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Invincible appreciation thread

Re: Who else is addicted to Invincible 14 years after...

MattyJam said:
I always thought Speechless could've been a massive hit.


I remember once queueing up in a record shop soon after the album was released and they were playing Invincible over the counter. Speechless came on and the lady in front of me in the queue asked who it was. The cashier told her it was the new Michael Jackson album and she said something like "and this is one of the songs from it? I might have to get it."


I nearly kissed her. Lol. Haha.
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My taste is just my taste and Speechless could have been a hit regardless of whether I like it or not. But that's all as far as MJ's self-penned songs on that album. Another fan just called The Lost Children "god awful" in another thread. I think that's a bit overdramatic and I do not agree with him, but I can't help thinking that I have never heard any fan use such terms for Who Is It, Will You Be There or Give In To Me. Those are masterpieces in most fans' book. Maybe it is not a coincidence that Invincible is so contoversial. Maybe it's just really not up there with Dangerous and the rest. BTW, a song does not have to be necessarily written by MJ alone to have his essence in it - but I think on Invincible the only example of that is Threatened. Maybe Unbreakable a little. But I feel the rest could have been on any other artist's albums, they are not very MJ-like (expect for his vocals, of course which is the highlight of the album to me).
 
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Re: Who else is addicted to Invincible 14 years after...

respect77 said:
My taste is just my taste and Speechless could have been a hit regardless of whether I like it or not. But that's all as far as MJ's self-penned songs on that album. Another fan just called The Lost Children "god awful" in another thread. I think that's a bit overdramatic and I do not agree with him, but I can't help thinking that I have never heard any fan use such terms for Who Is It, Will You Be There or Give In To Me. Those are masterpieces in most fans' book. Maybe it is not a coincidence that Invincible is so contoversial. Maybe it's just really not up there with Dangerous and the rest. BTW, a song does not have to be necessarily written by MJ alone to have his essence in it - but I think on Invincible the only example of that is Threatened. Maybe Unbreakable a little. But I feel the rest could have been on any other artist's albums, they are not were MJ-like (expect for his vocals, of course which is the highlight of the album to me).
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Perfect.
 
Re: Who else is addicted to Invincible 14 years after...

well... to me, Invincible is perfect. Way ahead of History for example and just behind Dangerous.

There is not a single song that I don't like in "Invincible".

Perfect in my Ears.
 
Re: Who else is addicted to Invincible 14 years after...

respect77 said:
My taste is just my taste and Speechless could have been a hit regardless of whether I like it or not. But that's all as far as MJ's self-penned songs on that album. Another fan just called The Lost Children "god awful" in another thread. I think that's a bit overdramatic and I do not agree with him, but I can't help thinking that I have never heard any fan use such terms for Who Is It, Will You Be There or Give In To Me. Those are masterpieces in most fans' book. Maybe it is not a coincidence that Invincible is so contoversial. Maybe it's just really not up there with Dangerous and the rest. BTW, a song does not have to be necessarily written by MJ alone to have his essence in it - but I think on Invincible the only example of that is Threatened. Maybe Unbreakable a little. But I feel the rest could have been on any other artist's albums, they are not very MJ-like (expect for his vocals, of course which is the highlight of the album to me).
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Each to their own.


Personally I would take Invincible over Dangerous and Bad any day of the week. Song for song it may not have the same amount of classics or fan favourites, but as a complete piece of work from beginning to end I find it a far more rewarding listen.


It is an intrigueing album, as all his others came with such a dramatic fanfare and had such a strong visual accompaniment, really Invincible is the first album since OTW where you really have only the music to judge it by. And in a weird way, it kind of suits Invincible. The album is a lot more understated, songs like Butterflies, Break of Dawn and Heaven Can Wait are a return to his soul/R&B roots, ballads like YAML, Speechless, The Lost Children, Don't Walk Away... they're very simple, charming melodies, beautifully composed and delivered and carefree in a way that is reminiscent of the days of One Day In Your Life and Farewell My Summer Love. It's not the overblown frills that we'd come to expect from MJ.


The simplicity of the mid-tempos and balllads on the album contrasts nicely with the up-tempo numbers, which seem to fall into two categories: futuristic funk (Heartbreaker, 2000 Watts, Unbreakable) and more traditional R&B jams (YRMW, Threatened, Invincible).


I like that after HIStory MJ delivered an album that was less angst-ridden and showed a man more at peace with his life. Perhaps some fans found the record disappointing after the power and drama of the HIStory album (which I personally consider to be his best), but I think MJ was ready for a change and I'm glad he'd put all that anger aside and started anew with Invincible.


I think the reason I listen to Invincible so much is because it's really the first MJ album since the 80s that you can enjoy without feeling suffocated under the weight of all the drama and BS surrounding his superstardom. It's just a great collection of songs and sometimes that's a lot more listenable than whole albums about social injustice and persecution.
 
Re: Who else is addicted to Invincible 14 years after...

MattyJam said:
Each to their own.


Personally I would take Invincible over Dangerous and Bad any day of the week. Song for song it may not have the same amount of classics or fan favourites, but as a complete piece of work from beginning to end I find it a far more rewarding listen.


It is an intrigueing album, as all his others came with such a dramatic fanfare and had such a strong visual accompaniment, really Invincible is the first album since OTW where you really have only the music to judge it by. And in a weird way, it kind of suits Invincible. The album is a lot more understated, songs like Butterflies, Break of Dawn and Heaven Can Wait are a return to his soul/R&B roots, ballads like YAML, Speechless, The Lost Children, Don't Walk Away... they're very simple, charming melodies, beautifully composed and delivered and carefree in a way that is reminiscent of the days of One Day In Your Life and Farewell My Summer Love. It's not the overblown frills that we'd come to expect from MJ.


The simplicity of the mid-tempos and balllads on the album contrasts nicely with the up-tempo numbers, which seem to fall into two categories: futuristic funk (Heartbreaker, 2000 Watts, Unbreakable) and more traditional R&B jams (YRMW, Threatened, Invincible).


I like that after HIStory MJ delivered an album that was less angst-ridden and showed a man more at peace with his life. Perhaps some fans found the record disappointing after the power and drama of the HIStory album (which I personally consider to be his best), but I think MJ was ready for a change and I'm glad he'd put all that anger aside and started anew with Invincible.


I think the reason I listen to Invincible so much is because it's really the first MJ album since the 80s that you can enjoy without feeling suffocated under the weight of all the drama and BS surrounding his superstardom. It's just a great collection of songs and sometimes that's a lot more listenable than whole albums about social injustice and persecution.
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Disagree with most of that, but the last paragraph is really understandable.
 
Re: Who else is addicted to Invincible 14 years after...

I freaking adore invincible till this day!
 
i was looking through mjjc and ive noticed that all solo albums seem to get recognition aside from the rarely discussed invincible so i thought id make this thread to show mine and others appreciation for the album.
 
"Invincible" just isn't ever talked about. Sad.

But neither is "Got to Be There" solo album. I searched and found nothing. Guess I'll go listen to it, instead. :)
 
As much as I criticize this album, it and the sessions for it provided some absolutely outstanding material.

"Don't Walk Away" ranks as one of Michael's most gorgeous songs, and "Whatever Happens" is just impossible to dislike.
 
Well I have to admit that Invincible is the least album I like. But I think that'd because Invincible is still way ahead of the time. Still today.

But there are just some songs that you can't dislike like YRMW, Speechless, Cry, Break of Dawn and especially Whatever Happens. Still a shame that that song wasnt released as a song.
 
The album I have liked the least is HIStory. Well, until recently. I'm just at a point in life where I can really connect with and appreciate it now, so it's growing on me. But, Invincible is actually tied for my number one favorite with Off the Wall. *ducks* Don't shoot! :eek:hno: :rofl: It's a fantastic album and I don't understand why it doesn't get as much attention. Michael seems quite at peace and more content on this album and I love that!:)
 
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Invincible" just isn't ever talked about. Sad.
But neither is "Got to Be There" solo album. I searched and found nothing. Guess I'll go listen to it, instead.
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I´m waiting for a new thread about Got to Be There album
 
MIST;4082575 said:
I´m waiting for a new thread about Got to Be There album
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:) I was just being silly, but I did listen to it and was reading about it on Wikipedia last night-and it looks like his 4 solo Motown albums pretty much bombed in the UK. I assume the rest of Europe followed suit.

Wonder what's up with that?
Got to Be There even got a good review from "Rolling Stone." Imagine that.
 
Dilan said:
i was looking through mjjc and ive noticed that all solo albums seem to get recognition aside from the rarely discussed invincible so i thought id make this thread to show mine and others appreciation for the album.
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Is this irony? Because Invincible is actually the most talked about album here. We have a new thread about it at least every week.
 
Thanks for that! Imho this album is so underrated.
Besides' Off The wall' this is my favourite MJ's album. I love especially ballads, all of them. Some songs on it are real gems, one of the best that were recored by Michael ever.
 
I've been listening a lot to Threatened lately, and I just love that "sliding rock" in the background through the verses.
 
I'm not sure why (and maybe no one has this problem) but the main issue I have with Invincible is that it literally hurts my ears. Something just seems wrong about the mix or the production. On more than half the songs there's a loud snare or loud cowbell type of sound that basically makes me turn it off. There's interesting stuff happening on every song, especially the first few Jerkins songs. Obviously, Whatever Happens and Butterflies are just great. Overall though, for me the album has some kind of bad mix decisions that make it painful to listen to (assuming earbuds are being used).
 
I will confess that Invincible is not one of my favorites, but I've grown to appreciate it more since the two posthumous album releases. I really think it had potential and I wish that songs like Escape, I Like the Way You Love Me and Beautiful Girl could have been included instead of tracks like Privacy, You Are My Life (sorry) and Cry. Those are three tracks I never listen to. I also don't really care for the backup singers that were used. The songs that feature them put me in mind of those kind of generic, late night easy listening r&b songs that feature on hip hop and r&b stations. Not uniquely Michael sounding to me. Does this make sense at all? That being said, I still listen to it more than Thriller and Off the Wall, and I wish it got more recognition than it did.
 
hrp102;4090137 said:
I'm not sure why (and maybe no one has this problem) but the main issue I have with Invincible is that it literally hurts my ears. Something just seems wrong about the mix or the production. On more than half the songs there's a loud snare or loud cowbell type of sound that basically makes me turn it off.
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It was recorded in many different studios, hence that disjointed sound outcome.

TarinJade;4090277 said:
I will confess that Invincible is not one of my favorites, but I've grown to appreciate it more since the two posthumous album releases. I really think it had potential and I wish that songs like Escape, I Like the Way You Love Me and Beautiful Girl could have been included instead of tracks like Privacy, You Are My Life (sorry) and Cry. Those are three tracks I never listen to.
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“Invincible” was too predictable (apart from the other problems).
 
Invincible is fantastic, as is all of Michael's productions, but I think that his dispute with Sony negatively affected the promotion of the album. Michael actually wanted "Unbreakable" to be the first single release as an album promotion, but the label opted for "You Rock My World". Michael even had a concept in mind for the "Unbreakable" music video, but was completely disregarded in the whole decision, despite his years of experience in marketing himself.

I almost never see any honorable mentions of "Heaven Can Wait". It's one of my favorite MJ tracks, I can really hear the desperation in his voice when he sings "Don't you do this to me!" Anyone else like this song?
 
Invincible isn't my favourite album of Michael's, it has a mixture of both of some of his best material (Threatened), but also some of his worst material (You Are My Life, Don't Walk Away, Cry). I love it when I play 2000 Watts for people though and they ask who it is and when I say Michael Jackson, they can't believe it "Wait, what??" :p Literally happened last year with Threatened! I played a bit to show the Rod Serling sampling and my friend was like "Wait, that's Michael Jackson?!"

Speaking of Threatened, that remains one of my most favourite Michael Jackson songs of all time hands down. An absolute masterpiece. Some of the material that remained in the vault from this era (Xscape, Beautiful Girl, Fall Again, 2001 version of Another Day) were also better than the material that made this album.

I see people call it 'underrated' but in all honesty, it's no where near that in the fan community (I'd argue it's one of his most discussed albums). Maybe for the general public, but even if it sold well it just didn't really have that much of an impact on music or culture like his earlier albums. If MJ and Sony had sorted their shit out, released some of the songs as singles and made some great music videos, it would've had more impact. There are some songs on here that definitely had potential to be big if utilised properly (YRMW, Unbreakable, Heartbreaker, Threatened...).

Talking about that dispute with Sony though, I feel the Sony campaign MJ did was a bit cringey, like riding a bus around to publicly try and shame Sony wasn't really the way to go. I've always got the feeling it could've been easily seen by the public as a "feel bad for me, the poor super-rich musician" thingy, kinda like that TIDAL unveiling earlier this year and surprise surprise, it was also easily twisted by the media (see here). It's a dispute where I ofc favour MJ but I can see and understand why Sony was pissed off at him. Honestly though it just bogged down the whole thing and did nothing to help no-one.

Politics aside, I'd probably give the album a 3.5/5? It's not my favourite MJ album but is still a good album in it's own right.
 
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