and WHY??

Mine's Listen Without Prejudice Vol.1

I adore every track, such beauty is seldom and he got the best out of those three-chord-blues-inspired songs... The reprise is a wonderful idea! It harks back to the late 60s and early 70s, my favorite musical period. I also like how he put the date of the song's creation on the booklet!
my favorite track is Waiting For That Day, though Cowboys & Angels and Something To Save are favorites too.

I read his autobiography Bare the other day and he actually wanted to release two albums, a la Beyonce/Sasha with one album guitar driven and the other side funky dance songs (this idea got recyclec later on his best-ofs)

GM-fans, just IMAGINE how good this could have been,,,

Freedom 90
Soul Free
Happy
Do You Really Want To Know
Fantasy
Crazyman Dance
=====
Praying For Time
Something To Save
Cowboys & Angels
Waiting For That Day
Heal The Pain
Mother's Pride
Waiting

BTW, whatever he says, he must have TONS of unreleased songs from that session! At the end of 1989 he wanted to release a real double album with 16 songs on it. But most of the LWp songs were written in 1990. (People from 1988 is actually quite nice too!!)

Anyway, second comes

OLDER which was the very first Gm album I listened to and then comes Faith. The first side is amazing, the only song I skip is look At Your Hands.

Along Sex it was written in 1986 for David Austin and one of the earlier Faith compositions. (Btw, Hand To Mouth was planned to be called Gun control and written in April 1987)

patience comes last

Listen Without Prejudice, Volume 1

It includes my favourite GM song (Waiting For That Day). And Too Funky, my second favourite song, was borne from the followup that never was.

VoicesCarry said:

have you heard the early Too Funky demo from 1989??? It's on youtube.

Too Funky is great, it reminds me of my childhood (because it was the most played song on radio in Europe 1992)

Listen without Prejudice volume 1. It was for its time, just an amazing statement, George could have played it safe, done Faith part 2, but this showed the difference in artistry then and now, chances are not really taken anywhere, they are too costly. This also cost George alot too, it was the start of the end and alot of bad press etc...this album came a time when the great album was coming close to being forgotten, albums like this, Violator, Aerosmiths "Pump" it was kind of an end of an era of great albums ruling the day.

As far as tracks, its tough to start since the whole album is a statement, but songs like "praying for time" could fit the times now even better than back then. "Mothers Pride", "Heal the pain", "Waiting for that day" "They wont go when i go" just perfection and work of art.

lastdecember said:

exactly. I find this album totally brave. Because his fans still had this sexy image in mind and all the FAITH buyers went to buy Praying For Time!
That's why it was #1! It had no video, but he had all his FAITh fans supporting him!

Now, don't get me wrong. Praying For Time deserved to be #1. But so did ALL the other singles. Freedom 90 could have been a smash. But the lack of promotion and the fact that he didn't appear in the video turned many of his female fans of.

I mean, if it was just about the music they'd bought Waiting For That Day and Heal The Pain as well. Both are certainly better than Monkey.

lastdecember said:

btw, even the title is a risk. I mean, it's quite unconventional. The commercial name could have been "Freedom". Sounds as good as "Faith" and he cold have built up a whole new theory for his interviews. You know the Faith story... he was sad and lonely, and someone who he loved didn't love him, so he got pissed every night and suddenly one day he woke up and had... Faith.
He said this in every interview.

He had many options back then and God knows he didn't choose the easiest path!

Gotta go with LWP here...Faith was an event, with 2/3 of the album ending up on the radio at some point. Great singles but not a cohesive statement as a whole. It definitely broke George out a solo singer but he didn't really become an artist until LWP. LWP is timeless to me, I enjoy it just as much now as I did back in 89. There is a lot of pain in the album but also a lot of hope. To give the inevitable Prince comparison, Faith was Purple Rain to LWP's Sign O the Times. George never came close to the heights again of LWP.

Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1

Faith is fantastic, but the follow-up is even better. Every song is a winner.

AlexdeParis said:

That's the one right there.

TRON said:

great to see so many love this album too!

But what about Older. It's my second favorite album, does anyone like this one as well???

That#s what I like about GM#s albums. Like John Lennon, his albums had a certain theme because the songs were written within a certain time span. Whereas Faith mostly deals with sex and rebirth after a love hangover, LWP deals with the same hangover again, and the fact he wants to get free.

Older deals with suffering, loss and homosexuality.

That's what was on Patience missing. Around 2000 he said he had nothing to write about, so he wrote social commentary songs (Freeek!, Shoot The Dog, Cars & Trains, Precious Box). Which is an interesting thing, but I dislike most of those songs.
And teh 2003 songs are quite autobiographical but don't suit next to the social commentary songs!!!

I like Older a lot, but overall it's not as good as LWP or Faith. I dig Patience as well, but it's a clear 4th.

AlexdeParis said:

Do you know the two Older b-sides, Safe and I Know That You Want To??

AlexdeParis said:

On my Faith album I have "Heaven Help Me" as well. It's a song written in 1986 and could have been on it as well.

graecophilos said:

Yes.

AlexdeParis said:

Do you have "Day & Night" as well???

graecophilos said:

No, I don't know that one. Is that an unreleased/leaked track? The other two were b-sides of "Spinning the Wheel" and included on Twenty Five.

AlexdeParis said:

Some say, some have it. I don't.

Faith. No contest.

Both Faith and LWP and this Greatest hits collection is Wonderful.

LoDog said:

I was wondering how long it would take for someone to go against the consensus pick.

TRON said:

Agree.
Older deserves some mention too, but not nearly on the level as LWP V.1.

I wish we had more to choose from for this thread. Haha.
Come on GM! Give us more "choices!" Hurry!

Vanilli said:

yeah, I actually was inspired by the "You 5 favorite MJ albums" but then I realised this would be not possible with George, haha.

LoDog said:

The earnestness of Listen...annoyed me at the time. Faith is perfect pop.

LoDog said:

I was listening to Father Figure earlier..so many great songs on that album.

Favs are:

Faith
Older
Patience

Those are my TOP 3!!!

Faith. SonyBMG needs to release a deluxe edition

bboy87 said:

yeah, including bonus tracks like Johnny Sex and stuff...

I love all of George's solo work, but my fav is...

Listen Without Prejudice - a masterpiece IMO.

graecophilos said:

who?

twenty-five the greatest hits compliation