Michael Jackson
History

I start with the usual premise; a distinction should be made between Michael Jackson the artist and the character, and I notice with such sadness that there are now few who can talk about his albums without bringing out the word "pedophile" after a second and a half… the ignorance of the new generation towards this great artist is immense!

I've heard all sorts of things about this album and I must say I was chilled by such ignorance, that is, the album may not be to everyone's liking, everyone has their own tastes, … but saying "shit" really means being ignorant.

In 1995 Michael Jackson, the king of pop music, in terms of popular music, returned with this amazing double album with a whopping 30 songs! From the outset, the idea of combining a Greatest Hits with an album of unreleased tracks seemed ill-conceived and was criticized even by the artist's fans, also because at the time the price was truly prohibitive! But the fact remains that artistically musically we are faced with a double album of anthology! 15 legendary songs perfectly remastered and 15 new songs that show a new artistic transformation of this unparalleled artist.

In this review I will focus only on the unreleased CD.

The album takes off immediately with the first song featuring siblings Michael and Janet Jackson who deliver a gritty and angry vocal performance revolving around a futuristic rhythmic base, with synthetic sounds and special space effects, the usual Jackson pop base but in this case adapted to new technologies, the song is called "SCREAM" and the eponymous video was an unprecedented media event, Michael and Janet sing and dance inside a spaceship in zero gravity among special effects and great choreography (the video was awarded as best video of the year, best choreography, and was considered the most expensive in history). A driving and energetic song that is, however, nothing compared to the rightness that awaits us immediately after, in fact from track number two we start to hear the first wonders of the album… a whisper of children introduces a drum-based rhythm in African style, as if it were a military march, Michael's splendid voice begins to chant verses and refrain, great class in the sounds and excellent guitar in the interlude, we are talking about "THEY DON'T CARE ABOUT US" a great track with a minimal start that gradually becomes more musical and rhythmic, another classic to add to Jackson's career phenomenon.

"STRANGER IN MOSCOW" is the first masterpiece of the CD! The beginning, believe it or not, is a rhythm performed with Michael Jackson's voice himself!! (obviously cleaned and digitally perfected, but Michael has demonstrated live being capable of performing it!) a true stroke of genius that introduces (and accompanies the whole piece) an extraordinary ballad worthy of the best musical artists, in this piece Michael displays a masterful class, the melodic lines are soft and velvety and serve as the backdrop for a fantastic and harmonious vocal performance (with a terrific ending), perfect sounds and a thrilling interlude… music of this level is for a few connoisseurs!

"THIS TIME AROUND" Although being a good rhythmic track to dance to and characterized by the usual sound perfectionism, it cannot remotely compete with the previous song and especially with the next one!

"HEART SONG" is in my opinion one of the most beautiful songs in music history. The simple and minimal start (but with sounds that perhaps surpass perfection) you hear sounds taken from nature, harmonized with a soft relaxing melody that anticipates an introduction with the pianola, simple yet impactful (like the best songs), Michael's voice begins the vocal performance in a painful, sad manner, a pained melancholy yet wonderful to listen to, Michael performs the refrain simulating the lament of a cry "Aaaaaaaaaah Aaaaaaaah" something amazing (and unfortunately, as happens to all geniuses, terribly underrated) the base remains slow until the second chorus where gradually the song becomes more orchestrated, until it explodes in an epic finale where Michael vents shouting full-throated denouncing the problems of ecology and the damage man has done to nature… A wonderful song that artistically has nothing less than songs like "Imagine" by Lennon!!!

This exquisite song is the last "great" ballad of the album, thereafter we return to the rhythmic bases from King Of Pop, starting with the modest Rock song "D. S. " where Michael with a play on words indirectly lashes out at one of his accusing lawyers, the song flows pleasantly on a catchy yet not very varied base, and explodes in the interlude with a highly engaging and excellently played rock solo (rumors say it is the guitarist Slash, mentioned by Michael himself before the execution, but apparently, in the acknowledgments in the album's book, his name doesn't appear…) the only flaw of this song is the excessive length that after a while tires.

The album continues with "MONEY" which in my opinion is a beautiful and underrated song, the rhythmic base influenced by the Hip Hop style, sung in a whispered manner with beautiful sounds, this song too finds beauty in the finale, where Michael displays in my opinion a great musical style! (vocal overlaps, very elaborate effects and ingenious sound adjustments).

The first cover of the album is the well-known Beatles song "COME TOGETHER" and here I'd make a little speech that will make Beatles fans frown… the original version of the time seemed rather outdated to me at the sound and vocal execution level… Michael thanks to his splendid voice and a decidedly more engaging cut in the sound base, made the cover… Better than the original! But this is just a matter of taste.

"YOU ARE NOT ALONE" is the single that brought Michael back to the number one on world charts, a song executed with mastery but, in my opinion, not up to the masterpieces I talked about before and will talk about now.

"CHILDHOOD" is the song that was used for the film "Free Willy 2", a excessively tear-jerking piece (and therefore unintentionally comical) is perhaps the least fortunate chapter of the album, but the work done at the musical level remains appreciable, in the middle of the song real orchestra pieces are performed… An almost masterpiece!

After the tear-jerking moment, we return again to rhythm, this time Michael angrier than ever lashes out at the scandalous press in this song alternating between syncopated and very fast rhythms to real melodic pieces.. an almost experimental song that gives an extra point to this titanic album. I am referring to "TABLOID JUNKIE"

"2BAD" is a song where Jackson taken by his megalomania enriches the piece a bit too much with futuristic sound effects and electronic gimmicks that make the song too noisy! Great for dancing but artistically not up to the album.

Another masterpiece arrives "HISTORY". Beginning with sound effects of military marches, choirs, national anthems… Michael retraces the history of man in which rightly he is also included! The genius of the song is the alternation between music and sound effects, even here it starts with minimalism and ends with a great musical composition… Michael Jackson is a genius! And he proves it with the following "LITTLE SUSIE", the introduction Mass style is (as already said for "childhood") too syrupy, but then comes another stroke of genius.. a noise of a music box being wound and played by a child whispering along with the melody, is the introduction to a wonderful song performed excellently and sung with ardor and vocal charisma of high artistic level… We have reached the end of the album, where to conclude Michael gives us a second cover, which was written by another genius… Charlie Chaplin, the song is the famous "SMILE" and also in this case we are faced with another cover better than the original! Vocally, musically, artistically EXCELLENT!

Thus ends (with a carefree whistling Michael on Chaplin's music) an amazing album, worthy of remaining forever in the history of great music! I cannot understand how so many, too many people can let such a work slip away by being influenced by the artist's private affairs… a real pity!

'History' has the only flaw of being packaged as a double album and sold at a price not affordable for everyone. (but let us remember that in terms of sales it was second only to "The Wall" by Pink Floyd)

For the rest… one word… ART.