Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1 is the second solo studio album by the English singer-songwriter George Michael, released on 3 September 1990 by Columbia Records (Epic Records in the UK). The album was Michael's final album of all-new material on Columbia until 2004's Patience. Listen Without Prejudice was a stark departure from Michael's previous album, 1987's Faith, with largely acoustic instrumentation and a sombre intensity in many of the lyrics and melodies. While the album topped the UK Albums Chart, disappointing sales in the United States led to Michael's legal battles against Sony Music, in which he accused the corporation of not fully supporting him as an artist.
Listen Without Prejudice was reissued across a number of formats on 20 October 2017 and again topped the UK Albums Chart, 27 years after it first reached number one on the chart.
Production
After the massive success of George Michael's 1987 album Faith, expectations for his follow-up album were also high. Michael wanted to be taken more seriously as a songwriter, which resulted in a more thoughtful, often moody recording.
Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1 is largely devoted to ballads and folk-styled rock songs, although there are a few dance tracks like "Freedom" and "Soul Free". There was also a remix of "Freedom" that incorporated elements of Soul II Soul's "Back to Life", which was released as a twelve-inch single and received a good deal of club play. Like Faith, each track was produced and arranged by Michael himself.
Release
Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1 was released in September 1990. The album sold approximately over eight million copies worldwide.The album entered the Billboard 200 at number 22 and peaked at number two. The album spent the rest of 1990 in the top ten, with a total of 42 weeks on the entire chart.
In the United Kingdom, the album was a huge success, eclipsing sales of Faith. Listen Without Prejudice debuted on the UK Albums Chart at number one. It stayed at number two for the following two weeks. It spent 34 consecutive weeks in the top 20, and jumped from number 13 to number three in its 24th week. It spent a total of 88 weeks on the chart, and was certified quadruple platinum by the British Phonographic Industry on 2 January 1992.
The follow-up album Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 2 (ostensibly scheduled to follow in June 1991) was scrapped for reasons known only to Michael and his record company. Three of the tracks intended for that album appear on the 1992 charity compilation Red Hot + Dance, while a fourth ("Crazyman Dance") turned up on the B-side of that compilation's first single, "Too Funky".
Singles
The first single from Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1, "Praying for Time", was released in August 1990, reaching number six on the UK Singles Chart and number one on the US Billboard Hot 100—Michael's final US number one as a solo artist.
The second single (third in the US), "Waiting for That Day", was issued a month after the album's release. Owing to a borrowed lyric from The Rolling Stones' hit "You Can't Always Get What You Want", co-writer credits were given to Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. It reached number 23 in the UK, and, after being released there in spring 1991, number 27 in the US.
In the US, "Mother's Pride", the "Waiting for That Day" B-side, reached number 46; given its subject matter, it received considerable airplay on American radio during the Gulf War.
The album's third single (second in the US), "Freedom! '90", became one of Michael's signature songs. It was a great success in the US, where it reached number eight and earned a gold certification from the Recording Industry Association of America. It charted lower in Michael's homeland, where it peaked at number 28.
The fourth single, "Heal the Pain", peaked at number 31 in the UK in February 1991.
The fifth single from Listen Without Prejudice, "Cowboys and Angels", entered the UK Singles Chart in March and peaked at number 45.
"Soul Free" was commercially released as the sixth and final single in Australia, where it charted at number 95, and Japan.
Michael refused to appear in the music videos for the album's singles. Accordingly, the video for "Praying for Time" consisted of the song's lyrics projected onto a dark background, while the video for "Freedom! '90", directed by David Fincher, featured several supermodels lip syncing its lyrics, and the destruction by fire and explosion of several icons from Michael's recent Faith period.