I mean, the a-side is probably the best string of songs ever on any album. Really great songs.
But then the second side begins with Girlfriend, She's Out, I Can't help It..
It's The Falling In Love is not slow of course, but it's more romantic than Off The Wall.
Okay, the very last song is fast again, but it always seemed to me it was meant that way. Am I wrong?

Not really wrong, was something like this unheard of in those times?

Side B begins with the title track,which is excellent

but then the album slows down with some slower,midtempo numbers.Quincy was trying to balance the album so that it was more than just a dancefloor record.So yeah,I think it was intentional.

SoulAlive said:

I found that a lot of artists in the 90's continued to do that but it didn't work to their advantage. You know how many times I bought an r&b album with a fast dance number and most of the record turned out to be ballads afterwards? Mariah Carey, Deborah Cox, New Edition, Mary J. Blige are all good examples.

alphastreet said:

I know what you mean.That's why I rarely buy modern-day R&B albums These people do one or two uptempo tracks,then pile on all these ballads and midtempo songs.I grew up in the days of funk and disco! Give me the uptempo stuff!

SoulAlive said:

I would rather have mostly fun, fast, dancy stuff too. I think that's why I love records like Rhythm Nation so much, that's just an example.

This is one of the reasons why "Off The Wall", is MJ's best album. The songs on that album have aged more gracefully that those that were on "Thriller". I play "Off The Wall", a least once a week. I cannot remember the last time I spun, "Thriller".

shorttrini said:

although OTW has classics, it's also sorta disco-ish, though it sounds timeless at the same time

alphastreet said:

It does have a disco sound, but it is still soulfull. Tracks like, "Get On The Floor" and "Workin' Day and Night, have that, in your face funk, that is just nuts.

The B side of OTW is magical to me.

"I Can't Help It" sounds magical @ 5 in the morning.

Mara said:

so does mary j.blige all that I can say which sampled/borrowed from it, as well as another track on the mary album.

It is beautiful for sure

You can be assured that ANY album sequence is intentional.



I think Off The Wall is a great example of a balanced album. I would have been burned out with a bunch more uptempo songs on side B.

The way it exists, once side B is over, I'm ready for side A again.

and Quincy and/or Michael was a genius who probably realized the same thing and intentionally made the album like this....much like beyonce trying with her whole disc 1-ballads and disc 2-fast uptempos thing and naming each one :p

alphastreet said:

Not at all, it was quite common around then for some artists to subdivide their track-tempos.
A few acts even titled their album-sides differently like "fast side/slow side" "dance side/romantic side" , etc ...

alphastreet said:

Beyonce naming each disk something different,was more for publicity. Michael deciding the moods of side A and B, was just logical thinking between him and Q.They figured that after an 30 minutes of partying, you need to cool down and relax.

shorttrini said:

I know it was for publicity, thanks

shorttrini said:

that's part of it's genius. be it MJ's or S's. i don't really care. Off The Wall is my favourite album of all time. and the tempo of the whole album is one of the reasons, i feel.