Invincible Reimagined

[wonderouzmj]

Michael didnt even believe in filler songs man! He said that out his own mouth. Saying that every song should be a hit & lady in my life was NOT a filler... far from it!

[SilkySnare]

I know, maybe the word "filler" is too much, but they are more weaker songs, when compared to the rest. Sure, any other artist could start/end their entire career on one of this "weaker" songs, haha. It's just that, compared to the rest of his gems, they don't pack the same punch.
But like I've said, they are still great songs and they give the final form to the albums. I wouldn't remove any of them.

[ChrisC]

Well, there are filler songs on every album, IMO.

Thriller had Lady in my Life.
Bad had Just Good Friends.
Dangerous had She Drives me Wild, Can't Let Her Get Away and Keep the Faith.
HIStory had D.S., Come Together, Childhood and Little Susie.
Invincible had You Are my Life and Don't Walk Away.

But I wouldn't remove them, they all make the albums what they are.
Sure, there are many songs that deserve their albums and could be added. But I wouldn't remove any

Horrified that Little Susie and Childhood are considered "filler".

[ozemouze]

Horrified that Little Susie and Childhood are considered "filler".

Or The Lady In My Life.

The filler on Thriller is The Girl Is Mine.

[wonderouzmj]

Or The Lady In My Life.

The filler on Thriller is The Girl Is Mine.

My thoughts exactly!

[DifferentKindOfLady]

Or The Lady In My Life.

The filler on Thriller is The Girl Is Mine.

Especially childhood. Michael considered that song the most autobiographical one.

[DifferentKindOfLady]

Horrified that Little Susie and Childhood are considered "filler".

Especially childhood. Michael considered that song the most biographical one.

[Girl]

Well, there are filler songs on every album, IMO.

Thriller had Lady in my Life.
Bad had Just Good Friends.
Dangerous had She Drives me Wild, Can't Let Her Get Away and Keep the Faith.
HIStory had D.S., Come Together, Childhood and Little Susie.
Invincible had You Are my Life and Don't Walk Away.

But I wouldn't remove them, they all make the albums what they are.
Sure, there are many songs that deserve their albums and could be added. But I wouldn't remove any

Horrified that Little Susie and Childhood are considered "filler".

'Horrified' doesn't even begin to describe how I feel about Silky's selection of fillers. To each their own, but they mentioned some of my all time favorite tunes, from Michael or anyone else, for that matter, most especially the songs I bolded out.

Or The Lady In My Life.

The filler on Thriller is The Girl Is Mine.

Totally agree with you. The Lady tune is the absolute highlight on Thriller for me, while the duet is the low point of the album. Good to know I'm not the only one who feels this way *high five in the air* As far as I'm concerned, the true gem in the Mike/Paul collaboration is the overlooked one - the Man song.

For me, the only true fillers in his 79-01 catalog are Girlfriend, The girl is mine and Don't walk away and MikeJack2005 explained very well why this last one is such a weak and unconvincing song.

Don't Walk Away (IMO the worst track on Invincible, for me it's very boring, and vocally it sounds very safe for Michael. Nothing really happens in the song and it's got that Adult contemporary/easy listening feel. On top it's kinda depressing/melancholy which works on a track like Stranger in Moscow - but not here)

Other than those three songs I mentioned, Michael's material is excellent, with certain songs being on lower tiers and very, very many absolute masterpieces. I consider Speechless the greatest, most beautiful and purest composition ever, while that Lady tune on Thriller comes in 2nd place; Break of dawn earns the bronze medal and Butterflies, Liberian girl & You are my life all get honorary mentions

And when I shift focus and move beyond my silly, romantic moods and look a bit further into the deep darkness of the world, I see and listen to Heal the world, Earth song, We've had enough, Shout, Why you wanna trip on me and Do you know where your children are? The awesome power in the lyrics of those songs could have been merged with tremendous visuals to truly carry the message home and inspire people......

[DifferentKindOfLady]

By the way, some of you may consider lady in my life a filler but it was my parents song back in the day. The two of them had the Thriller album and my father dedicated that song to my mother. It is a nice filler cause that filler MADE me 10 years after the song was released.

[Themidwestcowboy]

Well, there are filler songs on every album, IMO.

Thriller had Lady in my Life.
Bad had Just Good Friends.
Dangerous had She Drives me Wild, Can't Let Her Get Away and Keep the Faith.
HIStory had D.S., Come Together, Childhood and Little Susie.
Invincible had You Are my Life and Don't Walk Away.

But I wouldn't remove them, they all make the albums what they are.
Sure, there are many songs that deserve their albums and could be added. But I wouldn't remove any

Lady In My life filler????????????????? My brain cannot compute this.

[ozemouze]

As far as I'm concerned, the true gem in the Mike/Paul collaboration is the overlooked one - the Man song. [...]

For me, the only true fillers in his 79-01 catalog are Girlfriend, The girl is mine

Yes, yes yes! *returning the high five* Say Say Say is fun, but it's The Man that is a gem. And that Girlfriend song... even MJ's great singing can't help me from cringing if I have to listen to it *hides from the fans of the song*.

Invincible is a bit complicated for me, as even though I grown to appreciate its more universal approach a lot I still can't get over two things: the overproduced sound and especially that the background vocal isn't just MJ's voice for the first time in history (OK, a bit of exaggeration here but I hope you know what I mean). I just can't get used to the latter.

To be perfectly fair Silky clarified later that filler wasn't the best expression to use. On OTW I consider It's The Falling in Love and Burn This Disco out fillers as well - don't get me wrong, both are great funky fun songs, but if Just Good Friends is a filler (and I can accept that IF we think of fillers as some playful, carefree bonus for MJ & Stevie on an otherwise tight album as Bad), than those are too, definitely.

Plus I agree that there are sometimes songs that are great but don't exactly fit into the album. E.g. I love Come Together, and I understand why it was included into History but it just breaks the flow of it.

By the way, some of you may consider lady in my life a filler but it was my parents song back in the day. The two of them had the Thriller album and my father dedicated that song to my mother. It is a nice filler cause that filler MADE me 10 years after the song was released.

That's a lovely story and I laughed out loud at the end, thanks for sharing. And everyone can see now how important song it is.

Thanks to every TLIMYL lover for the outrage!

Oh and Keep The Faith isn't a filler either. Actually, Dangerous is a fillerless album, its flow is impeccable.

[ozemouze]

Don't walk away and MikeJack2005 explained very well why this last one is such a weak and unconvincing song.

Don't Walk Away (IMO the worst track on Invincible, for me it's very boring, and vocally it sounds very safe for Michael. Nothing really happens in the song and it's got that Adult contemporary/easy listening feel.

Perfectly worded indeed. I couldn't explain even to myself what was wrong with it and not so MJ-ish about it, but now it's clear. Thanks!

TBH I have similar feelings toward YANA (at least that's better and more challenging vocally, but not too exiting either, and a bit aimed at the "contemporary/easy listening feel" too). *hides*

Last edited by Girl; Today at 08:42 PM. Reason: Had to add another word about the beauty of Speechless, which came on radio jusssst as I was writing this post

That's great!

Now Speechless is sort of an example of my overall problems with Invincible: I absolutely agree with you that it is one of "greatest, most beautiful and purest composition ever", and one of MJ's best vocals for me, so one of the best in his catalogue actually but... I would much more prefer a very simple, sort of quiet orchestration for it, without a choir, which accompanies his voice in an is almost unnoticeable way. I think it would work much better, as the - otherwise beautiful - music and choir is absolutely in contrast with the delicate, vulnerable nature of the song.

I never had this problem before with any MJ album, and even though I love many songs on Invincible and consider them more mature and better than some of the "famous" ones I can't get over this and (especially considering the circumstances around the time of making the album) can't stop wondering about "could have, should haves".

I'm glad you enjoy the song as it is though!

[DifferentKindOfLady]

Yes, yes yes! *returning the high five* Say Say Say is fun, but it's The Man that is a gem. And that Girlfriend song... even MJ's great singing can't help me from cringing if I have to listen to it *hides from the fans of the song*.

Invincible is a bit complicated for me, as even though I grown to appreciate its more universal approach a lot I still can't get over two things: the overproduced sound and especially that the background vocal isn't just MJ's voice for the first time in history (OK, a bit of exaggeration here but I hope you know what I mean). I just can't get used to the latter.

To be perfectly fair Silky clarified later that filler wasn't the best expression to use. On OTW I consider It's The Falling in Love and Burn This Disco out fillers as well - don't get me wrong, both are great funky fun songs, but if Just Good Friends is a filler (and I can accept that IF we think of fillers as some playful, carefree bonus for MJ & Stevie on an otherwise tight album as Bad), than those are too, definitely.

Plus I agree that there are sometimes songs that are great but don't exactly fit into the album. E.g. I love Come Together, and I understand why it was included into History but it just breaks the flow of it.


That's a lovely story and I laughed out loud at the end, thanks for sharing. And everyone can see now how important song it is.

Thanks to every TLIMYL lover for the outrage!

Oh and Keep The Faith isn't a filler either. Actually, Dangerous is a fillerless album, its flow is impeccable.

You're welcome Yes it is an important song but when I listen to that song with my parents I feel a little embarassed especially when Michael begs at the end. I feel like I'm interrupting a private moment.
By the way I also love Keep the Faith, its one of my favourites from Dangerous

[MikeJac2005]

The filler on Thriller is The Girl Is Mine.

100% agreed. I couldn't remember what track 3 on Thriller was off the top of my head I had to look it up. Then I realised it's because I always skip it!

[SilkySnare]

Nothing happens in Don't Walk Away but Lady in my Life is top tier? Hmm, ok..
If you ask me, nothing much happens in both songs. Nothing much happens in Stranger in Moscow as well