|
as everybody in the lesson knows,
i am a diehard michael jackson fan.
i am not just a fan of his music, i am a fan of MJ the man.
it' true... i never knew him.
but his music made me believe in love, magic and god.
he made me believe in these thing because when MJ sang and danced,
he created a new universe and he invited us inside.
MJ had universes living inside of him.
maybe all of us do but mike showed us how to get to those mystical places inside of ourselves. and as a penalty for showing the world
what the human spirit was capable of, mike was mocked, attacked,
and eventually destroyed.
it was sad.
so if anybody thought this project was a cash grab and nothing more,
it was me.
and as somebody that is an MJ fan that
was looking forward to getting on my high horse and hating this album,
i have to give it 4 stars.
why?
let's get the obvious stuff out of the way.
mike's catalogue is complete.
the projects in his official cannon will forever be a
rebuttal to the far to common notion that pop is shallow mindless fun, and nothing more.
aside from a few missteps and rebuilding phases along the way,
every MJ project from "Diana ross presents the Jackson 5" to "invincible" was essentially a blockbuster album.
he wasn't a genius like Hendrix, who's best moments came from
improvisation and spontaneity. every note, rest, vocal tic
and drum pattern was rehearsed and engineered to create one
final finished product. diving through his unreleased material
would be like sifting through deleted scenes from "citizen cain"
and trying to pull together another movie. once an MJ project
was done, it was finished.
there is nothing left to find. any songs that didn't make the cut
were left behind because MJ could not fit those songs
into his grand vision for the finished product.
. . .which leads us to "xcape."
in which producers inherited the impossible task of
taking a series of hooks, grooves, ditties, and half baked tunes
and turning them into a finished product that is worthy
to have michael Jackson's name printed on the album cover.
of course, there were obstacles.
for one, MJ is dead.
so there is nobody to turn to for artistic guidance.
there was only person in the world that could have turned
these songs into the perfect finished products that they might have been... and that person opted not to release them because
for whatever reason, when he tried to get the songs to work,
they just didn't.
secondly, it's impossible to get a second take.
if a producer things a song would work better if MJ would
shift to a different key or change up the timing,
there is no way to get another take. the "breaking news" debacle
showed us what happens when you try to replace a one of kind voice
with a dime a dozen imitator, and fans were not fooled.
there is only one MJ, and what he left behind is all we have.
which leads us to the third and final problem.
the material he left behind was not up to par with the
sonic standards set by bruce swedien and quincy jones
and MJ himself.
these are snatches of songs where
the piano and the vox are on one track.
where dummy lyrics are sang in place of the the real lyrics
that never came.
when these demos were recorded, the only consideration was getting the idea on tape before MJ forgot it... not making a sonic
masterstroke like "thriller."
and so it with these limitations that we are lead to
this posthumous release.
let's face it...
there is no way this would be "off the wall."
knowing this, executive producer could have gone one of two ways.
he could have just tossed 2 chains on some verses,
tossed some 808s behind the demos, and released the album as a
cash grab. it would have sold. fans would hate it.
and we would have had just another bullshit album on the shelves.
but timbaland, in maybe one of the most courageous moments of his
career, opted to go sideways.
micheal jackson always said that he wanted to create music that
would live forever... like bethonvens 5th symphony or the nutcracker suite. michael felt that was his way to immortality. and as
the cover art indicates, this album proves that michael jackson
was a universe.
these songs are intended-- i think-- not an additition to mike's cannon, but a reincarnation of it.
the producers attempted not to
imitate what they thought mike would have done,
but instead find ways to give the demos a life.
the beats on this album are understated.
they are a showcase for mike's raw, mostly unpolished vocal
performances.
the producers set out to make beats to accompany the demos,
and the avoided the trap of trying to recreate mike's blockbuster
albums. instead, they craft arrangements that allow the grooves, hooks, snatches of melody, and rhythmic pulse of the demos take a
life of their own.
the end result is something that michael jackson never would
have released... but in the end, it's what he wanted.
michael wanted to live forever.
michael wanted his music to change the minds of men
and to embed himself down into the fabric of the universe.
in a way, this album can be seen as Michael's fullillngness'
first finale. in which the genius-- who was an American dream
come true-- outlived and surpassed his promise until he grew
into an isolated, tormented, shell of what we always knew he always was.
but in spite of all the darts that were thrown at him,
the once and future king of pop lives on.
this album gives his throwaways new life.
they still have his essence, and the producers had enough sense
to know they couldn't recreate what mike had already done to the fullest.
immortality, is a good word.
even the low budget video for the surprisingly magnificient single
"love never felt so good" is emblematic of Michael's transcendence.
people of all races, watching MJ videos on a computer screen,
dancing along to the magic that is michael jackson.
would michael have been pleased with the sonic quality of this record?
no.
but if michael jackson was alive today-- and in a way, he is--
i am certain that he would be pleased that his music was still
bringing people together.
that the producers took care with this album
and didn't riddle it with dumb guest appearances.
that the arrangers found a way to make his old demos sound
contemporary without resorting to cheap production gimmicks and
half-assed beats.
that this project was not just a cash grab. . .
it was a tribute from and to the people that loved him the most--
the people that are still in mourning that they could not save him
from his tragic fate.
nothing can top the music that michael left behind.
nothing.
but michael will live forever.
his DNA is in this new album.
somehow, MJ did the impossible again, even from the great beyond.
long live the king.
|
Printer-friendly copy 
Email this topic to a friend
The Lesson
I LUV ALL A' Y'ALL!!! 
!!! 
