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Do You Like The Xscape Album?

Do You Like The Xscape Album?

  • Total voters
    19
No. The originals are nice to have but presented in pretty dreadful quality (compare the sound quality of She Was Loving Me, a song from the Invincible era, to that of the Bad era outtakes on Bad 25 that Matt Forger worked on, the difference is night and day). The first disc is atrocious.
 
I voted yes because of course it's amazing to hear these songs but the circumstances...and wondering whether he'd even want it released idk. very mixed feelings
 
I like it a lot. I played it relentlessly for a couple of months when it was first released. For some of the tracks, I like only the original; for others, I like only the reworked version; and for a number of them, I like both versions. I appreciate that we were given the originals and the contemporised versions - that way, there's something for everyone. I hope that, if there are any future album releases, the same formula is used.
 
I loved it in fact. Didn't listen to anymore since the first weeks after its release. I thought it was a lot better than Invincible which terribly disappointed me bar a few tracks.
Gonna give it another spin now!
 
I've been bumping it a lot recently, and I gotta say, it's pretty damn great. Not prefect, but incredibly solid.

The biggest disappointment for me are the original versions. "Chicago" is absolutely atrocious, "A Place with No Name" sounds like a lazy copy of the original song rather than a reinterpretation, "Slave to the Rhythm" sounds like an 8-bit video game demo, and "Do You Know Where Your Children Are" lacks the thrill of the leaked version from 2010. Yes, they're all meant to be demos, but they still sound so unfulfilled and uninteresting to me. I haven't listened to most of them more than once over the last couple months.

On the other hand, the remixes are awesome. "Chicago" is borderline perfect, "Loving You" is on par with the original version, "A Place with No Name" is KILLER, and "Xscape" feels incredibly faithful to what Michael would have done with the song in 2014. The only two I'm not crazy about are "Blue Gangsta" (the verses are stunning but the chorus falls flat) and "Do You Know Where Your Children Are" (what the hell even is this one?).

It feels less like a Michael Jackson album than Michael does ironically enough, but the production is far more consistent and the presentation was great.
 
Mikky Dee said:
I like it a lot. I played it relentlessly for a couple of months when it was first released. For some of the tracks, I like only the original; for others, I like only the reworked version; and for a number of them, I like both versions. I appreciate that we were given the originals and the contemporised versions - that way, there's something for everyone. I hope that, if there are any future album releases, the same formula is used.
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Exactly my thoughts & how doubt i feel about the album & the songs.

Same formula for future releases is definitely heavily needed!!!
 
MJJuniorSinceMW said:
Exactly my thoughts & how doubt i feel about the album & the songs.

Same formula for future releases is definitely heavily needed!!!
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Indeed, remixes and demos is a perfect formula. But next time they should properly mix original versions, because some sounded like straight cassette rips (Chicago & Loving You).
 
I love certain songs on Xscape such as Xscape reworked version, STTR reworked version, Blue Gangsta original version, APWNN reworked version.

But I must admit there are some absolute stinkers on it too, such as Chicago reworked, DYKWYCA reworked.

Overall, I like the Xscape album very much. It's a solid posthumous album, but it doesn't come anywhere near any of Michael's 6 adult solo albums for me. Heck, I won't even put it above the Michael posthumous album and that had 3 songs by an impostor.
 
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I like some of the remixes, as remixes they are cool and Chicago is a highlight. I don't like that the demos were sidelined and presented in awful quality though. They didn't even bother to mix the Chicago demo and just dumped it in mono, the other demos are horribly mixed and it wouldn't surprise me if they just dumped some rough mixes they found so they didn't have to bother mixing. Can't really get past that tbh.
 
SoCav said:
No. The originals are nice to have but presented in pretty dreadful quality (compare the sound quality of She Was Loving Me, a song from the Invincible era, to that of the Bad era outtakes on Bad 25 that Matt Forger worked on, the difference is night and day). The first disc is atrocious.
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Yeah the demos on B25 were clearly actually mixed and sound nice, obviously they could have been mastered better but yeah it's night and day when compared to the xscape disc.
 
Haven't heard it in a long time, but yeah, I enjoyed it when it was released.
 
I like it. i like how they put the original songs with an updated versions. Michael would of tried new genres anyway. i don't think he wouldn't done them like that. but they were good.

i like how it's good for the older fans and newer fans to enjoy. i don't think this should be call one of Michael best albums. i think this album won't be apart of Michael original 6 albums. i give it 3 stars.

i'm not sure would Michael loved people remixing his unrelease original songs.

i heard somewhere that the reason these songs was never release because Michael didn't like them and felt they wouldn't be remembered. he's got a point some of these songs not at all remembered but they pretty good. i guess since it was after his passing you can't say what Michael had plan for this album.
 
OK, so I just started listening to Xscape for the first time and I am obsessed with Loving You (original version). I heard it exactly once yesterday and still it was stuck in my head the rest of the day. Today I have listened to that song over and over and I can't get enough of it. I have only mildly checked out the rest of the album so far.

Anyway, I am curious -- which songs do you prefer in their original form vs. the remixes? And vice versa? Right now, I prefer every original version to the remixed version, but like I said, I've barely listened to them. That is just my very immediate reaction. So I'm curious what other people think!

And another thing, when they released singles from this album, which versions did they promote? I assume the remixes, but I'm curious.

Also, I had no idea that the songs on this album were from various eras. For some reason I assumed all of it would be Invincible era outtakes, or the work he was doing before his death. It's really cool to have a mix from throughout his career!
 
staywild23 said:
OK, so I just started listening to Xscape for the first time and I am obsessed with Loving You (original version). I heard it exactly once yesterday and still it was stuck in my head the rest of the day. Today I have listened to that song over and over and I can't get enough of it. I have only mildly checked out the rest of the album so far.

Anyway, I am curious -- which songs do you prefer in their original form vs. the remixes? And vice versa? Right now, I prefer every original version to the remixed version, but like I said, I've barely listened to them. That is just my very immediate reaction. So I'm curious what other people think!

And another thing, when they released singles from this album, which versions did they promote? I assume the remixes, but I'm curious.

Also, I had no idea that the songs on this album were from various eras. For some reason I assumed all of it would be Invincible era outtakes, or the work he was doing before his death. It's really cool to have a mix from throughout his career!
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There were only 2 singles. APWNN and LNFSG. Both used the modern versions. I’ll have to check my CD singles, but I’m not sure the originals were there.
The vinyl version of Xscape featured only the modern versions.
Preferred modernised songs: LNFSG, Chicago, Loving You, STTR
Preferred demos: Blue Gangsta, DYKWYCA, APWNN.
Tie: Xscape
 
Dorian said:
There were only 2 singles. APWNN and LNFSG. Both used the modern versions. I’ll have to check my CD singles, but I’m not sure the originals were there.
The vinyl version of Xscape featured only the modern versions.
Preferred modernised songs: LNFSG, Chicago, Loving You, STTR
Preferred demos: Blue Gangsta, DYKWYCA, APWNN.
Tie: Xscape
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Thanks for your reply! I suppose it makes sense that they released the modern versions. I have to say, I'm sort of surprised they went with APWNN for a single. For me it is just way too close to A Horse With No Name. What do you think?

I will check out the tracks based on your feedback! Thank you. Right now I just love the original of Loving You (I didn't even know it was Bad era at first, but I could tell it was just by the sound of it). But I will have to check out the modern version of it, if you prefer that.

It takes me a long time to work through albums. I only became a fan in January and while I thoroughly know all the albums from OTW through HIStory, I have only listened partially to Blood on the Dance Floor and Invincible, and this is my first time even touching the posthumous albums.
I will add that I have been exploring the group and solo Motown work and the Jacksons too, of course. There's a lot to take in for a new fan who fangirls hard over literally everything lol.
 
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i personally love the original versions of blue gangsta, chicago and love never felt so good
blue gangsta has these mild big band touches with the heavy brass flourishes, really cool with the modern heavy beat.
chicago is an adult themed track with a really nice electronic production.
Love never felt so good is so vibrant and lively, Michael and just a piano is an unlikely but magical combination
 
filmandmusic said:
Michael and just a piano is an unlikely but magical combination
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This is my fantasy for an 'unplugged' Michael show. Just him and Brad Buxer. I have no idea if it would really work but in my mind it does.

Are you saying there's such a track on Xscape? Cos I've only played one track off it and haven't looked at it since.

I do love the poster. I bought 2 copies of the album just so I could get a second poster. I have my priorities straight, lol.
 
zinniabooklover said:
This is my fantasy for an 'unplugged' Michael show. Just him and Brad Buxer. I have no idea if it would really work but in my mind it does.

Are you saying there's such a track on Xscape? Cos I've only played one track off it and haven't looked at it since.

I do love the poster. I bought 2 copies of the album just so I could get a second poster. I have my priorities straight, lol.
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Well of course, you surely heard the piano version of “love never felt so good”.
MJ also has a beautiful piano recording of a haunting ballad called “scared of the moon”.
Of course it would work, it would be unbelievably beautiful!
 
filmandmusic said:
Well of course, you surely heard the piano version of “love never felt so good”.
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No, that's my point. Haven't heard this, didn't know such a thing existed.

filmandmusic said:
MJ also has a beautiful piano recording of a haunting ballad called “scared of the moon”.
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Er, OK. Bit worrying. I have listened to this but only once. Must not have made much impression on me. I thought I'd really enjoyed it but if it's just piano and Michael ... I really don't remember that.

He is destroying my brain. That's my excuse. Better go and listen to this again.

filmandmusic said:
Of course it would work, it would be unbelievably beautiful!
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I agree. I have 3 different versions of low-key shows Michael could do but the piano one is my fave.
 
zinniabooklover said:
Agree. It's my default explanation nowadays. And it's not even an exaggeration, I don't think.
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It’s 100% not an exaggeration in my case lol. As a prof I have the summer off and I’m legitimately concerned he is going to consume every single moment of it and I won’t get anything else accomplished lol
 
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