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XScape media reviews

POP Paul Anka , again ...

He is one of the songwriters .

And he seems to be a nasty moment in the unreleased material excavated after Michael Jackson's death .

The combination Jackson / Anka always feels like a bad joke on paper, but new single belongs among the finest that have so far been issued with the King of Pop since the funeral.

"Love never felt so good" was recorded originally in 1983 and has , like the other songs on the upcoming album " Xscape " , renovated and modernized under the supervision of executive producer Anthony " LA " Reid.

Bonus version with Justin Timberlake you can ignore . Thanks so much. Besides his name the only Timberlake bringsin is a bit of singing, a few groans , some sound and a "Michael ? " .

But the Timberlake - free original recording is a honey soft and neo- nostalgic reminder of how soul and disco sounded on the radio in late 70s and early 80s. A finger snapping melody bathed in a sea of ​​body temperate strings .

Unknown artists from the same era and the same sound tends to be very valuable for soulfanatics . Everything sounds as well, since the " Random access memories" with Daft Punk , unexpectedly very 2014.

It's like diamonds - the mixture of pop and soul and disco as Michael Jackson and Quincy Jones , and Nile Rodgers once invented doesn´t age

http://www.aftonbladet.se/nojesbladet/musik/recensioner/article18815370.ab

The single got 3 plus out of 5
 
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MIST;3995621 said:
POP Paul Anka , again ...

He is one of the songwriters .

And he seems to be a nasty moment in the unreleased material excavated after Michael Jackson's death .

The combination Jackson / Anka always feels like a bad joke on paper, but new single belongs among the finest that have so far been issued with the King of Pop since the funeral.

"Love never felt so good" was recorded originally in 1983 and has , like the other songs on the upcoming album " Xscape " , renovated and modernized under the supervision of executive producer Anthony " LA " Reid.

Bonus version with Justin Timberlake you can ignore . Thanks so much. Besides his name the only Timberlake bringsin is a bit of singing, a few groans , some sound and a "Michael ? " .

But the Timberlake - free original recording is a honey soft and neo- nostalgic reminder of how soul and disco sounded on the radio in late 70s and early 80s. A finger snapping melody bathed in a sea of ​​body temperate strings .

Unknown artists from the same era and the same sound tends to be very valuable for soulfanatics . Everything sounds as well, since the " Random access memories" with Daft Punk , unexpectedly very 2014.

It's like diamonds - the mixture of pop and soul and disco as Michael Jackson and Quincy Jones , and Nile Rodgers once invented doesn´t age

The single got 3 plus out of 5
Click to expand...

Provide source please.
 
Single review: Michael Jackson and Justin Timberlake – ‘Love Never Felt So Good’
Philip Lickley

Just to prove that death is no barrier for record companies to drag out new releases, here we go full circle with Timberlake merging into Jackson’s memory in this funky number which shows how similar they are. +

Outside of the mismatched Timberlake break-down two-thirds in this is actually a pretty polished, strong single though the smell of a cash-in is never too far away from your thoughts. +

‘Love Never Felt So Good’ never drifts too far away from the expected Jackson sound but the catchy chorus and smooth funky feel will win over a summer audience. I don’t think Timberlake adds much to the record though and the Mario Kart style musical breaks are an unusual choice.
(7/10)

http://all-noise.co.uk/single-revie...timberlake-–-love-never-felt-good/8051/
 
Surprise: Michael Jackson' new single rules


Here's something unexpected: The new Michael Jackson single rules.

When Epic Records announced in March that it would release a posthumous album from the pop superstar who died in 2009 - another posthumous album, that is - there seemed little reason to get excited.

In 2010, the label's disappointing Michael collection suggested there wasn't much of value in the Epic vaults; if anything, the album boosted your sense of Jackson's genius as a record maker, in that he appeared to know exactly what was worth putting out (and what wasn't) during his lifetime.

But the appearance of Love Never Felt So Good - the first single from Xscape, due out 13 May - complicates that impression. Simply put, Jackson was sitting on a piece of disco-soul gold.

With its buoyant keyboards and effervescent groove - not to mention Jackson's typically sumptuous vocal melody - Love Never Felt So Good would have fit on 1979's Off the Wall or its world-changing 1982 follow-up, Thriller. The song pulses with the singer's signature blend of emotions, good vibes shaded with the knowledge that they'll soon run out.

According to a press release, Jackson wrote the tune in 1983 with Paul Anka, "around the time they recorded This Is It," featured in the 2009 concert film of the same title. The new version was produced by John McClain, co-executor of Jackson's estate.

Epic also issued a remix of the track featuring duet vocals by Justin Timberlake and a muscled-up beat from Timberlake, Timbaland and Jerome "J-Roc" Harmon; they're among the producers whom Epic chief L.A. Reid selected to help with "contemporising" the archived recordings slated for release on Xscape.

But their additions to Love Never Felt So Good don't improve the music. They only remind us how peerless Jackson could be.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/music/10013849/Surprise-Michael-Jackson-new-single-rules
 
Yeah baby, keep them good reviews coming:clapping:

New Music: Michael Jackson - 'Loving You'

Another amazing pop gem! The King keeps slaying even though he's already in Heaven. Sony' Music Unlimited released another track from Michael Jackson's upcoming posthumous album 'Xscape' today, May 6th. After debuting 'Chicago' yesterday, today it's the the turn of 'Loving You', track no. 3 on the album. Stream below!

What a fantastic breezy, mid-tempo pop song! Michael wrote and produced 'Loving You' during the 'Bad' sessions in 1987. The King of Pop began working on the track at Red Wing Studio in the San Fernando Valley and completed it at Hayvenhurst.

I'm so happy 'Xscape' is shaping up to be a sensational album. And every song sounds like a smash waiting to happen! As for 'Loving You', the groovy tune sees MJ singing about not feeling too well and having to stay at home in a summer day. He nevertheless can't stop thinking about her love, "But I'll be loving you, that's what I want to do".

http://www.directlyrics.com/new-music-michael-jackson-loving-you-news.html
 
http://soulculture.com/music-blog/n...music/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=facebook

Years ago prior to his death, word of legendary collaborations between Michael Jackson and superproducer Timbaland hit the universe, but the final products never saw the light of day… til now.

Following the Justin Timberlake featuring “Love Never Felt So Good” and with less than a week till the late great King Of Pop’s latest posthumous release Xscape hits shelves, today we get to listen to the Timbo produced “Chicago”. Press play below and let us know what you think in the C-Section.



Sourced From: http://soulculture.com/music-blog/n...icago-prod-timbaland-new-music/#ixzz30vmLit66
 
Is anybody else just loving these reviews as I am? Man, I so wish MJ was here to see all this. :)
 
ExoticPrincess said:
Is anybody else just loving these reviews as I am? Man, I so wish MJ was here to see all this. :)
Click to expand...

I'm over the moon and loving all the praise Michael gets.

I have to say, the estate did the right thing with Sony releasing 1 song every day for 5 days. That will keep Michael on media for a over a week, and the album gets great exposure that way, and what is better way to control the leaks when they allow some of the songs out there.
 
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Hear Michael Jackson Freak Out Over a Lying Lover in 'Chicago'
The Timbaland-produced track will appear on posthumous album, 'Xscape'Comment25By Kory Grow
May 5, 2014 6:05 PM ET
Michael Jackson performs circa 1986.Kevin Mazur/WireImageThe funky, Timbaland-produced love song "Chicago," a "contemporized" track off Michael Jackson's upcoming posthumous album, Xscape, has come out. With a deep-bass groove and some Auto-tuned vocals, Jackson sings about picking up a woman on a trip to Chicago, before bursting into a frenzied chorus. The hook finds Jackson singing in both a smooth voice and anguished wail, as he sings about a woman who said she didn't have a man, but had a family, all punctuated with a classic Jackson, urgent-sounding, "lie to you, lie to me" hook. The track was originally titled "She Was Lovin' Me" when Jackson recorded it in 1999, and it was meant to appear on his 2001 album, Invincible, but didn't make the cut.

L.A. Reid Explains Why Michael Jackson Is One of Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Artists
To put together Xscape, the album's executive producer, Antonio "L.A." Reid, retrieved eight previously unheard Jackson tracks from the singer's recording vaults and gave them to producers to add a contemporary spin to them. While Timbaland is the album's lead producer, other producers who worked on Xscape include Rodney Jerkins, Stargate, Jerome "Jroc" Harmon and John McClain. The regular edition of the record contains these "contemporized" versions of the songs, while a deluxe version will also contain the songs in their original form.


"Michael left behind some musical performances that we take great pride in presenting through the vision of music producers that he either worked directly with or expressed strong desire to work with," Reid said in a statement. "We are extremely proud and honored to present this music to the world."

The disco-leaning Xscape track "Love Never Felt So Good," which also features Justin Timberlake, came out in April; Jackson had co-written the song in 1983 with singer-songwriter Paul Anka. Xscape is due out May 13th.

Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/n...lying-lover-in-chicago-20140505#ixzz30wJR0RfB
Follow us: @rollingstone on Twitter | RollingStone on Facebook
 
Michael Jackson – Chicago (Prod. Timbaland) | New MusicBy Jesse James on May 5, 2014

The King Of Pop, Michael Jackson, makes his return today, carrying on his legacy with a brand new track called “Chicago”. The track is from his upcoming album, Xscape, and finds the legendary singer getting his vocals paired up with another legend, the producer extraordinaire, Timbaland.

The two combine to make something infectious and quite dope, with the King’s vocals going flawlessly over top of Timbo The King’s effortlessly drum work and smooth melodies. This is definitely nothing to sleep on, and more of what we were hoping for. Check out the dope new offering after the jump and speak your mind on it down below. Be sure to pick up a copy of the album, Xscape, which drops May 13th; or Pre-order the album now.

http://stupiddope.com/2014/05/05/michael-jackson-chicago-prod-timbaland-new-music/
 
Michael Jackson, Justin Timberlake's Duet Off To More Than 'Good' Start
http://www.billboard.com/articles/n...in-timberlake-hot-100-love-never-felt-so-good

Articles /News |Chart Beat |Pop-Shop |The Juice By Gary Trust and Keith Caulfield | May 05, 2014 4:24 PM EDT
The lead track from 'Xscape,' the late King of Pop's album due May 13, is headed to this week's Hot 100 thanks to a strong first few days of sales, airplay and streaming
Michael Jackson and Justin Timberlake's sleek new duet, "Love Never Felt So Good," will enter the Billboard Hot 100 chart this week following its first few days of availability.

The song appears on "[lexicon]Xscape[/lexicon]," an album of eight tracks of Jackson's vocals set to new music from Timbaland and J-Roc, Rodney Jerkins, Stargate and John McClain (a former A&M Records executive and co-executor of the Jackson estate). The set arrives May 13.

"Good" premiered on the iHeartRadio Music Awards, broadcast on NBC on May 1, and was then made available for digital purchase. (Instead of Timberlake, Usher danced to the song on the broadcast.)

Fueling its Hot 100 start? Solid initial sales and airplay, which should send the song, available as a solo Jackson recording and in a duet version with Timberlake, onto this week's Hot 100 in the list's lower half. Streaming activity since its premiere will also contribute to its debut rank. While "Good" is not yet available across on-demand subscription services, it's has racked 960,000 views on YouTube so far, split between its official audio clip on Vevo (which was released May 1) and user-generated YouTube clips.

Bringing Michael Jackson Back: The Inside Story of 'Xscape'

Highlights of the Hot 100 will post on Billboard.com on Wednesday (May 7), while the chart will post in its entirety the following day.

"Good" will mark Jackson's 49th Hot 100 entry and second since his 2009 death. "Hold My Hand," with Akon, reached No. 39 in January 2011. That collaboration was released from the posthumous "Michael " album, which debuted on the Billboard 200 at No. 3 and has sold 540,000 copies in the U.S., according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Jackson boasts 13 Hot 100 No. 1s, the most among solo males in the chart's 55-year history. Only the Beatles (20) and Mariah Carey (18) have totaled more No. 1s, with Rihanna also having notched 13 leaders.

STRONG SALES

Industry forecasters suggest that "Good" may have sold more than 60,000 downloads in the week ending Sunday, May 4. That sum would've been generated from only three full days of sales, as the song reached retailers late on Thursday (May 1), after its premiere earlier that evening.

Certainly, "Good" is buoyed by the availability of the duet version with Timberlake, which accounts for the bulk of the song's overall sales. (Both the Jackson solo version and the duet are combined for sales tracking and charting purposes.)

If "Good" debuts with more than 60,000 downloads sold, that would outpace the opening of "Hold My Hand." That song sold 19,000 in a similar opening time frame, and served as the first radio-promoted single from "Michael." It was released on a Friday (Nov. 19, 2010), so it had less than three full days of sales in its first week (ending Nov. 21). "Hold" then sold 44,000 in its first full week of availability (the frame ending Nov. 28).

RADIO ROLLOUT

Meanwhile, "Good" has also garnered a strong response at radio and appears on track for a debut on the 50-position Radio Songs chart. As of this posting, the cut has drawn 31 million all-format radio audience impressions since its first plays on Friday. On this week's airplay charts (highlights of which will post later today, while the full charts, along with all others, will update on Thursday), it makes multiple debuts, starting on Adult R&B Songs (No. 19), Adult Contemporary (No. 23), R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay (No. 28) and Adult Pop Songs (No. 40).

As part of Clear Channel's promotional synergy after the premiere of the song on the iHeartRadio Music Awards, "Good" received hourly plays the following day on a multitude of the company's pop, adult and R&B/hip-hop stations, greatly contributing to its airplay so far.

Still, the station that has played "Good" the most is CBS Radio-owned adult contemporary KYXY San Diego (and, thus, did not contribute to Clear Channel's concentrated play). The station has given the duet 37 plays (though Sunday). "We loved the song the instant we previewed it," says KYXY program director Charlie Quinn. "It felt familiar and right in line with audience expectations for a Michael song."

As for its long-term fortunes, Quinn is optimistic. "Timberlake and the production value definitely elevate it beyond a novelty."

"Two icons coming together for a great groove," is how Alex Tear, Clear Channel vp of programming/Miami, top 40 national brand coordinator and PD of Pop Songs reporter WHYI, describes the track. The station has played "Good" 13 times through May 4. "Hearing and watching the debut [of 'Good' during the iHeartRadio Music Awards] certainly played a role in inspiring listeners' passion and for them to request it. News traveled fast across the generations, lighting up social media and text requests all weekend."

Tear concurs that the song could sustain widespread interest following its splashy start.

"It's smooth and will certainly have a pop-culture impact. It's a great way to begin rolling into summer."
 
'Xscape' kept Michael Jackson's voice 'pure and raw'
http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/...p-michael-jackson-voice-pure-and-raw/8753645/
Edna Gundersen, USA TODAY 3:52 p.m. EDT May 6, 2014Producers constructed new music around the King of Pop's preserved vocals.
Epic Records will release 'Xscape,' a set of eight previously unreleased Michael Jackson tracks, on May 13.(Photo: Epic Records)
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TWEETCOMMENTEMAILMOREEven five years after his death, there is no escaping Michael Jackson. The latest evidence, Xscape, arrives May 13 with eight "contemporized" castoffs the pop superstar recorded from 1983 to 1999.

The project, completed at warp speed compared with the glacial pace Jackson kept during his career, was hatched in September when Epic Records chief Antonio "L.A." Reid met with Jackson estate co-executor John Branca.

FIRST LISTEN: 'Xscape' captures Jackson's enduring strengths

Reid, who was eager to take on a meaty challenge after two seasons on The X Factor, proposed a vault search for material that could be modernized without violating Jackson's artistic identity. He didn't want scraps.

"My guiding principle was simple," says Reid, who curated the project. "If Michael sang a song from top to bottom, it was an indication that he loved it. If he sang it multiple times, that was a strong indication that he wanted the world to hear it."

Producer L.A. Reid attends the first day of Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, Calif., on April 11, 2014.(Photo: Kevin Winter, Getty Images for Coachella)
The estate combed Jackson's archives and found 24 suitable tracks. Reid settled on 20, then pared that to 14. Most were reworked, but only eight made the cut.

Reid wasn't convinced of Xscape's viability until he heard Love Never Felt So Good, a piano-driven tune written and recorded by Jackson and Paul Anka in 1983. "That was the seed that gave birth to this project," he says.

That update, produced by estate co-executor John McClain, was released last week with a companion version featuring Justin Timberlake. (The duet and Jackson's original recordings appear only on Xscape's deluxe edition.)

Reid initially approached Timbaland, "my favorite producer on Earth, period," who chose five songs to reconstruct, including Slave to the Rhythm, the tune Reid and Babyface wrote for Jackson during the Dangerous sessions in 1991.

"We were so intimidated," Reid recalls. "We were on a crazy roll making so many hits, but we couldn't nail it for Michael. We tried too hard. Michael came by the studio and heard Slave to the Rhythm, just the drums and bass, and he loved it. He sang it 24 times top to bottom, without a break. It was a beautiful moment."

Rodney Jerkins signed on to overhaul the title track 15 years after he played a demo for Jackson over the phone. They worked on the song for nearly three years. Stargate, a Norwegian duo Jackson admired, produced A Place With No Name, a reimagining of America's A Horse With No Name.

Reid's sole dictate: Leave Jackson's vocals intact. "I wanted Michael's voice pure and raw, not cut into bits and pieces."

Announced in March, Xscape initially met with cynicism, then rising enthusiasm as early listeners spread news of the album's virtues.

"Michael would be proud," says Reid, who overcame his own misgivings by tapping into his musical GPS and Timbaland's instincts. "I wanted to be really respectful of Michael's legacy. Going into it, I had to get my arms around not being able to measure up to Thriller or Off the Wall. No matter how good we make this music, Michael's not here."

Jackson has sold 12.8 million albums since he died in 2009, according to Nielsen SoundScan, but two-thirds were sold by the end of that year, and momentum has flagged since. Xscape's buzz points to a possible uptick.

Regardless of its reception, Reid won't be making an encore.

"I'm done," he says.

It's unlikely that Jackson has taken his last bow
 
From yesterdays listening party Dubai

‘Xscape’ is the Michael Jackson we know and love
The posthumous album brings back 1990s R’n’B without stepping on the king’s toes

Michael Jackson’s posthumous album, Xscape, is set to be released worldwide on May 13. But on Tuesday night in Dubai’s Qbara lounge, we had the region’s exclusive first listen.

Industry mogul L.A. Reid handpicked eight unreleased songs that Jackson had sung “from top-to-bottom, multiple times”, then set them over new music produced by Timbaland, Rodney Jerkins, J-Roc, Stargate and John McClain.

The result? A Jackson album that delivers exactly what you would hope for: dark, crunchy R’n’B melodies, vocals layered so crisply they’ll give you chills and the king’s anguished spirit driving his every poignant lyric.
The opening track and the first single off the album, Love Never Felt So Good, featuring Justin Timberlake, hardly seems like the centrepiece of the record, though it’s easy on the ears. The tune stands out as a rare feel-good song, almost benign in its impact among gloomier numbers. It evokes the uplifting spirit of poppier songs such as Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough.

But the oft-misunderstood singer’s longing to belong comes through more clearly on Place with No Name. The song begins with Jackson’s signature gasps and delves into a desperate but hopeful place of yearning, with the repetitive chorus hearing Jackson plead “take me to a place with no name”. The tune is sung mostly in his growly lower register, giving it a grave but compelling feel.

Chicago, another R’n’B song straight out of the ‘90s — and really, was there a better time for R’n’B? — is a song about betrayal. If you squint, it’s reminiscent of megahit Dirty Diana. Jackson croons about a two-timing girl who led him on with lines like “she lied to you, lied to me,” and “didn’t know she was spoken for.” The layering of his urgent lead vocals over his defeated back-up vocals creates an all-consuming finished product.
One of the most resonant songs is Jackson’s Blue Gangsta, with its violin opening leading into Jackson taunting his subject for the damage they’ve done: “What you’ve done to me, babe/I can no longer smile, babe. Eventually, he confesses, “I can never fall in love.” Jackson’s falsetto makes an appearance during an emotive musical break, and the song wraps up with a pleasantly unexpected shriek of saxophone.

The rest of the songs have their charm, from the classic romancing tune, Loving You and the eerie Do You Know Where Your Children Are?, to Jackson’s obligatory synth-dance song (expect a few “hee hee!” moments), Slave to the Rhythm and his up-tempo eponymous number, Xscape.
On the deluxe album, buyers will be able to hear both the original vocals that Jackson recorded between the 1983 and 1999, as well as the re-mastered songs.

‘I’m the greatest’

In a 14-minute behind-the-scenes documentary, the production team spoke about the process of making the record and how Jackson’s spirit informed their every decision.

“Remind people that I’m the greatest,” Reid recalled Jackson telling him. He said keeping Jackson’s legacy alive was the force behind the project.

Fellow executive producer Timbaland, known for his distinctly contemporary style, said he had to “dig into a place where [Michael] would accept what I was doing.”

“I’m not overstepping my boundaries [as a producer]. I’m just enough in your face,” he said.
He recalled being in the studio and hearing the late singer giving him his stamp of approval.
“That’s it, Tim. That’s what I like,” he heard him say, but upon looking around, he found there was no one else in the room.

Darkchild producer Jerkins was hesitant at first to work on Jackson’s songs posthumously for fear of not living up to his expectations, but he accepted readily once he heard the raw vocals. He had the unique opportunity to re-work the song Xscape, which he had originally produced for Jackson in 1999.

Norwegian production team Stargate had also declined to be a part of the project initially, but were swayed upon hearing Place with No Name. As they worked their magic, they would pretend Jackson was about to visit the studio in 10 minutes and listen back to it, ensuring they lived up to his standards.

As for any hesitation on Reid’s part, the quality of the songs put his doubts to rest. “If it wasn’t supposed to be, it wouldn’t be this good.”

http://gulfnews.com/arts-entertainm...he-michael-jackson-we-know-and-love-1.1329266
 
We get an exclusive sneak preview of late star’s posthumous LP Discuss this article

So here we are, a (second) ‘new’ Michael Jackson album arrives from beyond the grave. Much has been made about the moral implications of Epic Records chairman LA Reid trawling through the leftover song-scraps Jackson thought unfit for public ears, peppering the late star’s raw vocal tracks with fresh productions like an injection of steroids. We’ll park the ethics for now, and stick to the artistic implications – namely, is it any good?

In an age where artists from Kanye West to Radiohead drop albums unannounced on the internet, the idea of a listening session – where accredited journalists are invited for an early eavesdrop before release – feels remarkably twee, reminiscent of the opulent ’80s in which Jackson made his fortune. And so it was that Time Out arrived at Wafi’s Qbara on a weekday afternoon, obligingly turning over our phones at the door to mingle over canapés with fellow journos ahead of The Grand Unveil.


But first, Sony Middle East’s general manager Mike Fairburn took the mic to explain Reid’s vision, recruiting mastermind producer Timbaland, amongst others, to ‘contemporise’ these archive recordings for a fresh 2014 audience. Recorded between 1983 and 2001, each of these eight unearthed recordings are tunes Michael had attempted multiple times. These, we were told, were the songs ‘we would be interested in hearing, the songs Michael would want us to hear’.

After such ceremony, it couldn’t help but feel slightly anticlimactic when the music began. First, we were told we would hear just four songs; later the record was played in its entirety. All the while Michael looked unnervingly down on us, the assembled journos shuffling uncomfortably beneath a huge projection of the album cover, Jackson’s airbrushed face seemingly emerging from a silver fruit bowl.

The opener, lead single ‘Love Never Felt so Good’, is instantly catchy, mixing Off the Wall-era soul with Timbaland’s trademark touch. It reminded me of Justin Timberlake even before JT’s parachuted-in vocal part, a dancefloor filler which feels both fresh and vintage. ‘A Place with No Name’ is lumpy by comparison. Opening with Jackson’s trademark vocal ticks, a dark and dirty bass patch drives the verses, more Depeche Mode than ‘Smooth Criminal’, and by the repetitive outro, Jackson’s vocal clearly looped, it’s easier to see why this sketch may have been left on the shelf.

‘Chicago’ takes the ‘contemporisation’ process further, slapping on a slick radio-friendly urban groove, more hip-hop than MJ ever went. By ‘Blue Gangsta’ Timbaland’s influence is overwhelming, the meticulous assault of urban beats leaving little room for the intended melody. Title track ‘Xscape’, however, is a vintage ***** hit-in-waiting, leftover from 2001’s swangsong Invincible, and clearly more malleable to modernisation.

Much painstaking effort has been taken to avoid the pitfalls that critically mauled Michael (2010) fell into. Throughout the session the arrangements shone, but I couldn’t help wondering if more regard could (should?) have been paid to the artist’s original intentions.

A 22-minute video, screened after the listening session, shed ample light on this. Cringely self-congratulatory, Timbaland, Reid and a cast of other collaborators took turns to slap each others’ backs shamelessly, at pains to justify the posthumous tinkering they’ve run studio riot with. ‘If I wasn’t supposed to do it, it wouldn’t sound this good,’ offers Reid. ‘Our job is to put our greatness with [Michael’s] greatness, and be great,’ adds Rodney Jerkins, with clear humility.

The video even spells out – in glaringly staged, for-beginners clips – how this ‘greatness’ was born. Rolling about with camaraderie and self belief, the producers play clips of the original acrhive recordings, followed by Timbaland’s steroid-packed reproductions. It’s hard not to laugh when the producer summons the supernatural for vindication. ‘I hear [Michael] talk to me,’ he says earnestly. ‘His spirit reached through me... to give me the okay.’

Most tellingly, ‘Tim’ admits he threw the original instrumental recordings out without listening to them, starting fresh from Michael’s a capella vocal track (why?!). ‘I don’t brag,’ he brags, ‘but I’m a bad man’. A clip of the original ‘Do You Know Where Your Children Are’ (strangely on the shelf, that one), reveals a historically fascinating acoustic guitar-led, country-ish number. Timbaland’s take is an avalanche of beats and blips, circa 2014.

You can’t help the feeling that if the recordings were good enough in the first place, then beyond some respectful touching up, all this re-production is unnecessary. The best of Michael’s music sounds timeless, and if these songs stood up, they wouldn’t need tampering with so. Worse – the tampered recording risk being dated far more quickly than the originals, which at least have biographical intrigue for fans.

Thankfully, you can make up your own mind, with the CD Deluxe Edition coming complete with the original demos alongside the reproductions. And for that we are thankful. There’s no denying the passion and talent Timbaland and co have put into the project and, regardless of the aesthetics, some of the production work ranks alongside his prime. And perhaps that’s what this project best offers – an essential masterclass for would be producers and musicians. An insight into how much can be added, subtracted, and the role of the producer in modern pop today.

And for everyone else? Musically, there’s much here for both fans and the curious to enjoy, and from a first listen we’d suggest there’s at least three tunes that rank, if not alongside Jackson’s best material, then certainly in its slipstream. But Reid’s drastic ‘contemporisation’ project feels an unnecessary beast at best, and pure sacrilege at worst. But as we said at the outset, we’re here to talk music, not morals. And musically, folks, this is a sandwich, not a salad.

http://www.timeoutdubai.com/nightli...st-listen-michael-jackson-xscape#.U2omXF4Wo9w
 
Review of Michael Jackson’s second posthumous release Xscape

Saeed Saeed

May 7, 2014 Updated: May 7, 2014 14:18:00

It may be one of the most anticipated albums of the year, but expectations of Michael Jackson’s second posthumous release, Xscape, is mixed. The last album, 2010s Michael, contained some inspired moments but the project sagged under the amount of weak tracks and controversy surrounding the authenticity of Jackson’s vocals.


Xscape aims to dispel such notions through painstaking research. The American music mogul and former Michael Jackson collaborator L A Reid trawled the music archives of unreleased MJ songs and vocal snippets between 1983 and 1999, whittling down the choices to eight tracks that Jackson fully sang and recorded multiple times (“That’s how I knew he was serious about the song,” Reid says in the accompanying album documentary).

Reid then enlisted super-producers including Timbaland and Sweden’s Stargate to contemporarise the sound. The end result is a lean and entertaining tribute to Jackson that is superior to Michael. Here is the track-by-track breakdown of Xscape.

Love Never Felt so Good, featuring Justin Timberlake

Remember the crooner Paul Anka? Well, the Diana singer was still hot property back in 1983 when he and Jackson hit the booth together to demo the song. Anka may have now being ditched for Timberlake but fortunately the sound remains pleasingly vintage. The opening dance beat echoes Billie Jean with a dash of extra modern percussion before a young Jackson sashays in with wonderfully warm vocals. Perhaps in awe, Timberlake’s kept his performance straight and allowed Jackson to lead the way in this pleasant nostalgia trip.

Chicago

A 1999 track recorded during the sessions for the 2001 album Invisible. An ominous affair as Jackson, in a low croon, uses the verses to detail an illicit affair over producer Timbaland’s nudging keyboards. It is in the terse bridge where Jackson’s let’s her have it, snarling his realisation that “filthy lies was the go she played”. It is then you realise that the bridge was actually the chorus and a sudden underwhelming feeling descends. Chicago is all tension and no release.

Loving You

Jackson wanted Bad, his 1987 classic album, to contain a tougher sound. Perhaps this why the romantic Loving You didn’t make the cut. The twinkling pianos have been augmented with heavy bass and staccato drums and now it is a wonderful breezy contemporary pop-song.

A Place with no Name

This one received the biggest sonic make over. The original (heard on the deluxe edition), thought to be recorded in the late eighties, is nearly identical to seventies rockers America’s A Horse with no Name. Swedish duo Stargate upped the beat and done away with the acoustic guitars to replace it with a funky wormlike synth-riff. The end result is something that is funky and modern.

Slave to the rhythm

Part of the 1991’s Dangerous sessions, proving that Jackson was aiming for a more ambitious dance sound. Slave to the Rhythm sounds like a slicker cousin to one of Dangerous’s big hits Jam. The repetitive chorus maybe the reason for the song being culled from the album.

Do You Know Where Your Children Are

Jackson always had a penchant for including a socially-conscious track or two with each release. The guitar driven Do You Know Where Your Children Are continues that vein as the lyrics follow a young girl leaving an abusive home before experiencing more bad luck in Hollywood. Jackson’s voice is fully committed, ranging from melancholy to rage.

Blue Gangsta

Timbaland earns his money here. The original version sounds anaemic with the staid drum tracks not serving Jackson’s vocal passion. Timbaland’s percussions are intense and compliments Jackson’s vocal paranoia as he oscillates between anger and doubt.

Xscape

Interesting in that producer Rodney Jerkins returns to work on the same track he began with Jackson 15 years ago. The tune is not the most memorable, but it has many of Jackson’s vocal signatures as such as those “yee-hees” and breathy vocals. Xscape ends the way it started in that it elicits a euphoric nostalgia to the pre-twerking days when Jackson was king

The verdict

It may only clock over half an hour but Xscape does enough to remind you of Jackson’s supreme vocal command and versatility. The album’s deluxe version is a keeper for music fans as the second CD contains the original tracks as found by Reid, there is also an additional documentary showcasing the making of the album. Xscape should set to bring the discussion surrounding Michael Jackson away from the courthouse and back to where he would have wanted it to be, the music.



Read more: http://www.thenational.ae/arts-cult...econd-posthumous-release-xscape#ixzz312NXKWL8
 
Not bad from NY Times!

Michael Jackson, the Remix
By JON PARELESMAY 7, 2014

“Xscape,” the new album credited to Michael Jackson, revolves around the familiar voice of a ghost mourned worldwide. That voice is airborne and supple, tenderly concerned, playful and percussive; then it grows increasingly tense, distraught, desolate, embittered. Jackson’s voice is a precious digital keepsake; it’s also, on many of the tracks, the only part of his latest songs that Jackson ever heard.

“Xscape” (Epic) represents the bionic Michael Jackson: an identifiable remnant of the man encased in gleaming contemporary technology. The voice, the words and the melodies on “Xscape” are Jackson; nearly all of the rest was built around them. Something of the flesh-and-blood original persists, but it’s now inseparable from the new machinery.

No one is claiming that “Xscape” is the album Jackson would have made had he survived to finish rehearsing and performing his 50 scheduled 2009 comeback shows in London. “Michael Jackson’s official canon — the albums, performances and short films he oversaw and realized during his lifetime — is complete,” the liner notes to “Xscape” say. He died on June 25, 2009, during a final stretch of rehearsals, from an overdose of Propofol, the anesthetic he had been using as a sleep aid.

Unlike “Michael,” the posthumous collection released in 2010 that included relatively recent outtakes, “Xscape” offers no glimpse of anything Jackson wrote after his last finished studio album, “Invincible” in 2001. The Michael Jackson estate has been digging deeper into the archives, finding every scrap it can salvage. The eight songs on “Xscape” date initially from 1983 to 1999, although Mr. Jackson worked on some of them again in the 2000s.

The job that “Xscape” sets itself, in an ungainly term from the liner notes, is to “contemporize” the songs — that is, to update them for the pop market and the radio environment of 2014. To do so, the album’s productions have extracted Jackson’s vocals — he was known to record dozens of takes at a time, giving producers plenty of options — and surrounded them with new backup arrangements, treating his songs like the kind of a cappella tracks that hip-hop and dance music producers regularly build remixes around. A major investment is at stake: “Xscape” is the latest product of a reported seven-year, $250 million dollar deal between the Jackson estate and Sony Music.

By design or not, the songs on “Xscape” trace a poignant narrative arc: from blissful romance to thoughts of exploitation and betrayal to a final, desperate longing for escape. At the beginning, a euphoric Mr. Jackson croons “Love Never Felt So Good” over rolling, gospelly piano chords played by the song’s co-writer, Paul Anka; warm and tuneful, it’s the album’s introductory single in John McClain’s string-laden version and a lighter, disco-revival production by Timbaland that wedges in an appearance by Justin Timberlake, poaching a verse. “Slave to the Rhythm” (not the Grace Jones song) and “Do You Know Where Your Children Are” worry about the exploitation of women and girls. By the time “Xscape” ends the album, Jackson has moved into his bleak, scratchy, heavy-breathing staccato mode, as he sings about being pressured by relationships, the media and “the system.”


The deluxe version of the album includes the same songs in demos that Jackson himself worked on; it becomes a fascinating before-and-after comparison. Some demos were clearly just starters; “Love Never Felt So Good” has only piano, voice and finger snaps. Others were apparently close to completion. (Since Jackson repeatedly revised unfinished recordings, it’s hard to know what state of each song these demos represent.) The selections for “Xscape” were winnowed from two dozen unreleased songs that had full-length vocal takes, a sign that Jackson thought the material was worthwhile. But Jackson’s original intentions died with him; what remains are waveforms.

If that sounds like “Xscape” is some corruption of Jackson’s artistic legacy — well, it’s not that clear cut. By all accounts, Jackson himself would have wanted to keep making hits, and he would have made every effort to keep his music current, including rerecording backup tracks. (As a performer who strove to keep his every public utterance perfect, he might even have been more upset by the revelation of unfinished demo recordings than by slick updates.) And Jackson was by no means the only songwriter to unearth old material for a new album.

Current R&B is open to both the reprogrammed retro sounds of producers like Pharrell and to the brittle artificiality of all-electronic R&B, and Jackson could have pushed his vault recordings in either direction, or another one entirely. In the digital realm, nothing is final until it’s released — and then it can still be remixed.

The executive producer of “Xscape,” and the hands-on producer for most of the songs, is Timbaland, a worthy choice; one song each was also assigned to Mr. McClain, a manager of the estate; Stargate; and Rodney Jerkins, who radically improved “Xscape,” a song he started with Jackson in 1999. For the new version, he removed a corny jailbreak intro and put considerably more heft and crunch in the beat, and he brought in strings and horns. He also illuminated, far more clearly than the demo, a mood shift in the bridge, where Jackson eerily sings, “When I go, this world won’t bother me no more.” In the demo, the bridge continued to ride the groove; in the new version, it’s a churchy, paradisiacal chorus, a brief refuge in harmony and rich strings.

Timbaland’s transformations are masterly. “Slave to the Rhythm,” about a woman enslaved by marriage and job, trades the demo’s mechanical beat for a jittery double-time barrage that ricochets against the vocal and makes Jackson’s percussive angst even more dramatic. “Chicago,” an odd apology to a cuckolded husband, replaces the demo’s sustained keyboard chords with a counterpoint of tubalike bass and airy high tones. Timbaland discarded the original synthesizer bass line of “Do You Know Where Your Children Are” and came up with an odder, more arresting one that leaps way up and down. But he still couldn’t distance the song far enough from Jackson’s masterpiece “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’.”

Stargate, the Norwegian production team, perked up but ill-served “A Place With No Name,” based on “A Horse With No Name” by America. The spartan demo uses America’s guitar chords as Jackson sings about finding a mysterious utopia but regretfully leaving it behind to return to his family. Stargate exchanges guitar for a keyboard riff that’s far too close to “The Way You Make Me Feel,” and their dance beat treats the rising angst of Jackson’s vocal as a distraction.

“Xscape” does polish up these old songs, even if it wipes away some of Jackson’s ideas, like the big-band tango Jackson invoked on the demo of “Blue Gangsta.” And Jackson’s voice — deliberately pushed up front in the mixes — is more vivid, and less processed-sounding, than it was on his later albums, whether he’s exulting or imploring or grunting or whooping.

Yet it’s clear why Jackson shelved the songs on “Xscape.” They’re near misses, either not quite as striking as what he released or lesser examples of ideas he exploited better elsewhere. “Chicago” is overshadowed by Jackson’s other she-done-me-wrong songs like “Billie Jean” and “Dirty Diana”; Even “Xscape” — a tour-de-force production that pulls together the harsh latter-day Jackson and the top-of-the-world exuberance of earlier songs like “Don’t Stop ’Til You Get Enough” — is basically a variant on the distorted bass and deep paranoia of “Scream.”

Jackson’s posthumous handlers are encyclopedic and savvy about what he left behind, but it’s all retrospective. Some Michael Jackson rejects would do other musicians proud. But Jackson was competing with himself, and his estate’s projects so far suggest that his best music was released during his lifetime. Archivists and producers can restyle Jackson’s work and “contemporize” him, up to a point. But with every bionic mechanism at their disposal, they can’t resurrect him.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/11/arts/music/michael-jackson-the-remix.html?_r=0
 
Great review - esp. consicering it comes from Jon Pereles who never really liked Michael.


I'm so excited for these:

Timbaland’s transformations are masterly. “Slave to the Rhythm,” about a woman enslaved by marriage and job, trades the demo’s mechanical beat for a jittery double-time barrage that ricochets against the vocal and makes Jackson’s percussive angst even more dramatic.
Click to expand...

Timbaland discarded the original synthesizer bass line of “Do You Know Where Your Children Are” and came up with an odder, more arresting one that leaps way up and down. But he still couldn’t distance the song far enough from Jackson’s masterpiece “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’.”
Click to expand...
 
The King Lives! Listen To An Exclusive Stream Of Michael Jackson’s New Track, “Blue Gangsta”
May 8, 2014 | By VH1

Embed: Get More: Michael Jackson,
Michael Jackson videos
Five years ago this June, we mourned the loss of one of the greatest entertainers that this planet has ever seen. Michael Jackson‘s music dazzled our ears, his dancing blew our minds, and his passing undoubtedly affected us all. But we’re not going to dwell on the sad stuff now, because today is a joyous day, an historic day, and a reason to celebrate. Today we are thrilled to share an exclusive stream of a BRAND NEW MJ track, “Blue Gangsta,” available right now! Savor this moment, because you’re about to hear your new favorite song for the very first time, straight from the mouth of a certified musical genius. Go put on a single white glove, turn it up, get down, and rejoice. Long live the king!
“Blue Gangsta” is a song off of XSCAPE, a exciting new collection of never-before-heard Michael tunes that will be guaranteed to turn you into a dancing machine. Hand selected by industry legend L.A. Reid, these eight cuts from the vault have been given a modern shine by production wizards Timbaland, StarGate, and Jerome “J-Roc” Harmon, as well as guest spots from Mary J. Blige, Questlove, and D’Angelo. Last week we got a listen to the lead single “Love Never Felt So Good,” funked up with vocals from none other than Justin Timberlake. If the whole album sounds this good, we’re predicting the smash of the summer.
The record drops on May 13th, but today’s sneak peak will hopefully keep us satisfied until then. If you’re hungry for more, check out these incredible vintage interviews from Michael himself! If you’re still (Quincy) jonesin’ for another MJ fix, well then swing by tomorrow and we’ll see what we can do…
 
claudiadoina;4000534 said:
The King Lives! Listen To An Exclusive Stream Of Michael Jackson’s New Track, “Blue Gangsta”
May 8, 2014 | By VH1

Embed: Get More: Michael Jackson,
Michael Jackson videos
Five years ago this June, we mourned the loss of one of the greatest entertainers that this planet has ever seen. Michael Jackson‘s music dazzled our ears, his dancing blew our minds, and his passing undoubtedly affected us all. But we’re not going to dwell on the sad stuff now, because today is a joyous day, an historic day, and a reason to celebrate. Today we are thrilled to share an exclusive stream of a BRAND NEW MJ track, “Blue Gangsta,” available right now! Savor this moment, because you’re about to hear your new favorite song for the very first time, straight from the mouth of a certified musical genius. Go put on a single white glove, turn it up, get down, and rejoice. Long live the king!
“Blue Gangsta” is a song off of XSCAPE, a exciting new collection of never-before-heard Michael tunes that will be guaranteed to turn you into a dancing machine. Hand selected by industry legend L.A. Reid, these eight cuts from the vault have been given a modern shine by production wizards Timbaland, StarGate, and Jerome “J-Roc” Harmon, as well as guest spots from Mary J. Blige, Questlove, and D’Angelo. Last week we got a listen to the lead single “Love Never Felt So Good,” funked up with vocals from none other than Justin Timberlake. If the whole album sounds this good, we’re predicting the smash of the summer.
The record drops on May 13th, but today’s sneak peak will hopefully keep us satisfied until then. If you’re hungry for more, check out these incredible vintage interviews from Michael himself! If you’re still (Quincy) jonesin’ for another MJ fix, well then swing by tomorrow and we’ll see what we can do…
Click to expand...

The link????
 
http://www.bt.dk/musik/fem-stjerner-himmelsk-nyt-fra-michael-jackson

5 stars from a danish paper!! - 5 out of 6 !!

They say the album is amazing!!!

From translate:

Do you suffer from Michael Jackson withdrawal symptoms ? Then find the white socks and loafers forward . Stand in line at your favorite record pusher Monday digitally or on the street. For as published Michael Jackson album ' Xcape ' . The third after popkongens death almost five years ago.


How ' Behind The Mask ' from 2011 contained a lot of ballads , there is greater momentum to moonwalk on the new. It contains eight saved Jackson numbers in up to three different versions.


There are - of course - not a new 'Billy Jean ', ' Rock With You ' or ' Bad ' . Strange if he had stowed the kind of road. And so alligeve . ' Slave To The Rhythm ' is Jackson attack on the dance floor , as when he was the best.


' Xcape ' is a bit of a ' thriller ' for us with a penchant for MJ . The simmer for a multikriblende myriad of elegant beats, funky MJ songs. Nice through -produced tunes. First of all , we miss the most - THE VOICE .


Legend agile and gauzy as a butterfly on the highest notes , controlled, warm, edgy, cuddly, elastic and deep as the soul with the soul of when it takes him .


It begins with a terrific collaboration between Michael Jackson and the old pop - Fox, Paul Anka , which has been deeply buried somewhere in Neverland . ' Love Never Felt So Good ' states . Immediately spread the world's widest smile between hearing steaks . The voice again. Vintage - songwriting in ready 70er - iscesættelse . Groovy, funky bottom with arrow straight back to 'Off The Wall ' . Discreet rhythm guitar and melody , exuberant disco strings


' Loving You ' - Michael when he is most urgent . A overaskende , entirely through superb version of America's ' A Horse With No Name ' - entitled ' A Place With No Name . Funky shuffle based on one of rock's already most evocative numbers.


First acoustic guitar, tapping the drum edge , so the chorus with Jackson right up on top and choir. With MJ at the microphone and buttons lifted America from the prairie to the sky . Pardon my French , it's damn good. My Playlist is here beside and crying out to visit this great MJ'nummer .


Not everything is equal . A few numbers seem flat and bland at the same low level as Jackson's album ' Invincible ' from 2001. Strange that he took the opportunity at that time to send out some of the 'new' tracks. Perhaps because of the case which has been pending between Jackson and Paul Anka about ' Love Never Felt So Good ' .


Appearing a sea of ​​posthumous plate projects deceased musicians. It is sometimes toes curving embarrassing. Sometimes it looks like grave quarrel. If you choose for example . some of the things that Yoko Ono has released posthumously by John Lennon, who ingot is ' Xcape ' almost heavenly. In several meanings.


' Xcape ' contains eight saved Michael Jackson songs , produced by LA Reid - and with Timberland as so-called Executive Producer . It also contains eight songs in Jackson's own more naked production. Plus a bonus version of ' Love Never Felt So Good ', where Justin Timberland sings a duet with MJ . In addition, a documentary video.


Michael Jackson, ' Xcape ' , published Monday
 
Hess said:
http://www.bt.dk/musik/fem-stjerner-himmelsk-nyt-fra-michael-jackson

5 stars from a danish paper!! - 5 out of 6 !!

They say the album is amazing!!!

From translate:

Do you suffer from Michael Jackson withdrawal symptoms ? Then find the white socks and loafers forward . Stand in line at your favorite record pusher Monday digitally or on the street. For as published Michael Jackson album ' Xcape ' . The third after popkongens death almost five years ago.
Click to expand...

That's it, from now on I'm always calling him "popkongen" :)
 
Michael Jackson: Xscape review - a fitting bookend to the man's career
A second posthumous album 'from' Michael Jackson doesn't imbue confidence but this album is a reminder of a pop genius
3 out of 5

Tim Jonze

Is there a phrase in pop that better signifies the listener should proceed with caution than "posthumous album"? If there is, then surely it's this: "second posthumous album". The implicit message seems to be "hey, remember those songs the artist deemed unsuitable for release during their lifetime that we went and stuck on an album anyway? Well here's the songs that didn't make thatrecord!"

Of course, there was a time when the idea of hearing Michael Jackson's unreleased material wouldn't have seemed like a terrible idea. Given the sheer quality of his peak period – from 1979's Off The Wall and arguably stretching as far as 1991's Dangerous, via the certified 80s classics Thriller and Bad – Jackson's studio floor scrapings always had the potential to shine. That was until we heard 2010's Michael, a hastily assembled collection of off-cuts that sounded so ropey even members of his own family – in possibly not the greatest promotional technique ever conceived – questioned if it was actually Michael Jackson singing on the record.

You'd be forgiven, then, for not getting too excited about Xscape. Yet when its first single Love Never Felt So Good appeared online in early May it confounded predictions once more: joyous disco held together with resounding piano bass notes and soaring strings. It's a great example of what Xscape strives to achieve, taking eight old demos of Jackson's songs (Love Never Felt So Good was originally recorded after Thriller in 1983 but failed to make the cut for follow up Bad) and handing them over to contemporary producers – Timbaland oversees the project, with help from Rodney Jerkins and Rihanna producers Stargate – for a modern makeover. Unlike with Michael, you can certainly hear the time and devotion applied here.

Occasionally, there are echoes of Jackson's previous hits that reveal the huge time span from which Epic chief executive LA Reid cherry-picked these tracks. A Place With No Name bounces along on a backdrop almost identical to 1987's Leave Me Alone, whereas Blue Gangsta's precision-tooled R&B half breaks out into the vocal hook from 1995's Earth Song. There are also, inevitably, some uncomfortable moments: the bubbly electro backing of Do You Know Where Your Children Are may be adorned with those famous "hee hee" yelps but the song's lyric – "She wrote that she is tired of stepdaddy using her/Saying that he'll buy her things, while sexually abusing her" – makes it easy to understand why someone might have had a quiet word in Jackson's ear at the time about keeping this one in the vaults.

It raises the question of whether or not this album has indeed been made "in keeping with what Michael wanted", as LA Reid told an audience in Sydney last month. Musically, too, it's hard to say. On the one hand you can't imagine the latter day Jackson, his powers on the wane, feeling comfortable with the icy synth lines and stuttering beats of Chicago. On the other, the 80s Jackson, who with Quincy Jones forged pop, rock and R&B together into something altogether unique, might have scoffed at the soulful Loving You's lack of sonic adventure.

Trying to guess what constitutes the true mindset of Michael Jackson is probably a pointless exercise anyway given that this was a man who once commissioned an oil painting of himself, Abraham Lincoln, Einstein, the Mona Lisa and ET all wearing his trademark glittery glove and shades. Far better to judge the eight tracks here on their own merit, which, for all their inevitable lack of coherence as a set, serve to remind you why Jackson was once pop's premier genius, still cited by the likes of Pharell Williams and Justin Timberlake. You could even say it's a fitting bookend to the man's career, although with the way things have panned out since his death, maybe that third posthumous album will be a stone cold classic.

http://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/may/09/michael-jackson-xscape-review-tim-jonze
 
Listen: Ben Ratliff and Jon Pareles discuss “Xscape"

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/05/09/michael-jackson-returns-at-least-on-record/

This week on Popcast: Michael Jackson is still alive — on “Xscape,” the latest posthumous episode in a deal between the Jackson estate and Sony Records reportedly worth $250 million.


The album, to be released next Tuesday, isn’t more finished late-period outtakes, like a previous posthumous album, “Michael,” from 2010. Instead, it uses some of Mr. Jackson’s unreleased demos recorded between 1983 and 1999, but for the most part only his vocals. A grip of producers — mostly Timbaland, Stargate, Rodney Jerkins and John McClain — created entirely new tracks for them, directly inspired by the various eras of Jackson hits, but with new timbres and dynamics.

All in all, “Xscape” is an extremely delicate operation. Even a casual listener cares to some extent about a pop star’s grand plan, his construction of sound or identity, how his songs might express his desires or ambitions. But as our music critic Jon Pareles put it, “Jackson’s original intentions died with him; what remains are waveforms.” And “Xscape” really is for the casual listener. These songs are confections designed to get on the radio today, not to be respectable curios, bits of added-value for album-reissue projects.

Mr. Pareles is our guest on Popcast this week, talking about “Xscape” as a musical and philosophical and music-business experiment, discussing its pronounced feeling of narrative, and raising the question of authenticity, whether it has a place in this conversation or not.
 
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