angel345 said:

suga10 said:

[Edited 9/5/10 16:12pm]

I've been hearing about these rumors, since he died. If he's alive, then it would be the biggest practical joke of the century.

I would not be surprised if he was alive, considering Michael was probably trying to get out of this 50 concert series in London. He might have had no way out excepting resorting to these measures.

I mean come on, dude just dies right after the last day of rehearsal- its ridiculous. He could have just about died any other day during the rehearsal schedule, while Murray was around.

Murray is not even arrested at all right now. We're talking about the same doctor that is living in the same neighborhood right now in Las Vegas as Elvis's doctor, Dr. Nick Is this really a coincidence folks???

Oh yeah, and Michael lived right across Elvis's first home which is on Carolwood Drive.

[Edited 9/5/10 17:17pm]

bboy87 said:

Timmy84 said:

Oh I know how hard it is, I can spin but not like this. And believe me, brother, I'VE TRIED FOR YEARS!

I can get 5, but I can't get to 7

It's like "wow, how do I get it like that?" I doubt anyone can though. Doesn't hurt to try lmao

Reposting

[img:$uid]http://30.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l8amyhxRmv1qbw910o1_500.jpg[/img:$uid]

bboy87 said:

Timmy84 said:

Oh I know how hard it is, I can spin but not like this. And believe me, brother, I'VE TRIED FOR YEARS!

I can get 5, but I can't get to 7

he did a crazy spin during the performance of man in the mirror ,the bucharest concert i think, the craziest spin ever.....

I'd like to take some time out and thank ALL the posters in this sticky!

You all have alot of great finds,and I really appreciate them!

Sometimes I take things I found in these stickies and share them in other Forums!

So thank you all!

"Its all for L.O.V.E"

seeingvoices12 said:

bboy87 said:

I can get 5, but I can't get to 7

he did a crazy spin during the performance of man in the mirror ,the bucharest concert i think, the craziest spin ever.....

right? I looooove that one, the secret was to do a shuffle before it to build it up. I incorporated that into my dancing before doing a spin as well to get a high number of them

seeingvoices12 said:

bboy87 said:

I can get 5, but I can't get to 7

he did a crazy spin during the performance of man in the mirror ,the bucharest concert i think, the craziest spin ever.....

MAN! He spun like a fucking windmill!!!

[Edited 9/5/10 17:30pm]

ali23 said:

Stop pissin off the Mj Impersonators!

http://bossip.com/282733/...janky6969/

what an asshole. (not the impersonator)

Timmy84 said:

seeingvoices12 said:

he did a crazy spin during the performance of man in the mirror ,the bucharest concert i think, the craziest spin ever.....

MAN! He spun like a fucking windmill!!!

[Edited 9/5/10 17:30pm]

found it.. timmy:lol:

Jay(or anybody else)..

Do you know ANY interesting podcasts about MJ's music? Sort of like the equavilant to the Peach & Black series?

Afronerd did a couple of episodes about him(the tribute was really interesting, and the other was the usual "Prince Vs MJ" charade and him being a Prince stan, you know what the verdict was ).

Anyway, let me know.

I wonder if any of the conspiracy fans out there ever stop for a moment and look at what they are doing to Michael's legacy, and his children.

They're accusations, incriminations, fabrications and hallucinations are doing the very same thing that the tabloid media Michael so very hated did. In a sad way some fans have become Michael's worst enemy.

Let the man Rest In Peace.

And now onto the music...

Time to get back to discussing the reason we are all here - the music. So this week we look at:

Invincible

With a 5 year gap between HiStory and Invincible there was an air of intrigue surrounding the new album. How would it sound? Would there be surprises? Press at the time talked about how much was being spent on the albums production, and interviews suggested a lot more exploration of sounds and rhythm than eventuated on the release. We were told this was MJ going back to his Off The Wall days both in terms of melody and intent. So with Invincible’s release the expectation was high – was Michael going to be able to hold his own in a world of new pop stars, or would his releases start to be relegated to that of an “oldies” act.

Kicking the album off with Unbreakable, the groove stutters and struts along with sounds and structures that matched the current crop of hit makers. Michael’s voice is in fine form, especially in the falsetto lead in to the chorus. Here also for the first time was an exploration of digital cutting of effects on the vocals in smatterings here and there. Though at 6 minutes, the song seems to go along the same trajectory and doesn’t really offer anything new for the listener. Lyrically it feels as though Michael was trying overly hard to prove his worth – something he no longer needed to do.

Heartbreaker at least offered a bit of excitement. The manipulation of the beat has a sense of energy to it that is infectious. If you just listen to the beat, there are little surprises laid all through it, one moment MJ is beat boxing, the next snare drums are being sliced and diced, the next filters are being used to twist and turn it. Maybe a bit of a nod to the grooves Jam and Lewis would lay out for Janet, Heartbreaker really comes into it’s own with the choruses and sublime bridge where Michael’s backing vocals float and weave with ease. Hard hitting, jiggered and abrupt, this was one of the highpoints for the album in terms of the dance-oriented tracks.

Sadly Invincible comes off sounding like more of the same, and almost a brother track to Unbreakable, though with more melodic hooks. Maybe it’s the overly electronic instrumentation on the track, or the sparseness in the arrangement but it ends up being a dance song by the numbers and perhaps suffers from playing too much to the current pop playbook than pushing new territory.

Whilst the album would be criticised for having too many slo-jams on it (especially in the way it was sequenced) it’s often these songs that provide the high points on Invincible. Break of Dawn is a prime example of this. With Michael in more of a laid back mood the song floats out of the speakers and easily seduces the listener. A perfect balance of lead and backing vocals, there’s a depth here to Michael’s vocals that were lacking in the lead up tracks. The musical arrangement also feels more organic and natural. It just goes to show that when Michael wants to get his groove on and drift more into a soul territory few can come close.

Heaven Can Wait is classic r’n’b and Michael delivers like only MJ can. Lush production doesn’t swamp the song but allows Michael’s vocals to come to the fore and be carried by the track. Immediately catchy, the chorus now holds a bittersweet lyric that in today’s world features greater tragedy. One of the stand out tracks it’s no wonder Teddy Riley has plans of re-recording the track for Backstreet.

With it’s one moment comical the next annoying intro with Chris Tucker, You Rock My World see’s Michael hit with a modern MJ classic. Annoyed that Michael fell into the “darkchild” callout at the start of the song, this soon passes as the song’s groove and melody kick in. Sadly what could have been even more blissful arrangement with the use of real strings (and a nice nod back to Don’t Stop) the song relies a little too heavily on synths as its base. But there is no denying that out of all the dance tracks on here, this is the one that has you wanting to the get up the most. Although it doesn’t really offer anything new to his catalogue of hits, it does have a sense of joy in the vocals that are hard to resist.

Taking on Neo-Soul with Butterflies, Michael makes this song soar. With a groove that strolls, the musical arrangement feels more authentic, with horns and percussion punctuating the chorus. Michael’s vocals are amongst some of his best work, especially in the second verse when he goes into the falsetto that has been missing from a lot of his work. Rich and luscious backing vocals keep the choruses warm and just surround the listener. When you compare Michael’s final version with the Floetry demo you see how Michael matches note for note the little runs and adlibs to perfection yet still puts his own little stamp on it.

Sadly post Butterflies is where the album loses its focus and direction.

Speechless, with its pure a Capella intro is captivating to begin with then falls into an overblown Disney-esque arrangement that seems to rob the song of the very heart it longs to convey. If it had kept just to a short a Capella song it would have been more captivating – take the first 30 seconds and last 30 seconds, and you have something truly special.

2,000 Watts ends up sounding like a generic cast off from Dangerous era recordings and too gimmicky to be taken seriously with lines such as “you may now apply your 3D glasses”. The mis-step here though is that this song replaced Shout – which was at least more inventive.

You Are My Life is ironically lifeless. With the classic hallmarks of a Babyface song it feels like it is 5 years late in it’s delivery and ends up sounding dated and redundant.

Continuing the media victim theme, Jackson presents Privacy and although edgier than songs such as Tabloid Junkie again it feels like Michael is treading old ground here.

Don’t Walk Away was one of the slow growers of the album. Reminiscent of a Janet ballad (Someday is Tonight springs to mind) Michael shows that he can still sing the heart of out a ballad and give it depth.

One of the increasing problems with Michael’s albums was there was a sense that he was trying to repeat previous success, and Cry is this album’s attempt to reimagine Man In The Mirror. Sadly it doesn’t come close and whilst not a bad song at all, it does make you think too much of MITM and therefore suffers in the comparison.

With his heart on his sleeve, and maybe still trying to sway public opinion, The Lost Children feels even more out of place here than some of the other mis-steps. Again it feels like Michael we have already heard in Heal The World and suffers from the same sappy production.

Thankfully when you are feeling less and less enthused with the album, Whatever Happens comes on. With a duet between vocals and Santana guitar, it is one of the freshest tracks on the album. Sure its in blueprint of “get a great guitarist on the track”, but instead of trying to repeat Beat It, Michael explores new territory with this Latin fused track and comes out the winner.

Sadly, the freshness of Whatever Happens doesn’t carry across into Threatened – Michael’s latest take on a Thriller style song. Although not the wisest choice lyrically as Michael paints himself as a threatening beast who preys on sleeping victims, the groove of Threatened is what makes it captivating, and since getting a live airing in This Is It, the song has become more appealing, but part of me wishes the groove had different lyrics, but as it is it feels like Michael is treating old ground.

As his last studio album, Invincible ends up suffering from the weight of it’s own ambition. Overly long, this mixed bag of tricks really fails to continue with the momentum that the first half of the album was building. If it was trimmed down to 9 or 10 songs, then I think the feeling the album leaves you with would be different, and maybe would have been the “come back” album many critics claimed it wasn’t. Sadly this is the last studio album Michael left us, and you can’t help but think if he knew that, this wouldn’t be the note he would have wanted to leave on.

Swa

<----

seeingvoices12 said:

Timmy84 said:

MAN! He spun like a fucking windmill!!!

[Edited 9/5/10 17:30pm]

found it.. timmy:lol:

The best...

ali23 said:

Michael interviews Pharrell

[Link]http://theneptunes.org/th...view-2003/[/link]

My computer doesnt like this sticky,after it reaches the 8th page it becomes impossible for me to post here!

So while I have the chance,im postin all I can!

You mean when you reply to the thread, it takes too long for the page to load due to the pics, videos, etc.? All you have to do is adjust your account settings and uncheck the box where it says "display entire thread below when replying to a post" or something like that. The page loads faster and you can post/reply all you want!

seeingvoices12 said:

Timmy84 said:

MAN! He spun like a fucking windmill!!!

[Edited 9/5/10 17:30pm]

found it.. timmy:lol:

This spin always got to me as well.

**SPUN**

Swa said:

I wonder if any of the conspiracy fans out there ever stop for a moment and look at what they are doing to Michael's legacy, and his children.

They're accusations, incriminations, fabrications and hallucinations are doing the very same thing that the tabloid media Michael so very hated did. In a sad way some fans have become Michael's worst enemy.

Let the man Rest In Peace.

And now onto the music...

Wasn't Michael the one who told the world not to trust everything the media says, so how would 1% of the population being doing him injustice whatsoever.

There's a reason why clues are being leaked out. Even the FBI posted this on the same day of Michael's funeral anniversary! Why this day of all days in the year???

http://www.fbi.gov/page2/september10/fraud_090310.html

And I think 99% of the population believes Michael is dead and they believe the bullshit the media has been feeding us this past year :rolleyes: People really need to open their eyes up.

Anyways, you will be regretting your words big time!

And I'm not being delusional. You may think I'm nuts and you can say whatever the hell you want, cause I really don't give a flying f*** if you call me conspiracy theorist, nuts, delusional, or whatever. I know I'm right, and you guys are wrong. I can say that with 100% confidence.

Anyways I'm done with this particular discussion over this subject.

[Edited 9/5/10 18:27pm]

bboy87 said:

http://twitter.com/TeddyRiley1

My first day Wednesday on the MJ project. I couldn't hold back the tears. I also couldn't hold back on what would make him proud of me.
10:30 PM Sep 3rd via HTC Peep

This is my second day and I'm gonna do a hard uptempo to keep my spirits up.
10:31 PM Sep 3rd via HTC Peep

I'm gonna make my visit to MJ next week I need to feel his presents while I'm doing this. Inspiration!!
10:34 PM Sep 3rd via HTC Peep

Then he tweeted this -

@munchkette1 THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONCERN...THE TRUTH WILL COME TO LIGHT. ITS MUCH BIGGER THAN ALL INVOLVE, MICHAEL IS BIGGER THAN ALL INVOLVE
about 16 hours ago via web in reply to munchkette1

Hmmm... I hope they ain't pulling a Tupac

seeingvoices12 said:

Timmy84 said:

MAN! He spun like a fucking windmill!!!

[Edited 9/5/10 17:30pm]

found it.. timmy:lol:

WildStyle said:

bboy87 said:

http://twitter.com/TeddyRiley1

My first day Wednesday on the MJ project. I couldn't hold back the tears. I also couldn't hold back on what would make him proud of me.
10:30 PM Sep 3rd via HTC Peep

This is my second day and I'm gonna do a hard uptempo to keep my spirits up.
10:31 PM Sep 3rd via HTC Peep

I'm gonna make my visit to MJ next week I need to feel his presents while I'm doing this. Inspiration!!
10:34 PM Sep 3rd via HTC Peep

Then he tweeted this -

@munchkette1 THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONCERN...THE TRUTH WILL COME TO LIGHT. ITS MUCH BIGGER THAN ALL INVOLVE, MICHAEL IS BIGGER THAN ALL INVOLVE
about 16 hours ago via web in reply to munchkette1

Hmmm... I hope they ain't pulling a Tupac

Oh dude don't TELL me you're surprised motherfuckers wanna believe there are sightings. They are ridiculous.

[Edited 9/5/10 18:29pm]

[Edited 9/6/10 10:01am]

Swa said:

Time to get back to discussing the reason we are all here - the music. So this week we look at:

Invincible

With a 5 year gap between HiStory and Invincible there was an air of intrigue surrounding the new album. How would it sound? Would there be surprises? Press at the time talked about how much was being spent on the albums production, and interviews suggested a lot more exploration of sounds and rhythm than eventuated on the release. We were told this was MJ going back to his Off The Wall days both in terms of melody and intent. So with Invincible’s release the expectation was high – was Michael going to be able to hold his own in a world of new pop stars, or would his releases start to be relegated to that of an “oldies” act.

Kicking the album off with Unbreakable, the groove stutters and struts along with sounds and structures that matched the current crop of hit makers. Michael’s voice is in fine form, especially in the falsetto lead in to the chorus. Here also for the first time was an exploration of digital cutting of effects on the vocals in smatterings here and there. Though at 6 minutes, the song seems to go along the same trajectory and doesn’t really offer anything new for the listener. Lyrically it feels as though Michael was trying overly hard to prove his worth – something he no longer needed to do.

Heartbreaker at least offered a bit of excitement. The manipulation of the beat has a sense of energy to it that is infectious. If you just listen to the beat, there are little surprises laid all through it, one moment MJ is beat boxing, the next snare drums are being sliced and diced, the next filters are being used to twist and turn it. Maybe a bit of a nod to the grooves Jam and Lewis would lay out for Janet, Heartbreaker really comes into it’s own with the choruses and sublime bridge where Michael’s backing vocals float and weave with ease. Hard hitting, jiggered and abrupt, this was one of the highpoints for the album in terms of the dance-oriented tracks.

Sadly Invincible comes off sounding like more of the same, and almost a brother track to Unbreakable, though with more melodic hooks. Maybe it’s the overly electronic instrumentation on the track, or the sparseness in the arrangement but it ends up being a dance song by the numbers and perhaps suffers from playing too much to the current pop playbook than pushing new territory.

Whilst the album would be criticised for having too many slo-jams on it (especially in the way it was sequenced) it’s often these songs that provide the high points on Invincible. Break of Dawn is a prime example of this. With Michael in more of a laid back mood the song floats out of the speakers and easily seduces the listener. A perfect balance of lead and backing vocals, there’s a depth here to Michael’s vocals that were lacking in the lead up tracks. The musical arrangement also feels more organic and natural. It just goes to show that when Michael wants to get his groove on and drift more into a soul territory few can come close.

Heaven Can Wait is classic r’n’b and Michael delivers like only MJ can. Lush production doesn’t swamp the song but allows Michael’s vocals to come to the fore and be carried by the track. Immediately catchy, the chorus now holds a bittersweet lyric that in today’s world features greater tragedy. One of the stand out tracks it’s no wonder Teddy Riley has plans of re-recording the track for Backstreet.

With it’s one moment comical the next annoying intro with Chris Tucker, You Rock My World see’s Michael hit with a modern MJ classic. Annoyed that Michael fell into the “darkchild” callout at the start of the song, this soon passes as the song’s groove and melody kick in. Sadly what could have been even more blissful arrangement with the use of real strings (and a nice nod back to Don’t Stop) the song relies a little too heavily on synths as its base. But there is no denying that out of all the dance tracks on here, this is the one that has you wanting to the get up the most. Although it doesn’t really offer anything new to his catalogue of hits, it does have a sense of joy in the vocals that are hard to resist.

Taking on Neo-Soul with Butterflies, Michael makes this song soar. With a groove that strolls, the musical arrangement feels more authentic, with horns and percussion punctuating the chorus. Michael’s vocals are amongst some of his best work, especially in the second verse when he goes into the falsetto that has been missing from a lot of his work. Rich and luscious backing vocals keep the choruses warm and just surround the listener. When you compare Michael’s final version with the Floetry demo you see how Michael matches note for note the little runs and adlibs to perfection yet still puts his own little stamp on it.

Sadly post Butterflies is where the album loses its focus and direction.

Speechless, with its pure a Capella intro is captivating to begin with then falls into an overblown Disney-esque arrangement that seems to rob the song of the very heart it longs to convey. If it had kept just to a short a Capella song it would have been more captivating – take the first 30 seconds and last 30 seconds, and you have something truly special.

2,000 Watts ends up sounding like a generic cast off from Dangerous era recordings and too gimmicky to be taken seriously with lines such as “you may now apply your 3D glasses”. The mis-step here though is that this song replaced Shout – which was at least more inventive.

You Are My Life is ironically lifeless. With the classic hallmarks of a Babyface song it feels like it is 5 years late in it’s delivery and ends up sounding dated and redundant.

Continuing the media victim theme, Jackson presents Privacy and although edgier than songs such as Tabloid Junkie again it feels like Michael is treading old ground here.

Don’t Walk Away was one of the slow growers of the album. Reminiscent of a Janet ballad (Someday is Tonight springs to mind) Michael shows that he can still sing the heart of out a ballad and give it depth.

One of the increasing problems with Michael’s albums was there was a sense that he was trying to repeat previous success, and Cry is this album’s attempt to reimagine Man In The Mirror. Sadly it doesn’t come close and whilst not a bad song at all, it does make you think too much of MITM and therefore suffers in the comparison.

With his heart on his sleeve, and maybe still trying to sway public opinion, The Lost Children feels even more out of place here than some of the other mis-steps. Again it feels like Michael we have already heard in Heal The World and suffers from the same sappy production.

Thankfully when you are feeling less and less enthused with the album, Whatever Happens comes on. With a duet between vocals and Santana guitar, it is one of the freshest tracks on the album. Sure its in blueprint of “get a great guitarist on the track”, but instead of trying to repeat Beat It, Michael explores new territory with this Latin fused track and comes out the winner.

Sadly, the freshness of Whatever Happens doesn’t carry across into Threatened – Michael’s latest take on a Thriller style song. Although not the wisest choice lyrically as Michael paints himself as a threatening beast who preys on sleeping victims, the groove of Threatened is what makes it captivating, and since getting a live airing in This Is It, the song has become more appealing, but part of me wishes the groove had different lyrics, but as it is it feels like Michael is treating old ground.

As his last studio album, Invincible ends up suffering from the weight of it’s own ambition. Overly long, this mixed bag of tricks really fails to continue with the momentum that the first half of the album was building. If it was trimmed down to 9 or 10 songs, then I think the feeling the album leaves you with would be different, and maybe would have been the “come back” album many critics claimed it wasn’t. Sadly this is the last studio album Michael left us, and you can’t help but think if he knew that, this wouldn’t be the note he would have wanted to leave on.

Swa

To me the highest points of Invincible was Michael's voice (it was totally on point throughout that album) and the ballads, least the one that aimed at an adult R&B vibe ("Heaven Can Wait", "Break of Dawn", "Butterflies", etc.).

[img:$uid]http://ipowerrichmond.com/files/2010/06/TheFuture.jpg[/img:$uid]

Regarding Invincible...

I was really looking forward to this album and was sort of getting sick of the whole teengage pop craze at the time. I was really hoping Michael's return would be a whole "show them who's boss" situation. I was initially disappointed because he seemed to have gone along with the over-synthetic styles of pop music and it just wasn't as pleasant to listen to in totality. After History, I had faith that Michael would explore more depths of his artistry - be it dark, haunting, happy, etc. I just wanted to see another layer of who he was and what he was up to during his hiatus. I think I ultimately enjoyed and appreciated the album now, in retrospect, rather than at the time of its release and in the context of where the music industry was.

Yes, Hearbreaker has its moment with the chorus, but it's only a part of the song that I enjoy - everything else is too chaotic. Same with Threatened, Invincible, Unbreakable (although, I like the bass here better than the others)

You Rock My World, while still an enjoyable song, seemed to fit the R&B period of the late 90s rather than 2001.

A song's quality is measured in its totality, and therefore, Break of Dawn, Butterflies, Whatever Happens, Heaven Can Wait, Don't Walk Away delivers in full package.

And while the musical quality of Lost Children, Speechless and You Are My Life is there, it's too Disney for my taste.

2000 Watts, while I appreciate Michael giving us a glimpse of another layer of his vocals, this should've been replaced by Shout.

In summary, Rodney Jerkins was an epic fail, in my eyes, for this album. The album was all over the place and I'd rather Michael release a 21st century version of Off the Wall or have another consistent theme with the album. However, I will say, I really think this album showed the maturity of Michael's vocals. I think out of all his albums, I really liked his vocals on this album.

[Edited 9/5/10 18:51pm]

This information is from the website below:

http://hubpages.com/hub/mijacnewalbum

[Edited 9/5/10 20:05pm]

Timmy84 said:

[img:$uid]http://michaeljacksonanimatedgifs.com/images/portfolio/motown6.gif[/img:$uid]

How do you spin like that, not get dizzy and then puke all over yourself?

Oops,,sorry.

[Edited 9/5/10 20:03pm]