Michael Jackson
Blood On The Dance Floor (HIStory in the Mix)

THE REVIEW

Honestly, after the commotion I caused with the review of History, I wanted to review an album by another artist, but after reading Totisque's review on the album "Blood on the Dance Floor," I couldn't just sit idly by. I immensely respect other people's tastes, but I think it's a bit too bold to call Michael Jackson's music "a mix of horrendous techno-pop-dance"! So I will also dedicate my review to this album... sure, I'm not here to give a high score to the work, as I already mentioned in the 'History' comments, I'm not someone who tears their hair out for Jackson, defending him in any situation, but I love music and art, and in this case, even if to a lesser extent than in the past, we are still talking about art.

In 1997, Michael Jackson released this remix album to support and promote his highly successful "History World Tour" around the world, where Jackson collected a series of enviable records, even surpassing his previous tours, which showed that the "MJ" brand, despite the naysayers, was still the top representative of global pop. The album in question was therefore a pretext to facilitate the enormous marketing maneuver surrounding his live appearances; nevertheless, the quality of the album should certainly not be underestimated, and of course, the impression one gets from listening to the entire CD is that of "cunning" on the part of Sony and MJ himself! It must be said, however, that in the 13 tracks present, at least five or six episodes are reminiscent of the good old Michael, especially the five new songs.

"Blood On The Dance Floor" is a track that at the time tried to exploit the current dance trend, in fact, the song is an excellent mix of genres, with elements of Latin American in the arrangement! The typical MJ basses serve as a backdrop to a mediocre vocal performance compared to the standard, but with a catchy Hit Parade chorus that sticks to you and won't let go! I would say a nearly experimental song for Michael's style, and indeed, in these five songs, it seems almost as if the artist has ventured into experimentation (taking advantage of the fact that it was not an album of entirely new material and thus, in case of flop, he wouldn't lose too much face).

"Morphine" is a song against the use of morphine, in this electronic music track, the basses become even more pronounced, the sound effects reminiscent of distorted radio frequencies (Kraftwerk?), the sonic gems of this piece aren't bad at all, and Michael always proves to have great class, his very hard and hoarse voice (very Rock!) talks about the effects of morphine... up to the goosebumps interlude where the music suddenly becomes melancholic, in this tear-jerking interval, Michael offers us one of the most intense moments of his career, a real shame that there isn't a complete version of this melody, Michael sings in the background with a poignant voice, referring to the harmful effects of Demerol (a drug he used)... the song suddenly resumes aggressively and, after a series of repeated choruses, ends abruptly with the word "Morphine," a little gem of his career.

The first masterpiece of these five new tracks, in my opinion, is "Ghosts", a song that is extremely refined and clever, a new "Thriller" without exaggeration, where Michael experiments with ghostly settings and dark, engaging sound effects, the bass line is phenomenal! Ancestral choruses and screams of frightened women serve as a backdrop to a wonderful song, the vocal interpretation is of grand style, the verses and chorus are truly original, Michael maintains the Horror style of Thriller but does not copy it, we are faced with five minutes of great musical entertainment, this is perhaps one of Michael Jackson's most beautiful songs.

With "Is It Scary", we reach the highest peak of the entire album, the use of the music score is quite minimal, but the sound arrangements, the vocal interpretation, and a MYSTICAL chorus characterized by angelic choruses and emotionally overwhelming sound effects, make this song a unique experiment of its kind, and therefore not recognized by fans of "chart music." A real gem for connoisseurs!

Unfortunately, however... the amusement ride ends with this fifth song! From here on begins the section of remixes that have contributed to the penalization of this album! One can admire the efforts of the various DJs in mixing the songs of the king of pop, but despite everything, the "tweaked" songs of Jackson can never compare to the originals, especially in the ballads! In this case, there was a real work of distortion... making wonderful songs like "Earth Song" and "You Are Not Alone" horrific, the only danceable ones that could be saved are "This Time Around" and "Scream Louder", the first played in tribal style and the second orchestrated with a myriad of electronic effects which, however, are danced with pleasure... unfortunately, the rest of the songs are almost annoying, and once again confirm the commercial maneuver behind this album.

Ultimately, little art (only five songs are not enough) and a lot of cleverness (remixes à la Gigi d'Agostino to catch a few clubbers and bring them to Jackson concerts). However, this does not mean that we are facing CRAP, as some, many, want us to believe. It is an album characterized by the usual classy music, but nothing compared to the stunning musical works of Michael Jackson's entire career.

The album sold 4 million copies, at the time the best-selling remix album in the world... It seems absurd, incredible, and annoying for many... but Michael Jackson is the only artist in the world who manages to succeed... even when he FLOPS!!!