The flow of MJ’s studio albums

[mj_frenzy]

In general, there is no doubt that an album is (primarily) meant to be listened to in its entirety. In this spirit, it has to be reasonably cohesive but, at the same time, it needs also to surprise the listener in an interesting way, without being labeled as disjointed.

It should be noted also that many times specific songs on albums are meant to serve other purposes (artistic intent, for example). In my opinion, this is perfectly normal & understandable on condition that it does not ruin the overall, natural flow of the album.

I think that when it comes to MJ’s studio albums, cohesion was a matter of high priority. Certain, really good songs were not included on his studio albums just because they did not relate to the final tracklisting, not only musically but also thematically. This has been documented well over the years (also) by his personnel (for example, producers).

At this point, I will add my very first, initial thoughts in regard to that matter:

‘Off The Wall’:

I think that the uplifting disco/pop elements of this album along with a really nice (for the most part) vocal performance make this album flow really well. MJ seemed to have had a good time during those recording sessions & even the (lyrically) sad songs give way to the predominant, positive & disco felling of this record. As a result, the pace of this album is really fast & enjoyable.

‘Thriller’:

The quality of the production (of the songs that were included on this album) leaves the listener almost breathless &, it goes without saying that it acts favorably when it comes to its flow. For example, this album starts perfectly & even the very long duration of the first track goes almost unnoticed. But, I think even the impeccable ‘Thriller’ has its issues. For example, an issue exists in regard to the next two songs (that is, ‘Baby Be Mine’ & ‘The Girl Is Mine&#8217 not only melodically but also in terms of their titles (in my opinion, the word ‘mine’ looks & sounds a bit repetitive).

‘Bad’:

I find it hard to believe that there are fans who may find negative issues regarding the flow & cohesion of this album. The adage ‘less is more’ applies here the most. Personally, I like the idea that two socially oriented songs are placed in a consecutive order. I like also the diversity regarding the various personalities of the female characters (sex objects, romantic affairs, etc.), something, in my opinion that effectively keeps the listener literally glued to this album (when it is being played from start to finish).

‘Dangerous’:

Many fans express their disagreement over the imbalance of this album. They claim that the first, ‘new jack swing’ half of this album is totally disconnected & unrelated to the second one. In my opinion, not only is this not a problem, but also this adds to the overall cohesion of this album. For example, after the energetic, first half of the album it is time for the listener to delve into more serious (& darker) themes & to ponder over other aspects of life. On the other hand, it would have been a total, artistic mess if the ‘new jack swing’ tracks were scattered all over the record (leading also to a disoriented sound result).

‘HIStory’ (second disc):

For the most part, this album is highly cohesive, for obvious reasons. I think the listener gets a musical confession & this makes him (more) concentrated, in a similar way when he reads an interesting book. The (condensed) lyrics get some very serious messages across & I doubt if the listener has even a chance to unwind while the album is being played without interruption from start to finish.

‘Invincible’:

Many fans express their disapproval over the long duration of this album. In my opinion, this has to do mostly with the fact that fans have been fully conversant (thematically) with certain songs long before. For example, I think there was no reason for the (lyrically predictable) ‘Cry’ to be included on that album, considering that, at the same time, another socially aimed track is included on that record (‘The Lost Children&#8217. Lastly, even fans had probably started to become rather uninterested in MJ’s personal issues (‘Privacy’, ‘Unbreakable’, for example), let alone the general public.

 

[MJInTheMirror]

I agree with a lot of things you wrote. I can listen to most of his albums in their entirety. I understand your point of view with Invincible. Today I was listening to Bad and I really enjoyed it (as always) and then I played Invincible. But before Don't Walk Away ended I stopped playing it. The other day the same thing happened to me, the first part of the album is very enjoyable and I love it, but I find it hard to listen to the second part. I love the album but maybe it feels a little too long compared to Bad. I will play it in its entirety another day and see what I really think about it

 

[OnirMJ]

I think Off The Wall is most cohesive album he ever did. Then Thriller. Then Bad. Other albums are not that cohesive. They are all like greatest hits collections with some filler songs put together. I love them all, especially Dangerous and HIStory, but the format changed in the 90's and I understand him that he wanted to put out as much material as it was possible. But by doing that, he lost the cohesion that he had on his previous records, especially on Off The Wall and Thriller. It's just too many songs with different sounds and different styles. Also they are all too long to be cohesive. It's impossible to make cohesive album with that much different songs. And he did a masterful job at trying to achieve that, but they are still not as cohesive as the albums he did with Quincy in the 80's.

 

[Themidwestcowboy]

I'm gonna go against the grain now and say that I don't think MJ ever did a sonically cohesive album. Maybe with the exception of Off The Wall. Thematically I think Dangerous is the most cohesive album.

 

[mjprince1976]

Agree with the above, there is no cohesive sound on any album, but there is a cohesive sound progression listening to them all in sequence. When I have had hours of bookwork to do, I have tried it. Its a good progression too, starts off strong, yet very light in subject matter - Love, girlfriend issues and dancing with OTW and Thriller and then in come the social issues with Bad and Dangerous and a less funky but more cohesive aggressive rock flow, but with still enoughlove and dancing to smooth it out. History is the next changer where Michael is singing about his own issues in songs like Tabloid Junkie, DS and Childhood along with the strong message songs and again some love and music for us all.

Blood on the Dancefloor is darker still with the marriage of the aggressive dance and horrorcare sound. Morphine is about the dangers of addiction and Ghosts Isit scary is a great horror gothic doubleup with some amazing dancing and singing. Invincible he expels some of the feelings and its back to sweet love and a bit of a "Leave me alone" feel.

Yes sonically he takes you on a trip and its a great one.

OTW - Light and funky dance music
Thriller - As above but more electronic, more convincing balladry and dance
Bad - As above with a sterner rock sound, funky rap sytle beats and the beginnings of a social agenda.
Dangerous - As above with a more dancy and funky new jack swing feel, deeper voice, more conscience and social gravitas
History - A roller coaster of emotions and sounds, wheels coming off a bit
BODF 5 songs - As above but the Morphine drugs bit, Frenzied dancing in BODF and Superfly Sister and the horror pair make it even more cohesive
Invincible - In which Michael exhales, some pure and undisguised emotions and sweet songs here, also a victim mentality
Michael - Light and poppy, merely a soundalike of Dangerous with less focus and some dubious music, a lot of it was while he was probably inder the influence of painkillers and hanger ons.
Xscape - Hard to comment as its all periods from Thriller on, but again the songs are his best bits of each period.

 

[Psychoniff]

I think that when it comes to MJ’s studio albums, cohesion was a matter of high priority.

To be honest, I think album cohesiveness, at least thematically, was MJ's biggest flaw. Except for HiStory, he had no real desire or intent to pull of album that is thematic cohesive. It depends on what you mean by 'cohesive'. Do you mean thematically, or sonically/production wise? But yeh, he never really had any intention with the exception of HiStory (thematically) to have a cohesive album. He was a hit records guy. He and Q. had the same philosophy or having every song be a hit record, that's not really seeking album cohesion in my estimation.


OTW & BAD - sonically the closet he and Q. got. to cohesion

Thriller - the production quality is just out of this world, but it lacks any sort of sonic or thematic cohesion (and it wasn't trying to be)

Dangerous - Speaks for itself.....no comment need

HiStory - MJ was quoted as saying that this was his story book, and the heavy political and social themes explored throughout the album from a deeply personal viewpoint, it largely achieved a set thematic cohesion. The production is also brilliant.

 

[mj_frenzy]

I agree with a lot of things you wrote. I can listen to most of his albums in their entirety. I understand your point of view with Invincible. Today I was listening to Bad and I really enjoyed it (as always) and then I played Invincible. But before Don't Walk Away ended I stopped playing it. The other day the same thing happened to me, the first part of the album is very enjoyable and I love it, but I find it hard to listen to the second part. I love the album but maybe it feels a little too long compared to Bad. I will play it in its entirety another day and see what I really think about it

I can completely understand your personal, musical experience that you described regarding ‘Invincible’.

I think this comes down (also) to the quality of the second half of this album (& not just to an imbalance issue). I firmly believe that if the second half of ‘Invincible’ comprised higher quality ballads (melodically stronger, for example), the overall musical experience would have been totally different & probably overwhelmingly moving till its very end.

I think Off The Wall is most cohesive album he ever did. Then Thriller. Then Bad. Other albums are not that cohesive. They are all like greatest hits collections with some filler songs put together. I love them all, especially Dangerous and HIStory, but the format changed in the 90's and I understand him that he wanted to put out as much material as it was possible. But by doing that, he lost the cohesion that he had on his previous records, especially on Off The Wall and Thriller. It's just too many songs with different sounds and different styles. Also they are all too long to be cohesive. It's impossible to make cohesive album with that much different songs. And he did a masterful job at trying to achieve that, but they are still not as cohesive as the albums he did with Quincy in the 80's.

I agree that ‘Off The Wall’ is (probably) his most cohesive album.

This album captures the listener’s attention from the very start with its first track (‘Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough&#8217 &, from that point onwards, it flows in a very natural way. Also, in my opinion, this album does not sound repetitive but remains musically refreshing till its last second, despite the fact that it was produced almost exclusively by one person (Quincy Jones). I also like the placing of a very sad ballad (‘She's Out Of My Life&#8217 near the middle of this record, because an album has to reflect/encompass the ups & downs of life, & not just the happy, disco aspect of it.

I think also that the more the producers, the greater the risk of a possible imbalance issue. This happened with his later releases (from ‘Dangerous’ onwards). But, I have to admit that the overall musical experience (that a listener gets) sounds more consistent as compared to other albums (that come from other artists). For example, despite the fact that ‘Dangerous’ includes a lot of different & unrelated musical genres (from classical music to rap, & from hard rock to R’n’B) & someone, on the face of it, might call this record a musical hotchpotch, all these different elements not only do not sound irrelevant, but also connect (subconsciously) to each other. One example is the cleansing/cathartic effect of the symphonic prelude of ‘Will You Be There’ that comes after the emotionally poignant ‘Who Is It’ & the vocally exhaustive ‘Give In To Me’.

Finally, I agree that the change of the format also played a role in regard to coherence. I firmly believe that MJ (due to that change) was seriously tempted into including more songs on his later albums & probably at the expense of the albums’ cohesion. But, I must admit that he did not resort to the meaningless strategy of including interludes (the ones that are totally separated from the main songs), considering that, at the same time, a great number of other albums are ridiculously full of interludes in the name of a more consistent, overall result.

I'm gonna go against the grain now and say that I don't think MJ ever did a sonically cohesive album. Maybe with the exception of Off The Wall. Thematically I think Dangerous is the most cohesive album.

In my opinion, the sonic consistency of ‘Off The Wall’ cannot be denied. But, I go even further by saying that his natural & consistent vocal performance that is (for the most part) apparent throughout this album results also in its strong cohesion.

I agree that a great degree of a (thematically) coherence is apparent on ‘Dangerous’. There is no doubt that the content of this album is plotted around a dark & distressing mood. But, at the same time, some other issues arise that affect its overall musical experience. For example, there is a great discrepancy in the way MJ (vocally) expresses his inner, love emotions (while I can greatly sympathize with him in ‘Who Is It’, I cannot do the same when it comes to ‘Can’t Let Her Get Away&#8217.

Agree with the above, there is no cohesive sound on any album, but there is a cohesive sound progression listening to them all in sequence. When I have had hours of bookwork to do, I have tried it. Its a good progression too, starts off strong, yet very light in subject matter - Love, girlfriend issues and dancing with OTW and Thriller and then in come the social issues with Bad and Dangerous and a less funky but more cohesive aggressive rock flow, but with still enoughlove and dancing to smooth it out. History is the next changer where Michael is singing about his own issues in songs like Tabloid Junkie, DS and Childhood along with the strong message songs and again some love and music for us all.

Blood on the Dancefloor is darker still with the marriage of the aggressive dance and horrorcare sound. Morphine is about the dangers of addiction and Ghosts Isit scary is a great horror gothic doubleup with some amazing dancing and singing. Invincible he expels some of the feelings and its back to sweet love and a bit of a "Leave me alone" feel.

Yes sonically he takes you on a trip and its a great one.

OTW - Light and funky dance music
Thriller - As above but more electronic, more convincing balladry and dance
Bad - As above with a sterner rock sound, funky rap sytle beats and the beginnings of a social agenda.
Dangerous - As above with a more dancy and funky new jack swing feel, deeper voice, more conscience and social gravitas
History - A roller coaster of emotions and sounds, wheels coming off a bit
BODF 5 songs - As above but the Morphine drugs bit, Frenzied dancing in BODF and Superfly Sister and the horror pair make it even more cohesive
Invincible - In which Michael exhales, some pure and undisguised emotions and sweet songs here, also a victim mentality
Michael - Light and poppy, merely a soundalike of Dangerous with less focus and some dubious music, a lot of it was while he was probably inder the influence of painkillers and hanger ons.
Xscape - Hard to comment as its all periods from Thriller on, but again the songs are his best bits of each period.

I agree that there is also a cohesive sound progression when someone listens to his albums in chronological order (with the exception of the two posthumous ones).

To be honest, I think album cohesiveness, at least thematically, was MJ's biggest flaw. Except for HiStory, he had no real desire or intent to pull of album that is thematic cohesive. It depends on what you mean by 'cohesive'. Do you mean thematically, or sonically/production wise? But yeh, he never really had any intention with the exception of HiStory (thematically) to have a cohesive album. He was a hit records guy. He and Q. had the same philosophy or having every song be a hit record, that's not really seeking album cohesion in my estimation.


OTW & BAD - sonically the closet he and Q. got. to cohesion

Thriller - the production quality is just out of this world, but it lacks any sort of sonic or thematic cohesion (and it was trying to be)

Dangerous - Speaks for itself.....no comment need

HiStory - MJ was quoted as saying that this was his story book, and the heavy political and social themes explored throughout the album from a deeply personal viewpoint, it largely achieved a set thematic cohesion. The production is also brilliant.

I do not mean that the songs (on an album) have to share a common theme/sound. On the contrary, I am referring mostly to how an album naturally flows & if the overall result can be perceived as a united experience that is consisted of different but (in a way) interrelated feelings.

As a result, I think a cohesive album has to effectively combine many different aspects (themes, sounds, vocals, etc.) for the sake of a united outcome (for example, in a similar way like movies do). This is the reason why I believe that it is extremely difficult for an artist to succeed in that.

 

[mj_frenzy]

To be honest, I think album cohesiveness, at least thematically, was MJ's biggest flaw. Except for HiStory, he had no real desire or intent to pull of album that is thematic cohesive. It depends on what you mean by 'cohesive'. Do you mean thematically, or sonically/production wise? But yeh, he never really had any intention with the exception of HiStory (thematically) to have a cohesive album. He was a hit records guy. He and Q. had the same philosophy or having every song be a hit record, that's not really seeking album cohesion in my estimation.

Quite the contrary, it was always their intention to bring out a (musically/thematically) cohesive album.

Here are few examples (quotes) regarding that matter:

“Quincy and I talked about ‘Off the Wall’ and carefully planned the kind of sound we wanted…together we created an album that reflected our goal.” (Michael Jackson)

“At that point we kind of step back from it for a minute and had a listen to everything and realized that three or four of the cuts, not that they were bad, but were just not fitting in with the way the album appeared to be going.” (Rod Temperton about ‘Thriller&#8217

“He [MJ] described everything he was looking for, sound-wise. He pulled out one of my songs from the Guy album, which I sing, and he said he wanted that sound. He wanted something driving like that.” (Teddy Riley about ‘Dangerous&#8217

"In fact, we recorded a ton of stuff that we didn't use. A lot of times a real good piece of music will never get on the album, only because it just doesn't fit. You know Michael loves drama. If the music doesn't have drama, if it's just a derivative of a piece of music without drama, Michael's not going to go for it. There is a lot of drama on this album, though.” (Bruce Swedien about 'Invincible')