How would you Re-arrange the Track Order on MJ's Albums?

[MoonWalker94]

We all have our favorite songs by Michael, and lately I've been toying around the track order of my favorite songs that play on his albums, in this case Dangerous.
Basically if you could create an essential playlist from any of MJ's albums, how would you order them? and what songs would make the cut for you?

Why You Wanna Trip On Me
Can't Let Her Get Away
Who Is It
She Drives Me Wild
Heal The World
Black Or White
Dangerous
Give In To Me
Jam
In the Closet
Will You Be There
Gone Too Soon
Remember The Time

I changed the order a bunch and only cut Keep The Faith,it's a good song, just never been a big fan. What would yours be? (and not just for Dangerous!)

 

[raz2911]

Good thread, the flow of an album can change a whole view on an album. I always liked the way MJ's albums were set out though,, they all flow great.
But I guess if I were to change anything I'd put Remember The Time after JAM and Put Why You Wanna Trip On Me in Remember The Time's place, because everytime I listen to Dangerous I always listen to Remember The Time after Jam, and put Will You Be There as the last song I think its a great way to end the album.

 

[Renan_Antonio]

This would be the PERFECT Dangerous album... I think Dangerous has too many songs, so i took off CLHGA, WYWTOM and SDMW, they're nice songs, but not compared to the other ones in the album. I f it was really like this, Dangerous would be MJ's best album for me.

Jam
Remember The Time
In The Closet
Who Is It
Heal The World
Give In To Me
Black Or White
Will You Be There
Keep The Faith
Gone Too Soon
Dangerous

 

[MoonWalker94]

Yeah, CLHGA, WYWTOM and SDMW are probably considered filler, but I love them to much to cut from my list.
More so than any of his albums I've tried to make a Perfect Invincible album (for me personally)

Heartbreaker
Slave To The Rhythm
Heaven Can Wait
You Rock My World
Cry
Another Day
Break Of Dawn
Unbreakable
Butterflies
Xscape
Don't Walk Away

I used songs that were cut during the Invincible sessions in this one. Never been big on Invincible, was always something slightly off about that album. Michael's voice sounds great like it always did but..the music lacked a wow factor, or maybe the hooks couldn't reeal me in all the way, I point the blame at RJ more than MJ for that. Kinda wish he would have worked with Pharrell on it instead.

 

[SoCav]

Interesting topic.

I think MJ's albums generally flow really well and also find it difficult to re-arrange them because I have listened to the tracks in this order for so long. That being said, there are some transitions that I am not a huge fan of. MITM into I Just Can't Stop for instance (although it is difficult for any type of song to follow MITM, which is why I think it might have been a good album closer too). Or Remember the Time into Can't Let Her Get Away - I think the latter would work much better immediately after Jam so that RTT is the last song of the New Jack swing set. I also think Give Into Me and Who Is It could be switched - I like the transition from WII into WYBT more than GITM into WYBT and I think both can follow BOW equally well.

In general, I think that Off The Wall, Thriller, Bad and Dangerous have the best flow and that HIStory and Invincible (though that is more track selection than track order) could perhaps be improved a bit.

It's really a pity that albums are disappearing nowadays. I really find that listening to a well-structured album, both musically and thematically, gives you an experience that can go beyond the enjoyment of the individual songs (whole is more than the sum of its parts idea). It's like reading an entire book rather than just one chapter. Of course, this does not work for all artists, as many take the approach of including one or two good songs and filling the album out with throw-away cuts.

 

[Rudolf]

Yeah, CLHGA, WYWTOM and SDMW are probably considered filler, but I love them to much to cut from my list.
More so than any of his albums I've tried to make a Perfect Invincible album (for me personally)

Heartbreaker
Slave To The Rhythm
Heaven Can Wait
You Rock My World
Cry
Another Day
Break Of Dawn
Unbreakable
Butterflies
Xscape
Don't Walk Away

I used songs that were cut during the Invincible sessions in this one. Never been big on Invincible, was always something slightly off about that album. Michael's voice sounds great like it always did but..the music lacked a wow factor, or maybe the hooks couldn't real me in all the way, I point the figure at RJ more than MJ for that. Kinda wish he would have worked with Pharrell on it instead.

No We've Had Enough in your list? Really??

 

[MoonWalker94]

With Bad 25 coming up, I thought it would be appropriate to revive this thread with another song list rearrangement. Now Bad is my absolute favorite Michael Jackson album, so it's harder for me to change it up some.

Bad
The Way You Make Me Feel
Another Part Of Me
Dirty Diana
Speed Demon
Liberian Girl
Streetwalker
Smooth Criminal
I Just Can't Stop Loving You
Leave Me Alone
Man in the Mirror

Just Good Friends is cut. When I listen to that song I get the impression that Stevie and Michael and a blast recording it, but all in all it holds the album down. Not that it's a bad song, it just seems like something that any other artists could have released at the time, not people of MJ's and Stevie's caliber. Also added in Streetwalker, that song is funky!

Moving Man In The Mirror to the end is important (for me) also. Though Bad is the sole MJ album I can listen to without the urge to skip any songs (Even JGF) Sometimes I do feel exhausted after MITM, and I'm not inclined to listen to the rest of the album until later.