After his brush with death, George Michael's finally grown up

GEORGE MICHAEL: Symphonica (Virgin EMI)

Rating:
Verdict: Poignant and polished
Having often made the news for all the wrong reasons, George Michael was hoping to put the focus back on his music when he began a tour of Europe’s finest opera houses three years ago.
He was conquering his demons through drug counselling, and had enlisted a symphony orchestra to breathe fresh life into his weighty back catalogue and some well-chosen covers.
But things didn’t work out as planned. On the opening night in Prague, he was almost in tears onstage as he announced a split from his long-term partner  Kenny Goss.

George Michael's in-concert album Symphonica, which was recorded after his recovered from pneumonia, reiterates his resilience as a consummate live entertainer

Three months later, he lay close to death in a Vienna hospital as he battled acute pneumonia. Despite fears that one of the best voices of his generation might never perform again, Michael made a slow recovery and eventually resumed his tour.
This in-concert album, recorded after his recuperation, reiterates his resilience as a consummate live entertainer.

Produced by George and Phil Ramone, the legendary American producer who passed away last year at 79, Symphonica is a far cry from the kind of fare served up in the Eighties by the singer and his former Wham! buddy Andrew Ridgeley.
Back then, the fresh-faced twosome played to packed houses of screaming teenage girls and sang hits such as I’m Your Man with shuttlecocks tucked strategically inside tight-fitting shorts.
As befits a man of 50, this record is more refined. With elegant strings and horns adding colour without being intrusive, it places the onus firmly on a smooth, expressive voice that is still in magnificent fettle.

Despite the bumpy ride behind Symphonica, this polished return is an overdue reminder of a great British voice that might even be getting better with age

If the falsetto edge of youth has gone, maturity has conferred a resonant quality that adds richness to numbers like You’ve Changed, a jazz ballad once  sung by Nat King Cole and  Billie Holiday.
Unlike the over-the-top warblers of the TV talent shows, Michael tackles numbers such as Ewan MacColl’s The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face with soulful understatement.
One of his vocal strengths has always been a sense of economy, and his less-is-more approach also adds intimacy to his own hits, including A Different Corner.
Among the many ballads, there are two upbeat interludes, both revolving around songs once associated with Nina Simone: My Baby Just Cares For Me is cool and nonchalant; Feeling Good is bold, brassy and delivered with real swagger.
The most interesting covers are the less obvious ones. A version of Rufus Wainwright’s Going To A Town respects the original’s artful melodic twists, while George excels on Terence Trent D’Arby’s Let Her Down Easy, a poignant song written by a concerned father about his teenage daughter’s coming of age.
Elsewhere, there are too many inclusions (six, including The Police’s Roxanne) from 1999’s Songs From The Last Century, and three puzzling omissions in New Order’s True Faith, Rihanna’s Russian Roulette and Amy Winehouse’s Love Is A Losing Game — all highlights of Michael’s live set, yet all absent here.
But, despite the bumpy ride behind Symphonica, this polished return is an overdue reminder of a great British voice that might even be getting better with age.