But all that was just a warm-up. In 1992 Michael sued to end his contract with Sony, alleging that they treated him less like an artist than a piece of software. The nerve of them! Michael lost the suit, but last year DreamWorks SKG and Virgin shelled out a reported $52 million for the privilege of buying out his contract and releasing his next two albums. So a lot is riding on Michael’s new opus. The seriousness/silliness quotient has become especially crucial. And a question hangs in the balance. Was Michael’s fight with Sony a heroic battle for artists’ rights? Or was it just one more melodrama in a career that’s reached soap operatic proportions?
Well, the answer is: both. On ““Older,’’ released this week, “”‘‘Michael hits the balance perfectly, just as he always has. It’s gorgeous and romantic, ambitious and revelatory, feather-light and exquisitely listenable. Michael mixes acoustic guitars and synthesizers, high-tech drum tracks and old-school sax solos; he produced, wrote, arranged and mostly played everything himself. The album is dedicated to Antonio Carlos Jobim, and songs like ““Move On’’ and ““It Doesn’t Really Matter’’ have the breezy, sultry sadness of Jobim’s great ’60s collaborations with Frank Sinatra. Elsewhere Michael updates crooners like Johnny Mathis and Nat (King) Cole: his voice glides with easy sophistication through heartachy ballads, flitting to falsetto when the sentiment moves him. The only mistake is ““Star People,’’ a snobbish dismissal of a peer group Michael doesn’t deserve to distance himself from. Even ““Free,’’ the album’s coda and a direct swipe at Sony (headphones labeled FONY were edited out of his new video, ““Fastlove’’), comes off as vintage Michael. ““Feels good to be free,’’ he whispers with frivolous delight. And we know just what he means. Michael’s freedom is our freedom. It’s his gift to his audience. He takes himself seriously so we don’t have to.
