2011, Legacy Records
The SPECIAL EDITION of Faith features the re-mastered original album and re-mastered nine song bonus CD, a DVD with an interview, the album's original EPK and seven promo video, a forty page hard-bound book with an exclusive interview, rare photos and memorabilia - all housed in a black buckram-covered, gold-foiled slipcase!
'A superbly crafted mainstream pop/rock masterpiece, Faith made George Michael an international solo star . . . Michael had already proven the soulful power of his pipes by singing a duet with Aretha Franklin on the 1987 smash "I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)," but he went even farther when it came to crafting his own material, using sophisticated '70s soul as an indispensable part of his foundation. Of course, it's only a part. Faith's ingenuity lies in the way it straddles pop, adult contemporary, R&B, and dance music as though there were no distinctions between them. In addition to his basic repertoire of funky dance-pop and airy, shimmering ballads, Michael appropriates the Bo Diddley beat for the rockabilly-tinged title track, and proves himself a better-than-decent torch singer on the cocktail jazz of "Kissing a Fool." Michael arranged and produced the album himself, and the familiarity of many of these songs can obscure his skills in those departments - close listening reveals his knack for shifting elements in and out of the mix and adding subtle embellishments when a little emphasis or variety is needed. Though Faith couldn't completely shake Michael's bubblegum image in some quarters, the album's themes were decidedly adult. "I Want Your Sex" was the most notorious example, of course, but even the love songs were strikingly personal and mature, grappling with complex adult desires and scarred by past heartbreak. All of it adds up to one of the finest pop albums of the '80s, setting a high-water mark that Michael was only able to reach in isolated moments afterward.' - Steve Huey / All Music Guide
'A superbly crafted mainstream pop/rock masterpiece, Faith made George Michael an international solo star . . . Michael had already proven the soulful power of his pipes by singing a duet with Aretha Franklin on the 1987 smash "I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)," but he went even farther when it came to crafting his own material, using sophisticated '70s soul as an indispensable part of his foundation. Of course, it's only a part. Faith's ingenuity lies in the way it straddles pop, adult contemporary, R&B, and dance music as though there were no distinctions between them. In addition to his basic repertoire of funky dance-pop and airy, shimmering ballads, Michael appropriates the Bo Diddley beat for the rockabilly-tinged title track, and proves himself a better-than-decent torch singer on the cocktail jazz of "Kissing a Fool." Michael arranged and produced the album himself, and the familiarity of many of these songs can obscure his skills in those departments - close listening reveals his knack for shifting elements in and out of the mix and adding subtle embellishments when a little emphasis or variety is needed. Though Faith couldn't completely shake Michael's bubblegum image in some quarters, the album's themes were decidedly adult. "I Want Your Sex" was the most notorious example, of course, but even the love songs were strikingly personal and mature, grappling with complex adult desires and scarred by past heartbreak. All of it adds up to one of the finest pop albums of the '80s, setting a high-water mark that Michael was only able to reach in isolated moments afterward.' - Steve Huey / All Music Guide
Tracklisting
Disc 1
Disc 2
Disc 3
| 1 | Faith |
| 2 | Father Figure |
| 3 | I Want Your Sex, Pts. 1 & 2 |
| 4 | One More Try |
| 5 | Hard Day |
| 6 | Hand to Mouth |
| 7 | Look at Your Hands |
| 8 | Monkey |
| 9 | Kissing a Fool |
| 10 | Last Request (I Want Your Sex, Pt. 3) |
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