****

bad
i gave this album a real good listen and i realized that indeed longtime engineer, bruce swedien did deserve his grammy for mixing this album (mike got snubbed for 4). there are things that i hear on this version that i didn't hear on the previous version (the cars in "speed demon" mike's swirling 3-d "no's" on dirty diana, the heartbeats on "smooth criminal". quincy reflects on the botched prince/michael meeting to make ''bad'' a duet. epic maybe, but i can't even imagine prince singing in thiskey.....let alone to this music. he also recalls how ''another part of me'' barely edged out a (better?) ''streetwalker'' to make the final cut thanks to ''fat ass'' dancin' manager frank deleo. ''fly away'' woulda also been a nice addition to this cold collection. yes cold. ''bad'' is cold. ''speed demon'' is cold. ''dirty diana'' is as misogynistic as mike has ever got. ''another'', ''just good friends'', and ''i just can't stop....'' are too non descript for me. rod temperton is sorely missed this time around. now that i know where the magic lies (quincy pulls major weight as shown on the first two records) i feel as though (especially evidenced on present michael decisions) mike took more of the weighty decisions probably cause of the pressure to follow up the monster that will haunt them for the rest of their lives.......solid record? yes. my favorite? nope.