Michael Jackson: Music and Me (Motown, 1973) Having finally gotten it through my head that Michael isn't the black Donny Osmond--not only does he have a sense of natural rhythm, but he's a singer not a marionette--I listened hard and decided he's not a very good singer. Genuinely sweet and genuinely clean, when Motown provides the material. But if he's a real interpreter, I'm too old to understand where the interpretations are coming from. B-Michael Jackson: The Best of Michael Jackson (Motown, 1975) Because you can believe that their sincerity is neither feigned nor foolish, it's good in theory for children to sing romantic ballads. But in the end only pederasts, parents, and horny little girls can get off consistently on the interpretive nuances of a boy whose voice hasn't changed--the manipulation from above is simply too transparent. I love "Rockin' Robin" and hate "Ben" and find most of the rest in between. The most interesting exception is "One Day in Your Life," a first-rate tearjerker that achieves just the right mix of autonomy and helpless innocence--probably because Michael cut it about a year ago, when he was sixteen. B-
Michael Jackson: Forever, Michael (Motown, 1975) I'm converted. Because it's possible to believe that their sincerity is neither feigned nor foolish, it's good in theory for children to sing romantic ballads. The reason it doesn't work is that the sincerity is so transparently manipulated from above. At 16, however, Michael's voice combines autonomy and helpless innocence in effective proportions. He also gets production help from Brian Holland (who begins one side like Barry White and the other like the Ohio Players) and a few romantic ballads (sure hit: "One Day in Your Life") that are as credible on their own terms as the rockers. A-Michael Jackson: Off the Wall (Epic, 1979) In which fast-stepping Michael J. and quick-witted Quncy J. fashion the dance groove of the year. Michael's vocabulary of grunts, squeals, hiccups, moans, and asides is a vivid reminder that he's grown up, and the title tune suggests that maybe what makes Stevie Wonder (who contributes a good ballad) such an oddball isn't his genius or even his blindness so much as the fact that since childhood his main contact with the real world has been on stage and in bed. A
MJ fans are like the pop music equivalent of Disney adults.
>>129892704What about anime fans?
>>129894014Fishmans
He went from appealing to pederasts, to becoming one.
>>129897346That pipeline is well documented.
Was Christgau on the Epstein Islands?
