{"id":41187,"date":"2008-11-29T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2008-11-29T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/older\/"},"modified":"2008-11-29T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2008-11-29T00:00:00","slug":"older","status":"publish","type":"review","link":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/older\/","title":{"rendered":"Older"},"content":{"rendered":"

Something about the latest George Michael drug bust made me want to dig out something by the preternaturally gifted pop icon, odd penchant for public restrooms or not. Problem is, the best stuff of Michael\u2019s catalogue has already been covered here on the Vault, leaving only some of his later and far patchier solo albums. The thing with Michael is (Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1 <\/i>aside, which is solid and stunning throughout), he\u2019s far better at crafting those deliriously catchy, dance-worthy singles or poignant ballads than he is at releasing a cohesive album, where the material in between the chart-topers can stand on its own.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

1996\u2019s Older <\/i>was released following Michael\u2019s long seclusion after the death of his lover from AIDS in 1993 and an acrimonious, public battle with Sony over his non-promotion of Listen Without Prejudice. <\/i>The hit singles here — six in all — made Michael the first artist in UK<\/st1:place><\/st1:country-region> chart history to have six top 3 singles from a single album. <\/o:p><\/p>\n

Still, those six singles are missing that signature Michael spark, the cheekiness and looseness that made him a household name. And that\u2019s not to mention the rest of the songs here, which drown in melancholy and listless arrangement. Only \u201cFastlove,\u201d \u201cSpinning The Wheel,\u201d and \u201cStar People\u201d move past this downbeat introspection, with varying degrees of success. \u201cFastlove,\u201d a plea for noncommittal, one-night stands as a way to avoid the pain of relationships, has always been a longtime favorite of mine. It\u2019s got a silky-smooth groove with touches of brass, and Michael\u2019s voice is as stellar as ever, slick and teasing yet somehow revelatory (\u201cIn 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\u201d), giving this track a hookiness despite lacking an actual chorus. <\/o:p><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, \u201cSpinning The Wheel\u201d is even less punchy (though it goes down better in concert), and just meanders for six minutes. \u201cStar People,\u201d a not-so scathing diatribe against, one would assume, Sony (\u201cStar people, counting your money \u2018til your soul turns green\u201d) has more going for it with an impassioned vocal and light backing harmonies, despite an strange diversion into Intro Psychology: \u201cMaybe your daddy didn\u2019t love you enough, girl.\u201d It\u2019s much better in its remix incarnations, namely the funked-up, driving beats and fuller instrumentation of \u201cStar People \u201897\u201d from the Ladies & Gentlemen: The Best Of George Michael <\/i>collection. <\/i><\/o:p><\/p>\n

It\u2019s really some of the least overt songs that work the best here, as Michael seems too downtrodden to make a go of his usual \u201cWake me up before you go-go\u201d fare. \u201cJesus To A Child,\u201d an ode to his lost lover, is haunting in its bareness and sentiment, while the restrained drums and winding synths are a perfect match for Michael\u2019s deep, pained voice as he promises, \u201cSo the words that you could not say, I\u2019ll sing them for you.\u201d Meanwhile, the low-key title track somehow manages to resonate, despite combining all of the bland elements that trip up the rest of the songs here:\u00a0 the thin, unvarying arrangements, the programmed beats, the mirthless lyrics. Maybe it\u2019s because \u201cOlder\u201d comes first up in a string of material that all sounds the same, but it\u2019s more palatable than the throwaway \u201cIt Doesn\u2019t Really Matter\u201d or the overlong \u201cThe Strangest Thing,\u201d which takes an intriguing, hypnotic Middle Eastern beat and still manages to sputter off into the forgettable. <\/o:p><\/p>\n

I adore George Michael, but there\u2019s not too much to love here, and you get the sense listening to Older <\/i>that he is similarly stuck. This is only worth it for \u201cFastlove\u201d and \u201cJesus To A Child,\u201d but getting the Best Of <\/i>collection is always a good investment (and will save having to wade through the blur of bland filler here). <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":29591,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[7347],"rating":[11204],"class_list":["post-41187","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-george-michael","rating-rating-c-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/41187","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/48"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41187"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/41187\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29591"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41187"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=41187"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=41187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}