Creation Records Founder Screws Up The Courage To Admit That George Michael Was Awesome (Well, Duh)

noah | June 3, 2009 10:00 am

Apparently, the news that George Michael was a pop genius is so big, The Guardian‘s music blog had to let Alan McGee take time out from his usual My Bloody Valentine bashing to pen a 650-ish paean to his brilliance: “Faith (the album) was classic pop. It found Michael moving into Brian Wilson Pet Sounds territory. Seriously–Michael co-produced, wrote all the songs, played most of the instruments and sang backing vocals and harmonies.” So basically McGee is trying to placate the Guardian audience by appealing to their rockist tendencies, and getting into the semi-dicey “authenticity” argument (the piece ends with him nattering on about “manufactured pop” and Neil Young). I always feel weird about throwing down that particular line of justification with any album where I didn’t sit in on every tussle-filled corporate meeting, but hey, at least I have an excuse to share my four favorite songs from the album in one fell swoop. Videos after the jump! 4. “Kissing A Fool”

3. “Father Figure”

2. “Monkey”

1. “One More Try”

OK, so the album is only nine tracks. But it was really hard to choose between these four–the pathos of “Kissing A Fool,” the period-specific sheen of “Father Figure,” the rollerskate-jam flavor of “Monkey” (the synth-cowbell-filled Shep Pettibone remix is even better!), and the “using your time in church to pray for the old love to come back” vibe of “One More Try” run at least half of the gamut, sure, but they also all work well together as a whole. It’s time we applauded the genius of George Michael [Guardian Music Blog]