Michael Jackson Discussion
Dec 20, 2010 18:51:32 GMT -5
Post by JOJO SIWA DERANGEMENT SYNDROME on Dec 20, 2010 18:51:32 GMT -5
Some reviews:
Rolling Stone review
By Jody Rosen
Rating: 3 stars out of 5
This is not a Michael Jackson album. Jackson was one of pop's biggest fussbudgets: Even when his songs were half-baked, the production was pristine. He would not have released anything like this compilation, a grab bag of outtakes and outlines assembled by Jackson's label. And yet, it's a testament to the man's charisma that Michael can be compelling. Jackson gets songwriting credit on eight of 10 tracks, and they are recognizably Michael Jackson songs. "Behind the Mask" is a fiercely funky cousin to "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' "; the Lenny Kravitz-produced "(I Can't Make It) Another Day" is a "Dirty Diana"-esque dance-rock song that also features Kravitz on guitar. There are thrilling glimpses into MJ's creative process — check the snippet of him singing and beatboxing his idea for "(I Like) The Way You Love Me" — but Michael's most amazing moment is the Thriller-era ballad "Much Too Soon." The song is full of guitars and strings, but all you really hear is that voice — hovering between child and adult, between male and female, between mournful and ecstatic.
Spin Magazine review
By Barry Walters
Rating: 6 out of 10
The success of This Is It was that it gave fans a rare glimpse of the candid, still startlingly talented man behind the billion-dollar machine. This far less satisfying collection of gussied-up outtakes and posthumously completed tracks shifts the focus back to the packaging that progressively dehumanized Jackson. The vocal processing on "Best of Joy" overwhelms the ballad's modest pleasures, and 50 Cent's cameo on "Monster" detracts from what's otherwise the strongest of several pained meditations on fame. The final cuts nearly meet Jackson's lofty mid-career standards: Not even corny crowd cheers can blunt "Behind the Mask," a raging rewrite of a pioneering techno track by Japan's Yellow Magic Orchestra, while the elegiac love song "Much Too Soon" delivers refreshingly simple bittersweetness. Both were first intended for Thriller, and although their reconfigured arrangements lack Quincy Jones' sophistication, the synergy between that master producer and his greatest pupil survives.
Entertainment Weekly review
By Leah Greenblatt
EW's grade: B
Whatever creative evolution Michael Jackson intended for himself in middle age, we will never really know; his legacy now falls to the executors who control his vast musical estate. One can understand, though, why the superstar went quiet after releasing his last album of new material, 2001’s respectable if ultimately underwhelming Invincible. A famously relentless perfectionist in the studio, he kept his post-Invincible recording sessions under wraps while peers like Prince and Madonna remained relatively prolific.
But death, as late icons from Johnny Cash to Tupac Shakur have shown us, can be a great motivator — at least for the beneficiaries left behind. Even before Jackson went on to become by far the best-selling artist of last year, the posthumous product rush seemed inevitable. Now, in addition to the MJ-themed videogame, docu-film, and Cirque du Soleil extravaganza, his estate has promised seven more releases over the next seven years.
The material on Michael is not by any means a deep dive into the Jackson archives; nearly all the songs are culled from the last five years of his life. Opener and first single ''Hold My Hand'' supplies the broad, pleasing fervor of an official theme song for a World Cup or Summer Olympics — an ideal repository for soaring choruses and generic lyrical uplift. ''Hollywood Tonight,'' from 2007, feels leaner and more urgent, crackling with Jackson’s trademark percussive shuffle and pop. The gospel-tinged bromide ''Keep Your Head Up'' offers a well-intentioned but somewhat soggy lead-in to the feathery, sweet-toned swoon of ""(I Like) The Way You Love Me.'' Window-smashing theatrics juxtapose with airy, danceable coos and a rat-a-tat 50 Cent guest spot on ''Monster'' (the beast in question, it turns out, is fame).
''Breaking News'' delivers Jackson’s now-requisite anti-tabloid screed, albeit with satisfyingly melodic gall, while ''(I Can’t Make It) Another Day,'' featuring Lenny Kravitz and Dave Grohl, galvanizes him further, yielding the album’s most genuinely fierce moment. The propulsive synths and vocodered trills on the otherwise intriguing ''Behind the Mask'' seem oddly dated by sax flourishes — though perhaps that makes it a good companion to the lilting closer ''Much Too Soon,'' an actual relic of the early ’80s (the track dates back to his Thriller days).
As musical epitaphs go, Michael is a solid album, arguably stronger than Invincible and certainly no great affront to his name. But it can be hard to listen and not wonder what he would have done differently — or if he would have wanted us to hear it at all.
Rolling Stone review
By Jody Rosen
Rating: 3 stars out of 5
This is not a Michael Jackson album. Jackson was one of pop's biggest fussbudgets: Even when his songs were half-baked, the production was pristine. He would not have released anything like this compilation, a grab bag of outtakes and outlines assembled by Jackson's label. And yet, it's a testament to the man's charisma that Michael can be compelling. Jackson gets songwriting credit on eight of 10 tracks, and they are recognizably Michael Jackson songs. "Behind the Mask" is a fiercely funky cousin to "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' "; the Lenny Kravitz-produced "(I Can't Make It) Another Day" is a "Dirty Diana"-esque dance-rock song that also features Kravitz on guitar. There are thrilling glimpses into MJ's creative process — check the snippet of him singing and beatboxing his idea for "(I Like) The Way You Love Me" — but Michael's most amazing moment is the Thriller-era ballad "Much Too Soon." The song is full of guitars and strings, but all you really hear is that voice — hovering between child and adult, between male and female, between mournful and ecstatic.
Spin Magazine review
By Barry Walters
Rating: 6 out of 10
The success of This Is It was that it gave fans a rare glimpse of the candid, still startlingly talented man behind the billion-dollar machine. This far less satisfying collection of gussied-up outtakes and posthumously completed tracks shifts the focus back to the packaging that progressively dehumanized Jackson. The vocal processing on "Best of Joy" overwhelms the ballad's modest pleasures, and 50 Cent's cameo on "Monster" detracts from what's otherwise the strongest of several pained meditations on fame. The final cuts nearly meet Jackson's lofty mid-career standards: Not even corny crowd cheers can blunt "Behind the Mask," a raging rewrite of a pioneering techno track by Japan's Yellow Magic Orchestra, while the elegiac love song "Much Too Soon" delivers refreshingly simple bittersweetness. Both were first intended for Thriller, and although their reconfigured arrangements lack Quincy Jones' sophistication, the synergy between that master producer and his greatest pupil survives.
Entertainment Weekly review
By Leah Greenblatt
EW's grade: B
Whatever creative evolution Michael Jackson intended for himself in middle age, we will never really know; his legacy now falls to the executors who control his vast musical estate. One can understand, though, why the superstar went quiet after releasing his last album of new material, 2001’s respectable if ultimately underwhelming Invincible. A famously relentless perfectionist in the studio, he kept his post-Invincible recording sessions under wraps while peers like Prince and Madonna remained relatively prolific.
But death, as late icons from Johnny Cash to Tupac Shakur have shown us, can be a great motivator — at least for the beneficiaries left behind. Even before Jackson went on to become by far the best-selling artist of last year, the posthumous product rush seemed inevitable. Now, in addition to the MJ-themed videogame, docu-film, and Cirque du Soleil extravaganza, his estate has promised seven more releases over the next seven years.
The material on Michael is not by any means a deep dive into the Jackson archives; nearly all the songs are culled from the last five years of his life. Opener and first single ''Hold My Hand'' supplies the broad, pleasing fervor of an official theme song for a World Cup or Summer Olympics — an ideal repository for soaring choruses and generic lyrical uplift. ''Hollywood Tonight,'' from 2007, feels leaner and more urgent, crackling with Jackson’s trademark percussive shuffle and pop. The gospel-tinged bromide ''Keep Your Head Up'' offers a well-intentioned but somewhat soggy lead-in to the feathery, sweet-toned swoon of ""(I Like) The Way You Love Me.'' Window-smashing theatrics juxtapose with airy, danceable coos and a rat-a-tat 50 Cent guest spot on ''Monster'' (the beast in question, it turns out, is fame).
''Breaking News'' delivers Jackson’s now-requisite anti-tabloid screed, albeit with satisfyingly melodic gall, while ''(I Can’t Make It) Another Day,'' featuring Lenny Kravitz and Dave Grohl, galvanizes him further, yielding the album’s most genuinely fierce moment. The propulsive synths and vocodered trills on the otherwise intriguing ''Behind the Mask'' seem oddly dated by sax flourishes — though perhaps that makes it a good companion to the lilting closer ''Much Too Soon,'' an actual relic of the early ’80s (the track dates back to his Thriller days).
As musical epitaphs go, Michael is a solid album, arguably stronger than Invincible and certainly no great affront to his name. But it can be hard to listen and not wonder what he would have done differently — or if he would have wanted us to hear it at all.