Here is a collection of some of the more interesting reviews of Faith Remastered:

• Music: George Michael’s “Faith” And The Era Of The Blockbuster
• George Michael | Faith (remastered 2010) (Epic Legacy)
• Keeping the Faith
• Faith (Remastered Edition)
• “I Want Your Sex”: Still Scandalous After All These Years?

Rolling Stones gives Faith: Special Edition four stars.

Why wasn’t George Michael’s “Hard Day” one of the biggest hits of 1988? Because every other song on his album already seemed to be on the charts. Faith — which produced six Top Five singles — established Michael as a full-grown Brit-funk stud, with “I Want Your Sex” setting up his female fans for years of disappointment. The album holds up as one of the Eighties’ smartest megapop statements, full of passion and surefire hooks. This edition adds a CD of 12-inch mixes and B sides (check out Shep Pettibone’s nine-minute “Hard Day” mix) and a DVD of videos, so you can see George write “Explore Monogamy” on some lucky lady’s bare flesh in lipstick.

The Washington Post also has a review:

Twenty-four years on, “Faith” still represents the apotheosis of Michael’s career, the moment when everything was just right: He was newly soulful, but still interested in crafting mammoth pop melodies. He was serious, but not yet insufferable. Now stricken with what the British tabloids are calling “creative malaise,” Michael hasn’t released an album of new material in almost seven years, and an album of good material in going on 15.

I have to admit that I haven’t had the kindest thoughts about the remastered Faith collections coming out on February 1.  Don’t get me wrong … I love Faith and my memories of 1987-1988 are filled with the joy of being a George Michael fan and seeing and hearing him everywhere.  You’d turn on MTV, and it was always premiering the newest George Michael video or giving news of the Faith tour. It was the best time to be a George Michael fan, at least for me.

When I heard about this remastered Faith, I felt a little jaded.  Perhaps if it had been released in 2012, which would have been the 25th anniversary of Faith, I wouldn’t have felt like they were trying to profit off of Faith, while the faithful fans wait for a new George Michael CD. Yeah, it’s fun that GeorgeMichael.com looks like a George Michael web site in 1987 would have looked. But I lived Faith. It’s funny now to get press information that Faith was released in November 1987 … yeah, on November 2, 1987, in the U.S. I still remember.

I have Faith on CD, cassette, and LP.  At first, I wasn’t even going to buy this remastered collection. Faith always sounded great, and I’m not sure I would be able to tell the difference with the remastered CD.  However, when I looked at the song list of the B sides, I knew why this collection was something a George Michael fan, even one who thought she had every Faith-related thing, would want.

Yes, you can get “Fantasy” (one of my all-time favorites) on other George Michael CDs. Yes, the instrumentals of “Faith” and “Kissing a Fool” are nice to have, but it’s George Michael’s voice that I want to listen to.  And, yes, it’s nice to have the remixes for “Hard Day” (a song I always thought deserved to be released from the album) and “Monkey.”

Ultimately, it’s the song, “I Believe When I Fall in Love,” that changed my mind about this collection. I used to listen to this song all the time on my cassette single—or cassingle—as we used to call them. And since my pink boom box long ago started eating my cassettes, having this little gem alone on CD is why any long-time fan would want to buy one of the remastered Faith collections. I’m sure many George Michael fans, especially if you became a George Michael fan later, may have missed out on this song and “Love’s in Need of Love Today.” 

Since I wasn’t privy to some of the cool stuff from the deluxe edition, I can’t recommend shelling out $141, unless you’re a real collector.  If you’re like me and the music is why you continue to be a George Michael fan, then the special edition or remastered edition should make you happy.

The year 2011 marks my 26th year as a George Michael fan and my 14th year running this George Michael fan site.  This new collection reminds me of just why I’ve been a George Michael for as long as I have. Yes, I still have faith in George Michael’s music.

Melanie
Webmaster of Yours Only George

Here are the latest articles on the reissue of Faith:

• It’s high time to restore your Faith in George Michael
• George Michael profile: Will the re-release of Faith shake George Michael out if his ongoing creative malaise?
• CD CHOICE: Faith Remastered

Here is the LA Times review: First look (and listen): George Michael’s ‘Faith’ gets the deluxe reissue treatment

(Okay, I just want to know why some of the fan sites can’t get these free copies way ahead of schedule and review them!  I’d promote it far more if I had it ahead of time. Sorry, everyone, it just doesn’t make sense to me!)

Entertainment Weekly has an article on the pop hits of 1988.  The page on George Michael’s “Faith” ends with an A- rating. In part, it says:

“I don’t want to give the pipe organ too much credit, but I do enjoy it. And those snappy, biting lyrics are just a blast to sing, and — there! — such lovely but not overwhelming harmonies pop up from time to time. Listen real close now and discover that bass line working overtime. There is so much to hear, and I guess that’s it: Unlike the chucka-chucka sameness of Harrison’s upcoming contribution, everything in ”Faith” just moves around and lights up more, like the inside of a super-fun pinball machine. With a giant round ass shaking on top.”