George Michael
Patience

THE REVIEW

In recent years, the name George Michael has increasingly been associated with various scandals, drug use, failed and retried rehab attempts, but most notably with almost no musical activity. Prominent figure of the Eighties, a maximum icon on teenage posters during the much-vaunted period of glittery and funky-rock frivolities, a significant mainstream pop pillar with the scant collection of works by Wham! and with more substantial solo performances, Michael managed to carve a respectable little place for himself in the pantheon of still-existing evergreens, even though he is in an unfortunate creative standstill.

Smooth as silk until the triumph of Faith (1987) was complete, the George-Michaelesque saga became more "spicy" in the Nineties, first with an attempt to forge an independent creative-artist identity separate from record label marketing strategies with the incomplete Listen Without Prejudice Vol.1 and then with the forced coming out, following the denunciation by a policeman whom the artist himself allegedly tried to drag with him into a public toilet. The "good boy" clean and virginal image declined inexorably, but not along with the surrounding music productions, which on the contrary exacerbated an elegant and refined pop richness with some unforgettable tracks from Older (Fastlove, The Strangest Thing and especially the wonderful lullaby-epitaph that was Jesus To A Child). Not content with coming out somewhat cowardly, Michael inaugurated his achieved sexual satisfaction publicly by ridiculing the media obsession with the personal affairs involving him in videos like Outside and Shoot The Dog, the latter famous for demystifying and denouncing through cartoon the conservative and hypocritical idyll between George Bush and Tony Blair.

Despite the spotlight, rampant gossip, and accommodating tabloids, George's discographic curriculum (currently) ended in 2004 with Patience. Released months earlier by Freeek! and Shoot The Dog, a sort of "appetizers" in the meantime of the official release, the album presents itself to the listener as the best heir of Older and the innovations that the predecessor had brought to the Michael household. Patience is thus a collection of valid pop-funky compositions accompanied by large disco-lounge improvisations and sweetened with strong soul-R&B hints, a recipe that also ends with electronic-synth sprinkles already glimpsed in the late Nineties. The legacy that this last breeze in the Michael cyclone had to collect, complete and develop from dad Older exceeds all expectations, giving the mainstream carousel, still thirsty for Eighties cheer, an excellent production which, unfortunately, will likely not know a future dynasty itself.

Patience opens with the eponymous title-track, a short yet interesting acapella piece, poignant and melancholic. From here, the list unfolds into a rich anthology of ideas and cues: from the bubbly and catchy Flawless (Go To The City), a disco-funky anthem, it's a short leap to the lively dance-rock of Amazing and the bizarre (and very long) house-chill out mix of Precious Box, recalling, moreover, the most interesting track from Older, that is The Strangest Thing. Still, the original ambient-R&B vibes of the ballad My Mother Had A Brother and Round Here, the lounge-retro flavors in John And Elvis Are Dead, the robotic electropop of Freeek!, the "as funky as it gets" of the controversial Shoot The Dog and Cars And Trains, and finally the Latin-reggae of Please Send Me Someone (Anselmo's Song) should not be forgotten.

An almost forgotten record among the vast catalog of the past decade, a small pearl amid many inflated and repellent two-bit jingles, the concluding chapter of a pop novel that can be counted among the bestsellers in the field. Far from fashion trends, prepackaging, and plasticizations. Unfortunately, left unreplicated and forgotten among the last flickers of a deserving artist yet scattered in a semi-dissolute life, sadly akin to many others that were lost and even erased from the face of the Earth.

George Michael, Patience

Patience - Amazing - John And Elvis Are Dead - Cars And Trains - Round Here - Shoot The Dog - My Mother Had A Brother - Flawless (Go To The City) - American Angel - Precious Box - Please Send Me Someone (Anselmo's Song) - Freek! '04 - Through - Patience Part II