Michael Jackson HIStory - Past, Present And Future Book 1

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by jl151080, May 23, 2020.

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  1. jl151080

    jl151080 Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Bristol, UK
    HIStory was the first Michael Jackson album I didn't buy on release. I was 14 at the time, and as it was a double CD of greatest hits and new material, it was expensive - over £20 in the UK IIRC.

    I also had no need for a CD of greatest hits, and to me it felt like that decision lessened the value of the new material, as if the hits were included to support it.

    I don't know if that was the intention, but if it was I don't think it was necessary. Though the album has some filler, it also includes at least three top drawer MJ tracks: Stranger In Moscow, Earth Song, Scream.

    Hard to believe that this album is now 25 years old. Underrated.
     
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  2. Dr. J.

    Dr. J. Music is in my soul

    Location:
    Memphis, TN
    My kids 9 and 12 love MJ and feel the same way. But for them nothing comes close to Dangerous.
     
  3. jl151080

    jl151080 Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Bristol, UK
    Interesting! For me Dangerous was a step down from Bad.

    There are some great songs on it, but some of them are too long - Jam, in particular.

    I always thought that was a weak choice of opening track.

    I kind of wish MJ had made a stripped back album, free if any fancy production and heavy beats, just natural drums, guitars and piano. That would have been interesting.
     
  4. GLUDFSSR

    GLUDFSSR Senior Member

    Location:
    Los Angeles, CA
    Dangerous to me was his decline. Did not follow him after that album.
     
  5. Pim

    Pim Forum Resident

    Dangerous/History MJ fan here. I remember thinking even back then in 1995 as a 10-year old that it was so weird that the first album was filled with Hits and the second one was entirely new. I think most people would've given it a lot more credit if it was just released as a separate album. Was it ever actually put out without the "hits" section - I know the recent picture disc issue wast just the 'new' material. Really hope they'll put out a boxset of the History/Dancefloor era. The last time MJ was still seen as mostly a superstar IMO.
     
  6. Duophonic

    Duophonic Beatles

    Location:
    BEATLES LOVE SONGS
    I love this album. Bought it at Circuit City the day of release along with a Aiwa portable CD player with car kit :righton:

    This is my favorite track, with the one, the only, Shaq:

     
  7. jl151080

    jl151080 Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Bristol, UK
    I can understand that, though I've grown to love a lot of tracks from Dangerous.
     
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  8. jl151080

    jl151080 Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Bristol, UK
    I don't remember ever seeing it released without the hits section - though strangely, the hits disc was released separately.

    I agree, I think releasing it with a hits package was a mistake, and I've always wondered what the reason for that was. Why not just release a standalone hits disc?

    I also always wondered why it was titled 'Book 1'. Was there to have been a 'Book 2'?
     
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  9. Oatsdad

    Oatsdad Oat, Biscuits, Abbie & Mitzi: Best Dogs Ever

    Location:
    Alexandria VA
    OTW > Thriller > Bad > Dangerous > History > Invincible.

    Gee, it's almost like a pattern! :eek:
     
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  10. Mr. Gnome

    Mr. Gnome Forum Resident

    Location:
    USA
    Others had either too long of an intro or ending. It was album of excess. It was a peak of sorts. Hard to explain. It would only go downhill from there.
     
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  11. Mr. Gnome

    Mr. Gnome Forum Resident

    Location:
    USA
    It was like a bell curve.
     
  12. Roland Stone

    Roland Stone Offending Member

    The liner notes to the original release are some of the most self-congratulatory ever penned. And among the new songs are some signs of serious cracks in the foundation.
     
  13. mpayan

    mpayan A Tad Rolled Off

    Thats very cool. I think Michael Jackson would smile knowing that.
     
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  14. jl151080

    jl151080 Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Bristol, UK
    It was certainly too long, which was the lame excuse Sony used, almost proudly, when explaining why the 2001 Special Edition CD had no bonus tracks.

    I disagree that it went downhill from there, though. For one, Stranger In Moscow - one of the best tracks MJ recorded.
     
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  15. Oatsdad

    Oatsdad Oat, Biscuits, Abbie & Mitzi: Best Dogs Ever

    Location:
    Alexandria VA
    Nope - more like a drop off a cliff! :D
     
  16. Mal

    Mal Phorum Physicist

  17. 905

    905 Senior Member

    Location:
    Midwest USA
    I'm a big fan of the "new" album.
    Earth Song and Stranger in Moscow are two of my favorite songs by anyone.

    And Scream :thumbsup:

    I still remember the first time I heard this album, listening to the CD on my Sony Walkman on a late October Saturday afternoon.
     
    Last edited: May 23, 2020
  18. Mr. Gnome

    Mr. Gnome Forum Resident

    Location:
    USA
    Going from OTW to Thriller and Bad was a drop off a cliff? In what fantasyland? :biglaugh:
     
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  19. WolfSpear

    WolfSpear Music Enthusiast

    Location:
    Florida
    HIStory brings out MJ’s personal side and I’m mixed about the overall mood of the album. There’s some great songs here: ‘Childhood’, ‘Earth Song’, ‘They Don’t Care About Us’ and even ‘Stranger In Moscow’. I understand that anger, frustration and sorrow submerse this piece, and that works in favor and against Michael. There are some true heartfelt moments, but tracks like “D.S.” showcase a very ugly, tormented side that can rub you wrong.

    Then you have some disappointing tracks like “You Are Alone”, which comes off as generic R&B. Maybe I’m supposed to look past production work and praise the message, but it comes off as labored and hardly inspired. It’s funny because Michael concludes the album with “Smile” and sends you off on a bittersweet but effective note.
     
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  20. Mr. Gnome

    Mr. Gnome Forum Resident

    Location:
    USA
    Dangerous was an ugly byproduct of the CD era. Pack in as many songs as you can. Bad wasn’t which is why the CD has a track the LP didn’t. With Dangerous, CD came first. It was literally a double LP.

    As good as Stranger In Moscow is, raising you Remember the Time, Black or White, Will You Be There, Who Is It?, etc puts Dangerous above it.
     
    Last edited: May 23, 2020
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  21. Mal

    Mal Phorum Physicist


     
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  22. Oatsdad

    Oatsdad Oat, Biscuits, Abbie & Mitzi: Best Dogs Ever

    Location:
    Alexandria VA
    I was joking/exaggerating, obviously.

    But MJ's 1979-2001 career wasn't a "bell curve". A bell curve makes no sense in this context, honestly...
     
  23. agundy

    agundy Forum Resident

    Location:
    Lock Haven, PA
    Like a lot of his post-Bad albums, lots of excess. But when he was on, he was on:)
     
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  24. TaumpyTears

    TaumpyTears Forum Resident

    Location:
    Down under
    Stranger in Moscow is one of the greatest things he ever cut. It stands along anything before it imo.

    the album had potential but he needed a ballsy producer to help him trim the fat.
     
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  25. Timmy84

    Timmy84 Forum Resident

    Location:
    North Carolina
    There was too much going on in the album. I can't really listen to it these days (for obvious reasons). It probably had one or two good songs in it. If that. Serious.
     
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