Michael pushes pop music limits in new album

JAKARTA (JP): It would have been easy to dismiss George Michael some 13 years ago when he first strutted out in Wham with his partner Andrew Ridgley.

Just another pretty boy singing paper weight bubble gum pop music.

But to everyone's surprise, since the duo disbanded, Michael has grown, his music has matured, and his work continued to develop since his first solo single in 1985 Careless Whisper.

While, no doubt, his image has helped garner a larger audience, Michael has, in the past few years, shunned pinup popularity and sought credibility as a singer-songwriter and a fine performer.

Despite only having released three albums -- Faith, Listen Without Prejudice and Older -- Michael has a large catalog of singles to fall back on.

Still, it is quite a feat that this limited body of work can be strong enough to warrant a greatest hits collection.

Ladies & Gentlemen: The Best Of George Michael gathers 28 songs divided into two CDs: up-tempo dance tunes on For the Feet and a ballad section called For the Heart.

The compilation is a very good representation for Michael. Any one who has been even remotely listening to the radio in the last 10 years will know many of these songs.

It is testimony to a person who has remained steadfast in the pop music genre and given legitimacy to a style whose heritage often leaves us, in most cases, with elevator music.

Careless Whisper is certainly one song which has become a staple of hotel lounge piano players.

What sets Michael apart from chart-topping vocalists such as Mariah Carey or Celine Dion is his desire to push the boundaries of pop music aside from a number of consecutive chart hits.

Michael has pushed himself to the boundaries of pop-soul-funk- dance. He is not abashed by success but certainly not complacent, understanding that to produce art one has to risk success.

After the hugely successful 1987 album Faith, Michael produced Listen Without Prejudice three years later.

Sales from this album were a pale comparison to its predecessor, but it marked the definitive testimony of Michael's artistic legitimacy.

Shedding his good looks as a marketing vehicle, Michael refused to appear in the video for the first two singles Praying for Time and the wonderful pop number Freedom.

In the latter, one sequence sees Michael's leather jacket, which he had worn in the Faith video and on the album cover, being burned.

Ladies & Gentlemen does well in rounding out Michael's body of work and highlights his uncanny knack of writing good pop tunes.

It also includes four collaborations: I Knew You Were Waiting For Me with Aretha Franklin, Desafinado with Astrud Gilberto, Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me with Elton John and Somebody To Love with Queen.

The latter two, both live recordings, are among the standouts of Michael's career.

His duet with Elton John adds freshness to an already famous John/Taupin track and shows that Michael can hold his own against the legendary singer.

Somebody to Love was recorded during a benefit concert at Wembley Stadium in 1992 for the late great Queen vocalist Freddie Mercury.

In front of 100,000-plus Queen fans, Michael's stunning rendition was well worth the price of admission. Even Mercury would have been proud.

Oddly, though, the controversial I Want Your Sex was omitted from this collection.

This best-of collection represents Michael's final obligation to Sony Music, which he sought to break free from in 1992.

The ensuing legal battle was bitter and reportedly suspended a number of his planned projects.

Michael openly expressed his displeasure of the company, saying that Sony "regards artists as little more than software".

In a revealing interview with Rolling Stone magazine, Michael described his refusal to become part of a mere production line for chart hits.

"The great American music company that I proudly signed to as a teenager (has) become a small part of the production line for a giant electronics corporation, who, quite frankly, have no understanding of the creative process."

Now creatively "free" to pursue his tastes, it will be interesting to see which direction Michael undertakes for his future projects. (mds)