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Date Posted: 21:17:17 05/27/01 Sun
Author: Jim
Subject: Yes yes, here are my reviews of some of Jacko's albums i did for amazon a while ago... i sound like an arse!

Bad The best of Michael Jackson's albums...

You want a recommendation of this album? I bought it in 1991 and didn't buy an album by another artist for five years! I just could not stop listening to this guy!

I was too young for the Thriller era and had only a passing interest in the Bad days, but when i saw the Black or White video I was converted. I remember the next day when i went to school, everyone was talking about it. It was huge. I went back through his older albums and loved them too, but this remains my favourite.

This is the album that shows how narrow the title "King of Pop" is for Michael Jackson; Dangerous has pop, rock, soul, new jack swing, and even gospel. It can now be seen as a bridge between the pop of Bad and the more angry-sounding HIStory, and the album where MJ's vocal percussion reached new heights. The pure funk of Jam, Dangerous and Remember the Time, the depth of Who Is It, the beauty of Will You Be There and Gone Too Soon, and the rock of Give In To Me and Black or White are the highlights. But every song on this album could have been released as a single - in fact, of the fourteen tracks, nine were released! It's an album of exceptional quality, with no fillers. You need to own this album, and there's no good excuse for why you don't already!

HIStory Maybe not his best album, but by far his most important...

HIStory starts with fifteen greatest hits, and has the curse that only genius can suffer; there aren't enough! Where is Smooth Criminal, Will You Be There, Leave Me Alone, Who Is It... Some greatest hits albums resort to fillers, but HIStory Begins could have been bigger and better and still left you complaining that it wasn't enough!

HIStory Continues, the second disc, has fifteen new tracks, inlcuding the cover of the Beatles' Come Together, previously only available as a B-side to the Remember The Time single. It's slightly more hit-and-miss than his last two albums; of Bad's eleven tracks, nine were released as singles - how's that for quality? But the best songs on the album are among his best ever. Scream is a monumental comeback single. While it was expected he would brush the recent controversies under the carpet, here he is at his angry best, fighting back. The same can be said of They Don't Care About Us, and potential buyers should be aware that the alleged anti-semitism is a myth. Here, any racist words that appear in the lyrics are used to show the stupidity of racism, not to endorse it. Stranger in Moscow is his most adult song to date, a beautiful and haunting ballad that shows how far this album has moved from his 80s heyday. These first three tracks are by far the best on the album, but there are other highlights: the title track is a messy epic; Childhood is MJ at his most open and honest; Tabloid Junkie and 2Bad kick ass; and Earth Song doesn't need anything more written about it!

His previous albums had a little more balance between the best and the slightly-less-best songs, but this is the most important album Michael Jackson has made. It has an honesty in the lyrics which makes his earlier work seem slightly empty, and will make you realise that "King of Pop" is too narrow a title for this guy. I would recommend this album to everyone. The greatest hits and the new tracks are stunning.

Blood on the Dance Floor Hard to review...

This album has to be seen in two halves. The first five tracks are the only new ones on the album, the rest are remixes from his previous album, HIStory. And there's the problem. I don't like remixes at all. They just make me want to listen to the originals, which are always far superior. Of the new songs, the title track is stunning. Classic MJ, it is as tune-driven as anything from the Bad album. Morphine is closer in tone to HIStory.... Superfly Sister doesn't sound like MJ at all, and makes a refreshing change. Ghosts and Is It Scary are both funky and have to be listened to as loud as possible to be appreciated - if the floorboards aren't rattling you're not listening right!

If this was a five-song EP it would get five stars; if it was an eight-track remix album it wouldn't be to my taste but it would have more focus. As it is, the first five songs are great and a nice taster in the never-ending wait for the next full album. Buy it for the new songs, then switch it off!

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