Xscape Reviews

They have agreed a day at lunch in a restaurant in West Hollywood, Epic boss Antonio "LA" Reid and the administrator of the immense heritage of Michael Jackson John Branca. By real businessmen have done things seriously and wasted no time : 's been a little less than a year , here comes now the second posthumous album in stores and " new" King of Pop , needy - Billboard with pragmatism also emphasizes all-American - a revival of trade after last year its back catalog, 584 000 copies sold, turnover has considerably less than that of Elvis Presley (1.1 million copies) and that of Johnny Cash ( 969 000 copies ) while maintaining a distance other legendary dear departed as Whitney Houston and Jimi Hendrix.

To transform a collection of outtakes and " waste" caught between 1983 (just after "Thriller" ) and 1999 (just before "Invincible " ) on a hard solid , convincing, and dignified as possible homogeneous moved the bigwig of black music and the mixer , led by Reid ( who also signed a piece along with Babyface , " Slave to the rhythm , a techno funk worked in the days of " Bad " and then again during the sessions of " Dangerous " ) and led on the field by Timbaland, eager to prove himself in a challenge mica laugh . disc of the deluxe edition also features the original versions retrieved from the immense archives Jacksonian and realizes the work: the super team has nearly erased the old bases , however, often enough already finished and processed to build around Jackson's voice - loud, shrill , always in the front and central - gleaming , chrome and modern arrangements that ( stated intention ) would like to pay tribute to his restless spirit and pioneering , to his perfectionism and his willingness to always look ahead . Missing rebuttal (from " control freak " that he was, would never have published these pieces ? ) And you have to settle .

The already-known single "Love never felt so good ," written by Jackson along with the evergreen Paul Anka , published in 1984 by Johnny Mathis and reinforced , in one of two new versions , from a small cameo by Justin Timberlake, is the perfect paradigm of ' operation (because of this , after all, that is) : a soul dance pop with strong echoes of the '80s, with strings and melodic , bubbling and summer : just what it takes , how he wanted Reid to compete in radio equals with the latest single from Katy Perry. Proceeding by subtraction by addition and then , Timbaland ( assisted by his faithful Jerome Harmon aka J -Roc ) and the other decided continue in that direction in the rest of the repertoire, virtually all known - because surfaced in various forms in the network - the most enterprising fan : their "Chicago" , very electronic and driven by a synth bass riff , it is less dark original, "Blue gangsta " , developed on a breakbeat rhythm and a symphony of voices from the Gothic cathedral, renunciation of touch "roots " accordion , while in "A place with no name" reworked by the Norwegian Stargaze , much admired by Jackson, the explicit references to the " A horse with no name" of America survive especially in the final chorus . The rhythms , scans , and the melodies are unmistakable sobs and Jacko , it must be said , does not come out distorted and indeed the protagonist because Reid has used the few clues available to build the project in accordance with its virtual liturgy : choosing only tracks "important" and presumably beloved by the artist who had returned several times by cutting multiple tracks and naming the artwork to a song " Xscape " , in homage to another tradition held ( in this case on the repainting of the hypnotic funk soul is also spoke at the original co-author , Rodney Jerkins ) .

It remains to be said of the two titles , perhaps better, a soft and dreamy soulful piano ballad entitled " Loving You" ( " The Boyz II Men that meet today ", said Timbaland) and a relentless , almost angrily , " Do you know where your children are ", where in a sea of ​​echoes and synthetic riffs closed by a distorted electric guitar solo a Jackson not yet overwhelmed by the infamous scandals of Neverland addresses the issue , even then topical , sexual abuse on adolescents with crude language and compassionate. The only real emotional shock that gives a thrill even mocking a hard iperprofessionale that works if it is understood as a "reinvention " (declared , however) of Jackson's music to the ears , palate , and the market in 2014.

TRACKLIST :

Love never felt so good
Chicago
Loving you
A place with no name
Slave to the rhythm
Do you know where your children are
Blue gangsta
Xscape