ALBUM REVIEW: Michael Jackson
- Posted on September 9, 2008 10:50 AM
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Michael Jackson
King Of Pop
Review by Amir AhmedKing Of Pop
Michael Jackson's last album of original work was 2001's Invincible. Since then, he's had three compilation albums' with this, the latest having been chosen by the fans. Michael Jackson is an enigma, who's mystique seems to show no signs of waning. Allegedly the latest twist of events claim he's dating Pamela Anderson. We know she's had some wild men in the past but to go the opposite end of the spectrum and date the ultimate wet blanket!
But there's no debating the fact that Jackson is the biggest selling artist of all time. Thriller still sells 130,000 copies a year in America alone, which is quite substantial for a 26 yearl old piece of work. But what a piece of work. His two contemporaries Prince and Madonna (all three the same age) received greater critical acclaim at times, but for pure mammoth sales, neither could touch Jackson. Riding the wave of MTV and co-creating some of the most memorable promo videos of all time, Jackson was a genuine superstar. The word can only be attributed to people, who's infamy straddles the planet. There are places in Africa, where people wouldn't have a clue wgho Bono, George Michael, Prince or Madonna were. But they'd sure as hell know the King of Pop as he strolled along the high street. Co-incidentally, the label King Of Pop came from Jackson himself in a fantabulous piece of self-promotion.
Recently I attended a party in a rather fashionable (darling) part of town with some twenty-somethings, all wanting to dance and have a good time, but having trouble deciding between Klaxons, cheesy pop and Foals. Some bright spark put on Thriller and for the next forty minutes, the whole party got started, beginning to end. I really was struck by the power of the album. It finished and then Off The Wall came on and that tore up the party even more severely.
Which brings me to this collection of songs, finally after an introduction that defies a line or two. Billie Jean, a mammoth piece of pop. It's not quite funky, but alludes to it. the stabs of string give it a classical cadence. but it's the vocal which defies gravity. Incredible bridge, amazing chorus and what sets it apart are the noises Jackson makes. Everyone knows these sounds, but they're not even words. They are a rhythmic language coined by Jackson himself. Every 'ooh', 'wooh', 'ch,ch,ch' are memorised by generations and no-one has been able to create as distinctive a musical language.
As the album moves around in a non-chronological order, it's a good collection, Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough, You Are Not Alone, Beat It, BAD (the video of which is my particular favourite, where a freshly whitened Jacko intimidates Wesley Snipes, with a flurry of crotch holding), Smooth Criminal - they're my personal faves, I've even got a guilty pleasure in Earth Song. It's cheesey and sickly sweet, but surely that's the point of pop?
So, another compilation, more rumours that Jackson's confidence is so fragile he doesn't dare perform live, another year without original material (why didn't he work with the Neptunes who allegedy wrote Justified for him, but then gave it to Justin Timberlake, when Jacko said no) and at 50, starting to rapidly approach irrrelevance? Don't think so, put on King of Pop at a party and dare people not to dance.
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