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XSCAPE [2014] or MICHAEL [2010] which one is better?

foralltimerishi

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Recently I was wondering about the 'MICHAEL' album that, Is XSCAPE's commercial performance is better than MICHAEL?
 
Xscape takes the cake no contest. Michael has three songs that aren't even Michael at all, end of story.
 
hmm.. sounds like ROBOT

but these songs are in MICHAEL's Vocal range!
 
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Xscape without a doubt.

Bar the odd song, 'Michael' is ultimately a forgettable album and personally, I'm not really a big fan of how the album sounds. It quickly became boring for me (by early-mid 2011) whereas I'm still playing Xscape's songs a year on. I feel most of the contemporised versions on Xscape do justice to Michael's original version where as I do not feel 'Michael' is an album worthy of Michael Jackson's name. Hell, I don't even keep it on the shelf alongside the rest of his albums.

With the few songs on 'Michael' that are good, I would be open to seeing them re-envisioned on future albums alongside the release of the demos.
 
I'm leaning more towards Michael. I haven't played the contemporized songs from xscape in ages only the originals. But every now and then I listen to Michael, save for the three songs. Best Of Joy, Hollywood Tonight, Behind The Mask, Much Too Soon,these are classics.
 
Which is more respectful to Michael's creative process? Michael.
Which has stronger production? Xscape.
Which has a better collection of songs? Michael.

This is taking the Cascio tracks out of the equation.
 
I'm gonna have to go for Xscape too, reason why on Xscape b/c i love that it has demos/orginals and remixes. Dont get me wrong Michael would of been a brillient album if it didn't have the Cascio tracks on it, i do like the other songs like Hollywood tonight,best of joy, Behind the mask that Michael is achally singing.
 
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Minus the Cascio tracks, the Michael album is still better. The songs on Xscape were ruined with the contemporized versions of them. There was nothing wrong with the original versions of Chicago, A Place With No Name, and the 2010 versions of Blue Gangsta and Do You Know Where Your Children Are. The 2010 version of Slave To The Rhythm was better then the 2014 version or the original version.
 
Commercially (revenue-wise), I think Xscape did better than Michael, in a large part due to the mobile phone deal. In terms of number of sold copies, I think they are close, but you have to account for the overall decline in the album sales that happened in 4 years.

Legacy-wise, Xscape is of course better for two reasons:
1. It has original songs which is a must for a legacy artist.
2. No fake songs (the inclusion of which on Michael was as bad as you can do legacy-wise).

Song quality-wise, it's hard to compare. On Michael you have 3 songs not by MJ and 7 songs by MJ that were altered to an (often unknown) extent. On Xscape you have all originals, but they are not on the main album version and the songs that are presented as main versions are also altered. So what do you compare with what? If you compare originals with originals, in my opinion, Xscape overall has a stronger lineup, although I'd love to hear Behind the Mask as it was supposed to be.
 
Hold My Hand Vs Love Never Felt So Good
Winner - Love Never Felt So Good

Hollywood Tonight Vs Chicago
Winner - Chicago (If it weren't for that awful spoken bridge Hollywood Tonight would have won)

(I Like) The Way You Love Me Vs Loving You
Winner - Loving You

Best Of Joy Vs A Place With No Name
Winner - Best Of Joy

Another Day Vs Slave To The Rhythm
Winner - Another Day

Behind The Mask Vs Do You Know Where Your Children Are
Winner - Behind The Mask

Much Too Soon Vs Blue Gangster
Winner - Much Too Soon


Xscape - 3
Michael - 4

Hold My Hand Vs Love Never Felt So Good (Original version)
Winner - Love Never Felt So Good

Hollywood Tonight Vs Chicago (Original Version)
Winner - Chicago

(I Like) The Way You Love Me Vs Loving You (original version)
Winner - Loving You

Best Of Joy Vs A Place With No Name (original version)
Winner - Best Of Joy

Another Day Vs Slave To The Rhythm (original version)
Winner - Slave To The Rhythm

Behind The Mask Vs Do You Know Where Your Children Are (Original version)
Winner - Do You Know Where Your Children Are

Much Too Soon Vs Blue Gangster (original version)
Winner - Much Too Soon

Xscape - 5
Michael - 2
 
I would say Xscape.

Michael has great songs, no doubt. I really love Much Too Soon, Best of Joy, Behind the Mask and Hollywood Tonight. - Much Too Soon sounds like something MJ would have released no doubt. - Best song on Michael IMO.


Xscape has many great songs - I really like many of the songs - and then it has the originals too. - Wounderful album.
 
Taking the 3 non Michael Jackson songs out, I'd go with Michael. It's more in line with what Michael Jackson would sound like. Xscape is torture for me.
 
I do love both those albums. But Xscape to me is considered the best.
 
XSCAPE of course. I don't like the album Michael since it is controversial thanks to those 3 tracks. I love the songs on XSCAPE. I still play the songs of the album. What a shame that the Estate/Sony did not put much effort after the Billboard hologram....
 
Doggone said:
XSCAPE of course. I don't like the album Michael since it is controversial thanks to those 3 tracks. I love the songs on XSCAPE. I still play the songs of the album. What a shame that the Estate/Sony did not put much effort after the Billboard hologram....
Click to expand...

I wish the mix they had for the Billboard performance was the one on the album! I love that breakdown that occurs at 2.40 in the performance (musically, not the holograms performance).
 
It makes me shudder that some people are shunning the seven wonderful songs on Michael simply because of the three Cascio tracks.
 
"Xscape" had stronger sound choices but I hated the production that consisted of erasing Michael's original music.

"Michael" was very imbalanced but at least incorporated the sounds that started in the original demos.
 
Michael was pretty good, Best of Joy, Much Too Soon, Hold My Hand, Hollywood Tonight, Behind the Mask, they're all great songs, but Xscape sounds so much fresher and more catchy. Love Never Felt So Good could have been a genuine Off the Wall song, Loving You could be a Bad song, Slave to the Rhythm could've been a Dangerous song, and A Place With No Name an Invincible song.

Contrary to most people on here, I love the production, mainly because it's futuristic, catchy, well suited, and consistent. Michael was jumbled up, Xscape isn't. It has a theme and a direction and isn't all over the place. Every MJ album had a theme. And Xscape follows suit as it has a main theme; escape from the cold and calculated world we live in. Michael on the other hand doesn't have two songs which follow the same theme or feel.

So that's why I much prefer Xscape over Michael.
 
Michael had some GOAT songs (Behind The Mask, Best Of Joy, Hold My Hand (still gets play from me, very catchy) Another Day, etc) and I still listen to them, more than Xscape. Xscape was an all around strong album but wore off quickly for me as I had previously heard all but two songs from the album and due to the length of time I had them, heard them a lot, thus destroying the re-playablity they would've had vs. if I never heard them. For posthumous albums, they're alright, but neither truly have the replay value that his actual albums do (as expected) but for now, I'm going to say Michael, minus the three suspect tracks.

Tl;dr Michael > Xscape
 
innuendo141 said:
Taking the 3 non Michael Jackson songs out, I'd go with Michael. It's more in line with what Michael Jackson would sound like. Xscape is torture for me.
Click to expand...

Also this.
The remasters on Michael were just re-done and they seemed to have just re-did/finish what Michael originally had laying around (The DYKWYCA leak from that album and the demo from XSCAPE shows this) and I think Michael would have respected that more (ignorin the 3 songs.) Then again, just about everyone who worked on XSCAPE, Mike wanted to work with, so who knows.
 
Zack44 said:
The three Cascio songs: Monster, Breaking News, and Keep Your Head Up. Compare them to any other MJ song and you'll hear the difference.
Click to expand...
I have listened to those songs many times, and they all sound like Michael to me. I've been a fan for over 25 years, and I do admit there's a small difference...but Cascio explained he had to add more processing to the vocals during the final mix.
 
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