waw2002 said:

Great stuff but mellow.
If he is going to self produce, fine, but hopefully something with more "jelly" as Mike would have said in the 80s, something to make you dance. "Stranger In Moscow" is one of my favorite songs by Michael to date, but dang that song is kinda depressing.

Ellie said:

That pics looks like it could've been taken in the Dangerous era. His skin looks dark. If Michael could still pull of this look in 2002, then WTF was he doing in pale-white make-up and house-wife wigs?

Btw, the Apollo concert wasn't shown on TV because of copyright laws. But it raised a fair bit of money for the democratic party. Anyway, none of the concert footage is allowed to be shown on TV. Which sucks because apparenly it was his best concert ever.

FuNkeNsteiN said:

Agreed.He seriously needs to steer clear of "trendy" producers,and stop trying to sound hip.He will be 50 years old in a few years.
[Edited 9/7/06 5:52am]

I don't know what it's like in America but as soon as MJ was vindicated on those child abuse charges all the British press were talking about the next day was whether Michael could stage a comeback.

The media and the general public will be fascinated by his next career move (if there is one). And he still has one of the largest and most loyal fanbases of any artist alive today.

My concern lies more with Michael and whether he really wants it. He's taking an awful long time. Does the man even care about making music these days? He doesn't act like he does. He talks about how he's constantly writing music but we never see anything.

And he sounded so bored on some of those uptempo jams on Invincible... the mid-tempos were pretty cool... Heaven Can Wait and Butterflies... but people love MJ for the songs that make us dance. And he ain't delivered anything that did that in a while.

SoulAlive said:

So, who should he choose? You are making it sound as if he has one foot in the grave. Like I said, he needs to keep his ear to the street, in regards to new music trends. He needs to stop listening to others and start listening to himself. To me the real question is this...As fans or former fans of his, "Do will believe that he can still bring it", not the other way around. We here in American have always had a hard time accepting MJ. This has gone on for the last 20 years. Then when he is accepted by another group of people, we say that he sold out. Truth is, he didn't.....We did. He was all ready convicted in the court of public opinion....Hell, there was more evidence that just here say, in the R.Kelly case, and the public seems to accept him more. If I were treated the way some of his fans treated him, I would have left too.

shorttrini said:

lol,if he "listened to himself",he would call up R.Kelly,50 Cent,The Neptunes and whomever else is "hot" at the moment,and make a glossy,predictable,over-produced R&B record that sounds like 'Invincible Part 2'.Surely you don't want that,do you?

He should take a more low-key approach.Work with Gorillaz (or whomever produced their most recent album).Their hit "Feels Good Inc" was the most refreshing single of 2005.Do a few funk/dance jams with Jamiroquai.Call up Quincy and do a few songs with him and Rod Temperton.Ask Remy Shand to contribute a few ballads.Stop working with the "obvious hitmakers",most of whom don't even know how to play an instrument.They only know how to program beats.


.
[Edited 9/7/06 6:37am]

I can't imagine Michael being into music at the moment. With all his legal troubles, custody battle and being a single parent to 3 kids, he's got his hands full. His creative energy may be zapped. Now he's got to pay for Debbie's fees. When and how is he gonna find time to create good music for yet another comeback? Please. Looking at his life and career now I wonder if spending time with those kids was really worth it?

I miss the Michael of 1991, 1992 and 1993 (Before first round of allegations)

Michael was so into his music. I loved it when he said he was married to his music on Oprah. You could tell, he really believed that.

I miss the Michael, who all he needed to be content was making his music.

Now a days, between the sleep overs, the legal shit, him wanting to be this lifelike Peter Pan, it has gotten like impossible for him to sit and just make music.

Ahhhhh!!!! Where are you Michael? Where are you???? Come back. Come back.

JasonStar said:

Sounds crazy hearing it like that...knowing that there would be more.

I miss Michael too but more circa 1979-1984.

On a warm afternoon, in Michael's secret hideout out of the country, after playing Dance Dance Revolution hours on end, and watching disney cartoons all day:

Michael: I need to speak to Paul Oakenfold.
Paul: Hey Mike. Whats up?
Michael: Paul Oakenfold?
Paul: Yes
Michael: I was wondering, would you fly to London, Bahrain, or wherever the hell I am these days and produce some tracks for my new album that I'll release in 5 years?
Paul: I'm on the next flight.

Ahhhh I can dream, can't I?
And seriously, if he did this, I would not mind waiting 5 years for it.
It would be worth the wait.
[Edited 9/7/06 7:45am]

The answer is obvious:

QUINCY!

Their collaboratin is waht made his solo work what it is: Off the Wall and Thriller.


Just get back with Q and some real musicians rather than drum machine programmers, and make some damn music!

JackieBlue said:

That's the Michael I miss too.

And as for Michael listening to himself, he once use to do that. The reason why he hook up with Quincy in the first place was because he didn't listen to other people's advise. For those of us who are old enough, Quincy wasn't your typical RnB/pop Producer, he was more Jazz than anything else.

i really don't want MJ back.


he's just too much of an idiot for me to even respect his music anymore.



I'd rather see Whitney return.

Whatever happened with his big Katrina charity single?
How many times was it announced that it was coming soon?
So where is it?

Rhondab said:

So you would rather respect a crack head than someone who has been accused of, I'll admit a serious crime, but the evidence against him is very shakey to say the least. Whitney Houston's demise was done with her own hands... Nobody put a gun to her head and forced her....Not even Bobby.

shorttrini said:

The same could be said for Wacko, don't you think? Besides, a lot of "scientific research" shows addiction is a disease. Not saying you have to believe it, but...

shorttrini said:

Being that I've worked with my share of "crack heads"...yes. There are plenty that I have much love for.

As Adisa has stated, MJ has created his own insanity and its not even drug induced. I wasn't even thinking about the child molestation but his wacked out life choices. Michael demise is just much as his own doing as Whitney is responsible for hers. I didn't give Whitney some pass on her behavior. I just said I'd rather see her back on top. Michael isn't better or worse than a "crack head".

I don't get the criticism of that.

I'm just uninterested in Mjs return as the so called King of anything....but sanity.

Rhondab said:

To me, there is more than meets the eye regarding MJ. Here was this little boy, who was born with a gift. He was thrust into the spotlight at an age where most kids are able to play with their friends and have a so-called "normal" life. Michael never had that. If anything, I look to his parents, especially his father for doing most of the damage. He has never had a sense of normalcy. He has never known what it is like to be in control. Hence, the title that he gave himself, "The King Of Pop". This is his way of getting some kind of control. Also, there must have been some kind of abuse going on in the Jackson, household...There had to have been. Lastly, I have not heard of anybody telling MJ or Whitney, NO!. One of the problems with stars who lives are in a tailspin is that people are afraid to tell them, NO! If someone had told Whitney, MJ and Maybe R.Kelly for that matter, there lives just might have turned out differently.

shorttrini said:

Man, Black fathers can't catch a break. If young Black people go to jail, drop out of school, or accept a life of inferiority its cause their daddies weren't around. If they become the biggest entertainers, golfers, or tennis stars on earth its bacause their fathers abused and took advantage of them.

I was confident Michael could make a comeback because my favorite song of his is "You Rock My World" from his latest album
UNTIL
I read he's planning on making his next album "hip-hop" and "street" and is hoping to do a duet with 50 Cent.

shockadelicaa said:

He isn't.
That was all BS. His people denied that story.
I think if I remember right they traced that story back to some guy on the internet or something like that.

There were rumours that he was recording in Switzerland but they turned out to be BS. He's apparently spent the last few months residing in Ireland. And everyone knows Ireland have great bakery's but no recording studios.
[Edited 9/8/06 1:37am]

shorttrini said:

its time to stop with the "abused childhood" excuse. There's a point in all of our lives that we have to take responsiblity for getting over our past. MJ is almost 50. I'm no longer going to keep blaming Katherine and Joseph for how they raised Michael.


And AMEN Adisa...lawd

Adisa said:

I agree to a certain extent, the fact that the whole 9 children are out of Gary and are still alive, inspite of Michael's crazy life proves Joe Jackson must have done something right. I am sure if they were all back in Gary half of them would probably be dead, either through drugs or some kind gang shoot outs.

Rhondab said:

So, what u are telling me is, that someone who has been abused should just "get over it"? Let me just say this, a victim of abuse, NEVER gets over it...I don't care how long ago it happened or how old the victim is now, that is something that will affect u for the rest of your life. It might get a little easier to deal with, if you have some positive people in your life,but when your head hits the pillow, it is just u and your thoughts. I do believe that Michael as well as some of the other children were victims of abuse. Everything that we learn as children, we learn from our parents. Even though we grown into our own opinions, the basic shape of how we think, we get from our parents. So, I put most of the blame on his parents for real "awesome" job that they did. I blame the people that are supposed to have his back, for not telling him, NO! I blame Michael himself for not standing up for himself a lot more than he has. Remember, "it takes a village to raise a child". Well, this child has been raised by a bunch of idiots.

shorttrini said:

One thing that has puzzles me about the J5 being signed to Motown, so young. It has been said that Berry Gordy didn't like to sign very young groups, infact he actually told the Supremes who first started to hang around Motown when they were around 14 and 15 to come back when they were older, so why not do the same for the J5.? I mean MJ was 10 when he sign and yet they still wanted him to appear younger. It's was almost like they wanted to make him a permanent infant.

Infact Suzanne DePasse, Berry Gordy righthand woman did say that when Michael started to get older they did think about using hormones to keep his voice high. The fact they were ready to go such lenghts to keep him like a child, was always going to affect him. So although I believe Michael is responsible for his own life choices, I do believe he has been carrying a lot of baggage from his childhood, which even Joe Jackson couldn't really control.

Rhondab said:

yep...he's a grown-assed man now, enough with the parental blame games.

as far as if michael can still bring it or not, i say no. the brotha dropped the ball a LONG time ago, far as i'm concerned.

DarlingDiana said:

As a fan of both MJ and Prince I need to ask this: WTF are you talking about??

1. Prince never had a devastating scandal that took the focus entirely off his art like MJ did.

2. Even in Prince's "underground/symbol years" he never stopped making music or touring.

3. Prince had one of the BIGGEST returns to the spotlight ever in 2004. He hit a peak of public popularity not seen for him since 1991. He continued it though this year when he released the #1 album that you feature as you avatar.

Again, I ask WTF are you talking about?
[Edited 9/8/06 12:00pm]

JasonStar said:

Hmm, I might have been confused. But I saw him in "Rolling Stone" doing some sort of 'gangsta' handshake with a young producer.

A trick of the Photoshopping?