Here is a super long review of the book:
I loved this book so much I ended up binge reading it and managed to finish the entire thing in a week. Which is very rare for me since I usually never get around to finishing books.
Simply put, this is the definitive Michael Jackson biography (from 1978-2009 only though). There are so many producers, engineers, session musicians, and managers that gave incredibly detailed, new interviews, that it is invaluable to any Michael Jackson fan. Furthermore, the writer was objective and even included interview comments that showed the worst parts of Michael's personality. That being said though, it is fair and also you will see many positive comments about Michael as well, sometimes from the same collaborators.
At the start of the book, already with Off The Wall, I was amazed by how much new information was in the book. As I mentioned before, many people were interviewed for this book, but what is most important was that they were all the right people. It is like if the Bad 25 documentary was more focused and honest. Most importantly though, in terms of how the interviews are presented and the book is written, it is very well done. There is an extensive amount of new information, but it always flowed in a fast way and most things didn't feel dwelled upon to me. Now, not every song of every album came up in the interviews (I'd say about 85% of them are very detailed), but you will be surprised by the amount of information given on songs that were usually ignored or never released as singles.
My favorite part of the book was the amount of information of the making of Dangerous, HIStory, Blood on the Dancefloor, and Invincible. These albums are typically ignored in MJ biographies or articles, and here they are given an insane level of detail. While Thriller and Bad sessions have always been very well documented, it is invaluable to see the amount of attention and pages given to the making of these albums. There is tons and tons of new information on these sessions that even the biggest MJ fan would not know. HIStory especially was given a massive portion of the book, which was great for me since it is my favorite album. That being said though, the making of the earlier albums are also presented in great detail, although Thriller provides the least new info of everything, as everyone knows the stories from that album's production.
The book isn't only about the making of the albums. Tours are decently documented as well as all the troubles that came with them. The stresses of the first allegations and Michael's drug use after them are shown in detail. The period between Invincible's release and June 2009 is also given a hefty portion of the book and gives very detailed information on MJ's many financial troubles and all the projects he would start and back out of, as well as the unfulfilled promises he would make to others while living off of their money. I'm not sure how accurate all the numbers are, but it does paint a very grim picture of Michael during this period.
Some of the cons:
Now something that is important to note is that despite all these new interviews, not every single piece of information is new. You have information in the book that is taken from previous interviews, articles, texts, and gearslutz forum posts. I would say the majority of these sources are great and credible. Every sentence of taken information is clearly cited page by page, however some of the sources are questionable. I did notice a few uses of Taraborrelli's book, which many consider to be inaccurate. Furthermore, there is a chapter of the book that relates to the Invincible promotion and Sony disputes, which for some reason cites Frank Cascio's book (which I consider untrustworthy) a lot. Tommy Motolla is also quoted quite a bit on the subject, despite his opinion always favoring himself. There are a few instances were I found some inaccuracies, but they were pretty infrequent. The portion of the book dedicated to TII uses existing letters and testimonies already previously given at the manslaughter trial and the Jacksons civil suit. You won't have much new information on TII, but it is good at the very least to have an accurate portrayal of it.
The book's mention of the Jackson 5 and the early Jacksons work is very light and only serves to set the scene for the rest of the book. There is no new information on this period and it is simply a prologue. The book's focus is on Michael's solo work from Off The Wall and on. In fact, I would recommend just skipping straight to the Off The Wall section on the book. There also isn't much information on the new songs from The Ultimate Collection, although some such as Monkey Business, We've Had Enough, and Scared of the Moon, are mentioned at earlier portions of the book (when they were being recorded). Posthumous releases are also not mentioned. For those interested in reading about Michael's complete discography and tours, Chris Cadman's Maestro comes highly recommended and is the definitive MJ encyclopedia.
Now this isn't necessarily a con for the book or the writer himself, but this book, while providing you with a lot of new insight, will also make you think much less of Michael as both a person and an artist. One common recurring theme is Michael refusing people credit or giving himself credit for things he never did. This starts a little bit in the Bad era and gets worse as time goes on. Many songs that fans think he composed or made the melody for, he actually didn't contribute anything new to (lyrics and music were already done), besides the ad libs and some criticism. In many cases Michael would have producers come up with songs or ideas and then he would pick the ones he liked. Musicians, producers, and engineers, would put all the creative work into these, and Michael would give himself producer or co-producer credit on these tracks. In a lot of cases he would have musicians just come into his studio and would ask them to play, and he would wait to hear a melody he liked, yet Michael would take credit for these works.
It seemed that in quite a few cases Mike treated his collaborators poorly. He would have people fly around to different states and make copies of all the multi tracks so he could record in different studios, yet in many cases he would be absent, sometimes for weeks at a time. A lot of money was wasted as these people would all be on payroll and put in expensive hotels. In some cases people would just head back home after waiting around for so long and Michael not showing up. Once he told an engineer "see you tomorrow", then was gone for two weeks on vacation without telling anyone.
You will also see how clueless Michael was when it's shown how easily people would manipulate him and convince him that others were against him. It becomes clear that after the Thriller sessions Michael became more and more unreasonable, paranoid, and demanding.
One thing that really shocked me was some of the information Jimmy Jam gave through his interviews. After Scream was finished mixing, Michael, Janet, and Jam all agreed on the final version that was sent to be mastered. Just a week or so before the single was to be released, Janet heard an early copy and her vocals were turned down a lot from what was previously agreed on, so Michael stood out a lot more and she was more like a backing vocalist. Jam confronted Michael about this and he said "Oh that's strange I have no idea who did that", but Jam could tell from Michael's expression that he had been caught and was clearly lying. (It ended up being changed back to the previously agreed upon version just before being pressed). There are a lot worse things Michael has done, but hearing how someone would do this to their own sister is a perfect example of what a c**d person Michael had become.
In conclusion, despite some flaws, this is an amazing biography that will give fans a lot of new insight into Michael's artistry as well as his personal life. It comes highly recommended and I am so glad to have an objective MJ biography out there, as well as a book that provides plenty of information on Michaels later albums, which usually go ignored. I feel it is great to have the mystery of these sessions and Michael's personal life finally gone.
