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Michael - Your Album Review + Poll

What is your rating for the Album? (5 is best)

  • 5

    Votes: 131 39.0%

  • 4

    Votes: 116 34.5%

  • 3

    Votes: 53 15.8%

  • 2

    Votes: 19 5.7%

  • 1

    Votes: 17 5.1%
  • Total voters
    336
I guess all those who have given 1 and 2 stars believe the Cascios tracks are fake.


:(
 
4 stars. I love love, love, love the album, but it's not perfect like HIStory and Dangerous. Michael is missing, but this is the best I could have hoped for.
 
Gave it 4 stars.. much because of the Akon and 50 cent duet... though they don't get me out of the record flow... I LOVE almost every song on the album but number 1 is Behind the Mask... I love it and that track alone makes it worth buying the album!
 
My first impression is as follows:

Standout tracks are 'Hold My Hand', 'Hollywood Tonight', 'Keep Your Head Up', '(I Like) The Way You Love Me', 'Monster' and 'Much Too Soon', with 'Monster' being the undisputed favorite... It's a KILLER track!

'(I Can't Make It) Another Day' and 'Behind The Mask' are interesting, but require some more listening. 'Breaking News' is cool but (for me) it hasn't escaped that big bad cloud of controversy yet, and that brings the song down. Hopefully it will overcome that in time. 'Best Of Joy' is a very nice ballad but, in my opinion, it's outshone by KYHU and TWYLM.

It's a GREAT album. Very tight, well-produced and the songs fit together very well. The one criticism I have is that I didn't dig the spoken bridge on 'Hollywood Tonight'. That just didn't work for me. But other than that I'm loving it and I think it's leagues above the current competition.

4/5 stars
 
I posted somewere early that the best songs to me are BTM, An. day and MTS and the rest is garbage.

I need to correct myself. I'm listening to the album all day long for the last 3 days.
Hollywood tonite is good one. KYHU and best of joy are enjoyble, but nothing special.
Breaking news, i like the song now. I'm one of the camp that thinks that half of the lead vocals arent only Michaels. its funky song and if it wasn't about the media theme like tabloid junkie, scream, wywtom and many other songs, but about some other theme it would be even better song.
"why is it strange that i fall in love" he says. well leave that f*cking media out. sing about the strange thing of been in love. It could have worked. it doesn't always have to be a ballad, when singing about love.

4 from 5 stars.
 
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my favourite track on the album is "Best Of Joy"
I just love it!
Overall the whole album is 4 stars for me.
 
Gave it 4 stars hehe

I wrote my review in another thread so Im writing it here again.. this is my review after just listening to the album once..

Hollywood Tonight is on... Ohhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Its a blisssssssssss!!!
I knew I would LOVE this one after hearing it for one minute on Ellen!!! The choir AND the beatboxing in the beginning, dang.. and the whistle in the end !! A GREAT SONG that you just wanna get up and dance to!!

Keep your Head up Lyrics are beautiful.. the melody etc reminds me a lot of 'Cry' and other songs like that..

The Way you Love Me Ohh to hear Michaels voice in the voicemail he left at the beginning.. good move to include that imo.. such a nice song.. I already like how it was on TUC but I like this one too..hope Michael is proud how the song developed..

Monster Love the beat... "You give them your all, They're watching you fall"... Aint that true Mike.. sigh... Conclusion: Like the beat a lot

Best of Joy "I am your joy, best of you"... yeesssss you are!! I think I must listen to this song several times before it will start to grow on me.. Its an alright song imo, not the best.. but thats what I thought about 'You are my life/Dont walk away' on 'Vince before I started to really appreciate them. Ill give this song more time and I belive i will start to like it more and more

Breaking News Already heard this one and I really really like the beat to it..

Another Day Hmm.. i remember when it leaked in august 2009 and I really really loved it!! But it seems like they touched it too much this time. Dont know what they did hehe but it sounds a bit different and I already loved it how it was back then.. Its still however a good song but I honestly wish they could have kept it like it was... I think i need to listen to it more before I will start to really really like it..

Behind the Mask Offffffffffff such a good song!! AMAZING!! I knew I would like it after hearing the snippet.. The beginning is a killer with that saxophone... !! I ADORE this song soo much, great meolody and great beat.. "All along, I knew you were a phony girl, sit behind the mask, and you control the world".. Dang Mike, brutal.. LOOOOOL

Much Too Soon Aww.. such a pure angelic voice.. its a nice and sweet song..

----
CONCLUSION:
My favourites are "Hollywood Tonight" and "Behind the Mask".. and then comes 'Keep Your Head Up'

This is kinda interesting because my all-time favourites of Michael are slow songs like 'Will You Be There, Human Nature, Stranger in Moscow, Speechless etc..' but imo this album lacks those specific types of slow songs.. however, that doesnt mean the slow songs on this album are bad (for instance Keep Your Head Up and Much Too Soon are great songs)

I also thought 'Another Day' would be my favourite too after hearing that snippet.. BUT I think they touched too much with it sadly.. I preferred the version that was leaked.. overall, a good album defineatly.. you are all in for a treat
 
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Hold My Hand

Opening Michael Jackson's first posthumous album is a 3:33 ballad that most of the music world has heard at least once before, with Sengalese singer-songwriter Akon (originally intended for his own album Freedom). A slow piece, it focuses on bringing back the love to the world - metaphorically speaking - holding hands. Is it a good thing that it's a slow opener? I'll leave that up to you - I'm not big on a slow song opening an album but what is is what will be.




Hollywood Tonight

The first of two post-2005 sessions brings us a Buxer-Jackson collaboration. HT focuses on a young girl who tries her luck in Hollywood but very quickly finds the darker side of that fame and fortune. Tarryl Jackson 'duets' with Uncle Michael on this one, the man he so very respected - he raps and Michael beatboxes (!). You have to hear the end of the song - it is the absolute highlight of this one.





I Like The Way You Love Me

Starting out with a phonecall from Michael demonstrating the melody and drums, you might recognise this one. This comes from 2004's boxset as one of the two completed songs in a slightly-different arrangement produced by Neff-U. The instrumentation here reminds me of an Irish folk tune. I love the un-subtle use of Melodyne here on the end vocals too.




Best Of Joy (Choy)

Proof of being able to write melodies that will last forever and not just a beat - even after most thought he'd lost sight of a good melody - Best Of Joy is the best song on this entire album. Reportedly recorded during 2009, BOJ has that wonderful summer feel to it, long missing since Off The Wall. Initially I thought this would be some cheesy-sounding song but it's far from that. No wonder Michael wanted to continue working on it. Not just the best of, but the complete joy. If joy is falsetto, a wonderful melody and pure happiness then this is the best of joy. Indeed.




(I Can't Make It) Another Day

Lenny Kravitz's contribution to this project (later titled Storm) with the slightly revised title as above is the standard rock song present on every Michael Jackson album from Thriller onwards (Beat It, Dirty Diana, Give In To Me, D.S., Morphine and Privacy). Michael's vocals here are absolutely blistering - they rip right through over the industrial-tinged background but Lenny's solo seems unfortunately watered-down to me as do other parts and it doesn't really go anywhere.




Behind The Mask

Picture Michael in an old 1940s jazz club somewhere - how about the one from This Is It - you know the one!!! This is exactly the vivid imagery that track eight conjures up at just over five minutes. With a faux crowd noise dubbed in, it really takes you back to something like I Can't Help It all the way back in 1979. Sax solo, computer-generated backing vocals, funky effects - I imagine this one with the cloudy smoke, the crowd going wild, the backup singers, the dancers - it's all there. This one took some real time to grow on me but it's done it.




Much Too Soon

One of those songs that Michael kept pulling out of the vault and working on it for every album while taking nearly 30 years to surface, Much Too Soon is the final song for this first posthumous collection. Added accordian and acoustic guitar like that for Best Of Joy really give it a summery feel - and it's beautiful. MTS sure as hell wouldn't have fit on any album after Thriller but it fits perfectly here, given the circumstances and now poignant meaning of that very real title.




Overall thoughts

A major disappointment save for two brilliant songs (both written by Michael), three great - decent songs and one letdown. 4 out of 10. At least there's only seven songs.
 
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"Hold My Hand"
... is a song by Akon. Definitely one of the best songs Akon ever did. However I bought a CD with songs of Michael Jackson, so I'm really not happy to have this mediocre song as the opener of the album and also the 1st single.
What a lame decision from the two John's to go with that.
4/10

"Hollywood Tonight"
... is da bomb! What an amazing upbeat tune.
The "Taryll" parts are unnecessary, but at least they have not ruined the song even though they have newly produced what MJ has left.
10/10

"Keep Your Head Up"
... is a very beautiful uplifting anthem, even though it's missing a real climax plus ending as the song was unfinished.
9/10

"(I Like) The Way You Love Me"
The version on the ULTIMATE COLLECTION is not a demo, but apparently they thought it would be a good idea to rehash it with a modern production. The new production is GOOD and the song is GOOD. But definitely not a masterpiece.
8/10

"Monster"
... is a great dance track. Far from being completed, Teddy Riley has created a very unique track.
8/10

"Best Of Joy"
... is very incomplete but it's cool singing. Wish Michael would have sung more this way.
6/10

"Breaking News"
... is good news to me. The song is catchy and even though it's unfinished I like it.
7/10

"Another Day"
... is not really that good, unfortunately. Very repetitive and almost no verses.
7/10

"Behind The Mask"
... should be released in its original version. Thanks to John McClain we now only have a newly produced version.
But it still rocks, yeah!
9/10

"Much Too Soon"
... hmmm, well, it's too short, but that's classic MJ when he's singing sooo sad. The guitar style remembers me of "Destiny".
Really a good choice to end the album, but it makes me sad and angry that we're left with ONLY 10 tracks.
7/10

Overall the album is overproduced (thanks to John McClain who thought everything has to be newly produced) and too short. And it surely can't be compared with any of MJ's albums as there's no concept.
But it's better than OTW and BOTDF.

Overall rating:
75 / 100 = (STILL) GOOD
 
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Korgnex;3127341"Hollywood Tonight" ... is da bomb! What an amazing upbeat tune. The "Taryll" parts are unnecessary said:
Well, if the spoken part in Hollywood Tonight is removed, wouldn't the song be as repetitive as Another Day? The same verse and chorus is used twice in the song. To me, the spoken part provides a much needed bridge that prevents it from getting tiring.

Why do you think this album is better than OTW when most songs in the album are incomplete and do sound so? Production value of OTW is far better. Arrangement of songs like DSTYGE, OTW, WDAN is still benchmark of exellence.

It really puzzles me that an album that jumpstarted Michael's solo career and established him as a talented pop vocalists is considered not as good as a posthumous album.

Each to his own, I guess!
Click to expand...
 
2 stars from me.

My opinion:
The estate has seriously missed an opportunity here. They could have put together a collection of either the best unreleased tracks available, or the most recent material Michael worked on. Both directions would have worked great, and have made an amazing album. Unfortunatly, the estate did neither.

First of all, a 10-track album is way too short. That wouldn't have been a problem if the material made up for the short length, but sadly it doesn't. While there's no sign of amazing tracks like STTR, BG, APWNN or DYKWYCA, there are plenty of fakes to go around. Which makes me kind of glad there's no more than 10 tracks after all. Fortunatly, there's no sign of obvious fakes like Carry On or All I Need.

To mention the positives;
* Michael Jackson sings some of the songs
* Akon did a good job with Hold My Hand, and the song sounds better than the version that got leaked a few years back
* Much Too Soon is a great little gem, even though John McClain shuld have kept his hands off it
* Same goes for Behind The Mask, which despite of being tampered with by the estate is still a great song
* The new arrangements on TWYLM doesn't sound half-bad, allthough the original is still better

I'm not even bothered to mention the bad aspects of the album. There's just way too many.

Verdict: 2/5
 
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@ "love is magical": It's just my opinion. OTW is not that rich in variety.
 
^ I respect your opinion and I actually do not know which of the two (Michael or OTW) I love more, but Off the Wall is the best R&B record ever. It's so soothing and soulful. I adore it. As I do Michael.
 
Hess said:
I guess all those who have given 1 and 2 stars believe the Cascios tracks are fake.


:(
Click to expand...

Absolutely! Both BN and Monster contains Michael vocals only in the background. The songs were unfinished so had to be sung by a voice double. There is no reason in the wold for Michael's voice to sound to horrible just in those 2 tracks.. read the album's booklet, where exactly does it say that Michael is doing the leads? why aren't they saying when exactly was each song recorded? You are simply listening the the whole song's productions' not paying attention to the actual vocals. Use a decent hi fi system with high quality headphones. Does it really sound like Michael to you? Eddy Cascio himself said Michael was directing, not singing.. Teddy is a very bad liar. You could see it in his eyes...
 
I wanna know who are those 15 people who voted 1. lol

oh well, keep your opinion
 
3 for me, some great songs, some i dont like that much..

Hold my hands and holliday tonight very good also liked monster and another day
breaking news i really dont like. not care for keep your head up yet
 
Ingelief said:
3 for me, some great songs, some i dont like that much..

Hold my hands and holliday tonight very good also liked monster and another day
breaking news i really dont like. not care for keep your head up yet
Click to expand...
What a great song indeed! :D
 
I gave it 4/5. Minus one star for the 2 songs I don't enjoy listening to, both are KYHU & TWYLM
 
For me the album was a positive suprise after 6-7 weeks of negativity and doubt. Hollywood Tonight amazing, KYHU is a good uplifting song reminds me of On The Line or Keep The Faith. Really love Behind the mask, but not sure about mixturing the 80s sound with modern "computer" music, but I love it!

All in all I give it a very strong 7/10
 
Korgnex said:
"Hold My Hand"
... is a song by Akon. Definitely one of the best songs Akon ever did. However I bought a CD with songs of Michael Jackson, so I'm really not happy to have this mediocre song as the opener of the album and also the 1st single.
What a lame decision from the two John's to go with that.
4/10

"Hollywood Tonight"
... is da bomb! What an amazing upbeat tune.
The "Taryll" parts are unnecessary, but at least they have not ruined the song even though they have newly produced what MJ has left.
10/10

"Keep Your Head Up"
... is a very beautiful uplifting anthem, even though it's missing a real climax plus ending as the song was unfinished.
9/10

"(I Like) The Way You Love Me"
The version on the ULTIMATE COLLECTION is not a demo, but apparently they thought it would be a good idea to rehash it with a modern production. The new production is GOOD and the song is GOOD. But definitely not a masterpiece.
8/10

"Monster"
... is a great dance track. Far from being completed, Teddy Riley has created a very unique track.
8/10

"Best Of Joy"
... is very incomplete but it's cool singing. Wish Michael would have sung more this way.
6/10

"Breaking News"
... is good news to me. The song is catchy and even though it's unfinished I like it.
7/10

"Another Day"
... is not really that good, unfortunately. Very repetitive and almost no verses.
7/10

"Behind The Mask"
... should be released in its original version. Thanks to John McClain we now only have a newly produced version.
But it still rocks, yeah!
9/10

"Much Too Soon"
... hmmm, well, it's too short, but that's classic MJ when he's singing sooo sad. The guitar style remembers me of "Destiny".
Really a good choice to end the album, but it makes me sad and angry that we're left with ONLY 10 tracks.
7/10

Overall the album is overproduced (thanks to John McClain who thought everything has to be newly produced) and too short. And it surely can't be compared with any of MJ's albums as there's no concept.
But it's better than OTW and BOTDF.

Overall rating:
75 / 100 = (STILL) GOOD
Click to expand...


so you voted "4"?
 
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