Worth Waiting For

When I first lived in California in 1991 I couldn’t get enough of George Michael‘s Listen Without Prejudice (Vol. 1). We all own CDs that somehow seem personally attuned to our lives at certain moments; soundtracks made especially for us. LWP characterized three short months when I was living at the beach in Venice, California during the summer, waiting tables at a tacky tourist restaurant, and really discovering a lot about life. To this day, I can’t smell the summer morning tide of California salt and fog without a faint reminder of that rich, powerful music. George Michael’s Patience is like the long-awaited sequel to that CD and offers the same hypnotic confection of mournful ballads, upbeat club tracks, and spacious, breezy, soulful arrangements. George Michael’s not doing anything new here, but who cares, because he’s doing what he does best. In recent years, his infrequent singles like “Freeek” and “Shoot the Dog” (which appear) felt to me haphazard and claustrophobic, yet in this mix of tracks they assume new meaning, they make sense. Definitely recommended.