How do you review a single by a singer who’s deceased? Especially when the artist has been so vocal about artistic freedom as George Michael. But a new single has been released in order to promote the upcoming release of a special “Listen without Prejudice” box set. The album contains original versions of songs, taken from the time George was still working on the songs, as well as b-sides of singles taken from the original album.
The song “Fantasy” originally was the b-side to George’s declaration of independence, “Freedom ‘90”. The original version was funky in a Fresh Prince of Bel Air theme tune kind of a way. Typical for the 90s era, but outdated for today. This week, a new version was released as a single which received its funkier sound from Nile Rodgers.
And this is where it gets a bit difficult for me. On one hand, it is amazing to hear George Michael again. His vocals are full of energy and power. It’s like he never left us. But he did, and that just sucks. It’s like you become aware, even more than before, that there will never be completely new music. And I’m not sure what to think of this remake.
I was just watching a documentary about George’s last days alive in which a befriended journalist put it into words really well. George was all about his music being right. He wanted to do it all himself, as one of his background singers confirmed, and therefore you can never really approve of any unfinished songs to get finished by other musicians and released as a George Michael song.
Compared to the original version of “Fantasy”, the Nile Rodgers version does catch the essence of George Michael, but still reflects on the 90s sound of the “Listen without Prejudice” era. So, within the project’s objectives, Nile has done a really good job on this song, but altogether I feel like the song could’ve gotten a little bit more energy by adding a little bit more drums to it.
I just can’t shake the wonder if George would’ve done it this way himself. I have a feeling that he would’ve updated a little further, because he was on top of what was going on in music today. As a tribute to George though, it’s really good.
