Speakerboxxx (Thriller - Michael Jackson)

Member Name: Seres

Product:	Thriller - Michael Jackson
Date:	08/09/08 (127 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Michael Jackson - black and proud. An ace soul/funk/R&B album

Disadvantages: Weak, sappy ballads

There's a few artists I've never listened to properly. While Dylan, Mann, Wainwright, Springsteen, Presley and Shatner are all American icons who I've listened to pretty extensively in the past, I've been slack when it comes to exploring musicians like Cash, Jackson, Joplin and Hendrix. As I sat at the DreamDeskTM and looked through my music collection, I made the decision that it was high time to start filling the gaps in my musical knowledge before it's too late and I get a job. With only a year to go until that awful day approaches, I quickly grabbed a copy of Thriller and got to listening.

Michael Jackson has a reputation currently as being a creepy manchild who is more likely to be dressing his child up as a lost boy whilst he takes the lead role in a family-only presentation of Peter Pan, but before he turned into the sort of man who makes The Daily Mail a publication which gains a profit he made some great music. He started out with his family (brothers, at least), forming The Jackson 5 and essentially singing all the important bits of every song the group made, despite being the youngest by quite some margin. By the time Michael was... well, about my age, he made his first solo album 'Off The Wall', which was a massive hit and a sign that perhaps the little afroed genius was about to head to the big leagues. In any other case, this would then result in a few years of alcohol and drugs, before some kind of tragic accident robbed the world of whatever could have been. Not in this case, though. Michael Jackson went on to release Thriller.

He was only twenty four when he wrote, composed, and produced many the songs on the album, alongside Sinatra-aiding musical genius Quincy Jones - the Timbaland of the time, if you will, only without the casual sexism and with significantly more charm and charisma. The album is only nine tracks long - which is not unusual for albums made around that time - but it certainly doesn't feel like a short record, thanks in part to the fact that the shortest song still manages to clock in at just under four minutes. Two of the songs even manage to hit the six-minute mark. For a sophomore album (of sorts), Thriller manages to pack in all the funk and soul you could expect from any performer alongside enough whooping and squeals to please even the hardiest of squeal enthusiasts. For all the funk, however, Thriller is an album of two feels. Half the songs feel like they could be released tomorrow and be a serious contender for the charts; but the other half feel dated and cheesy as anything. I can back this assertion up with five words: he duets with Paul McCartney.

Granted, when he duets with McCartney on 'The Girl Is Mine', it is sort of sweet, because Jackson is the biggest fan of the Beatles. You can hear the reverence he has for McCartney in this sickly-soft number, which sounds like something Wings would churn out to fill an album, as he profoundly out-sings the ex-Beatle. McCartney, for his part, comes across as an uncool uncle at a disco, and there is a spoken outro between the two which is simply one of the worst things ever committed to tape. It probably sounded like a good idea at the time. Elsewhere, Jackson does indulge in a number of other slow numbers which probably formed the basis of a million closing-time dances at clubs across Britain during the 80s. 'The Lady In My Life' has an anchoring funk-guitar bassline (or something) that shores it up when it threatens to fall asleep under its own weight, but overall is a narcoleptic finish to the album. Also, slightly generic funk flows during 'Baby Be Mine', which provides a glimpse at the delights Wham! would have given us if George Michael had been black. It's not up to much.

Right then, now we've established the bad tracks, so we'll move to the great ones. What I thought was most surprising when I first listened to Thriller was the fact that I recognised so many of the songs, despite not knowing them. Of course I know 'Billie Jean', 'Thriller' and the fantastic 'Beat It', but I had no idea I knew the music to 'Human Nature' before. It sounds silly, but I'm pretty sure that it's the music Jason Nevins slowed down for that song he did, 'I'm In Heaven'. So if you're a teenager at the moment you might remember that one. It's a pleasant ballad, which drifts off each time the chorus kicks in as Jackson harmonises away beautifully. He has a superb voice, but what I didn't expect was to hear him sound so young. I mean, I knew that he was young when he recorded the album, but still - on songs like 'P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)', the thing that grabs me most is just how versatile and youthful his voice is. He completely takes over the song, even though a robot sings part of the chorus. Any singer who can outshadow a robot is quite something. Jackson back in the 80s single-handedly makes Usher, Chris Brown, Ne-Yo, all these whistling-shite young soul singers that the charts love, seem like the rank amateurs they are. A truly funky sound and some great beats combine to make that song something a little special.

But c'mon, this album has Billie Jean and Thriller on it. Who cares about the rest of the songs? If an artist can throw out two songs of this calibre on one album, who needs other songs? Well, me, really. I never liked Billie Jean, despite the clever double-meaning of the lyrics and strutting cool of Jackson's vocal performance. The music is too slow, too juddery, for it to get to me, but even I can't deny the fact that the song has an innate sense of dance to it. You may not like the song too much, like me, but it's hard not to dance/type the words of your music review in time to the beat. The chorus comes out of nowhere too, and the clicking percussion certainly works. Thriller, too, is a song I don't particularly like -- because of the video. I don't think much of the video, and it's always thrown in your face during the endless lists that TV like to put out celebrating music. By taking away the video, though, I found that I focused more on the song - and I very much liked it. Thriller is a creepy mock-horror song, packed with retro (did they sound retro at the time?) synthesisers and howling wolf noises. It takes a while for the song to kick in, but once it does it has a grip, a shimmying guitar noise, and some handclaps ideally placed for the casual listener to join in. The chorus, again, transcends the song and takes place on another level entirely. Jackson is all snarls and charisma as he belts out the words, giving a gritty feeling of soul to proceedings. He really did (does?) have one of the best voices of all time. It's mesmerising. Oh, and also Vincent Price has a monologue at the end. Instant win!

'Beat It' is another one of Jackson's most well-known songs, during which the band revs up an electric guitar to underpin the song, to great effect. To me, the guitar sounds a little too muted, but Jackson's voice completely kicks ass. A snappy piece of taut musical production, the song rips along at a rare old pace, and the music genuinely feels exciting and raw. Everything is in thrall, and I mean e-v-er-y-t-h-i-n-g, to the best song on the album. The first. 'You Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'', on top of providing Rhianna with a musical nonsense phrase to use in one of her songs (the mama-se mama-se mama-coo-sa bit, if you're wondering), is a brilliantly mad, pulsating piece of funk which builds quickly and wonderfully. Jones quickly brings in different elements of music to back up Jackson's rapid-fire delivery, and brass and keyboards and percussion all lay alongside each other. The trick of the song, though, is in the way the quick, insanely buoyant guitars mix up the soul/funk/pop sensibilities that lie at the heart of everything Jackson does as a performer. iTunes, damn them, describes the song as 'delirious', which is exactly how I wanted to describe it. It is one of the best, most defining opening songs that any musician has ever put together, ever.

On top of everything, Thriller is an album of songs which are a little mashed together at times, but features so many songs of such feverish intensity and brilliance that you don't notice this jarring effect too much. Thriller fully deserves all the praise it gets, and Jackson's career (which shortly afterwards turned him white, and less interesting as a performer - white people make for crappy soul singers, Cilla Black aside) was rightly boosted into the stratosphere. This is perhaps the best record made by one of the most charismatic singers of all time.

Summary: Umm... would it be "bad" if I said "thrilling"?