Invincible

by

Michael Jackson

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INVINCIBLE by Michael Jackson was originally released in October 2001, and as I recall, even before it came out, so-called music critics were hating on it and declaring it a flop. How in the world they could have done this, I don't know. If anything, they were rating his personal life rather than the music and that hardly seems fair, because I believe the music should speak for itself. Granted, Mike has his problems, but the fact that he is an musical icon, the most influential and gifted entertainer to surface in the past 30+ years, and a consistent hit maker cannot be ignored. I guess this CD is considered a flop merely because it didn't sell as well as his other albums. But it shows how much of an exceptionally talented individual he is when critics can only compare INVINCIBLE to other MJ albums and not to anything or anybody else. That's saying a lot - meaning that even with a so-called "flop", MJ is STILL better than anyone else out there and can only compete with himself!

While INVINCIBLE is not in the league of OFF THE WALL, THRILLER, BAD or even DANGEROUS, it is still a solid effort from Michael, featuring both funky, upbeat dance tracks and warm, effective ballads. He updates his sound with some touches of hip-hop, but also taps deeper into his R&B roots here and I'm so happy that he did because he actually SINGS instead of relying on "whoos", "oows", "eee-hees", "sham-ons" and hiccups so much to get through a song, which I never really cared for. I've always felt those signature ad-libs that Mike would utter on the songs he made during his post-THRILLER years took away from the fact that he is a truly fabulous vocalist. Just listen to the neo-soul groove of the pristine and ethereal "Butterflies", the best song on this CD, and you'll understand what I mean. When I first heard it, it reminded me of the beauty of the albums that Mike and his brothers recorded when they were at Motown - then the CBS stuff (THE JACKSONS, GOIN' PLACES, DESTINY, and OFF THE WALL), not so much by the sound of it, but when Mike simply SUNG and you enjoyed his interpretations and magnificent phrasing of the lyrics. There are plenty of tunes on this CD that measure up to that standard.

Best tracks: "Unbreakable", "Heartbreaker", "Invincible", "Break Of Dawn", "Heaven Can Wait", "You Rock My World", "Butterflies", "2000 Watts", "Don't Walk Away", "Whatever Happens".

Shame on Sony for not giving this the promotion it deserved! We all know that it was a ploy to get their hands on the invaluable Beatles catalog (for those who don't know - Mike owns it), saying that INVINCIBLE went way over budget and the money wasn't there to complete it...whatever. Other than "You Rock My World", they didn't bother to promote anything else from this CD, most specifically, "Butterflies" - no video, nothing - and this was Mike's strongest single in years. They purposely wanted it to fail. I applaud Mike for sticking to his guns and not selling the catalog.

There are a couple songs on this CD that didn't work for me, but all in all, this is worth owning. INVINCIBLE proves that Michael Jackson still has much to offer the music industry. All we need to do is give him a chance to do that, because once you put aside all the drama, you'll find that his music still has the ability to move people. Great job, Mike!