Antoine Fuqua\u2019s telling of Michael Jackson\u2019s story seems to be critic-proof. So far, most of the response to the film has been negative, with critics citing the film\u2019s glossy and surface-level approach to depicting the life of arguably the greatest entertainer of the 20th\u00a0century. However, audiences seem to ignore the critical reception, as it appears that movie theatres are selling out of screenings of the film.<\/p>\n
Michael Jackson\u2019s story has been told several times through various voices and there are general themes that emerge from every account: Jackson\u2014along with his brothers\u2014was born with innate genius, only to be nurtured and encouraged by a stage father whose drive tipped into abuse.<\/p>\n
Fuqua\u2019s interpretation of the story focuses on Jackson\u2019s early days in Gary, Indiana to his time with Motown with his brothers as the Jackson 5, before striking it out on his own as a solo superstar. The accompanying soundtrack to the film,\u00a0Michael: Songs From The Motion Picture<\/i>\u00a0therefore covers 1970 to 1988, including big hits as the Jackson 5 as well as an overview of his solo hits from\u00a0Off The Wall\u00a0<\/i>(1979),\u00a0Thriller\u00a0<\/i>(1982), and\u00a0Bad\u00a0<\/i>(1987). At 13 tracks, the soundtrack works as a companion piece to the film and as a tidy summation of Jackson\u2019s peak years, but it\u2019s such a broad overview that it feels somewhat unnecessary, especially when there are more comprehensive compilations out there. But it still is a valuable souvenir from the film that makes the case for Jackson\u2019s incredible growth as a vocalist and musician.<\/p>\n
The album opens with the sterling ballad, \u201cI\u2019ll Be There\u201d which features what is probably Jackson\u2019s greatest vocal performance as a child. His voice is clear and powerful and portrays a maturity that belies his youth (he was 12 years old). He sounds stunning on the record. It\u2019s moving and tear-jerking work. Jackson\u2019s older brother Jermaine provides solid backup with a feathery, airy croon.<\/p>\n
The other iconic Jackson 5 hits\u2014\u201cI Want You Back,\u201d \u201cABC,\u201d and \u201cThe Love You Save\u201d\u2014 are merged into a live medley from the Jackson brothers\u2019 1981 live album of their Triumph tour. The songs are so iconic and culturally significant that fitting them into a three-minute medley seems like a shame.<\/p>\n
But the track is important because it highlights how significantly Jackson\u2019s voice changed as he aged into an adult. Instead of the soulful belt of the precocious prodigy from the Jackson 5, Jacksons voice narrowed into a tighter, sinewy instrument. He sings these songs with an angularity and archness that matched his sharp dance moves. The medley is slick professionalism by a band that was able to toss off these brilliant pop songs with competence.<\/p>\n
The other significant live track is \u201cBen\u201d from the same live album. As with the medley, Jackson is singing a song that is identified with his youthful innocence. As an adult, the song loses some of the heart, though even as an adult, Jackson was able to maintain a guile when singing his sentimental ballads.<\/p>\n
The rest of the album is devoted to studio versions from his classic trio of hit albums. The singles from\u00a0Off The Wall<\/i>\u00a0sound just as exciting, fresh, and innovative now as they did back in 1979. Two tracks make their way into the album, \u201cDon\u2019t Stop \u2019Til You Get Enough\u201d and \u201cWorkin\u2019 Day And Night.\u201d The former is a textbook primer of genius disco. Produced with Quincy Jones, the song is an extravagant symphony of strings, synths, and horns.\u00a0Michael<\/i>\u00a0only includes two tracks from\u00a0Off the Wall<\/i>\u00a0and honestly, the studio LP is a better album than the soundtrack and a worthier listen.<\/p>\n
Predictably,\u00a0Thriller<\/i>\u00a0dominates the soundtrack, with five of the 13 tracks pulled from the 1982 release.\u00a0Thriller<\/i>\u00a0established Jackson as a pop megastar and the album would unfurl a string of hit singles and go on to sell an astounding 70 million copies. Crucially, Jackson also starred in a series of groundbreaking music videos for the singles, setting an impossibly high standard of excellence and creativity in the field.<\/p>\n
Thriller<\/i>\u00a0is another epic collaboration with Quincy Jones that married various forms of popular music, including rock, pop, dance and disco, R&B, and soul. It\u2019s a dizzying accomplishment. Like with\u00a0Off The Wall<\/i>,\u00a0Thriller<\/i>\u00a0is essential and should be bought before\u00a0Michael<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Because the film ends with Jackson\u2019s\u00a0Bad<\/i>\u00a0tour stop at Wembley, the soundtrack ends with\u00a0Bad<\/i>\u2019s title track and is the only song from the successful 1987 release. Like the previous LPs,\u00a0Bad\u00a0<\/i>was produced with Quincy Jones, and by all accounts, it\u2019s a very good album, but indicates a noticeable dip in their collaboration. Unlike the other singles, \u201cBad\u201d sounds dated and married to its time and era. (Also, Jackson\u2019s tough posturing wasn\u2019t very convincing.)<\/p>\n
Michael<\/i>\u00a0is nice, tidy package of Michael Jackson\u2019s big hits, but even for casual listeners, there are better overviews of his astounding discography. Still, even if the soundtrack feels a bit thrown together, the sheer genius of the music makes it a good buy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":93,"featured_media":35483,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[5802],"rating":[5615],"class_list":["post-47379","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-michael-jackson","rating-rating-b"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/47379","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/93"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47379"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/47379\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35483"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=47379"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=47379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}