Michael Jackson
Stranger In Moscow

LA RECENSIONE

In the setting of a freezing, cold Moscow, which could be described as wintry, stands a Jackson, now at the end of his strength and suffering from severe depression, even with the use of antidepressants, brought about by the intense media pressure which, later on, would lead to his death.

Melancholy, sadness, unease culminating in a scream, the last heartbreaking scream of hope against the system created by the tabloids, which increased his legal and mental problems, destroying the great icon, the symbol par excellence of the Pop music product of post-1980s America.

A ballad under the rain, this is the best definition that can be attributed to this work where Jackson shows all his musical genius, composing it during a stop in Moscow on the Dangerous World Tour in 1994.

The rhythm is led by Steve Lukather's guitar while the keyboards, basses, and synthesizers by David Paich and Steve Porcaro, all mixed with a continuous and incessant rain that gives a melancholic sense to the whole, where Jackson seems adrift in a desolate Russia, blocked by an invisible KGB ("KGB was doggin' me, take my name and just let me be") followed by the last screams, heart-wrenching shouts of hope that abruptly shake the soul of the listener.

Personally, I have followed Jackson little in his career, but in front of this work that only a genius and an innovator of world music could conceive, well, "hats off" to him.