Lord Jackson
Banned
- Joined
- Sep 22, 2021
- Messages
- 458
- Points
- 43
I'm making this thread because I'd like to point out that one of the main flaws of Invincible wasn't just Sony's (non-existent) marketing, but also the album's tracklist, which for Michael, is flawed:
(I'll only be talking of Michael's solo adult career when doing comparisons)
The total runtime isn't that long per track if compared with Dangerous, so length here is not a problem.
But 16 tracks for Invincible is still way too many, HIStory already had 15 tracks and that also felt just slightly excessive.
You'd think that's also one of the reasons Blood on the Dance Floor was made, so Michael could release some extra tracks separately.
(Yes, BotDF was made mainly to promote the HIStory tour but that's beside the point).
Michael's most successful album is still Thriller, which was the shortest with only 9 tracks.
Issue number 3 is also related directly with this one.
The problem is that Michael really packed too much on Invincible, the tracks are as follows:
Unbreakable --> Heartbreaker --> Invincible
All 3 of these songs are up-tempo, fast, aggressive etc.
Michael never did that on any other album, by at least the 3rd track you had 1 slower/calmer song, Stranger in Moscow, Superfly Sister, In The Closet etc.
This problem also appears a 2nd time (albeit not as bad) with Don't Walk Away --> Cry --> The Lost Children
(But The Lost Children is quite a bit more dynamic)
This is also the only album with HIStory where the title track does not begin/end the album, or is the middle of the album, which I think accentuates the problem when coupled with the one mentioned just before, Invincible (the song) is often forgotten.
There aren't enough juxtapositions in the album, and coupled with the first issue it's understandable that it's not even an easy task to do so.
And sometimes the problem is the opposite, putting one of the most personal/emotional tracks of the album next to a dark "rap" song.
Speechless --> 2000 Watts
Imagine listening to Gone Too Soon and then immediately after listen to Morphine.
Just listening to some of the unfinished demoes (and imagining if they were finished) you can't understand why they weren't picked.
How was Hollywood Tonight not on the album?
How was Shout replaced by You are my Life?
How was We've had enough not selected?
This isn't a debate of personal preferences, any decent manager would realise that some of these tracks work way better (as a "Michael Jackson" track) than some that did make it on the album.
It's baffling really.
(I'll only be talking of Michael's solo adult career when doing comparisons)
- 1 - The number of tracks
The total runtime isn't that long per track if compared with Dangerous, so length here is not a problem.
But 16 tracks for Invincible is still way too many, HIStory already had 15 tracks and that also felt just slightly excessive.
You'd think that's also one of the reasons Blood on the Dance Floor was made, so Michael could release some extra tracks separately.
(Yes, BotDF was made mainly to promote the HIStory tour but that's beside the point).
Michael's most successful album is still Thriller, which was the shortest with only 9 tracks.
Issue number 3 is also related directly with this one.
- 2 - The order of the tracks
The problem is that Michael really packed too much on Invincible, the tracks are as follows:
Unbreakable --> Heartbreaker --> Invincible
All 3 of these songs are up-tempo, fast, aggressive etc.
Michael never did that on any other album, by at least the 3rd track you had 1 slower/calmer song, Stranger in Moscow, Superfly Sister, In The Closet etc.
This problem also appears a 2nd time (albeit not as bad) with Don't Walk Away --> Cry --> The Lost Children
(But The Lost Children is quite a bit more dynamic)
This is also the only album with HIStory where the title track does not begin/end the album, or is the middle of the album, which I think accentuates the problem when coupled with the one mentioned just before, Invincible (the song) is often forgotten.
There aren't enough juxtapositions in the album, and coupled with the first issue it's understandable that it's not even an easy task to do so.
And sometimes the problem is the opposite, putting one of the most personal/emotional tracks of the album next to a dark "rap" song.
Speechless --> 2000 Watts
Imagine listening to Gone Too Soon and then immediately after listen to Morphine.
- 3 - choice of tracks
Just listening to some of the unfinished demoes (and imagining if they were finished) you can't understand why they weren't picked.
How was Hollywood Tonight not on the album?
How was Shout replaced by You are my Life?
How was We've had enough not selected?
This isn't a debate of personal preferences, any decent manager would realise that some of these tracks work way better (as a "Michael Jackson" track) than some that did make it on the album.
It's baffling really.