He was in, until he was out

When it was released last month, George Michael's album "Patience" debuted at the top of the charts in Denmark, Germany, Italy, Sweden, and England. It remains to be seen whether Michael can duplicate even a hint of that success here -- if the album is released in the United States at all.

So far, there's no stateside street date for Michael's first album in eight years. (Currently, the album is only available here as an import on Sony Music UK.) It's a remarkable reversal of fortune for someone who once was arguably the biggest pop star in the world.

At the sparkling height of his career in 1987, Michael's first solo album, "Faith," went on to sell 10 million copies and spawned a handful of chart-topping hits, including "I Want Your Sex," "Father Figure," and "One More Try." In 1988, "Faith" won the Grammy for album of the year.

Michael was a teen idol, an image he both reveled in and shunned, but he was also a fine pop craftsman who wrote, composed, and produced "Faith," a musical hallmark for the decade. Michael has yet to match that critical and commercial peak. It's not just that Michael's once-rabid fans grew up and moved on to other artists and interests, or that his career languished for years while he fought for his release from a long-term contract with Sony. Between 1990 and 1996, Michael did not release a new album.

"My life's been like a really bad soap opera the past 10 years," Michael recently told a New Zealand newspaper. "Everything was going my way. And I was happily marching into the history books, but then it all fell apart."

Still, the greatest obstacle to Michael's comeback seems to be his acknowledgment of his homosexuality, after his arrest for lewd behavior in an LA park restroom six years ago this week.

At the time, instead of hiding, George went on CNN and MTV to talk about the incident, as well as about coming to terms with his homosexuality. He even made fun of his arrest in the song "Outside," and especially in the accompanying video, but in America at least, few seemed to be laughing. A frothy, funky confection, the song probably would have been a hit back when many still believed Michael was just another randy heterosexual who shared his "Careless Whisper" only with the opposite sex.

From Jerry Lee Lewis to Janet Jackson, pop music has been riddled with sex scandals of one type or another, but it seems that many music fans haven't quite figured out how to embrace a onetime sex symbol who has dared to declare he is gay.

Even though rumors about Michael's sexuality had been around since his "Wake Me Up Before You Go Go" days with the pop duo Wham!, few seemed prepared for a man whose sexy pout once adorned the walls of teenage girls' rooms stating that he was in a relationship with a man.

Compared to R. Kelly's ongoing legal troubles surrounding child-pornography charges, Michael's restroom mishap is akin to a parking ticket. Yet Kelly's career has only seemed to flourish in light of the charges. He's gotten standing ovations at awards shows and enjoyed two megahits, "Ignition" and "Step in the Name of Love," from his 2003 multimillion-selling album, "Chocolate Factory." Simply put, absolutely no one seems to care Kelly may have participated in a heinous act. (Kelly is innocent until proven guilty, but his brief 1994 marriage to the late singer Aaliyah, then 15, is at least a totem of troubling behavior.)

More so than his arrest, Michael's "crime" was proclaiming, without shame or reservation, the truth about himself.

Now 40, Michael recently announced "Patience" will be his last conventional album. All future music, he contends, will be released for free on the Internet. If this is his final proper CD, it's well crafted, and has some good things, such as the first single, "Amazing."

But there's nothing comparable to such songs as "Freedom '90," "Faith," or the lost gem "Fantasy," a B-side on the "Freedom '90" CD single. On the upside, at least this isn't one of those all-too-common production-by-committee discs that tries to be all things to all people.

While his 1996 "Older" was dedicated to his late lover, Anselmo Feleppa, and contained some oblique references to his sexuality, Michael's new album, not surprisingly, is more candid. "My Mother Had a Brother" tells the story of a gay uncle who committed suicide on the day Michael was born. "American Angel" celebrates his eight-year relationship with partner Kenny Goss -- yes, their relationship survived Michael's restroom escapade. And the emotional meaning of "Please Send Me Someone (Anselmo's Song)" is self-evident. Still, even if this were a pop masterpiece to rival "Faith," it probably wouldn't be enough. If the past half-decade is any indication, Michael will need a lot more than patience to restore his career in this country. Renee Graham's Life in the Pop Lane column appears on Tuesdays. She can be reached at graham@globe.com