Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1

I was disappointed with this album. "Freedom! '90" might just be George Michael's best song, and "Praying for Time" is fine, but the rest of the album left me unmoved. Sorry, George.

Freedom '90 is one of my all-time favorites, but the rest of this album is a real chore. I appreciate George Michael's vocal talents, but I prefer his pop tunes over his gospel ones.

No.

Not my style

Freedom is an absolute banger. It's enjoyably 'not pop' outside of that - a man clearly trying to break out. The results are mixed, but I admire the drive to change up styles. It's hard to say much about an album that is pleasant but just drifts by insubstantially like this.

Some talent going on here but only one song I really liked. The rest were pretty forgettable. 2.5 stars

Very, very 80’s. I loved every second of listening to it

Too slow for me, not my style.

Wasn't looking forward to this one but actually probably better than I was expecting.

Olihan tässä pari ihan kivaa biisiä, mutta aika monta geneeristä poppisballadia, joista ei jäänyt mieleen mitään.

Ihan ok sileää poppista. Vähän uhkaa mennä tuplajuuston puolelle Cowboys and Angelsin saksofonit ja yleisesti muutaman mukiinmenevän biisin vastapainona on vähän liian geneerisiä ysärisettejä. 2.5/5, pyöristetään alaspäin.

Nah

there are so many arrested development jokes i want to make but truth is this is just a really bad album.

George Michael wasn't a bad singer by any means, but his music just isn't all that interesting to me. There's a few ok at best songs but nothing I really want to revisit. I feel like he would've been better off fronting a jangly indie type band. Like he needed his own Johnny Marr or something. Maybe I'm just crazy.

It's ok

Nope

Blaaah, ei lähtenyt tanssijalka vipattamaan eikä kyllä muutenkaan koskettanut(!) kyseinen levy.

Musta miksaus oli jotenki köpö - liian diskanttinen. Olis varmasti ollu 3*, jos ois miksaus ollu parempi

Meh

I did. I did listen without prejudice. Didn't dislike it. It's a decent pop album. Cowboys and Angels is a great song. Next.

Really polished, but it doesn't make me feel much. It almost sounds too nice? No tension, no conflict, no suspension. He's got so much talent but I think this doesn't show much of it off. {Prior rated}

I tried to listen without prejudice… But couldn’t vibe with this album. He does have a great voice, I’ll give him that.

I found it a tad boring

I don’t think I liked it but maybe I appreciate it. It has a serious and somber tone which is not what I associate with George Michael. Given that this came out in 1990, the background of the times heightens that seriousness—a closeted gay man in the midst of the AIDS/HIV epidemic. It isn’t enough for me to want to grab this album off a shelf. But I appreciate that it exists.

Boring george

Listened to "Faith" a lot as a kid. Love his voice. This album was just ok for me.

Meh

Jeff Goldblum's shiny diamond anus.

Dosadno meni osobno, but I get it.

Great melodies. Interesting chords.

"Listen Without Prejudice" Well, I just did. But apart from two songs, "Freedom! '90"--a soulful hit displaying as many catchy vocal hooks in a single track as ones found in Tame Impala's whole discography--and "Cowboy And Angels"--a lush synth-jazz cut about unrequited love with Bladerunner-like atmospherics--yes, apart from those two singles, this album can't hold your attention the way great albums do. Admittedly, its general sound holds out surprisingly well given the genre and era that spawned it: as a characteristically late 80s/early 90s production, the whole thing is relatively subtle at least. Yet apart from the two singles quoted up there, the rest--mostly comprised of ballads--doesn't have much to offer in terms of thrills or interesting emotions to go through. It's well-produced "elevator music". But it's elevator music nonetheless. [Number of albums left to review or just listen to: 979 Number of albums from the list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 9 Albums from the list I *might* include in mine later on: 6 Albums from the list I will certainly *not* include in mine (as I think many others are more important): 6 (including this one) Albums I might not be able to judge (some might end up on my final list if they're culturally important): 1]

I received "Faith" early this month on this list and while it is "basic", I can get what makes it a classic by its influence on modern pop. This one here it's still "basic", but much more boring. I got the importance of it for George Michael's career and Freedom is an anthem impossible to dislike, however, it's impossible for me to like a whole album based on this only song.

Really polished, but it doesn't make me feel much. It almost sounds too nice? No tension, no conflict, no suspension. He's got so much talent but I think this doesn't show much of it off.

couple good songs

Duller than I expected - couple of hits, but the rest of it was a bit slow and with unexpectedly poor production

* Freedom saves this for being a dull album.

A couple of right catchy good tracks in here but felt a bit samey after a while.

If you need some quite background music to have a romantic dinner, maybe thats your choice. Ah whatever. I give it 2 stars.

Do not care for, didn't finish. Prefer Jeff Buckley.

Not for me

Did not care for the album.

2.25

Kind of an unusual album. Freedom ‘90 is completely unrelated to the rest of the songs here. Praying for Time is moving. They Won’t Go When I Go probably most interesting track. Waiting (Reprise) sounded a way too close to Every Rose Has Its Thorn. The rest of the album does little to nothing. Overall, album was not mixed all that well, at least what I listened to on Spotify.

I didn’t see a need to change it up after 1987’s “Faith.”

It was okay.

i groaned inwardly when i saw this come up. i can deal with freedom, but christ, that's about all. incredible voice, though.

Dem englischen Wikipedia-Artikel zu diesem Album ist zu entnehmen, dass George Michael bei der Produktion bemüht war, als Songschreiber ernster genommen zu werden. Was schwer fällt, da er kein besonders Guter ist. Das bekannte 'Freedom’ sticht etwas aus dem Material heraus, eine Entdeckung war für mich 'Heal the Pain'. Richtig geil ist das aber alles nicht.

Pop em demasia.

It's not bad. It didn't touch me too deeply.

I couldn’t listen without Prejudice. Sorry, George.

Not really my thing. Lyrics are kinda cringey and the instrumentation is very flat.

// Favs: – Score: Strong 2 to Light 3

I tried Listen Without Prejudice and it was quite boring with mediocre songs (unlike the Faith album)

meh

Better than expected but still pretty non descript. Don't get the fuss.

Cliché pop music. It's well made but I don't think this was something I had to listen to before I die

Saved Prior: Freedom! '90 Off Rip: Heal the Pain Cutting Edge: None Overall Notes: Great voice, one all-time bop, one pretty good song, and a bunch of fine but ultimately forgettable songs.

Ja ouvi falar dele mas a musica nao causou impressao nenhuma

Sommige nummers gaan nogal snel vervelen, de rest is redelijk middelmatig.

I had a lot of mixed feelings about this album. I didn't find it as musically interesting as Faith, but I didn't not enjoy listening to it. On the second run, there were a couple songs I could get into, mostly the faster placed ones. Overall it felt like Adult lite Gospel Jazz, and it has a very soul searching, confessional feel to it. It made me more interested in George Michael as a person, but there wasn't anything that really resonated with me or my experience. I admire that he tried to grow as an artist after Faith, which was a phenomenon having gone seven times platinum.

Juz sam tytul brzmial nieco podejanie, ale nie kojarzylem nazwiska, ale patrzac na okladke jakis murzyn, wiec bedzie grane jakies R&B, a tutaj szok i niedowierzanie, bo nie jest to jakas plotka muzykalna, ale jeden z najwiekszyc rekinow, a moze raczej wielorybow branzy, bo jeden z czlonkow duetu whamowego, czyli stworzycieli zmiowo swiatecznego hymnu czyli ostatkich swiat, czy obudz mnie zanim gogo, no i dodatkowo jest to bialy czlowiek, ktory widocznie zrobil odwrotnego jacksona, ruch chyba jak najbardziej na miejscu biorac pod uwage muzyke jaka tworzyli w duecie whamowym, po czym takim tylko w czarniejsze klimaty mozna pojsc, no i zostaje tajemnica tytulu, dlaczego bez uprzedzen, czyzby odciecie sie od whamowej spuscizny, rezygnacja z chwytliwych kaczowatych refrenowych songow, tak i nie, bo pierwsze dwa taki mowia nadal bedzie muzyka grana do zabawy z efekciarskimi efektami, jak napakowany freedomek, ktory pewnie okaze sie byc najlepiej sprzedanym kawalkiem artysty, bo chyba nawet na jukejowej olimpiadze byl grany, takie skojarzenie, ale juz trzeci trak zmienia nastroj plyty pojawia sie klawiszowa melodia i troche naturalniejsze podejscie do wokali, bo po dwoch pierwszych trakach ciezko ocenic umiejetnosci wokalne, bo czuc tak bardzo napakowane w nie efekty, ale w they wont go when i go pan george pokazuje sie z innej strony i otwiera "prawdziwa okladke" disku, bo reszta materialu jest raczej utrzymana w podobnym klimacie, jedynie pod koniec troche znowu dencowo i zabawowo, kawalek soul free, ale calosc pomiedzy tymi dwoma kawalkami zaliczylnym do bialego czy tam gumowego soula z nalecialosciami bluesowymi, a moze jakis kontemplentacyjny pop, a o czym mozna rozwazac w latach 90 chcac zrobic muzyke bez uprzedzen do sluchania, wiec oczywscie bieda na swiecie, a bieda na swiecie w swiecie gdzie slucha sie muzyke z plytek i kasetek, ewentualnie wynilek to oczywscie brak milosci, wolnej miosci, no i choroby weneryczne, do tego oczywiscie nierownosci, ale to przeciez oczywiscie, wiec o ile muzycznie calkiem spoko sie sluchalo, tak lirycznie katuszowany raczej odsluch, na plejaka dodam wspomiane podwojne drzwi do albumiku, czyli they wont go when i go, bo akurat lirycznie autoportretowy traczek jak to jest byc whamowym artystykiem, ktory nie moze juz tworzyc jak by chcial, bo ma nalepke, wiec robi cie myslec w niektorych momentach, cala plyta jest tak dobrze wyprodukowana, ze az czuje sie uczucie sztucznosci, ktore znika dopiero w wersji live z mtv odlaczonego, ktore jest zawarte w spotifajowej wersji i do ktorego tez zanurkowalem, ale kontent lircyzny nadal ten sam, niestety, bez uprzedzien sprobowalem i sadzem ze zrozumialem, ale jednak mnie nie przekonalo

I love Freedom ‘90 but I didn’t enjoy the rest of the album. I thought that it painted an HIV-affected picture, though.

- freedom! freedom! freedom! freedom! - first album on returning - i have to rate these on my personal enjoyment, so this one won't do too well - sounds dated to me, and too ballad-y every single song - ultimately there are some cool sounds on here but it's not something I'll likely return to

2/5. Stadium 90s pop rock is not my jam.

совершенно блеклый эстрадный поп. после “Praying for Time” поставить “Freedom! ‘90” очень странная идея. технических проблем тут нет, да и вокал Джорджа хоть и не блещет ни каплей экстравагантности, он профессионален и чист. что альбом делает в списке я, в целом, понимаю, но не знаю, засуну ли в свой.

was alright. a little different than i expected

It's fine. Not my thing, but I get why people like it.

Snooze fest

Meh

Freedom 90 is trying to carry the album like Atlas carrying the world. The rest of the album is George Michael doing repetitive ballads with the reverb cranked up as high as it can go. 1.5

fuck this faggot

Awful...

Horrible

What a bore omg

Freedom 90 and Soul Free have a fun Baggy infused upbeat feel and irreprible, if extremely smooth, energy to them. The rest is extremely boring ballads for radiostations that play in places where music has to be on but can't upset anyone.

Rest in piss, purulent faggot

i really do love Freedom. the rest tho......

I couldn't wait for it to be over.

1. time - 1 2. freedom - 2 3. go - 1 4. zave - 1 5. angelz - 2 6. day - 1 7. pride - 1 8. heal - 1 9. zoul - 1 10. uuaiting - 1

Ugh… this was painful. It took me three tries to finally get through. 80s is bad enough but schmaltzy 80s is a whole new level of bad.

Not good to me

It’s not my style of pop. He’s a good singer and musician, and some of the songs are ok, but for the most part I feel like this falls into the “90’s adult contemporary” category which is just not my jam.

Boring

favs: waiting for that day soul free rating 1/5

Huh. Oh, hey. Yeah, I'm awake. I think. What track is it? Oh. That's it? Yeah. Sorry, I guess I haven't had enough caffeine today to make this one work. Oh, I just don't appreciate the wonderful vocals? Or get the slow ballads? Yeah, guilty I guess. Mind if I go listen Weezer's Blue Album? Because that didn't make the list. No? Good. Maybe after that I'll listen to Judas Priest's Painkiller. That didn't make the list. Neither did Massive Attack's Mezzanine. Maybe some Bad Religion, I mean one of the most influential punk bands ever didn't land a single album here. Or even In an Aeroplane Over the Sea. Anything other than this. See, when you wake me up from my George Michael slumber I get grouchy.

As pop goes, it's ok. He had a decent voice and he tried with the lyrics but it just can't rid itself of superficiality and bland is the word that I can't can't shake off while listening to each track. For the blowdried sharply manicured sunglasses crew, this might feature but otherwise I can't see myself ever returning to any of these tracks.

Nah

I rememeber buying this at the time as it was such a

Boring

Just no.

Listen without prejudice is exactly what I did. I still didn't like it. Wet, tedious, presumptuous bullshit in the main. I did get a laugh out of the fact that "Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 2" wasn't ever officially released because of contractual disputes with the record label.

I listened without prejudice, and the whisper singing filled me with prejudice. Someone told George he was seductive, they were wrong.

Did not enjoy

did not change my life in the slightest, even after removing all prejudices

Lord, help me with this one.

Sorry, still prejudiced

If Freedom! '90 is the best song on this record this might end up getting 1 star.

Came in without Prejudice, left with a fair amount

Slightly more interesting soft rock than Michael Bolton. But only slightly.

No

Not for me at all. Recording sounds awful with far too much reverb. Most of the songs here aren’t even good pop songs with the exception of Freedom. The rest is very difficult to get through and I honestly couldn’t wait for it to be over

Just no.

Artiste connu, pas apprécié à l'époque. Cet album ne présente rien d'original Aucun intérêt pour moi, en plus il est vraiment très ennuyeux. Il m'a paru long dès le second morceau ... Je ne suis pas allé au bout. =>1/5

After listening to this turd of an album, I listened to a punk playlist so I could cleanse myself from the stench of this turgid affair. Just awful.

Not really for me, but I also don't like 80's/90's pop, so that completely tracks.

There's maybe one okay song on here. Trying to hard to be late stage Queen. Pass.

Awful in the 80s worse mow

Freedom's a banger, the rest is poo

No

Did not enjoy 1/10

I’d rather listen to this without ears

I don’t think I’ve ever listened to a George Michael album before.. and after this, I can confidently say I won’t be making that mistake again. Maybe it was my mood, or maybe it was the endless parade of beige ballads, but this felt less like an album and more like a test of endurance.

I liked Freedom. I wish more of the album was like it instead of soft ballads.

Never been a fan, some of the Wham! era stuff was ok, but that's as far as it goes. This was just mind numbingly boring. Can only give it a 1.

I think I deserve a medal for sitting through all of that torturous crooning.

Da bleibt einfach nichts hängen.

1.0 I couldn't get through anything except freedom

This was one of my least favourite listens since I stared. I presume some people like this, but there's a lot of ballads and not enough pop for a pop album. (23 known/42 new)

aburrido

shite

This is peak era for padding a record with one hit. Honestly this should just be a cassingle.

Nothing remarkable here at all.

I really had to get through this

Sadly, this was a case of Prejudice Without Listening. I don't buy into the theory that George was some kind of pop genius. Faith was fun pop record, but I find his work generally quite bland and over-polished. Especially the 'serious' stuff. So gave this a swerve.

Freedom is one of the better George Michael songs and Soul Free was alright too. What an absolute slog to get through the rest of it though. The songs are way too boring, way too long and completely uninteresting to me. More than any other album I was waiting for this to be over.

Sh*te

In one word - corny. In another - artificial. This album feels like it was made for the sole purpose of being as generic and marketable as possible, without really saying anything. It feels sappy and disingenuous as an album, and only exists to make money off catchy pop tunes. Not at all a fan

I enjoy this genre of music and this production style, these songs are just boring. There are a few standout tracks, the singles, but everything else is just wispy nonsense. "Doo doo doo doo, doo doo doo doo" over and over. Shallow. D

Nope, not buying this.

Hard to Listen Without Prejudice when one can't the fucker.

Is NOT listening WITH prejudice the same as listening without prejudice? Like a double negative? Well that's all George is going to get. If Freedom is the best song on this album, then I'm clearly not the target audience. Really. Increasingly disillusioned with this book.

Yuck

How in the world does this have an average over 3?

Freedom is echt een topnummer, de rest is dikke bagger.

This is clearly a top-drawer pop album, the quality of the sogn writing is indisputible - the clarity and precision, the performance by GM, its solid. Just not to my taste. Even 'Freedom '90', that I was anticipating to enjoy, fell flat and I found the piano to sound so 'MIDI', the whole album - for me - suffered from a rather synthetic sound, that is, the instrumentation all sounded so processed and pristine. GM has a geat pop voice, I've heard him in so many contexts and thought "wow, this guy has got it' - just not htis album for me.

Langweilig, zu viele Balladen. Mehr "Soul Free" hätte mir besser gefallen.

Not a fan.

I have listened and this has not altered my prejudices.

I can't help but like wham and George's big hits, club Tropicana, careless whisper etc. A bit like Duran Duran, the style is ridiculous but the songs are good enough to make it work. When the songs aren't good enough, you end up with the overproduced schmaltzy dross of this album. Can't recall any redeeming qualities, the preachy theme annoyed me and stopped it from being remotely funny for being so bad. Avoid.

On the dreary and monotonous side. He does have a decent enough voice though. I prefer Freedom! '90 to Freedom, but only marginally, and only the radio edit. I think Wham! are better, but still not quite my thing. Think Ridgeley's influence helped knock the self-indulgent nonsense on the head.

Why does George Michael sound so far away in nearly every song. I wish I was far enough away so I didn't have to hear this. Highlights: Freedom

Was fully expecting not to enjoy this, to be fair it was completely different to what I was expecting. However, what it was, was still terrible Just not really my thing. He has got a decent voice though I guess, but this all felt quite serious and preachy Would never choose to listen to any of this

This ain't it.

Really not a fan

I’m sorry but this wasn’t for me

I'm sure that making this might've been cathartic for George Michael, but for me it was just dreary to listen to.

make some cuts, get this down below 35 minutes, and you'll have a solid 2/5 album

Bof

I read somewhere George sued Sony for not promoting this album enough. Blaming it’s piss poor sales on that fact. But, and I say this without prejudice, it just sucks.

Some albums age gracefully over time. Shockingly this isn’t one of them. Truly awful.

Extremely corny and melodramatic and way too smooth jazz at times but you can tell he really put a lot of heart into it 🥲 1.7/5

Not my style

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz zzzzzzzzzzzz zzzzzzzzzz.... 1/5

Not a fan

Freedom is a really good song but besides that the album isn't great. Lots of slow and uninteresting songs, and not much diversity.

Was not feeling this not standing out

So, I was actually somewhat looking forward to listening to this and well, yeah, that didn’t happen. I do like Freedom but that’s about it.

Not good

lets get the good bits out of the way first. george michael is a bit of a ledge and did being a rich ramous person right. freedom is a massive song that everyone knows because its decent. the bad bits are, the rest of this album is terribly turd. like as bad as it gets turd.

As a wise turnip once said, do I not like that.

Didn’t get around it- felt pretty basic

I tried to George, I really did but it sounds like music for middle aged women to gurn over and pout about how good looking you were and how they would only need a couple of minutes with you. Frankly, it feels a bit like a pub singer plying his tunes down the local. Best Tracks: Freedom! '90; Something To Save; Heal the Pain

Didn’t like this one…. Like GM’s work… this was not his best

He was a teeny bop hit guy that did better as he worked at it . This one wasn’t a great show of his talents

This was a waste of time.

These songs are too slow and not very interesting, they seem a bit pretentious in some ways. I preferred Faith when George first went solo. And there is too much echo on his voice in most of these songs

not gonna listen to this

I mean, it's pretty dreadful. And made me sad - thinking of little Kieran trying to get into this. Not music for kids!!

No, just no

The best thing I can say is that it wasn't as bad as I was bracing myself for.

I hope the choices improve soon

No. I don't think I will. Hard pass because the music sucks.

Very pop in bad mining of this word

Just not my thing. 1

So boring. Slow pianos and acoustic guitar with George just singing away isn't interesting to me.

Great Album