michael jackson xscape tour

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By Douglas Wolk

Pop/R&B

May 15, 2014

Michael Jackson has released more new music in the five years since his death than in the 12 years before it. Jackson was a perfectionist about his music, and he recorded many more songs than he ever released. That means that there's a lot of unreleased material in his archives; Michael appeared in 2010, and now we've got this strange, underfed, vaguely horrid eight-song record, inexplicably named after the group that had a hit with "Just Kickin' It" . It's a set of outtakes and misfires that Jackson recorded in the 20th century, freshly "re-produced" by L.A. Reid, Timbaland , and others to sound as if he'd just shown up to make a new record in a contemporary style.

That, it should be noted, is a trick that's been tried before with Jackson's music. When Motown overdubbed and remixed some of his decade-old factory seconds in 1984, it yielded the Farewell My Summer Love album, whose packaging briefly fooled a few people into thinking it was the follow-up to Thriller . It's true that the new versions sound more modern and souped-up than the originals (which you also get if you buy the "deluxe edition" of Xscape ), but their producers don't have enough distance from Jackson's presence to reframe his voice the way that, say, Junkie XL's remix of " A Little Less Conversation " reframed Elvis Presley's.

It doesn't help that the outtakes they're dealing with are several tiers below the stuff that ended up on Jackson's later albums—maybe the estate is trying to parcel out the best material over time, maybe it doesn't get any better than this. "A Place with No Name" is Jackson's rewrite of America's two-chord wonder "A Horse with No Name", which is a bad enough idea on its own; Stargate, who produced the new version, replace the signature guitar riff with a sugary electroswing arrangement, but it doesn't help. Most of these tracks are Jackson hiccuping and eee-hee -ing on autopilot through underdeveloped semi-tunes; both Grace Jones and MC Lyte beat him to the title "Slave to the Rhythm" with much better songs. (The version here is not the one with Justin Bieber that leaked a while back.)

Jackson liked to present himself as pop's eternally youthful Peter Pan. In truth, he was more its Rabbit Angstrom , forever re-enacting his moment of moonwalking glory from a position of ever-increasing bitterness. Defensive, brittle songs like Xscape 's title track ("don't you try to tell me what is right for me!") don't look good on anyone. The most embarrassing song here, though, is "Do You Know Where Your Children Are", a Dangerous outtake that apparently never got finished. (If Jackson knew what the bridge's lyrics were going to be, he wasn't letting on in the recording studio.) It's a finger-jabbing harangue about a 12-year-old runaway who's "tired of stepdaddy using her/ Saying that he'll buy her things while sexually abusing her" and ends up hooking on Sunset Boulevard. As courageously stand-taking as it was for Jackson to indicate that he opposed child abuse, it might not have been wise for his estate to release a song in which he's getting all sanctimonious about that particular topic. (The shred-by-numbers guitar solo that ends the new version doesn't do the song any favors either.)

The one keeper on Xscape is its opener, " Love Never Felt So Good ", which is also its oldest song—it dates from 1983 or so—and the one that's been in circulation the longest: written by Jackson and Paul Anka, it initially surfaced on a 1984 Johnny Mathis album. It's got the best Jackson vocal here, too. The original take, which is mostly just his voice, fingersnaps and a piano, showcases the kind of  gravity-defying singing-for-pleasure that we barely heard from him in the post- Thriller era. The deluxe version of Xscape appends a Timbaland-produced remix of "Love Never Felt So Good" on which Justin Timberlake sings along with the old tape, featuring disco flourishes borrowed from Jackson's "Working Day and Night" . It sounds pleasantly like an echo of good Michael Jackson, but the fact that sampling an even earlier Jackson song makes it sound more contemporary says something about how wrongheaded this entire project is.

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Xscape world tour- help!!

• Thread starter Dan
• Start date Jan 25, 2015

Proud Member

• Jan 25, 2015
• The Set list has to have to be a maximum of 20-23 songs and a minimum of 15-17 songs (medleys count as 1 song) (Drills work as optional connectives e.g. If you have a drill between 2 songs it will instantly make it a medley e.g. Scream/Drill/TDCAU not Scream, Drill, TDCAU e.g. A drill does not count as a separate song).
• The set list has to be traditional, e.g. Michael wouldn't start a concert with Billie Jean or Thriller, He would start it with Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' or Jam (Not Limited to). It MUST include the, what I call, 380s (3 80s songs): Billie Jean, Beat It and Thriller
• The set list can not contain any demos even if they have been released by the estate, e.g. Beautiful Girl has been released but not finished however Slave To The Rhythm, Hollywood Tonight, Blue Gangsta etc.. counts because they have been finished and released.
• Malachi songs- Only count if they have released by the estate, e.g. Blackwidow doesn't count because although it has been released, it wasn't released under Michael's name, where as, Monster is not Michael but has been released by the estate under Michael's name thus making it a Michael song thus forth making it count.

Dan said: The set list that wins will be put in a petition for an Xscape World Tour. Click to expand...

Okay, I'll play.... 1. Xscape / Drill 2. They Don't Care About Us 3. Startin Somethin 4. Human Nature Hollywood golden era theme: 5. Hollywood Tonight 6. Put The Blame On Mame video / Smooth Criminal background 7. Slave To The Rhythm 8. One Day In Your Life 9. The Jacksons medley: Dancing Machine / Shake Your Body / The Things I Do For You 10. I'll Be There 11. Billie Jean 12. Ghosts medley: Is It Scary / 2 Bad / Threatened / Thriller 13. Beat It 14. Who Is It 15. You Rock My World 16. We've Had Enough Encore 17. Black or White 18. Earth Song 19. Man In The Mirror  

The tour will never happen because Michael is dead and a hologram is something that wouldn't sell, I think. Who would pay for ticket to see an image?  

innuendo141

• Jan 26, 2015

... I'd nearly sign the petition to see how far it goes and what it's expected to achieve.... All joking aside, I think you are in the minority stating we want an Xscape tour. I'd sooner watch Nicki Minaj cover the White Album than that personator hologram thing.  

• Jan 31, 2015

Prince Of Pop

1. Unbreakable (I think if MJ toured for Invincible, this would have been the opening song on the shows) 2. Wanna Be Startin' Something 3. Jam (This Is It Version) 4. Speechless / Human Nature (This Is It Version) 5. A Place Without No Name 6. I Just Can't Stop Loving You / She's Out Of My Life 7. Jackson 5 Medley: I Want You Back / ABC / The Love You Save / I'll Be There / Never Can Say Goodbye 8. Dancing Machine / Shake Your Body Down To The Ground 9. The Way You Make Me Feel 10. For All Time (interlude of the song playing to a special video while MJ takes a breather, going into) You Are Not Alone 11. Smooth Criminal / Blue Gangsta 12. Dirty Diana 13. Stranger In Moscow 14. OTW Medley: Don't Stop / Rock With You / Off The Wall / Workin Day & Night 15. Beat It 16. Slave To The Rhythm 17. Monsters Ball: Thriller / Ghosts / Threatened / Is It Scary 18. Black Or White 19. We've Had Enough 20. Billie Jean 21. Man In The Mirror  

1. Wanna Be Startin Somethin 2. A Place With No Name 3. Slave To The Rhythm 4. Jam 5. They Don't Care About Us 6. Loving You 7. Smooth Criminal 8. Chicago 9. Another Part Of Me 10. Rock With You 11. Is It Scary/Thriller/Threatened (Medley) 12. Dirty Diana 13. Working Day And Night 14. Beat It 15. Blood On The Dance Floor 16. Billie Jean 17. Love Never Felt So Good 18. Do You Know Where Your Children Are 19. Xscape 20. BAD 21. Black Or White 22. The Way You Make Me Feel 23. Man In The Mirror  

I’m not sure if it’s a right goal … A hologram tour, maybe, one day, in 10 years or so, idk. The tour is not one performance, one of a kind performance – the fact that it was done is great by itself but the WHOLE tour?! The tour of what?! What Michael had to do with Xscape tour? I doubt that fans are ready for such actions from the Estate. If to make a tour than for This Is It … Well, at least it will show Michael’s vision and something that He wanted us to see so badly. But again, in 10 years or so. And Xscape era is over and it will be unfair to get attention and efforts to something as doubtful as this when there are a lot of other projects to work on… Off the wall documentary alone is a great idea. There’s no need for us to force anything.  

I wouldn't like a hologram tour, maybe a 'THIS IS IT' concept if technology goes far enough and they can get the CG face to look exactly like Michael. Another thing, i can't see 'A Place With No Name' being performed on stage, STTR & 'Xscape' would have been great if he toured with 'Invincible' & those tracks were previously released.  

All of the Malachi songs should NEVER count. Even the the 3 songs that are on the Michael album  

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