REVIEW: George Michael, Ladies & Gentlemen The Best
Of George Michael
_Greatest (Capitol)
- Bob Gajarsky
George Michael and Duran Duran were two of the main visual images of the 1980s. Posters of them served as the object of many teenager's imaginary journey into adulthood, and the sex-appeal image was one that both strove to shake on their own personal trek towards being musically accepted.
Ladies & Gentlemen shows the maturation of Michael. Where the Wham! days were an ode to Motown's upbeat pop hits, his solo career marks a moment to shine the light elsewhere (see the video to "Freedom '90") and focus on a different introspective, yet soulful, side. The first disc of the set includes 14 ballads ("For the Heart", as the liner notes state), some of which have already proven timeless ("Careless Whisper", which was released in most of the world as a George Michael song, and "Kissing A Fool"), and the latter ("For The Feet") includes the 11 minute foreplay-laden version of "I Want Your Sex (Pt 2)", the George and the Hand Jive sound of "Faith", and the disco-laden sound of "Outside", one of two new songs on the compilation.
A previously-scheduled Wham! greatest hits scheduled for the States (the Brits' native land has seen 2 issues of Michael and Ridgely's time together) was indefinitely postponed, leaving this collection to serve as the only 'all in one' for his fans. Of the twenty-eight tracks included on this double disc, nearly half (13) were Top 10 hits in the U.S., and some of the others appeared on compilations such as "Desafinado" (with Astrud Gilberto, from Red Hot & Rio), and his live recordings from the Freddie Mercury Tribute, "Somebody To Love" and the "Killer / Papa Was A Rolling Stone" medley.
While Michael's hits had not been previously packaged here in the States, Duran Duran's initial rush at stardom was captured in Decade. This new packaging encompasses all fourteen of the cuts which appeared there, along with (the previously-omitted) "New Moon On Monday" and newer tracks including "Electric Barbarella", "Serious" and the smash comeback hit "Ordinary World". Not greatly different than, to make someone rush out and spend $15 for four other songs, but worthwhile to a fan who, for some reason, never purchased Decade.
