Recenzje prasowe "Michael"
: wt, 07 gru 2010, 23:47
Poniższe recenzje często zawierają błędy merytoryczne i nieścisłości, jednak ze względu na charakter wątku zachowano ich pierwotne brzmienie.
Recenzja z Rolling Stone 3/5 (tę samą notę uzyskało Invincible)
Najbardziej podoba się Much Too Soon. Podkreślają różnorodność instrumentów i interpretację wokalną jako atuty. W recenzji autor zaznacza, że nie jest to płyta Michaela, a piosenki nie są kompletnie wyprodukowane. Behind The Mask zestawiają z Wanna Be Startin' Somethin', a Another Day z Dirty Dianą.
NME
Tu wyróżniają, a wręcz wychwalają Behind The Mask, zestawiając wokale w tle z Dangeorus i, ponownie, Much Too Soon. Płytę umieszczają w kategorii robotic R'N'B. Komentują formę wokalną Michaela na albumie zaznaczając, ze słychać kombinowanie przy piosenkach, ale dodają, że są i okrzyki rockowe, i czarowny falset i beat boxing. Monster porównują do Smooth Criminal, Best Of Joy i The Way You Love Me przypisują łatkę nudnej piosenki r'n'b w średnim tempie.
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Recenzja z Rolling Stone 3/5 (tę samą notę uzyskało Invincible)
By Jody RosenThis is not a Michael Jackson album. Jackson was one of pop's biggest fussbudgets: Even when his songs were half-baked, the production was pristine. He would not have released anything like this compilation, a grab bag of outtakes and outlines assembled by Jackson's label. And yet, it's a testament to the man's charisma that Michael can be compelling. Jackson gets songwriting credit on eight of 10 tracks, and they are recognizably Michael Jackson songs. "Behind the Mask" is a fiercely funky cousin to "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' "; the Lenny Kravitz-produced "(I Can't Make It) Another Day" is a "Dirty Diana"-esque dance-rock song that also features Kravitz on guitar. There are thrilling glimpses into MJ's creative process — check the snippet of him singing and beatboxing his idea for "(I Like) The Way You Love Me" — but Michael's most amazing moment is the Thriller-era ballad "Much Too Soon." The song is full of guitars and strings, but all you really hear is that voice — hovering between child and adult, between male and female, between mournful and ecstatic.
Najbardziej podoba się Much Too Soon. Podkreślają różnorodność instrumentów i interpretację wokalną jako atuty. W recenzji autor zaznacza, że nie jest to płyta Michaela, a piosenki nie są kompletnie wyprodukowane. Behind The Mask zestawiają z Wanna Be Startin' Somethin', a Another Day z Dirty Dianą.
NME
Dan MartinNot as terrible as you may think. I mean, we're not saying it's good, but...
When Will.I.Am of all people is denouncing your project on the grounds of taste and authenticity, you know you’re on shaky ground. When your lead single is a duet with Akon, you should probably just pack up and go home. Michael Jackson couldn’t do any of these things of course, because Michael Jackson is dead.
When you go in to listen to the posthumous album of unreleased Michael Jackson songs you’re met with a 10-page document that painstakingly details the narrative of how this record is authentic, genuine and tastefully in tune with the album Jackson was already planning. But really. Nobody treated this poor, desperate fucker with any respect in the later years of his life. Why would that vultures act any different now he’s not even around to have a say?
Then you actually hear the thing and you’re met with a bizarre rush of reassurance in human decency. Oh, it isn’t really very good, don’t be under illusions of that. But compared with the unnecessary, inauthentic and insulting mess it could have been, and judged against the level at which, say, Tupac Shakur and Freddie Mercury’s graves have been danced on, ‘Michael’ can actually be considered something of a win.
The songs here are actually complete songs. Not discarded offcuts recklessly soldered together with a few guest raps to cover the joins, but full compositions sung all the way through by Actual Michael Jackson. And evidently, his voice had endured. Sure, the vocals are treated to (excuse the phrasing) within an inch of their lives. But the gleaming falsetto, the rock howl and propulsive beatboxing are all, to different extents, intact.
Thirdly, the robotic R&B that defines ‘Michael’ is probably, more or less like what Michael Jackson would have been wanting to do in 2010. Amazing as it would have been to hear him toe-to-toe with Kanye, Minaj and Rihanna, it was never going to happen because he’s chosen Will.I.Am and Akon. And most of these songs are up to his more latterday standard. Just so, it’s a myth that he ever completely lost it: even ‘Invincible’ had ‘You Rock My World’ and ‘Butterflies’ on it.
And even Akon can’t completely ruin the single ‘Hold My Hand’, a tender mid-paced love song in the vein of ‘Remember The Time’, while ‘Best Of Joy’ and ‘(I Like) The Way You Love Me’ cover similar classy/boring mid-tempo R&B territory... ‘Monster’ revisits ‘Smooth Criminal’ territory only to be ruined by an inappropriate rap from 50 Cent, while the worst thing you can say about ‘Hollywood Tonight’ is that its catchy signature gets annoying after a while.
‘Keep Your Head Up’ is sentimental mush that makes up for its paucity of tune by piling on more and more strings and gospel, and ‘Breaking News’ is appalling, Jackson at his most ‘poor me’ unfortunate over a mess of confused beats.
But then something remarkable happens. You get to track nine, ‘Behind The Mask’ and it’s an absolute revelation, a swirl of psychedelic, orchestra-twinged R&B. Jackson howls a solid-gold melody at his fearsome best, and blippy production and robotic backing vocals dancing behind it. It could sit quite happily on ‘Dangerous’. It is actually brilliant. And then there’s ‘Much Too Soon’, a delicate, pared-down ballad that dates back to the ‘Thriller’ era, but gets you in the emotion-centres in the way that Jackson uniquely could.
On the balancing strength of those two songs, ‘Michael’ manages to dodge the bullet enough to be kind of enjoyable. But it’s worth remembering that both songs date back to the 1980s. It’s also worth remembering that this is the first in a reported 10-album deal over the next seven years. And if this decent-enough album is the best of the bunch, things are going to get ugly from here on in. Michael has his epitaph now. Tear up that contract, The Jackson Estate. Tear it up now.
Tu wyróżniają, a wręcz wychwalają Behind The Mask, zestawiając wokale w tle z Dangeorus i, ponownie, Much Too Soon. Płytę umieszczają w kategorii robotic R'N'B. Komentują formę wokalną Michaela na albumie zaznaczając, ze słychać kombinowanie przy piosenkach, ale dodają, że są i okrzyki rockowe, i czarowny falset i beat boxing. Monster porównują do Smooth Criminal, Best Of Joy i The Way You Love Me przypisują łatkę nudnej piosenki r'n'b w średnim tempie.
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