ALBUM BY ALBUMGEORGE
MICHAEL
THE PRE-EMINENT SONGWRITER OF HIS ERA,
LESS WAS DEFINITELY MORE DURING THE
FORMER WHAM! STAR’S SOLO CAREER
STEVE HARNELLF
ew, if any, artists have
made the transition from
teen idol to mature solo
artist in the way George
Michael managed with debut
album, Faith.
As a showcase for the
diversity of his songwriting,
it was impeccable – Faith
seamlessly moves through the
gears of tough R&B, homage
rock’n’roll, soulful balladry and
sparkling electro-pop.
By the time George called time
on Wham!, he’d already proved
himself as a sophisticated
balladeer with Careless Whisper
and A Different Corner while a
subsequent hook-up with Elton
John and an emboldening duet
with Aretha Franklin showed that
Michael was now elevated to theFAITH
Released 1987
Label Columbia/Epic
Chart Position
UK No.1 and US No.1© Michael Putland/Getty Images“AS A
SHOWCASE
FOR THE DIVERSITY
OF GEORGE’S
SONGWRITING,
FAITH WAS
IMPECCABLE”heights of the music world’s
biggest stars.
As a statement of intent about
his new direction, the audacity of
making I Want Your Sex t h e fi r s t
single from Faith remains
impressive. While its plea for
monogamy was lost in translation
amid George’s sexualised
grunting, the song still gave the
star a No.3 hit in the UK singles
chart and enough notoriety to
make the biggest of mediasplashes. But Faith’s nine songs
were far more than a button-
pressing exercise in baiting the
Establishment; its opening title
track is an irresistible slice of
upbeat 50s-infl uenced rock’n’roll- intro’d by a church organ
playing the refrain of Wham!’s
Freedom – the death knell on his
former life had been sounded.
Essentially a Bo Diddley homage
with a wonderfully concise
rockabilly-style twanging guitar
solo, by the end of 1988 Faith
was the biggest-selling single of
the year in the US.
Similarly styled to stress the
move away from his teen idol
image, the hushed Father Figure
details a man in turmoil; by now,
Michael was beginning to write
more personal lyrics. The song
explains his confusion over his
sexuality: “That’s all I wanted/
But sometimes love can be
mistaken for a crime.” A
tastefully arranged gospel choir
adds nuance to one of George’s
best ballads.
The centrepiece of Faith
remains the ambitious I Want
Your Sex Pts 1 & 2, a nine-minute
epic split into three acts (Lust,
Brass In Love and A Last
Request). Its funky second half
doffs its hat to horn-infused Philly
Soul and even includes a brief
Italo House-style breakdown.
Few artists could tread into
genuinely emotive tear-stained
soul like George without
resorting to mawkish over-
sentimentality but his visceral
examination of a fractured
relationship on One More
Try still sounds
astonishing from the
pen of someone
aged only 24.
Taking a leaf
out of Prince’s
book and his
alter-ego Camille,
Michael then
seamlessly tweaks
his vocals to duet
with himself on the
electro-funk of H ard Day,
before returning to more serious
territory for Hand To Mouth‘s
social commentary. The track’s
story of two Americans, a
prostitute and 25-year-old Jimmy
who embarks on a shooting
spree, remains sadly pertinent
more than 30 years later.
Equally hard-hitting is Look At
Your Hands, a bluesy song
about domestic violence dating
back to George’s Wham! days.
After George was impressed
by Janet Jackson’s Nasty, Jam &
Lewis were asked to remix
Monkey for its single release but
the album version here is less
gimmicky and more cohesive.
By closing ballad Kissing
A Fool, Michael’s transformation
was complete and global
stardom assured. Faith was
a masterpiece straight out of
the box.