Album Review: Michael Jackson - Invincible (2001)

In the late 70s, Michael Jackson, the child star of the Jackson Five, was once again a star in the making, and this time it was on his own terms; in the 80s he was by far the world's biggest and most popular pop star, putting out top-selling albums such as Thriller and Bad, and becoming a household name and a familiar face to young, aspiring pop music fans everywhere (including me). However, in the 90s his star began to fade and an ill-deserved reputation of being a child molester would, until his death tarnish his public image badly. In 2001, he released his final, proper studio album in six years, called Invincible. Never to be the best-seller that Thriller was, and after listening to the album a dozen times and putting aside my bias toward modern music in most of its forms, the album most certainly has its charms and that perfectionist aura characteristic of most MJ albums. It is well made, it sounds good, and most importantly, it still sounds like Michael. Tracks like "Heartbreaker", "Heaven can Wait", "Threatened" and "You Rock my World" all do it for me, and are worth playing at least ten times each. As for the rest of the album, I wouldn't regard them as being fillers - some of them are good enough for relaxation purposes, which, all in all I guess, makes for an adequate album. B+