— Chris "Toffer" Heath
It never seems to occur to artists, management and record executives that massive success is not likely to be repeated. Fleetwood Mac's brilliant Tusk album was initially considered to be a flop because its sales were a small fraction of its predecessor Rumours. There was talk in the late-eighties that Michael Jackson had been disappointed by Bad "only" selling a third of predecessor Thriller. Oasis worked in cahoots with label Creation and their publicity team in a ham-fisted attempt to get third album Be Here Now to be just as big as (What's the Story) Morning Glory? But given how George Michael attempted to follow-up his ginormous, multi-million seller, he either (a) knew it couldn't be done or (b) didn't care either way.
Yet, he didn't want to vanish entirely. Instead of withdrawing completely, he kept the product coming while easing himself away from the spotlight. Famously, the singles from his latest album Listen Without Prejudice Vol 1 were going to be released without accompanying videos (though this would quickly be altered when Michael bowed to record label pressure by allowing promos albeit without him being in them). The cover featured a crowd of people from the thirties or forties at a beach — I wonder if any of them had prejudices of one kind or another — in black and white. And there was that album title: as dour as anything either New Order or Sting had used for any of their LP's but with a hectoring quality unlike anything before it. One of the most famous faces in the world was no longer being seen and he was putting out an album with a stark title and cover art: at least the songs inside went well with the package. (The irony of Michael's attempt to steer clear of making music videos was it would free him up to become a more prolific artist. Legal battles with record label Columbia and personal troubles scuttled whatever momentum he may have gained from discarding pop superstardom and he wouldn't put out another new album until 1996's Older. It's hard to say if a trouble-free life in the early-nineties would have got him to record more but I suspect his muse was fussier than he let on)
"Praying for Time" was first up from Listen Without Prejudice and its release was met with some enthusiasm but it was nothing compared to the ludicrously hyped "Bad" by Michael Jackson or the controversial "Like a Prayer" by Madonna. No obnoxious twenty minute promo with a narrative no one cares about, no Catholic League-threatened boycott to overshadow it, jut a plaintive song that we were meant to listen to...without prejudice, though we also had the luxury of reading along to the ultra simplistic video of the song's text.
I have to say that I wasn't terribly impressed at first. While I would very quickly tire of songs like "Winds of Change" and "Right Here Right Now" celebrating the end of the cold war, this felt like too much of a depressing attempt to spoil the party. 1990 was a strange year in which there should have been a renewed sense of optimism in light of the Berlin Wall having been toppled and the release of Nelson Mandela from prison but recession, environmental issues and the oncoming first Gulf War made things seem even gloomier. In the UK, Margaret Thatcher was about self-destruct but George Michael was the party pooper who wanted to remind everyone that things weren't getting any better.
Over time, however, I have come to appreciate "Praying for Time" much more. A lot more in fact. The early part of the twentieth century has not exactly been a time flush with optimism so the song isn't able to play the spoiler so much as it simply soundtracks the current state of the world gradually coming undone. Back in the nineties it was easy to pick on professional athletes and pop stars for being the greedy that Michael takes shots at but now they're rightly seen as the low hanging fruit. Billionaires and autocrats control everything and they're not about to start sharing the world's resources now.
Michael's melancholy side always resulted in his best records — "Careless Whisper" is remarkably mature for such a young songwriter, while "A Different Corner" is simply one of the most beautiful songs you're likely to hear; the slower, more considered numbers on Faith remain that album's best tracks — but this was something altogether different. It isn't especially musically complex but the arrangement and production are first rate; it would have been very easy for Michael to have decided to drown the recording in melodramatic strings but the lonely horns that appear from time to time are much more satisfying. As many, including reviewer Chris Heath, point out, there's no chorus but in a way it's almost all chorus — or, better yet, it's all build-up to a chorus that never comes.
"Praying for Time" continued the trend from the Faith album of his singles in the US vastly outperforming how they did back in Britain. Yet, he was at the end of his imperial period stateside while fans in his homeland would remain loyal. Several tracks off of Listen Without Prejudice would be released as singles but they all gave him his worst chart showings to date. Becoming a Howard Hughes of pop had come with a price. And yet, what did it matter in the end? Sales fell off but they probably were going to anyway and he was still one of the biggest pop stars on Earth. He still had fans that would remain in spite of lengthy periods of silence and some bad publicity. He may have rejected stardom but there were many who had no interest in rejecting him.
~~~~~
Also Reviewed This Fortnight
World Party: "Way Down Now"
Ah power pop: traditional, simple and oh-so predictable. On the other hand, members of these groups tend to have top quality taste in music — it's just a shame they aren't able to make much of their own. Luckily, Karl Wallinger is one of the more talented power poppers out there. I'm not much of a fan of World Party but they don't make me roll my eyes so I'll give them that. "Way Down Now" is one of his finest compositions, thrilling and good fun and with hidden depths to the lyrics that you hardly notice because of all those power pop chords and riffs and stuff. Sure, it's traditional, simple and oh-so predictable but these are trivial matters to overlook when you're talking about a song as good as this.
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