Retro Spins: George Michael - Faith

Sick of singing bubblegum pop songs, George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley called it quits with Wham in 1986. Michael went on to pursue a lucrative solo career, while Ridgeley opted to step out of the limelight and lead a quite life, something which can be easily done when you report that you've amassed ten million plus dollars since 1982.

Faith, George Michael's first solo album, and the subject of today's Retro Spins, took the world by storm in 1987. Lead by the title track, which peaked at number one in December of 1987, the album would go on to sell more than twenty million copies to date. Additional singles to peak included, I Want Your Sex (peaked at number 2), One More Try (peaked at number 1) and Father Figure (peaked at number 1).

It's worth noting that the version of I Want Your Sex which charted wasn't actually the nine minute Part 1 and 2 album version. Rather, it was the single version used for the film Beverly Hills Cop II soundtrack.

Listening to the album, I guess I could say it's more mature than what Wham was peddling, which don't get me wrong, I liked. However, I still see his first solo attempt as nothing more than a pop record. Nothing more or less than what the likes of Madonna, Michael Jackson and even Prince (to an extent) were delivering in the late 80's.

It seems to unload the best of what it has with the first four songs, which are the above noted chart toppers. Mind you, that's taking One More Try with a very large grain of salt. There were also two additional stand out tracks for me, Monkey, which is probably my favorite from the record and Hard Day. Overall, it was a pretty solid album. I didn't hear anything I didn't like.

Admittedly, I was never really a major George Michael fan, and if I'm being honest, I didn't keep track of him beyond this album in the eighties, or even now. I don't know what else he's done in his career, song wise. I'm not particularly interested in finding out either. Faith is an 80's staple, and I'll take it for what it is.

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