Like a lot of people I have been on a MJ retrospective kick since the "Gloved One" departed from this mortal coil. Of course I've been listening to the classics but in the last few days I have rediscovered "Invincible". By rediscover, of course, I mean discover for the first time because I never really gave this one much of a chance back when it was released. Back in 01, it just seemed like Michael pandering to whatever sound he thought was in vogue at the beginning of the decade on some tracks plus a half dozen or so mid-tempo numbers that he had done better before. But there are some really nice cuts on this CD. "You Rock my World", the only hit single in the states, really does belong on that second or third tier of Michael classics, certainly as good as some of the catchier album tracks on "Dangerous" or "History". "Unbreakable" is a nice jam with a interlude from Biggie. "2000 Watts" might be one of the hardest songs that MJ ever put on wax. It's funky and aggressive and could have/should have been a hit. And "Don't Walk Away" is a really nice ballad with Mike in good voice. The album is still in the middle of the pack of the man's works but better with time. In the end, there is still too much of MJ trying to sound like others instead of himself but there is still enough originality there to show that MJ had a few more good albums in him.

GottaLetitgo said:

half of its good and half is crap.

i wish he had put some of the rejected tracks from the ultimate collection on instead, they were far superior!

time to lock it up

dirtyman2005 said:

Yep.

I've only discovered Whatever Happens since his passing. That should have been a hit. It's much better than Cry.

kenlacam said:

you know, just as too many threads can get out of hand, so can a militant singular thread rule.

it's silly that people can't be intelligent enough to manage the gray in between.

I've always liked Invincible from day one. It may not be mixed the way his 80's albums were, but it has a little something for everyone, and is musically diverse in a lot of ways, and appeals to the old and young.

it's ok, not bad but nothing special. i can only stand a handful of songs, others are over produced

i like

-butterflies
-heaven can wait
-the lost children
-you rock my word
-threatened
[Edited 11/6/09 18:12pm]

In my opinion, this cd was just as good as "Dangerous". It was two songs short of a great CD.

shorttrini said:

For me the problem with Dangerous, History and Invincible was that they all dragged their ass. If he had kept with 9 to 11 killer tracks as per OTW, Thriller, and Bad they would have all been pretty kick ass.

Should have put this in the "Everything MJ" thread.

I hang my head in shame...

mynameisnotsusan said:

This is very true...The "b" sides from those albums, are better than the one's that were chosen.

not bad at all. I actually put the CD on today for the first time in god knows how long, while I was doing some housecleaning and found myself singing along to most everything. it's not his classic work but meh
[Edited 11/6/09 19:22pm]

There's nothing wrong with an artist just releasing a "good" album. I'd say for a man in the business for over 30 years and over 40 years old at the time, Invincible was pretty damn solind.

I dind't mind the lengths of Dangerous or HIStory at all. In fact, I find Dangerous pretty epic, and I can listen to every track on the album. The sappy songs are not overly sappy, the edgy cuts are killer, the background vocals and ad-libs on all the uptempo tracks are absolutely insane (in a good way)...

But as for Invincible, it was just a good album by a great artist. As an album, it wasn't very innovative, but the sounds on it were.. some of the stuff MJ tried. If you listen closely to the instrumentation, you can hear how intricate they are and how some of the sounds are what MJ liked to talk about as far as putting sounds under a microscope and manipulating them.

When an album like Invincible is someone's weakest effort, I think that speaks more about how talented someone is than how bad their album is.
[Edited 11/6/09 19:46pm]

Please use the Discuss Everything MJ sticky thread part 4