Patience (George Michael album)

Patience is the fifth and final studio album by the English singer-songwriter George Michael, released on 15 March 2004. The much delayed follow-up to Older, at the time of its release it was considered Michael's comeback album since it was his first album composed of original material since 1996, and his first for Sony Music since 1990's Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1.

Patience
Studio album by George Michael
Released	15 March 2004
Recorded	2000–04
Genre	Pop dance soul
Length	70:15 (UK) 63:09 (US)
Label	Aegean Sony Epic
Producer	George Michael
George Michael chronology
Songs from the Last Century (1999) Patience (2004) Twenty Five (2006)
Singles from Patience
"Freeek!" Released: 18 March 2002 "Shoot the Dog" Released: 29 July 2002 "Amazing" Released: 1 March 2004 "Flawless (Go to the City)" Released: 28 June 2004 "Round Here" Released: 1 November 2004 "John and Elvis Are Dead" Released: 3 October 2005

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	(60/100)[1]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[2]
BBC Music	(positive)[3]
Blender	[4]
Entertainment Weekly	C[5]
The Guardian	[6]
Houston Chronicle	C[7]
Slant Magazine	[8]
Stylus Magazine	D+[9]
Uncut	[1][10]
Yahoo! Music UK	[11]

Patience spawned six singles. The first two, "Freeek!" and "Shoot the Dog", were already released in 2002 by Polydor, when the album was originally due.

In a 2004 interview with Adam Mattera for UK magazine Attitude, Michael explained how he felt reenergised and excited about the project: "There's something about the vocals on this album that’s a lot more confident, more certain. There are proclamations of love that I’ve never made before – certainly since Wham! – and then there’s going further into the truth at the same time, like on "My Mother Had A Brother" or "Through" – they're trying to get closer to the truth." [12]

Return to Sony

On 17 November 2003, Michael re-signed with Sony Music, the company he had left after a legal battle in which Michael claimed that his contract was stifling him and was keeping him in "professional slavery". As a result, his contract was sold by Sony to rival record companies Virgin Records and DreamWorks Records on 14 July 1995.

Release and reception

Patience went on sale in most of the world in late March 2004 and debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart, and at number 2 in Australia on 22 March. It became one of the fastest-selling albums in the UK, selling over 275,000 copies in the first week.[13] The album went on sale in the US on 18 May 2004; however, it did not contain "Patience Pt. 2" and "Shoot the Dog". It debuted in the US at number 29 but after many TV appearances, such as The Oprah Winfrey Show, the following week, it reached its chart peak of number 12. As of 2006, the album had sold 381,000 in the United States.[14] It has sold around four million copies worldwide.[13]

The first single "Freeek!" had already reached number one in Italy, Spain and Denmark in March 2002 and reached the top ten in the UK and top five in Australia. The album features a remixed version called "Freeek! '04".

The second single, "Shoot the Dog", was released in July 2002. It was not released as a single in Canada or the US over sensitivity to the 11 September 2001 attacks, and was not included on the Patience album in those countries. While it reached the top five in Spain, Italy and Denmark, it failed to reach the top ten in the UK.

The third single from Patience, "Amazing", was released in March 2004 and went to number one in Italy and Spain, also reaching number 4 in the UK and number 6 in Australia.

The fourth single, "Flawless (Go to the City)", was released in June 2004 and reached number 8 on the UK Singles Chart. It reached number one on Billboard's Hot Dance Club Songs chart.

In November 2004, Sony released a fifth single from Patience, "Round Here". The single reached number 32 on the UK charts.

"John and Elvis Are Dead", the sixth single was released in October 2005 and only sold through the Internet as a download.

Anti-war song

The album contains the anti-war song "Shoot the Dog". When released in July 2002, "Shoot the Dog" had already proved to be controversial. It was highly critical of George W. Bush and Tony Blair in the leadup to the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The video showed a cartoon version of Michael astride a nuclear missile in the Middle East and Tony and Cherie Blair in bed with President Bush. The latter image was apparently intended as a homage to the 1986 video for "Land of Confusion" by Genesis. The cartoon was produced by the makers of 2DTV, a satirical animated television show broadcast weekly on the independent television station ITV in the UK.

In an interview with MTV, Michael said the song was primarily intended to highlight what he saw as a lack of consultation by Tony Blair about the decision of invading Iraq. "People are looking at the song in context of an attack on America, as opposed to an attack on Tony Blair. And really, my attack is that Tony Blair is not involving the British in this issue. He's perfectly happy staying up to watch the World Cup and enjoying the Jubilee, all things I'm perfectly guilty of, but there's a serious discussion about Iraq, which hasn't taken place. We don't know what Saddam Hussein is capable of, the British public has no idea."

Final album

Michael announced Patience would be his last album on sale to the public as a physical release.[15] He told BBC Radio 1 on 10 March 2004 that music he put out in the future would be available for download with fans encouraged to make a donation to charity.[16] He said: "I've been very well remunerated for my talents over the years so I really don't need the public's money. I'd like to have something on the Internet which is a charitable download site where anyone can download my music for free.[17] I'll have my favourite charities up there and people will hopefully donate to that." He stated that the decision would put less pressure to produce a new album every so often and allow him to have more of a private life.

Patience was Michael's final studio album of original material before his death on 25 December 2016.

Track listing

Standard version

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"Patience"	George Michael	Michael	2:53
2.	"Amazing"	Michael Johnny Douglas	Michael	4:25
3.	"John and Elvis Are Dead"	Michael David Austin	Michael	4:23
4.	"Cars and Trains"	Michael Douglas	Michael Douglas^[a]	5:51
5.	"Round Here"	Michael	Michael	5:55
6.	"Shoot the Dog"	Michael	Michael	5:07
7.	"My Mother Had a Brother"	Michael	Michael	6:17
8.	"Flawless (Go to the City)"	Michael	Michael A Touch of Glass^[b]	6:51
9.	"American Angel"	Michael Niall Flynn James Jackman Ruadhri Cushnan	Michael Flynn Jackman Cushnan	4:07
10.	"Precious Box"	Michael	Michael	7:39
11.	"Please Send Me Someone (Anselmo's Song)"	Michael	Michael Douglas^[a]	5:26
12.	"Freeek! '04"	Michael Flynn Jackman Cushnan	Michael Flynn Jackman Cushnan	4:28
13.	"Through"	Michael	Michael	5:22
14.	"Patience (Pt. 2)"	Michael	Michael	1:30
Total length:				70:15

Japanese version (bonus track)

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
15.	"Please Send Me Someone (Anselmo's Song)" (alternative version)	Michael	6:58

US version

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"Patience"	George Michael	Michael	2:53
2.	"Amazing"	Michael Johnny Douglas	Michael	4:25
3.	"John and Elvis Are Dead"	Michael David Austin	Michael	4:23
4.	"Cars and Trains"	Michael Douglas	Michael Douglas^[a]	5:51
5.	"Round Here"	Michael	Michael	5:56
6.	"My Mother Had a Brother"	Michael	Michael	6:17
7.	"Flawless (Go to the City)"	Michael	Michael A Touch of Glass^[b]	6:51
8.	"American Angel"	Michael Niall Flynn James Jackman Ruadhri Cushnan	Michael Flynn Jackman Cushnan	4:07
9.	"Precious Box"	Michael	Michael	7:39
10.	"Please Send Me Someone (Anselmo's Song)"	Michael	Michael Douglas^[a]	5:26
11.	"Freeek! '04"	Michael Flynn Jackman Cushnan	Michael Flynn Jackman Cushnan	4:28
12.	"Through"	Michael	Michael	5:22

Notes

• ^a signifies an additional producer.
• ^b signifies original music producer.
• An alternative version of "Please Send Me Someone", the B-side to "Flawless (Go to the City)", appears only on Japanese pressings of the album.
• Had the 30 seconds of silence on "Through" not be included, the duration of the song would be 4:52.

Sample credits

• "Shoot the Dog" samples "Love Action (I Believe in Love)" by The Human League, written by Philip Oakey and Ian Burden.
• "Flawless (Go to the City)" contains elements from "Flawless" by The Ones, written by Paul Alexander, Olivier Stumm, Nashom Wooden, Eric Matthew, and Gary Turnier.
• "Please Send Me Someone (Anselmo's Song)" contains elements from "Moonraker" written and composed by John Barry and Hal David.
• "Freeek! '04" contains samples from "Try Again" by Aaliyah, written by Tim Mosley and Stephen Garrett; "Breathe and Stop" by Q-Tip, written by James Yancey and Kamaal Fareed; and "N.T." by Kool & the Gang, written by Gene Redd, Clarence Redd, Roy Handy, Cleveland Horne, Ronald Bell, Robert Mickens, Dennis Thomas, Richard Westfield, George Brown, and Claydes Smith.

Personnel

Credits adapted from AllMusic.[18]

• Eugene Adebari – photography
• David Arnold – orchestration
• David Austin – keyboards, programming
• Joanna Bailey – direction
• Michael Brown – guitar
• Jo Bryant – background vocals
• Joel Bryant – background vocals
• Chris Cameron – piano
• Tony Cousins – mastering
• Tom Coyne – mastering
• Ruadhri Cushnan – arranger, keyboards, producer, programming
• Andy Davies – assistant engineer
• James Dimmock – photography
• Jon Douglas – programming, keyboards, producer
• Niall Flynn – arranger, audio engineer, engineer, producer
• Dan Gautreau – programming
• Pete Gleadall – additional keyboards, programming
• James Jackman – arranger, programming, keyboards, main personnel, photography, producer
• Greg Jakobek – design
• Abid Katib – photography
• George Michael – arranger, audio production, bass guitar, design, programming, guitar, keyboards, piano, primary artist, producer, lead vocals
• Adam Noble – assistant engineer
• Phil Palmer – guitar
• Jack Panayiotou – photography
• Graham Silbiger – bass guitar
• Luke Smith – piano,wurly,rhodes
• Ben Smithard – photography
• Ellen von Unwerth – photography

Charts

Weekly charts Chart (2004) Peak position Australian Albums (ARIA)[19] 2 Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[20] 3 Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[21] 5 Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[22] 4 Canadian Albums (Billboard)[23] 4 Danish Albums (Hitlisten)[24] 1 Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[25] 1 European Albums (Top 100)[26] 1 Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[27] 3 French Albums (SNEP)[28] 4 German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[29] 1 Greek Foreign Albums (IFPI)[30] 2 Hungarian Albums (MAHASZ)[31] 2 Irish Albums (IRMA)[32] 2 Italian Albums (FIMI)[33] 1 Japanese Albums (Oricon)[34] 26 New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[35] 2 Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[36] 11 Polish Albums (ZPAV)[37] 1 Portuguese Albums (AFP)[38] 5 Scottish Albums (OCC)[39] 1 Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)[26] 4 Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[40] 1 Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[41] 2 UK Albums (OCC)[42] 1 US Billboard 200[43] 12

Year-end charts Chart (2004) Position Australian Albums (ARIA)[44] 27 Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[45] 44 Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[46] 34 Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[47] 35 Danish Albums (Hitlisten)[48] 23 Dutch Albums (MegaCharts)[49] 13 French Albums (SNEP)[50] 84 German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[51] 27 Hungarian Albums (MAHASZ)[52] 43 Italian Albums (Hit Parade)[53] 26 Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[54] 76 Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[55] 25 UK Albums (OCC)[56] 20 Worldwide Albums (IFPI)[57] 38

Certifications

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
Argentina (CAPIF)[58]	Gold	20,000^^
Australia (ARIA)[59]	Platinum	70,000^^
Austria (IFPI Austria)[60]	Gold	15,000^*
Belgium (BEA)[61]	Gold	25,000^*
Denmark (IFPI Denmark)[62]	Gold	20,000^^
France (SNEP)[63]	Gold	121,000[64]
Germany (BVMI)[65]	Platinum	200,000^^
Hungary (MAHASZ)[66]	Gold	10,000^^
Italy (FIMI)[67]	Platinum	100,000^*
Netherlands (NVPI)[68]	Gold	40,000^^
New Zealand (RMNZ)[69]	Platinum	15,000^^
Poland (ZPAV)[70]	Gold	35,000^*
Spain (PROMUSICAE)[71]	Gold	50,000^^
Sweden (GLF)[72]	Gold	30,000^^
Switzerland (IFPI Switzerland)[73]	Gold	20,000^^
United Kingdom (BPI)[74]	2× Platinum	600,000^^
United States	—	381,000[14]
Summaries
Europe (IFPI)[75]	Platinum	1,000,000^*
^* Sales figures based on certification alone. ^^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References

1. "Patience by George Michael".
2. Allmusic review
3. "BBC NEWS – Entertainment – Review: George Michael's Patience".
4. Blender review
5. Fonseca, Nicholas (4 June 2004). "Patience Review". Entertainment Weekly: 80. Retrieved 12 November 2012.
6. Petridis, Alexis (11 March 2004). "George Michael, Patience" – via The Guardian.
7. "'Patience' by George Michael".
8. "George Michael Patience – Album Review – Slant Magazine".
9. "Patience Review". Stylus Magazine. Archived from the original on 3 February 2013. Retrieved 29 December 2016.
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11. "Yahoo! Music UK review". Archived from the original on 16 August 2004. Retrieved 16 August 2004.CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
12. "George Michael's candid 2004 interview with Attitude". Attitude. Retrieved 26 June 2012.
13. Moore, Jane. "George Michael: GQ Magazine Interview 2004". GQ Magazine. Retrieved 27 April 2013.
14. Caulfield, Keith. "Ask Billboard: George In The USA". Billboard Nielsen Business Media. Retrieved 6 March 2011.
15. Sweeting, Adam (26 December 2016). "George Michael obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 29 December 2016.
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31. "Album Top 40 slágerlista – 2004. 14. hét" (in Hungarian). MAHASZ. Retrieved 8 October 2016.
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61. "Ultratop − Goud en Platina – albums 2004". Ultratop. Hung Medien. Retrieved 31 October 2017.
62. "Guld og platin" (in Danish). IFPI Denmark. 19 March 2004. Retrieved 31 October 2017.
63. "French album certifications – George Michael – Patience" (in French). Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique. Retrieved 31 October 2017.
64. "Les Albums (CD / Téléchargement) les plus Vendus depuis le 1er Janvier 2000" (in French). InfoDisc. Retrieved 31 October 2017.
65. "Gold-/Platin-Datenbank (George Michael; 'Patience')" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie. Retrieved 31 October 2017.
66. "Adatbázis – Arany- és platinalemezek – 2004" (in Hungarian). MAHASZ. Retrieved 31 October 2017.
67. "Italian album certifications – George Michael – Patience" (in Italian). Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana. Retrieved 31 October 2017. Select "Tutti gli anni" in the "Anno" drop-down menu. Select "Patience" in the "Filtra" field. Select "Album e Compilation" under "Sezione".
68. "Dutch album certifications – George Michael – Patience" (in Dutch). Nederlandse Vereniging van Producenten en Importeurs van beeld- en geluidsdragers. Retrieved 31 October 2017. Enter Patience in the "Artiest of titel" box.
69. "New Zealand album certifications – George Michael – Patience". Recorded Music NZ. Retrieved 31 October 2017.
70. "Polish album certifications – George Michael – Patience" (in Polish). Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 31 October 2017.
71. "Spanish album certifications" (in Spanish). Productores de Música de España. Retrieved 4 January 2020. Select Albums under "Chart", enter 2004 in the field "Year". Select 16 in the field "Semana". Click on "Search Charts".
72. "Guld- och Platinacertifikat − År 2004" (PDF) (in Swedish). IFPI Sweden. Retrieved 31 October 2017.
73. "The Official Swiss Charts and Music Community: Awards (George Michael; 'Patience')". IFPI Switzerland. Hung Medien. Retrieved 31 October 2017.
74. "British album certifications – George Michael – Patience". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 31 October 2017. Select albums in the Format field. Select Platinum in the Certification field. Type Patience in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.
75. "IFPI Platinum Europe Awards – 2004". International Federation of the Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 31 October 2017.

External links

• Patience at Metacritic