a history of joy and pain, in time
(or: you put the grey skies outta my way,
you make the sun shine brighter than doris day)
posted at 2:11 am by brandon in now hear this
Only because I can recall every single one of them with a frightening, crystalline clarity (and, also, because it sometimes seems like only twenty-five minutes have passed since the halcyon days of 1984), it’s very nearly incomprehensible to believe that twenty-five years stand between today and our very first delectable taste of George Michael and of his indescribable talent. To mark this milestone, to coincide with his first world tour since 1990, and, perhaps most importantly, to remind the populace of American music consumers — an entire generation of which has grown up recognizing Michael as nobody more than the strange Brit who flashed an undercover cop in a Beverly Hills bathroom, rather than as the brilliant Brit who grew up to become the finest, most eloquent, most engaging pop star the world has produced in the last thirty years — that he’s not only still alive, but still kickin‘, honey, King George’s TwentyFive, a two-disc, 29-track collection of classics that reaches all the way back to Michael’s Wham! days, has finally been granted a stateside release. (In a slightly altered version, TwentyFive has been available overseas for eighteen months now.)
