Track Order of Michael's Albums

[video=youtube;eyCdsu27OXY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyCdsu27OXY[/video]

So I’ve been thinking on this for a little while, and the other day I saw some discussion about ‘Invincible’ on the new album thread that made me wonder about everyone’s opinions… When I listen to an album, I’m the sort of person who likes to listen to the whole thing from start to finish, in exactly the order the artist intended it. It seems to me that the order the tracks are arranged on an album can have a significant influence on the overall “message”, “impact” or “journey” the artist wants to convey.

So I’m wondering what people’s thoughts are on the track order of any of Michael’s albums. Without swapping out any of the songs that are included on the album, how would you rearrange the track listing and why? Or what are some of the things that you love about the way Michael arranged his albums? Just any thoughts or ideas on this in general, I guess!

I love the order of BAD and Dangerous, to me they're great because in my opinion Dangerous seems to get to a point where it is just hit ,after hit, after hit. I would change the track list on Invincible though, I would have Whatever Happens as the last track, and also try and split similar tracks up more (Heartbreaker, Invincible), put I appreciate Michael's original vision on the journey he wants you take as a listener. Great thread by the way.

Can somebody attempt to get some screenshots of the above footage? There's a section where you see flash cards with song titles on them and there could very well be something interesting in there!

I skipped through it frame by frame, that's the best result I could get due to the motion blur.


(click to enlarge)

I can only read:
Can't Let H(er Get Away)
She Drives Me Wild
and some single words like 'dance ... track', 'fast song ...'.

Yeah, dont really like the order of Invincible. Intro is a bit to same level for me, and then from 2000 to Cry, just way to stop and starty. Should of atleast grouped 2000 and Privacy together and cut one of the ballads (for me Cry was the weakest).

Looking back on the previous albums, I wouldn't touch a thing. I've always played around and experimented with Bad ordering though. Introducing Smooth Criminal earlier, and even crazy scenarios like starting with Man in the Mirror. Bad's flow would be perfect if Just Good Friends was cut. Way more tighter and would bring in the killer ending tracks a tad sooner

javiklasicki said:

Looking back on the previous albums, I wouldn't touch a thing. I've always played around and experimented with Bad ordering though. Introducing Smooth Criminal earlier, and even crazy scenarios like starting with Man in the Mirror. Bad's flow would be perfect if Just Good Friends was cut. Way more tighter and would bring in the killer ending tracks a tad sooner

Click to expand...

Yeah, can definitely see what you mean with that.. I pretty much love the ordering of Bad, but for some reason the fact that MITM and IJCSLY are paired together has always bugged me a little. I'm sure plenty of people would disagree with me, but I just feel like it's a bit of a Siedah Garrett overload or something, idk exactly what it is. I would probably have JCSLY a little earlier.

I actually sat there today and tried to rearrange the order of Dangerous.. I have always wondered how different it would be if it had a more mixed order, rather than being grouped into 'sections' of different styles/producers (especially with those first six tracks). But I really couldn't do it.. Idk, I think it kinda has to be that way. The thing that I love most about the order of that album is the fact that Dangerous is the last track. It could easily have ended on a sad/wistful note with Gone Too Soon, and had Dangerous tucked in with the rest of the NJS tracks, but it completely brings it full circle, and rounds out the album with something upbeat, funky, dark and memorable -- definitely a killer ending. That album is so genius to me.