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Post by MattyJam on Aug 5, 2023 11:14:09 GMT
Strictly looking at the ballads from MJs solo albums OTW-Invincible, MJ never really matched his contemporaries when it came to breathtaking ballads.
Name me one song MJ ballad that's better than this:
Or this:
Or this:
Or this:
I'm as big a fan as anybody of songs like Human Nature, Speechless, Why, YANA, hell, I even love The Lost Children if that counts, but none of these songs are as stunning as the best Madonna/Prince ballads imho.
Agree/disagree?
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Post by mjjfan810 on Aug 5, 2023 11:28:58 GMT
Three words:
Stranger In Moscow.
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Post by MattyJam on Aug 5, 2023 11:44:13 GMT
Three words: Stranger In Moscow. As good as Take A Bow? You avin' a giraffe?!
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Post by mjjfan810 on Aug 5, 2023 11:47:14 GMT
Three words: Stranger In Moscow. As good as Take A Bow? You avin' a giraffe?! I'd take Moscow over all of the songs you mentioned. But I don't really connect on an emotional level with Madonna's music and the Prince songs you mentioned aren't even his best ballads, SIM wipes the floor with those songs.
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Post by pg13 on Aug 5, 2023 12:19:59 GMT
Three words: Stranger In Moscow. And, my personal favourite: Who's Lovin' You. Wipes the floor with all comers and 11 years old too! Michael did have some top quality ballads during the Motown years when he was better known for being a ballad singer. As an adult, he deliberately made fewer ballads as he no longer wanted to be known as a ballad singer. At any rate, I don't think it's right to restrict Michael's output to just the Epic/Sony years.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Aug 5, 2023 13:46:20 GMT
If we are only counting MJ's solo years, then from 1979 to 2016 the amount of absolute muck Prince released ballad wise pales in comparison to the quality of MJ's ballad output. You chose 2 alright songs, but god they are far from great IMO. Even in the 80's ballads were his weakest songs.
Madonna blows Prince out of the water too. And she has more than MJ did, but I only really think that Frozen and The Power of Goodbye would come near MJ's best ones for me.
I'll reiterate that Prince was atrocious at writing ballads.
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Post by MattyJam on Aug 5, 2023 14:12:56 GMT
If we are only counting MJ's solo years, then from 1979 to 2016 the amount of absolute muck Prince released ballad wise pales in comparison to the quality of MJ's ballad output. You chose 2 alright songs, but god they are far from great IMO. Even in the 80's ballads were his weakest songs. Madonna blows Prince out of the water too. And she has more than MJ did, but I only really think that Frozen and The Power of Goodbye would come near MJ's best ones for me. I'll reiterate that Prince was atrocious at writing ballads. What's atrocious is the words spewing from your piehole Nigel! Prince was an excellent ballad writer. I could name fifteen songs off the top of my head that smoke any MJ ballad from 79-01. The Beautiful Ones Sometimes It Snows In April Adore Power Fantastic Sweet Baby Damn U Dark The Most Beautiful Girl In The World Soul Sanctuary Friend Lover Sister Mother Wife I Love U But I Don't Trust U Anymore Man O War Future Soul Song Revelation Breakdown There you go. Now go and think about your hurtful words and how they impact other people.
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TonyR
The Legend Continues
Posts: 8,423
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Post by TonyR on Aug 5, 2023 14:23:26 GMT
In the words of Sam Cooke, don't know much about balladry (in terms of Prince). But yeah you're quite right MattyJam about Madonna winning this one. Proof is here. Who else could release a stunning ballad collection like this: And this was before Frozen, Power of Goodbye, Masterpiece and the stunning Ghosttown. MJ had his fair share of great ones. Obviously SIM, but I also love Childhood, SOOML, HTW, and the much maligned IJCSLY. But they pale in comparison to Madonna's. He only just kept on the right side of sickly and for many crossed the line.
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Post by electriceyes on Aug 5, 2023 16:47:51 GMT
I'm not that familiar with those Madonna songs. I know some Prince, but his screeching falsetto was always more nails on a chalkboard for my liking. He sounds like a proper girl on The Most Beautiful Girl In The World for example.
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Post by electriceyes on Aug 5, 2023 16:57:38 GMT
In terms of MJs ballads, he's done some amazing ones, I really don't know why you can't see that Matty?
Butterflies Stranger In Moscow Someone Put Your Hand Out Break of Dawn Heaven Can Wait Much Too Soon Little Susie Smile Speechless Fall Again Human Nature The Lady In My Life She's Out of My Life acoustic demo
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TonyR
The Legend Continues
Posts: 8,423
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Post by TonyR on Aug 5, 2023 17:07:11 GMT
In terms of MJs ballads, he's done some amazing ones, I really don't know why you can't see that Matty? Butterflies Stranger In Moscow Someone Put Your Hand Out Break of Dawn Heaven Can Wait Much Too Soon Little Susie Smile Speechless Fall Again Human Nature The Lady In My Life She's Out of My Life acoustic demo Looking at the list, I reckon it's the genre he had the least songwriting input in.
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Post by MattyJam on Aug 5, 2023 17:07:53 GMT
In the words of Sam Cooke, don't know much about balladry (in terms of Prince). But yeah you're quite right MattyJam about Madonna winning this one. Proof is here. Who else could release a stunning ballad collection like this: And this was before Frozen, Power of Goodbye, Masterpiece and the stunning Ghosttown. MJ had his fair share of great ones. Obviously SIM, but I also love Childhood, SOOML, HTW, and the much maligned IJCSLY. But they pale in comparison to Madonna's. He only just kept on the right side of sickly and for many crossed the line. Childhoods a good call. Very underrated song in the fanbase. But I think what I love about Madonnas ballads is that they were rarely cheesy and always had a tonne of class. I love stuff like Childhood, Elizabeth I Love You, Speechless etc, but it's pure Disney, isn't it? Not that there's anything wrong with that, but I find myself not wanting to listen to that kinda stuff as much. If I want to listen to MJ and "get-the-feels" I would turn to his uptempo stuff or midtempo epics like Earth Song, History, Keep The Faith, WYBT etc before I'd put on any of his ballads. In terms of MJs ballads, he's done some amazing ones, I really don't know why you can't see that Matty? Butterflies Break of Dawn Heaven Can Wait Little Susie All good songs (last two are great) but I don't consider any of these to be ballads.
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TonyR
The Legend Continues
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Post by TonyR on Aug 5, 2023 17:11:47 GMT
There's a subject matter point here I think.
MJs best ballads were mournful, introspective, sad songs (SIM, Smile, Childhood).
He rarely did a traditional love song pr heartbreak ballad (IJCSLY or SOOML I can think of, but many would claim to be amongst the weakest on their albums).
So MJs best slower songs like SIM et al, maybe aren't classed as ballads, just slow.
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Post by MattyJam on Aug 5, 2023 17:14:58 GMT
He rarely did a traditional love song pr heartbreak ballad (IJCSLY or SOOML I can think of Don't Walk Away? I know how you love that one.
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Post by pg13 on Aug 5, 2023 19:21:25 GMT
There's a subject matter point here I think. MJs best ballads were mournful, introspective, sad songs (SIM, Smile, Childhood). He rarely did a traditional love song pr heartbreak ballad (IJCSLY or SOOML I can think of, but many would claim to be amongst the weakest on their albums). So MJs best slower songs like SIM et al, maybe aren't classed as ballads, just slow. But they are ballads which is simply a song that tells a story in four line verses plus chorus. And you can add in the ballads off Destiny and Triumph too. Push Me Away....wowzers!
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