George Michael

Ladies & Gentlemen-Best of George Michael

I prefer immensely the first disc

Review Score:

(8/10)
As someone who isn't a great fan of George Michael, I was dismayed at the idea of having to pay for a double-disc, best-of compilation in order to have the songs that I like by him. Having said that, I did discover a lot of songs on the first disc that I really enjoyed. I was already familiar with "Jesus to a Child", which is a very elegant composition, although I'm not sure what to make of the analogy of Jesus and one's lover. There are some other fine, understated compositions here that the general public isn't familiar with. One other track that I enjoyed was "Desafinado", which I liked despite being turned off to Brazilian music after Starbucks killed the genre for me.

The second disc is hit-and-miss for me. My favorite song is "Freedom 90". It's George Michael's backlash against how they made him into this teenybopper icon. Instead of being brash, it turns out to be his strongest composition ever. It also brings to mind the video, which features the supermodels from the early nineties. I really wish that a picture of that video was included in the sleeve for the second disc.

Aside from Freedom 90, not too many of his "upbeat" tracks grab me.

That criticism aside, I'm not disappointed with this purchase.

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