He’d be a huge hit, if this were Europe

The man’s posture is pure waiting room -- sitting forward on a couch, he’s staring at his wristwatch -- but there’s also a looseness in his limbs that suggests he isn’t especially antsy.

The man is George Michael and the photo is his new album cover, and if you didn’t get the visual clues, the title of the collection is “Patience.” All of which suggests that the young star who once extolled “Faith” is now at a different career moment.

“Patience” is the first album of new material since the 1996 “Older.” In the intervening years, Michael’s music all but disappeared from U.S. pop radio.

He, however, didn’t disappear from the news pages, where his name appeared repeatedly due to his April 1998 arrest for lewd behavior in a public restroom at a Beverly Hills park as well as his ensuing claims of police misconduct and entrapment.

That is ancient history in most respects, but the bad news is that to a new generation of pop fans, the “old news” description might also suit Michael himself.

“George is a phenomenal talent, there’s no dispute, and he remains a major star in Canada and Europe. But the fact remains that here in the United States he has been MIA,” says Jeff Pollack, a programming consultant for radio and music video outlets. “Things change every six months, and he’s has been off the radar for years.”

“Patience” will debut on the nation’s album charts on Wednesday, but it may have to wait to make a large splash there since the music has been on a relatively low volume in terms of radio play. Of 124 stations in the pop rhythmic formats that would fit the music, only five have given a spin to the lead single, “Amazing.”

Balanced against the dearth of attention so far is the fact that the album has been huge in Europe. Q Magazine, the respected British music journal, said of “Patience”: “There is more than enough evidence here to suggest that Michael can finally live up to his superstar status and fill Elton John’s stacked heel shoes as an elder statesman of quality British pop.”

The disc was released overseas weeks ago and Bob Feterl, a regional manager of Tower Records, said the chain has sold “tons of the album as an import” and that the “buzz on this record has been very good, very intense.”

-- Geoff Boucher