With your last breath you saved my soul
You smiled at me like Jesus to a child
And what have I learned from all these tears
I've waited for you all those years
Then just when it began he took your love away
But I still say
Chorus
So the words you could not say
I'll sing them for you
And the love we would have made
I'll make it for two
For every single memory
Has become a part of me
You will always be my love
Well I've been loved so I know just what love is
And the lover that I kissed is always by my side
Oh the lover I still miss... was Jesus to a child
02 Fastlove (05:24)
Looking for some education
made my way into the night
all that bullshit conversation
well baby can't you read the signs?
I won't bore you with the details baby
I don't even want to waste your time
let's just say that maybe
you could help to ease my mind
baby, I ain't Mr. Right
But if you're looking for fastlove
if that's love in your eyes
it's more than enough
had some bad love
so fastlove is all that I've got on my mind
What's there to think about baby?
Looking for some affirmation
made my way into the sun
my friends got their ladies
they're all having babies
but I just want to have some fun
I won't bore you with the details baby
gonna get there in your own sweet time
let's just say that maybe
you could help to ease my mind
baby, I ain't Mr. Right
Chorus
What's there to think about baby?
get yourself some lessons in love
In the absence of security
I made my way into the night
stupid Cupid keeps on calling me
but I see nothing in his eyes
I miss my baby
I miss my baby, oh yeah
so why don't we make a little room in my BMW babe
searching for some peace of mind
hey, I'll help you find it
I do believe that we are practicing the same religion
you really ought to get up now
Looking for some affirmation?
03 Older (05:33)
"I should have known
it seemed too easy
you wer there
and I was breathing blue
strange
don't you think I'm looking older?
but something good has happended to me
change is a stranger
you have yet to known
well you're out of time
I'm letting go
you'll be fine
well that much I know
you're out of time
I'm letting go
I'm not the man you want
I should hav known
it seens so easy
you were there
I thought I needed you
strange
don't you think i'm looking older?
but something good has happened to me
change is a stranger
who never seem to show
well you're out of time
I'm letting go
you'll be fine
(or maybe you won't)
you're out of time
I'm letting go
I'm not the man that you want
I never should have looked back in your direction
I know that
just the same old fights again, baby
these are wasted days without affection
I'm not that foolish anymore"
04 Spinning the Wheel (06:21)
Five o'clock in the morning you ain't home
I can't help thinking that's strange
Baby I just want you to know I won't go through this again
Yes, those clouds are closing in
Chorus:
And I will not accept this as a part of my life
I will not live in fear of what may be
And the lessons that I learned
I would rather be alone than watch you spinning that wheel for me
You've got a thing about danger
Ain't you getting what you want from me
You've got a thing about strangers
Baby that's what we used to be
You've got a thing about danger baby
I guess the hungry just can't see
One of these days you gonna bring some home to me
Six o'clock in the morning you ain't home
I can't help thinking it's strange
It seems that everybody takes their chances these days
Oh yeah, we're standing in the rain
Chorus
How can you love me when you're playing with my life
You say give me time and I'll do better I swear
Give me time and I'll lead you back to despair
And I don't want to go back there
07 To Be Forgiven (05:21)
I'm going down
Won't you help me
Save me from myself
I hear the sound of a memory
Maybe time will tell
Suddenly my life is like a river
Taking me places I don't want to go
But like all good men who swim too well
It takes all that I have just to cry for help
Then that voice in my head
Tells me no
I'm going down
Won't you help me
Save me from myself
I look around for a fantasy
Maybe
Who can tell?
Let me live my life beside the river
Take me to places where a child can grow
And then
Maybe the boy inside will forsake me
Maybe
The child in me
Will just let me go
I'm going down
The cold, cold water is rushing in
I'm going down
And I would beg to be forgiven
If I knew my sin
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Other reviews
By alcol2
George Michael is a complete composer and performer, his lyrics dense and moving, his sense of melody a truly rare gift.
"Older" takes shape as an unmatched outcome of a difficult artistic-existential journey worthy of respect and admiration.
By Darius
"Older, dated 1996, probably represents the last great hallmark of George Michael’s discography before the explosion of sex scandals and the recent substance abuse."
"A completely different summer musical recipe from contemporary wigglings, suitable for any afternoon spent lazily napping on a hammock and thinking about the photo album."
