Mangerous

Overall Album Score: 8.1 out of 10

It took him yet ANOTHER five years (well, four, but who's counting...). The wait was worth it, anyway. The 80s are behind him, and Jackson does what you'd expect him to do: write 90s music. Fortunately, he was very much able to write pop music for the 90s about as well as he did pop music for the 80s (...which I most adamantly prefer pop 80s music, but ... that's another rant ...)

The age of the CD was upon us, which largely accounts for why this frikin album is so long! ... (HEY! JUST BECAUSE YOU HAVE ALL THIS SPACE DOESN'T MEAN YOU HAVE TO FILL IT!) ... But, eh, that pretty much happened to the best of 'em, I guess. Madonna did it (blech!), Peter Gabriel did it, Duran Duran did it ... a lot of people did it. So why not allow El Jacko the luxury? ... He's decent at it, anyway.

The songwriting is just as solid as it was on Bad. ... Well, except for two songs that appear at the end of the album, which sound like filler to me. And a handful of these should have been sliced by a few minutes, but ... he wanted to fill this up! I wanted to fill up my bra, too...

The album contains "Black or White," which to me is clearly the best song in here. It also famously has "Will You Be There," which I heard a lot from back in the day. (Yeah ... I was conscious of Michael Jackson back in 1991 ... I remember it well.)

And ... uhhhh ... He may be strange, but he's freaking awesome. I mean, if you can get by the embarrassing 90s pop production values, this album is kinda awesome. ... And it's not like it's that hard getting past it.

Overall Album Score: 8.1 out of 10 (An imperfect, but overall quite decent product for the 90s. ... I rarely run into anything better as far as 90s pop goes.)

Average Song Score: 8.4 (Good songs! He could have made a better album of more-than-adequate length if he were to cut some of them, but ... good songs! Jackson is still on top of things, even though it doesn't quite contain the hit parade of Thriller.)

Album Tilt: 8.0 (Some of the songs overstays its welcome. A few of the songs seem filler-y.)

Artist Rating: 8.0 (He might not be a John Lennon, but at least he's making these pop songs from the heart as opposed to, ohhhhhhh, say Madonna. For all his faults, Michael Jackson is the Pope compared to her.)

Track Reviews

Jam 8/10

It takes a bit too long for me to get into this song ... It's almost fortunate that this song is more than five minutes long! ... I really don't care for all those power-brass things that were ever-so-popular in the mid-90s. It's not a horrible groove, but ... this seems a bit overblown to me. Jackson's trying to hard to ... do something ... I can't even tell what he's trying to do with this song! ... The rapping part isn't bad. I'm not much for rap, but it sounds fine here.

Why You Wanna Trip On Me 9.5/10

...Jackson gives another utterly intense vocal performance. Here, it at least seems to work better. No! In fact, the vocal performance works exceedingly well! The groove, done totally 90s style, is as good or better as I'd ever expect any other pop star to ever be able to do it. ... The song is a bit too long, but that's a problem universal of this album! A very good song, I say. No wonder the guy has so many fans.

In the Closet 8.5/10

...Before coming ... out of the closet? ... I dunno! Well, this is certainly an interesting song. ... Again, I'm not sure what Jackson was trying to do! This doesn't really seem to go in much of a direction! It's listenable and danceable, of course. That's all that counts in the end. It's also too long ... but that's really not so bad considering these are Jacko grooves.

She Drives Me Wild 9.5/10

Wow! This song is less than four minutes long! ... And it's another exceedingly good pop groove. The vocal melodies are nice ... and I even enjoy the rap part! AND I HATE RAP!!!! I HATE IT!!!!!! ... No wonder the guy has so many fans.

Remember the Time 9.5/10

I really want to give in and award the full 10, but I won't!! But this is very close, indeed. Maybe this is a 9.74333333333. ... This Jacko guy is really TOPS with the grooves. He might be undergoing several forms of dementia, but he's really brilliant where it counts. (Mind you, he's not really an "artist," but he's all we ever needed and more than I personally would have expected of a pop star.)

Can't Let Her Get Away 8/10

The groove might just be a bit too overblown this time ... and I don't actively enjoy the melody. ... But this is still fun to listen to. And this doesn't exactly come as a let down, either. I'm pretty much still hypnotized. ... Good pop.

Heal the World 9/10

...Um... a kid talks at the beginning of this. ... ooo ... And then Michael Jackson starts signing this really sappy adult contemporary song! And what do you know? It's not that bad! The melody is pretty nice. The production was done well. The part where the kid talks at the beginning isn't overly cutesy (but it ... um ... never mind). This is not bad at all! ... So Michael Jackson pulled it off. He made a good adult contemporary sapfest.

Black or White 10/10

...the question indeed. (That wasn't a joke by the way.) ((But he's opening himself UP!!! AND THE CHILDREN VOICES ON THE PREVIOUS TRACK!!! AND THERE'S MORE ON THIS ... AAAAAAAGGGHHH!!! I've been good so far! I kept all Michael Jackson jokes at an absolute minimum until now! ... I'm much better off making fun of people who need a little more of it in the world, i.e. Madonna, the beast.)) This song starts out with an interesting little fight between a kid and his father over playing music. And then this song pipes up! Probably the most famous song on here (and that's not because of the title ... that's because it's a great song)! The melody is by far the catchiest song, the riff is good. I like it!

Who Is It 8.5/10

What's the deal with the children's choir at the beginning of this? (Oh ... I'm not going to make any Michael Jackson jokes.) This is another pretty good song with a delicious 90s pop groove and ... even a lot of feeling in it. This seems to get more dramatic as it goes along! Wooot! ... and then it gets less dramatic ... Jacko really should have cut this song by three minutes or more! ... That especially would have been beneficial here.

Give In to Me 7.5/10

Hah!! The first song that I don't give a CRAP about! And it's a ROCK song! It doesn't make a boring listen or anything, but the melody isn't very catchy. The groove isn't hypnotizing. ... It does have an electric guitar solo in it, though ... that's gotta be worth something.

Will You Be There 8.5/10

Huh?? How did this freaking choral crap get on here? OH MAN!!! I must be listening to one of them dog-gurned Chinese pirates again, and they screwed up and put some freaking Mozart on here or something. CRAP! I'm going to get those Chinese if it's the last thing I do! ... Oh wait. After two minutes of this classical choir music, a real song pipes up. And ... this is another pretty famous one, I think. I was 10 when this album came out, so ... there's a good chance I heard this one in the day. I really like the overall theme of it (which, in contrast to the beginning two minutes of this song, is African-choir stuff). Now, this central theme is milked for more than it was worth, but ... it was a pretty nice ride for awhile. ... The end of this song, on the other hand, PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER! YOU MIGHT TALK FUNNY, BUT THAT'S NO REASON TO BE A WUSS! (............ That was another Michael Jackson joke, wasn't it? ... I didn't mean it.)

Keep the Faith 6.5/10

Smells of filler to me! ... There's really nothing in this song. The melody is horrible. There isn't anything to groove with. Um. Forget this!

Gone Too Soon 6/10

Hey! I gave Michael Jackson plenty of credit on his other two sappy adult contemporary pieces of doodie on here. "Heal the World" and "Will You Be There" are both sweet in my book. This is an exceedingly boring, toneless and hookless NOTHINGGGG. It's only three-and-a-half minutes long, though. It doesn't exactly offend my ears. ... It's just not good.

Dangerous 8/10

Again, it's waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too long (nearly seven minutes!), but I do like the groove (even if I think it's a bit overblown here). The melody is pretty catchy, too, but not incredibly catchy or anything. This probably would have been an 8 with or without the long running length. Shows how forgiving I am, I guess. *polishes halo*

Send me comments here, Ooooo!

geosochi@yahoo.com (George) received July 15, 2005

I'm glad to see you gave a generous rating to this album... it's fashionable among critics to really pan this effort, and I think it's unfair.... most of the tracks are excellent.... Actually, I didn't like "Give In to Me" for a long time either, until recently, I now think it's one of the hardest-hitting tracks on the album, Slash's guitar adding a dose of suspension to it very effectively.

I think this record is about on par with "Bad", and only slightly inferior to "Off the Wall" and "Thriller"... which IMO still means it's one of the better pop albums of the past 25 years!

What a shame such an incredibly talented pop artist has sunken such lows in the recent years..... how about, GET BACK TO MAKING MUSIC, MJ!!!

mark@markmark.com (mark) received July 16, 2005

your reviews are ugly and stupid.

Don Ignacio responds: Thanks ... mark