And George Michael put a tombstone on the 80s

The 80sAfter all, they were heading towards theirs conclusionbringing with him the brilliant pop and radio who had defined them: lo AIDS spectrum and the political disillusionments they had already started to score one deep caesura in spirit of the decadetransforming an era of euphoria And bright colors in a period of voltage And bitter awareness. It is in this context that George Michaelat the age of 24, closes his Wham! in the attic and with “Faith” redefines his character. He does this by reintroducing himself to the world with a disk that unites pop, soul, funk and rockabillybut above all with a almost absolute creative control. The same one that had already begun to cover during the last years of the duo composed together with Andrew Ridgeleyundertaking with songs like “Careless Whisper” — published in some territories not surprisingly under the name “Wham! featuring George Michael” — one more direction sophisticated And adult compared to carefree pop which had made the duo famous. The result is resounding: beyond 25 million copies sold globally, a Grammy Awards won as “Album of the Year” and four consecutive singles — “Faith”, “Father Figures”, “One More Try” And “Monkey” — arrived at number one from the Billboard Hot 100the weekly ranking of best-selling singles in the USA.

From girl idol to obsessive perfectionist

“Faith”which on the eve of forty years of its publication returns to the market today in a new vinyl editionBefore reprint after over ten years (the album, which can be purchased at This link on the website Sony Musicis published in several limited versions: Red & Black Marble, picture disc, double black vinyl with Blu-Ray And CD — the new edition 2LP marbled 10 tracks included “I Want Your Sex – Pts. 1, 2 & 3, The Monogamy Mix”), is a enigmatic album. It has been sincevirile and Americanized image with which George Michael he proposes again: leather jacket, jeans, confident look. The goal is to build a older character: «Faith (“faith”, ed.), as a word, represents the way I felt at that moment. It was a word that represented mine hope and mine optimism». When he ships the album to stores, the British singer-songwriter asks to be recognized as a complete musicianno longer like half of a teen pop phenomenon. If he Wham! they had musically embodied the lightness and the frivolity of what they had been up to that point 80s, “Faith” he mixed instead rock, soul, funk and R&B with one adult safety. The guitar riff of the song that gave the title toellepì it was admittedly rock’n’roll, “One More Try” a almost gospel ballad. One of the most fascinating aspects of “Faith” it remains his own creative process: Michael works almost in solitaryprogramming batteriesplaying instrumentshealing arrangements And production. THE’idol of little girls give way to a obsessive perfectionist.

The lyrics, between Aids and provocations

There maturity is also witnessed by textsfrom which they emerge deep tensions: wish, sense of guilt, spirituality, need for control. Songs like “Father Figures” and the same “One More Try” they reveal one intense vulnerabilityWhile “I Want Your Sex” — today included in the reprint in the full version “Pts. 1, 2 & 3, The Monogamy Mix” — was at the time the subject of controversies And censorship. In flood AIDS crisisthe song oscillated between pop provocation And declaration of conscious sexualityadding another layer of complexity to an album already stratified. George he was no longer telling the storyReaganite hedonism of the 80s, but the dark side of that decade. For the adolescent lightness there was no more space.

A restless and seductive album

Listened to it again today, almost after a while forty years since its release, “Faith” remains one luminous disk And restless, seductive And ambiguous. It is the album that has consecrated George Michael as one of the best-selling British solo artists of all time, but it is also a work that anticipates tensions between public image and private identity that will mark his career. «I still needed challengesin addition to the main one of write better music. Be successful it’s something you have to earn. That was a new beginning: it was me,” he would have said.