I was reading the Butterflies thread below and having second thougths about whether or not to buy this album...

what's the general consensus amongst MJ fans over it's quality?

because when it came out I refrained from buying it due to the poor and in some cases downright awful reviews it got.

maybe that was just more MJ bashing though...

I do own Off the Wall, Thriller, Bad & Dangerous, and I like most of the songs from each but feel neither can be called a great album as they all have filler tracks - just my opinion.

So is Invincible just a bunch a soppy ballads or is it more of the same, good but not great?

This is the only Michael Jackson album I don't have. When I saw that weak, midtempo, hip hop sounding video for "You Rock My World", I figured Michael, like most everyone else, had sold out to that sound.

It's not a bad album. I don't recall any of the reviews mentioning anything about music for more then a few sentances. I wouldn't pay much attention to them. It's pretty much impossible for MJ to get a good review. Even Bad and Dangerous got bad reviews.

It's an album that you really have to listen to hundreds and even thousands of times to get used to it. It has the same vibe of HIStory 2 and Dangerous. Invincible is a great album, but not an album to admire. It also has Michael returning to his R&B/soul trends and Butterflies and Break Of Dawn can prove that...

invincible is a decent album. its not an instant classic or anything but its a good mj cd. you're not going to find anything new or surprising on it. the reviews were far more harsh simply because of who he is and the fact that its not trendy to like him. i will say that after such a long absence and all the money put into the cd, i was expecting a little more. all in all, i like the cd and it gets a fair amount of play at my place. if you generally like mj's stuff you're gonna like invincible.

I think it's a good album but not great. Too much of it is formulaic dance music or sappy ballads. There are a few really good songs though

Unbreakable
You Rock My World
Butterflies
Whatever Happens
Threatened

silverchild said:

Meaning overproduced and coldhearted? Over the top and overly sentimental? Produced by the 'right producers' to try and fake your way into the public's eye?
Meaning you listen to it once and then shelf it?

It makes you wish that he still made records like History II.....

'Invincible' is a much better album than the reviews indicated.It's not groundbreaking or anything,but it's a solid R&B/pop album with at least seven top-notch tracks...

"Butterflies"
"Whatever Happens" with Santana
"Heaven Can Wait"
"Cry"
"Speechless"
"Break Of Dawn"
"You Rock My World"


Amazingly,the slower tracks are better than the uptempo songs,which tend to sound too glossy and overproduced.Slow jams like "Heaven Can Wait" and "Butterflies" are his most impressive tracks since the 'Off The Wall' days imo.

kinaldo said:

Just go to www.amazon.com and have a listen. I'm sure they have some snippets from Invincible.

DavidEye said:

No, man. That's the Dangerous album.

I like Invincible. After Off The Wall it's my fave of his.

GooeyTheHamster said:

No.

Invincible and history 2 sound nothing alike to me.....most the "invincible" songs r about a girl etc which is what Mike does best! None, except "u r not alone" on histroy 2 r about girls really, though of course the other track that is ("2 bad") is ironically by far the best track off the album!


So go figure, Mike should still do paranoid girl songs as only he can pull 'em off! "invincible" luckily has these! "invincible" and "dangerous" r alot closer related to me!


This "girl is predetor" thing got people pissed on "dangerous" but I love that.....

...what dangerous does not do that "invincible" suffers badly from is bad sequencing ("dangerous" works so well in 2 halfs) and also proves that todays rnb was no way near as good as NewJack Swing that "dangerous" incorporates!


"Invincible" is proof that todays rnb sucked compared to it 15 years ago!

Except 4 the first 3 tracks off "invincible", which, to me sound unique and shoulda been copied by the rnb market at large but instead they went 4 Usher sounding shit!

Buy it!
Erase "Don't Walk Away"
If you're of the impatient kind, erase "The Lost Children", "Threatened", and "You Are My Life". If you can put you'r hands on it, include "Shout".
Et voilà, a great album that makes you realise MJ still has it, but needs someone to say NO now and then.

(i could go into further detail, like the horrible endings of almost every song, but check it out yourself, and tell us what you think!)
[Edited 10/11/04 4:11am]

SpcMs said:

I love that track. His vocals are beautiful.

I like this track alot too, shoulda been a b side only though! Also sounds like an NSync sorta track!


Very simple, but nice! Pure cheese which is rare from jacko as ballad cheese is not his usual!

Cloudbuster said:

Oops, you are absolutely right, what was i thinking! I meant:
Erase "You Are My Life" (which is absolute tripe, no matter what you tell me), and if you are of the impatient kind possibly also "Don't Walk Away" although i like the vocals very much and it's a nice song (but still not very good in structure imnsho)

SpcMs said:

I like You Are My Life, too.

Good, but compared to "on the line" (soon to be on boxset...YES!!!), it is second rate!


U heard "on the line"? If not, u will on boxset.....like most modern babyface ballads, sounds all the same but "on the line" is tons better!

thesexofit said:

Yeah, it was part of the Ghosts box set. Nice tune but I actually prefer You Are My Life.

Cloudbuster said:

*bitchslap*

SpcMs said:

Again, please.

I did not know their was a box set of "ghosts"? What was on it?

I like all of it except 'Privacy' cause it's a tired subject and 'The Lost Children' purely cause it offends my earholes.

thesexofit said:

Ghosts video
On The Line cd single with remixes of Ghosts & Is It Scary
Blood On The Dance Floor cd album
Ghosts booklet

Cloudbuster said:

Got it!

Marrk said:

I had no idea.....I guess I didn't miss much then? "on the line" was in a Spike Lee movie I think, though not on the soundtrack damn it as I rmember looking 4 it years ago!!! I got it online!

GooeyTheHamster said:

Actually half of HIStory is written and produced by MJ the other half is cowritten and coproduced. with exception of you're not alone. and half of dangerous is mj tracks. in other half you can feel T. Riley's hard jack swing combined with MJ's melodical harmony production...so not really "Produced by the 'right producers' to try and fake your way into the public's eye"



Before Invincible, you need some HISTORY lesson
[Edited 10/11/04 7:47am]