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iMusic: The sound of silver
anniversaries
By Gregg Shapiro
You have to pity poor Michael Jackson.
As if an early death (at 50 in 2009) wasn’t probably already in the
cards for the eternal child star, the King of Pop had the daunting
task of following up his bazillion selling Thriller album. While
1987’s Bad fell short of what came before it, including Jackson’s
previous Quincy Jones collaborations Off The Wall (1979) and the
aforementioned Thriller (1982), it wasn’t , well, half bad.
The newly reissued deluxe (3 CD/1 DVD)
25th anniversary edition of Bad (MJJ Productions/ Epic/Legacy)
consists of a remastered version of the original album, a disc of
rare and unreleased tracks (such as French and Spanish version of “I
Just Can’t Stop Loving You” and the bizarre and controversial “Song
Groove (aka Abortion Papers),” among others), the live CD/DVD from
Jackson’s July 1988 Wembley concert, a pair of booklets, a sticker
and a poster.
Bad opens with the title track,
retaining the MJ-as-tough-guy spirit of “Beat It” from Thriller.
“The Way You Make Me Feel” a well-deserved hit single is a triumph,
but “Speed Demon” hints at the hiccup singing style that Jackson
unfortunately mined until his death. While “I Just Can’t Stop Loving
You” also ranks among his best (listen to him sing!), the
inexplicably popular “Man in the Mirror,” was Jackson at his most
manipulative. Frankly, Jackson was a man who desperately needed to
take a look in the mirror, not just sing about pretending to do so.
“Leave Me Alone,” the final track, originally a CD only bonus cut
(back when Bad was originally released on vinyl, too), is the
strongest song on the disc (and one of the best he ever wrote).
Pissed off and rocking, it’s the declaration of independence Jackson
always needed to make.
If Michael Jackson was the King of
Pop, then R.E.M. was the Kings of College Radio (later known as
alternative music). In a career spanning 30 years, Athens, Georgia’s
R.E.M., led by queer front-man Michael Stipe, defined modern rock.
On their early recordings, from the exposed jangle pop roots of
beloved recordings such as Murmur and Reckoning to the dark folk of
“Fables of the Reconstruction” to the beginnings of their mainstream
pop breakthrough on “Life’s Rich Pageant,” R.E.M. paved the way for
themselves and the multitude of imitators, grabbing at their crown,
who arrived in their wake.
It was probably unintentional, but
Document (I.R.S./Capitol), R.E.M.’s fifth album, released in 1987
(and the last one before they relocated to Warner Brothers), could
easily be the soundtrack for 2012. That works out well for the
rereleased, expanded, double CD, 25th anniversary edition of
Document. As prescient as anything in R.E.M.’s oeuvre, Stipe sings
about signs of the times in the aptly titled “Exhuming McCarthy,”
including being “Loyal to the Bank of America” as well as “vested
interest united ties, landed gentry rationalize”.
The attractively packaged anniversary set includes a 20-track live disc recorded in Holland, a large poster, booklet and postcards.
