Pop star George Michael is back with a new album, and ‘Patience’ should
not disappoint fans of a gay singer who’s had his share of ups and downs.
Sister act
Beyonce’s younger sibling emerges with her own identity
Janet Jackson to kick off world tour
Gay icon promises all the hits, lots of dance
|
Cyd Zeigler, Jr.
Friday, April 09, 2004
THE TERM I HEAR most about the relationship between George Michael fans and his
music is “soundtrack.” From “Faith” to “Older,” the
gay singer has had a way of connecting with listeners that helped shape and define
periods in their lives.
I am no different. In high school, “Faith” gave me an entrée
into sexuality. “Listen Without Prejudice, Volume One,” was released
as I began my exit from high school and my trek across New England to look
at colleges and became the seminal soundtrack to that period of my life — and
to the next 14 years.
On the back of the album cover, Michael concludes his thanks by offering fans
his appreciation. “I would like to thank the most patient audience in
the history of pop music, for waiting. Again,” he says.
It might be a stretch, but not much of one. While “Older” offered
the hits “Fast Love” and “Jesus To A Child,” and two
other albums offered reflections of his past music and covers of other songs
of the last century, not since 1990’s “Prejudice” has Michael
so clearly had something to say.
It’s been a confusing 14 years for an artist (and, yes, pop star) who
had to deal with being outed in such a humiliating way (arrested for soliciting
in a public restroom) and a restlessness, at first with his label, Sony, then
his new label, DreamWorks SKG.
Michael has clearly come out of all this stronger, older, with lessons learned
as well as a new muse.
Like no album since the dynamic “Faith,” he spreads his wings
on “Patience.” Five years in the making, and currently available
only as an import from other countries, “Patience” offers one of
Michael’s widest ranges yet of music, from instrumental to heartfelt
love song to upbeat dance.
FANS OF “PREJUDICE” will recognize the lyrical mastery in the
title track, which is revisited in the last track sans lyrics, similar to Michael’s
1990 release “Waiting For That Day.” The track and the album also
delve deeply into his fascination with childhood. A theme long trod upon in
Michael’s music, the album’s back cover even shows two boys of
different races staring at one another.
Michael’s excursions into childhood in this album, as in the past, are
also tied tightly to his themes of loss.
“My Mother Had a Brother” seems almost a sequel to his “Mother’s
Pride,” though here he’s talking about being gay to a different
generation and how it was too much to take for a man just like himself.
Perhaps most importantly, Michael is also openly and madly in love with a
man these days. While love and sex have been the themes of many of his previous
songs, never have they been so intimate as they are on “American Angel,” which
he dedicates to “a tasty Texan geezer that you may have spotted a few
pages back.” (There’s a picture of the handsome Texan in there,
too.)
The song is, at its core, an ode to his lover, and Michael shares deep appreciation
for the man who has “stopped to wipe away my tears and you stayed forever
and more.”
The singer’s vulnerability comes through in a hint of social commentary,
seemingly offering, at the same time, a hope (or memory) of American foreign
policies: “My American Angel, he doesn’t want to fight (doesn’t
need to fight); my U.S. of Angel, holds me in the dead of night.”
Michael also satisfies his fans on the dance floor. “Shoot The Dog,” with
a sample from Human League’s “Love Action,” is a catchy anthem
that will remind the listener of Robbie Williams’ “Rock DJ,” another
hit from a British pop star.
“Flawless (Go To The City)” pays homage to the disco hits of the ’70s
without relying too heavily on the sounds of the neo-disco tracks that have
come from other pop stars in the last couple years. If he didn’t intend
this to be played upon the entrance of every drag queen around the world, then
I’m gayer than he is.
I don’t know if it was worth the wait — 14 years is a long time — for
his fans. But it more than makes up for lost time.
|
