2671591, mike jackson Posted by Joe Corn Mo, Fri Mar-09-12 01:31 PM
started off w/ the jackson 5. you've heard all of the best material from this era, b/c all the best material was released as a single.
but the first 3 or 4 jackson five albums actually work as albums... they have lots of motown covers of songs like "my girl" and the have MJ handing in credible covers of songs like "la la means i love you" (i prefer it to the delphonics) and "ready or not" (i'm on the fence about that one.)
after MJ's voice started to change, the MJ pretty much wandered through the wilderness on motown... too much buble gum, too much stuff that sounded like attempts at broadway tunes....
just some really godawful tunes.
but there are some notable exceptions. "one day in your life," is one of my favorite MJ tracks. is a real tear jerker. it has taken on greater significance now that he's gone.
SEE ALSO: "looking through the windows."
SEE ALSO: "when i come of age." (this song is striking b/c he's talking about all of the wonderful things he does when he grows up, as he implores the woman of his dreams to wait until he gets older so that he can express the deep feelings he has for her already. i am certain he is singing to diana ross.
it's extra striking because obviously, he never got with diana ross, and the problems that MJ faced as a result of being an old soul in a little body plauged MJ until the day he died.)
the transition point for jackson 5 MJ into adult MJ was "shake your body down to the ground."
he had finally grown into his adult voice, he finally had some great material to showcase that voice, and his adult voice shows all of the gulps and hiccups that we would grow to love.
after this, we get to OTW and Thriller. i won't rehash these albums b/c we are all familiar with them, but i will encourage folks to check out "triumph" which is a jacksons album he released that appears to be forgotten about.
"heartbreak hotel" you know, but what about the gripping balad, "time waits for no one." great stuff.
by the time he got to "bad," he was still releasing great singles, but they weren't as universal as the singles from "off the wall" and "thriller."
i'm sure you've heard it, no need to talk about it.
MJ recurited teddy riley to help him craft a new sound for dangerous. it was a great album, but the problem with it is that the vocal hiccups that were once charming are sometimes annoying at this point.
also, most of the save the world songs he released aside from "man in the mirror" are pretty dreadful.
it's more consisant than bad, but nothing on it is as great as OTW.
after the child molstestation charges, MJ still made great music, but a lot of his albums were too long.
that being said, he still had hot fire on every album. even though his uptempo songs sounded dated, he could still rip a ballad a new asshole.
stand-out cuts from his "past his prime" era:
"butterflies"
"heaven can wait"
"break of dawn"
"smile"
"stranger in moscow."
he also had a few tracks that were tesimonies to his paranoia.
the most powerful one was "morphine," his song about drug addiction. it sounds like a nine inch nails song.
i also dig "is it scary."
all MJ fans should track down the short film for "ghosts." it's one of the best videos he's ever done.
that's my crash course on MJ.
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