Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou (25 June 1963 – 25 December 2016), known professionally as George Michael, was an English singer, songwriter, and record producer who rose to fame as a member (with Andrew Ridgeley) of the music duo Wham!. He was best known in the 1980s and 1990s with his style of post-disco dance-pop.
Patience is the fifth and final studio album by British singer-songwriter George Michael, released in 2004. The much delayed follow-up to Older, at the time of its release it was considered Michael's comeback album since it was his first album composed of original material since 1996, and his first for Sony Music Entertainment since 1990's Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1.
Almost immediately after he became an international superstar with 1987's Faith, George Michael developed a complex that he was not taken seriously as an artist. He was right -- he wasn't being taken seriously, but at the height of their success, mainstream pop stars rarely are; it's only after they've been around for a while that critics and audiences alike appreciate the craft behind their best work. Elton John and Madonna both are pop icons who earned good reviews after they proved their lasting power, but Michael, for want of a better phrase, didn't have enough patience to wait to be regarded as an artist, not just a pop star. So, he followed Faith with 1990's Listen Without Prejudice, Vol. 1, whose very title was a plea to skeptics to shed their preconceived notions of him and hear the music anew. At the time, it seemed like this was temporary hiccup, a somber exorcism Michael needed to work through as an artist, but over the years, it's clear that this was the blueprint for his solo career. Not that there have been that many albums since then, of course. Michael took six years to deliver Older, a delay that was initially blamed on a vicious battle with his record company, Sony, but its own successor, Patience, didn't appear for another eight years, a time which not only had no spats with the label but also saw him re-signing to Sony.
Those long, long separations between albums suggest that Michael is a painstaking perfectionist in the studio, and Patience sure sounds like the work of a musician who spent every day of those eight years working on these 14 tracks (12 on the U.S. version; the anti-Bush and -Blair "Shoot the Dog" was excised for the American CD, presumably because it would be too controversial, but who knows why the reprise of "Patience" was cut).
While there are unifying lyrical and musical themes throughout the album, each track is its own entity, scrubbed, polished, and manicured without regard to how it fits alongside the next. There's an excessive attention to detail to each song, and that tunnel vision means each song runs about a minute or two longer than it should, which ultimately makes Patience seems twice as long as its actual running time. That's unfortunate because the core of the album is quite good: it's hard not to admire his studiocraft, there's a starkly confessional streak in his writing that's disarmingly direct, and, as an album, it balances the moody ballads and sleek neo-disco better than Older, feeling much brighter than that claustrophobic affair.
If there's a lack of incessantly catchy hooks or undeniable rhythms -- in other words, singles as indelible as those on Faith, or even Listen Without Prejudice -- that feels like a conscious decision by Michael, as if any concession to chart-bound pop would cheapen his music and diminish his chances of being taken seriously. They would have lightened the mood of the decidedly somber and portentous Patience, which is clearly not what Michael wants, since by stretching out each song and burying his hooks beneath the album's shiny surfaces and preponderance of mid-tempos, he's forcing listeners to work to understand his intentions. For some fans, it's worth the effort, particularly since it's his best album since Listen Without Prejudice (not saying much since it's only his second album of original material since then), but it's hard not to hear it and think that Michael's ultimate ambitions would be better served if he tightened up and lightened up just a little bit.
Patience spanned six singles. The first two, "Freeek!" and "Shoot the Dog", were already released in 2002 by Polydor, when the album was originally due. This was the final studio album Michael released during his lifetime.
Tracklist
1. "Patience" (2:53)
Written-By - Georgios Panayiotou (George Michael's real name)
2. "Amazing" (4:25)
Written-By - Johnny Douglas, Panayiotou
3. "John and Elvis Are Dead" (4:23)
Written-By - David Austin, Panayiotou
4. "Cars and Trains" (5:51)
Written-By - Douglas, Panayiotou
5. "Round Here" (5:56)
Written-By - Michael
6. "Shoot the Dog" (5:07)
Written-By - Panayiotou , Philip Oakey, Ian Burden
7. "My Mother Had a Brother" (6:17)
Written-By - Panayiotou
8. "Flawless (Go to the City)" (vs. The Ones) (6:51)
Written-By - Panayiotou , Paul Alexander, Nashom Wooden, Gary Turnier, Eric Matthew, Olivier Stumm
9. "American Angel" (4:07)
Written-By - Ruadhri Cushnan, Niall Flynn, James Jackman, Panayiotou
10. "Precious Box" (7:39)
Written-By - Panayiotou
11. "Please Send Me Someone (Anselmo's Song)" (5:26)
Written-By - Panayiotou
12. "Freeek! '04" (4:28)
Written-By - Cushnan, Flynn, Jackman, Michael
13. "Through" (5:22)
Written-By - Panayiotou
14. "Patience (Reprise)" (1:30)
Written-By - Panayiotou
Personnel
Recorded: 2000–2004
Genre: Pop, dance, soul
Length:70:15 (UK)
63:09 (US)
Label - Sony Music Entertainment
Almost immediately after he became an international superstar with 1987's Faith, George Michael developed a complex that he was not taken seriously as an artist. He was right -- he wasn't being taken seriously, but at the height of their success, mainstream pop stars rarely are; it's only after they've been around for a while that critics and audiences alike appreciate the craft behind their best work. Elton John and Madonna both are pop icons who earned good reviews after they proved their lasting power, but Michael, for want of a better phrase, didn't have enough patience to wait to be regarded as an artist, not just a pop star. So, he followed Faith with 1990's Listen Without Prejudice, Vol. 1, whose very title was a plea to skeptics to shed their preconceived notions of him and hear the music anew. At the time, it seemed like this was temporary hiccup, a somber exorcism Michael needed to work through as an artist, but over the years, it's clear that this was the blueprint for his solo career. Not that there have been that many albums since then, of course. Michael took six years to deliver Older, a delay that was initially blamed on a vicious battle with his record company, Sony, but its own successor, Patience, didn't appear for another eight years, a time which not only had no spats with the label but also saw him re-signing to Sony.
Those long, long separations between albums suggest that Michael is a painstaking perfectionist in the studio, and Patience sure sounds like the work of a musician who spent every day of those eight years working on these 14 tracks (12 on the U.S. version; the anti-Bush and -Blair "Shoot the Dog" was excised for the American CD, presumably because it would be too controversial, but who knows why the reprise of "Patience" was cut).
While there are unifying lyrical and musical themes throughout the album, each track is its own entity, scrubbed, polished, and manicured without regard to how it fits alongside the next. There's an excessive attention to detail to each song, and that tunnel vision means each song runs about a minute or two longer than it should, which ultimately makes Patience seems twice as long as its actual running time. That's unfortunate because the core of the album is quite good: it's hard not to admire his studiocraft, there's a starkly confessional streak in his writing that's disarmingly direct, and, as an album, it balances the moody ballads and sleek neo-disco better than Older, feeling much brighter than that claustrophobic affair.
If there's a lack of incessantly catchy hooks or undeniable rhythms -- in other words, singles as indelible as those on Faith, or even Listen Without Prejudice -- that feels like a conscious decision by Michael, as if any concession to chart-bound pop would cheapen his music and diminish his chances of being taken seriously. They would have lightened the mood of the decidedly somber and portentous Patience, which is clearly not what Michael wants, since by stretching out each song and burying his hooks beneath the album's shiny surfaces and preponderance of mid-tempos, he's forcing listeners to work to understand his intentions. For some fans, it's worth the effort, particularly since it's his best album since Listen Without Prejudice (not saying much since it's only his second album of original material since then), but it's hard not to hear it and think that Michael's ultimate ambitions would be better served if he tightened up and lightened up just a little bit.
Patience spanned six singles. The first two, "Freeek!" and "Shoot the Dog", were already released in 2002 by Polydor, when the album was originally due. This was the final studio album Michael released during his lifetime.
Tracklist
1. "Patience" (2:53)
Written-By - Georgios Panayiotou (George Michael's real name)
2. "Amazing" (4:25)
Written-By - Johnny Douglas, Panayiotou
3. "John and Elvis Are Dead" (4:23)
Written-By - David Austin, Panayiotou
4. "Cars and Trains" (5:51)
Written-By - Douglas, Panayiotou
5. "Round Here" (5:56)
Written-By - Michael
6. "Shoot the Dog" (5:07)
Written-By - Panayiotou , Philip Oakey, Ian Burden
7. "My Mother Had a Brother" (6:17)
Written-By - Panayiotou
8. "Flawless (Go to the City)" (vs. The Ones) (6:51)
Written-By - Panayiotou , Paul Alexander, Nashom Wooden, Gary Turnier, Eric Matthew, Olivier Stumm
9. "American Angel" (4:07)
Written-By - Ruadhri Cushnan, Niall Flynn, James Jackman, Panayiotou
10. "Precious Box" (7:39)
Written-By - Panayiotou
11. "Please Send Me Someone (Anselmo's Song)" (5:26)
Written-By - Panayiotou
12. "Freeek! '04" (4:28)
Written-By - Cushnan, Flynn, Jackman, Michael
13. "Through" (5:22)
Written-By - Panayiotou
14. "Patience (Reprise)" (1:30)
Written-By - Panayiotou
Personnel
- Eugene Adebari – photography
- David Arnold – orchestration
- David Austin – keyboards, programming
- Joanna Bailey – direction
- Michael Brown – guitar
- Jo Bryant – background vocals
- Joel Bryant – background vocals
- Chris Cameron – piano
- Tony Cousins – mastering
- Tom Coyne – mastering
- Ruadhri Cushnan – arranger, keyboards, producer, programming
- Andy Davies – assistant engineer
- James Dimmock – photography
- Johnny Douglas – drum programming, keyboards, producer
- Niall Flynn – arranger, audio engineer, engineer, producer
- Dan Gautreau – Pro-Tools
- Pete Gleadall – keyboards, programming
- James Jackman – arranger, drum programming, keyboards, main personnel, photography, producer
- Greg Jakobek – design
- Abid Katib – photography
- George Michael – arranger, audio production, bass, design, drum programming, guitar, keyboards, piano, primary artist, producer, lead vocals
- Adam Noble – assistant engineer
- Phil Palmer – guitar
- Jack Panayiotou – photography
- Graham Silbiger – bass guitar
- Luke Smith – Wurlitzer, Wurlitzer piano
- Ben Smithard – photography
- Ellen Von Unwerth – photography
- The US version features 12 tracks, removing "Shoot the Dog" and the reprise of "Patience".
- An alternative version of "Please Send Me Someone", the B-side to "Flawless (Go to the City)", appears only on Japanese pressings of the album.
Recorded: 2000–2004
Genre: Pop, dance, soul
Length:70:15 (UK)
63:09 (US)
Label - Sony Music Entertainment
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