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‘Xscape’ is an uneven mix of updated songs from Michael Jackson Album Review When it comes to finishing the unfinished music of a dead perfectionist, one couldn’t hope to do much better than executive producer L.A. Reid has done with “Xscape,” the second posthumous album from the late Michael Jackson. Out this week, the recording unearthed eight previously unreleased songs from the Jackson vault, presenting them in their original and spiffy “contemporized” forms.
By “contemporized,” Reid means he hired a squad of top-flight producers — including Timbaland, Rodney Jerkins, Stargate and others — to compose new music around a grab bag of vocal tracks Jackson recorded between 1983 and 1999. The album’s highlight comes right away with “Love Never Felt So Good,” a lush disco tune originally co-written with Paul Anka. “All right, that’s fine,” Jackson utters at the end of the song, signaling his approval to a studio engineer back in ’83 after a strong take. It’s a cool peek behind the curtain that Jackson persistently kept closed, but was it included here to signal his consent from the other side? According to Billboard, Timba-
JOERG SARBACH (AP)
Not ‘Bad,’ But It’s No ‘Thriller’ Either
“Xscape” is composed of newly “contemporized” Michael Jackson songs.
land claims to have actually heard the spirit of Jackson give him the thumbs-up during the making of “Xscape” — namely, while he was replacing the breeze-bent synth lines of “Loving You” with a more 2014-friendly bump of bass. As for the original “Love Never Felt So Good,” it’s spare and spellbinding — just Jackson’s voice, a piano, some snapping fingers and two clapping hands. Unfortunately, “Xscape” closes out with a third version of the song, featuring a chirpy Justin Timberlake and his huffy, puffy beatboxing. Listen until the end and you might expect to hear Jackson say, “All right, that’s enough.” CHRIS RICHARDS (THE WASHINGTON POST )
FILM
Director’s Death Confirmed a Suicide Malik Bendjelloul, the Swedish director of the acclaimed “Searching for Sugar Man” documentary, committed suicide Tuesday. Bendjelloul’s brother told the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet that his brother had struggled with depression for a short period. The 36-yearold director rose to international fame in 2013 when “Sugar Man” won an Oscar for best documentary. (AP)
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