Where do you start with an album that asks you to listen without prejudice? Well I’ll tell you where I started; a place of distrust and suspicion; what is Mr Michael trying to hide?
George Michael released ‘Listen Without Prejudice’ 3 September 1990 following the massive success of 1987’s “Faith’. The album was 1 of 2 parts and was seemingly meant to offer credibility to George’s accolades. Unfortunately, that was not the case. The album turned out to be a flop (if you can consider selling 8 million copies worldwide a flop) and George was never given a chance to record the second half, one of life’s great tragedies, right?
For me this album deserved the negative press; with the exception of a couple of mercies this album was a hard slog to get through. In what world does the mediocrity of ‘Freedom! 90’ deserve a whole 6 minutes of my life? I am not an inpatient man but this album certainly tested me. Glimmers of light came from ‘They Won’t Go When I Go’ and ‘Mother’s Pride’ but other than that it was a struggle not to press skip on everything else.
George Michael was a product of 80’s ‘style over substance’ attitude and somehow thought he could move seamlessly through to the world of art without paying his dues. There is no doubt as to the talent of his voice, but his songwriting acumen leaves little to be desired. I went into this album with distrust and suspicion and this time, I was right on the mark; what’s inside the tin certainly does not match the packaging. For me this album is just about listenable and certainly wouldn’t be on my 1001 list so for that I give it a..
Rating: 2/5
https://open.spotify.com/album/0ZeOyoJHPD6czbTPAT9Qaj?si=ALm_AxzuTKKPbgmFsostzA
