Okay - so this one requires some explaining. I've talked before about how I'm not a big Michael Jackson fan. At some point, my plan was to review one of his highest end albums and explain myself in greater detail. Well, follower Ashley asked me to review a certain track off this album, so I'm just going to run with it. Of course without giving away my big post in the future. The track she asked me to pay close attention to is 'Whatever Happens'. And the reason for that is she read my post about Carlos Santana, and that I really enjoyed his guitar work. Well, he provided the guitar for that track, and Ashley insists the track has it goin' on. Well, I'll be the judge of that!! No - I'm not that self centered. Before I get to that, let me talk about this album as a whole. Is there any Jacko fan that owns this? This isn't his worst selling album at 2x platinum in the states, but it's pretty far down the list. Only better than his super early stuff. All pre 'Off The Wall' album. This is really not good. I mean, it's like he totally lost his swagger and made an album. And to show you how irritated I am, I used the word swagger. I hate that word. This is all slow, melodic nonsense. What happened to the flamboyant, crotch grabbing, high note hitting pop genius? This album shows a brief shell of that man. Now sure, he got older - and went pretty nuts. But still. Why didn't someone at a studio listen to this and say, "yikes mike. not good". Oh yeah, money. That's why. Anyway, the specific track. I want to try to set aside the album as a whole here - which is hard to do. It's got that very Santana-esque feel, which anyone who's a fan of Carlos will know what I'm talking about. That being said, this track is the best of a bad situation. Lyrically pretty good, beat wise mediocre and arrangement wise the best of the record. I've spent more time analyzing this track, and after I listened to the rest, so my judgment might be clouded. FYI. I'd be curious what other people think of this album...especially his fans.
TRACK LISTING:
1. Unbreakable
2. Heartbreaker
3. Invincible
4. Break of Dawn
5. Heaven Can Wait
6. You Rock My World
7. Butterflies
8. Speechless
9. 2000 Watts
10. You Are My Life
11. Privacy
12. Don't Walk Away
13. Cry
14. Lost Children, The
15. Whatever Happens
16. Threatened
Listen To Samples
Top 3 Tracks:
1. Whatever Happens
2. Cry
3. Heartbreaker
FINAL RATING:
2.25 out of 5 stars
Thank you, thank you, thank you for doing that. Ohh my goodness I can almost here you now going off on this thing. Hahahaha, "Well, he provided the guitar for that track, and Ashley insists the track has it goin' on. Well, I'll be the judge of that!!".
ReplyDeleteI've said it once, I've said it a million times, love the honesty you provide for your readers.
I said to myself, "I know he's gonna bash this album, but I have to know his opinion cause I know he'll give it to me straight", and you did. I have the CD, and I'll say I like it pretty good. I'm with you that some elements could maybe stand some improvement but its still not bad :)
How does it compare to his other albums though? I'll say Bad and Thriller. Which to you like most?
ReplyDeleteOut of those two honestly, I'd say I like Bad the most. If I'm speaking collectively from every album I've heard, it'd be a dual between Off The Wall and Dangerous.
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