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Post by Russg on Aug 3, 2017 9:47:36 GMT
MICHAEL JACKSON DANGEROUS (Epic) Released November 26, 1991 Recorded June 1989 - October 1991 Chart US: No 1 UK: No 1
Tracklist:
1. Jam (Jackson) 2. Why You Wanna Trip On Me (Jackson - Riley - Belle) 3. In The Closet (Jackson) 4. She Drives Me Wild (Jackson) 5. Remember The Time (Jackson - Riley - Belle) 6. Can't Let Her Get Away (Jackson - Riley) 7. Heal The World (Jackson) 8. Black or White (Jackson - Bottrell) 9. Who Is It (Jackson) 10. Give Into Me (Jackson) 11. Will You Be There (Jackson) 12. Keep The Faith (Garrett - Ballard - Jackson) 13. Gone Too Soon (Kohan - Grossman) 14. Dangerous (Jackson)
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Post by Liberian Girl on Aug 3, 2017 11:58:32 GMT
Love, love, LOVE this album. Although History is my favourite, Dangerous comes a close second to me.
As a ten year old, Michael really entered my world with this album. Black or White, Jam, Heal The World, Remember The Time - they all captured my attention. Although at that age I didn't really become a massive fan (that happened in 1995 for me), this album brought him to my attention.
Now, I really think highly of this era. The album, the tour, the amazing videos - fantastic.
My favourite tracks off the album are -
- Why You Wanna Trip on Me - Who Is It? - Give In To Me - Keep The Faith (Wow, just wow!) - Heal the World
A strong collection of songs. I'd say Michael was on fire when making these tracks and the subsequent videos. What music fan can fail to love this album? It's really up there for me. Second only to History, Michael did something amazing on this album.
I love the rock/guitar vibe too, on Give In To Me, Black or White...
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Post by respect77 on Aug 3, 2017 18:17:18 GMT
Such a strong album. Who Is It is one of MJ's best songs ever. Will You Be There is so poignant. Love Jam, In The Closet, Give In To Me, She Drives Me Wild (yes, I do!), Dangerous, Keep The Faith.
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Post by Russg on Aug 4, 2017 9:28:50 GMT
I think this is MJ's masterpiece. The lyrics are the most meaningful up until that point in his career, the songwriting is impeccable, and the sound is focused. It's hard for me to pick favorites beyond the title track because most of the songs are so strong.
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Post by mjjfan810 on Aug 4, 2017 12:37:48 GMT
Dangerous is only mid range in my album ranking. I've never thought it's MJ's best album, or even second best album. Who Is It and Remember The Time are good songs but not classics by any means, especially when compared to songs like MITM, Billie Jean, TWYMMF, Smooth Criminal, Beat It etc. I have never gotten into a lot of the New Jack Swing stuff. I can't remember the last time I listened to the entire songs like She Drives Me Wild, Jam or Why You Wanna Trip On Me. There are some definite gems, but the album as a whole doesn't surface as legendary.
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Post by MattyJam on Aug 5, 2017 16:28:37 GMT
I love this entire era of pop music, superstars like MJ, Janet, Prince, George Michael and even Madonna (yes, I can give her some credit ) were at the top of their game and all expanding their horizons and reaching new levels of creativity. Dangerous to me is like MJ's response to Rhythm Nation 1814. I did a thread over on MJJC a while ago about how much I think MJ was inspired by Janet's RN album. It's everywhere on Dangerous. The darker themes, the social commentary on songs like WYWTOM, Jam, BorW. I think he saw Janet upping her game and it spurred him on to do the same. I know a lot of fans rate Dangerous as his greatest album, to me, that accolade will always belong to HIStory, but Dangerous is still one hell of a record. This is why MJ is my favourite artist of all time, because only he could have an album as magnificent and brilliant as Dangerous and still have other works that surpass it.
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TonyR
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Post by TonyR on Aug 14, 2017 16:07:12 GMT
Due to popular demand (Aazzaabb), I'm going to post my reviews of all MJ solo albums that I've written in the past.
I'll start off with Dangerous as that's the first one I wrote. Think this was back in 2004/5?
Hope you like it, these get more contraversial as time goes on, just wait until Invincible kids!!
Michael Jackson - Dangerous, a review In 1991, the music world and the world in general, was a very different place. Personal computers were for the elite few, if you had a mobile phone it was the size of a brick and i-pods were something that i-peas grew in.
CD's had only been around 5 years, and music was something you went to a shop, bought and held, not a soul-less download.
The music world was also gearing up for a musical event. These didn't happen very often and could only mean one thing – Michael Jackson was to release a new album.
It had been four years since the release of Bad, but now we were used to waiting a while between releases. After all, it was worth the wait and it never seemed that long due to the amount of single releases which followed each album.
The new album was to prove ground breaking even before we heard it. After the holy trinity of albums made with the legendary Quincy Jones, Michael was cutting the umbilical cord and collaborating with new producers, primarily 'King of New Jack Swing' Teddy Riley. It was a risk; the previous 3 albums had sold circa 90 million copies and established Jackson as the biggest pop star in history.
But it was now the '90s, could Michael show he was more than an '80s artist and could survive without Quincy?
So, 17 years and 25 million copies later, this piece is less a review, but more a homage as to why I believe Dangerous is not only Michael Jackson's best album, but quite simply, the best album ever made.
Michael was to embrace the new technology that CD's were to give. He could break free from the time restraints of cassette and vinyl and was to make a 77 minute, 14 track epic. But was it killer or mainly filler?
By now, we were used to Michael opening his albums in style. From the earth-shifting bass & spoken intro of 'Don't Stop 'til you get Enough' on Off The Wall, and the BAM BAM BAM on Thriller's 'Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' or the ear-blistering ascending brass on Bad, the first sound on the album led the way for an aural sensation. The first track on Dangerous didn't disappoint. Press play and prepare to be blasted out your chair. Jam literally broke it's way through the speakers and told you Michael was back. Jam is a dance-funk-pop hybrid that is impossible to sit still to. A six minute workout that leaves you sh@ttered by the end of it. The message of the song is simple – there may be a lot of craziness going on in the world, but you know what? Once that music starts nothings gonna stop me. Jam is classic Michael, a 'Startin Somethin' for the next generation. It was to be the 5th Top 10 single in the UK from Dangerous and was accompanied by a stunning short film with a cameo from Michael Jordan – 2 MJ's at the top of their game.
This is followed by 'Why You Wanna Trip On Me', one of only 2 songs on the album not to be have any writing involvement from Jackson. However, it was obviously written for him, with the theme of the song being, with so much poverty, war & crime in the world why is it Michael Jackson being 'strange' that makes the front page. 'Trip' was one of the few tracks not to be a single, but is still a powerful slice of rock-funk. By now you could see this album was not a Thriller or Bad part 2. It had a distinct cutting edge sound that was miles away from the synthesised sound of it's predecessor. The gamble had paid off.
Track 3 was 'In The Closet' and rumours had bounded round about the track before it was heard, due to its suggestive title & 'Mystery Girl' credit. It became apparent later that it wasn't Madonna that many had guessed but the female vocal came courtesy of Princess Stephanie of Monaco. 'In The Closet' was Michael's most sexual song & video yet. A story of a secret love (lust?) between man and woman showed Michael gyrating saucily with Naomi Campbell in the beautifully shot video by the late Herb Ritts. The third song to be around 6 minutes on the album, and the third single; by the time this was released any doubts on whether Michael had another hit on his hands were quashed and those that has waited to buy Dangerous now did so in their millions.
Track 4 is 'She Drives Me Wild', not a single and thought of by many to be one of the 2 fillers on the album. Not so, this is a blast of pure pop that only pales when compared to other epics on the album. If this was released by one of the many MJ-a-likes today, it would be a Top 10 hit easily.
Next, another classic and the second single. Remember The Time is a delight from the first hearing. A gorgeous slice of R&B pop with stunning vocals; it seems such an easy record, but the genius is the way the melody penetrates your brain and would get the dead moving. Accompanied by a John Singleton directed epic, it made the video & song forever entwined for all those who saw it.
This is followed by Can't Let Her Get Away and is the song I alluded to earlier as possibly another filler. Again, not so; it is a modern dance record that deserves it's place on Dangerous.
By now, the listener has been shocked and amazed, we've listened to over 30 minutes of music, but we're not even half way through the Dangerous journey. If we hadn't before, we're now getting into ground breaking territory.
Track 7 slows things down. Heal The World could easily be We Are The World part 2, as it's similar in sentiment and title. However, it shows how Michael has matured as a songwriter in the intervening 7 years. At over 7 minutes long, Heal The World does exactly as it says on the tin, pleas for us all to do our bit. Sentimental? Yes. Saccharine? Yes. Sickly? No. Somehow it manages to keep just the right side of corny to become a heartfelt prayer from a great humanitarian. At the time this became Jackson's biggest selling single ever in the UK, hitting number 2 at Christmas time, only kept from the top spot by Whitney's ubiquitous 'I will Always Love You'.
Black Or White hits you next. This was the first single and became a controversial event in itself. Since the Thriller short film in 1984, a new Michael Jackson song was synonymous with an amazing video to accompany it. It may be hard to believe now, in the days of dozens of music channels, the internet, i-Tunes etc, but Michael's videos had families gathered around their TV prepared to be amazed.
But no-one was quite prepared for Black Or White. The final 4 minutes of the 11 minute film was a breathtaking, nearly silent dance-fest with Michael personifying the panther he had just morphed from to take his anger out in his dance. So great was the furore afterwards, Michael issued an apology for any offence caused. But you get the feeling it did exactly as he wanted, as he was everywhere, and the Black Or White film was even an item on the news and you could imagine Michael sat back in Neverland chuckling to himself! The song itself is possibly Michael's purest pop song. Taking off the album intro it's the shortest song on the album and again sounds like a simple record but is an intricate piece of rock, pop and rap. It became an overnight classic hitting number one all over the globe.
For me, the second half of the album begins now. The next few tracks are ground breaking and smash all musical styles & barriers.'Who Is It' begins with a haunting choral piece before breaking into a baseline to blow your mind. This was to be recreated in the infamous Oprah Winfrey interview where Michael blew our minds again with a beat boxing accapella intro that summed up genius in 30 seconds. If 'Who Is It' was to be categorised into a genre, I suppose it's a soul epic, the last 2 minutes of which are pure pleasure as Michael adlibs his way over a repeated chorus with a voice that encapsulates heartbreak and unrequited love. Because of Michael's success in terms of sales and innovation in terms of dance, his songwriting genius can get missed, But 'Who Is It' is a perfect example of why it shouldn't be and why his production skills shouldn't be overlooked either as he single handedly produced this. In my view the best song on the album, if not his best ever.
But wait, is it his best? Because now comes track 10, 'Give In To Me'. Ever since Thriller's Beat It, we knew that Michael Jackson could manage all genres and since Dirty Diana we expected a rock track on the album, but not this. 'Give In To Me' is a track of unparalleled genius. Guitarists Eddie Van Halen & Steve Stephens are usurped by the best of the best – Slash. Together they make a record that doesn't sound like a pop artist trying to be hard, the song wouldn't sound out of place on a Guns 'n' Roses, Aerosmith or any other rock artist's album. 'Give In To Me' is simply sublime – in all senses – songwriting, production, musically and vocally. With a massive ending that leaves you begging for more.
Will You Be There completes what I dub the holy trinity on Dangerous, the three tracks that could not be bettered. So, we've had the dance music of Jam, the R&B of Remember The Time, the pop of Black of White and the rock of Give In To Me – do you fancy some classical or gospel? How about both? Will You Be There is a song that only Michael Jackson could make. Seven and a half minutes of audible genius where Michael begs for people to remember that he's 'Only Human' and to forgive him his fallibility. I mentioned earlier Michael's songwriting skills. Will You Be There encapsulates that. The track culminates in a spoken poem, that looking back 17 years later is a poem that Nostradamus would be proud of so great is its fortune telling – 'Through my trials and tribulations, will you still care. Will You Be There'. Stunning, simply stunning.
More gospel follows in the shape of 'Keep The Faith', not a single but a great track. The only track on Dangerous that could be compared to anything on Bad due to its synthesised production, the song is an uplifting cry to believe in whatever you believe in that you will triumph over adversity. 'Dust off your butt and get your self respect back' – indeed.
'Gone Too Soon' is the other track not to have any songwriting input from Jackson. As first it seems out of place on Dangerous, as it's a short ballad about early loss, dedicated to AIDs sufferer Ryan White as shown in the video. Beautifully sung, as we've become accustomed to, and hits the right spot emotionally before the album draws to a close.
The album closes with the title track. 'Dangerous' the track is different from the rest of the album in terms of both vocals & production. More mechanical and industrial sounding than the other tracks with vocals that are more rapped than sung. Possibly a 'Dirty Diana' part two lyrically, it was to prove another shocker on first listen but grows into another fantastic track that was to grow in popularity when Michael performed it on the VMAs 4 years later.
I could continue and talk about the artwork. In a day when an album sleeve meant something as it wasn't to be shrunk into a half inch square on an i-pod. Dangerous has a stunning cover, illustrated by Mark Ryden, offering glimpses into Michael's psyche and life. The accompanying booklet, with full lyrics and poetry is innovatively and elegantly put together into an aesthetic joy.
So, there you have it. I could embellish on every track here, but this is why in summary I feel Dangerous is the perfect album. Fourteen tracks and 77 minutes of pure auditory bliss, with tracks that not only stand out on there own but somehow become one cohesive piece of work that encompasses every genre out there and masters in all of them. Michael's pseudonym has become the King Of Pop but Dangerous shows he's quite simply, the King Of Music.
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Post by mjjfan810 on Aug 19, 2017 14:46:44 GMT
Due to popular demand (Aazzaabb), I'm going to post my reviews of all MJ solo albums that I've written in the past.
I'll start off with Dangerous as that's the first one I wrote. Think this was back in 2004/5?
Hope you like it, these get more contraversial as time goes on, just wait until Invincible kids!!
That was a fantastic read tonyr! Your passion shines through and you've made me want to reassess the album.
I've always had a contentious relationship with MJs 90s albums. I love plenty of individual songs from the 90s, and I love a lot of the shortfilms from Dangerous, History and BOTD, but they don't resonate with me the same as his late 70s/80s work. Maybe it's because I'm a bit older than a lot of MJ fans who discovered him in the 90s. Unlike a lot of the more recent fans, I lived through the 80s MJ hysteria firsthand and experienced things like the Bad tour and the excitement of that will live with me forever.
His 90s and 00s work certainly produced some gems (I especially love the five new tracks on BOTD), but the albums as a whole just sound overly-long, disjointed and a bit OTT for me. I prefer albums like OTW, Thriller and Bad, because they're simpler, tighter and more straight forward and they don't feature rap cameos and other such nonsense that polluted MJs post-80s work.
But I shall give Dangerous another spin tonight, inspired by your passionate review. I regularly play selected songs from Dangerous (Remember The Time, Who Is It and the title track are on my Best of MJ playlist), but it's been YEARS since I've listened to the album from beginning to end.
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TonyR
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Post by TonyR on Aug 19, 2017 17:30:21 GMT
Due to popular demand (Aazzaabb), I'm going to post my reviews of all MJ solo albums that I've written in the past.
I'll start off with Dangerous as that's the first one I wrote. Think this was back in 2004/5?
Hope you like it, these get more contraversial as time goes on, just wait until Invincible kids!!
That was a fantastic read tonyr! Your passion shines through and you've made me want to reassess the album.
I've always had a contentious relationship with MJs 90s albums. I love plenty of individual songs from the 90s, and I love a lot of the shortfilms from Dangerous, History and BOTD, but they don't resonate with me the same as his late 70s/80s work. Maybe it's because I'm a bit older than a lot of MJ fans who discovered him in the 90s. Unlike a lot of the more recent fans, I lived through the 80s MJ hysteria firsthand and experienced things like the Bad tour and the excitement of that will live with me forever.
His 90s and 00s work certainly produced some gems (I especially love the five new tracks on BOTD), but the albums as a whole just sound overly-long, disjointed and a bit OTT for me. I prefer albums like OTW, Thriller and Bad, because they're simpler, tighter and more straight forward and they don't feature rap cameos and other such nonsense that polluted MJs post-80s work.
But I shall give Dangerous another spin tonight, inspired by your passionate review. I regularly play selected songs from Dangerous (Remember The Time, Who Is It and the title track are on my Best of MJ playlist), but it's been YEARS since I've listened to the album from beginning to end.
Thanks for that! I'm also what you may call an older fan, grew up in 70s/80s. And I know what you mean about these albums being simpler and tighter. They are also more exhuberant and in a way simple. But I love his complex 90s work more. However if I just want footloose and carefree, then it's the earlier works. Of course if I really want Footloose then it's Kenny Loggins.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 20, 2017 5:18:52 GMT
To me it was a coming of age, because he focussed on bigger issues besides Love, chasing girls, dancing, and ego. Dangerous looked at world issues, healing the world, secrecy, erotic desires and power issues. . It is a strange album to me, I remember buying all the singles as they came out, but never the whole album until around 2000 which is bizarre. As much as I loved it, it was also the same time I really got into Prince hardcore. The day I bought the Black and White cassingle, was the day I also bought the Cream cassingle. Because Prince was doing more and more prolific I went heavily into him and have never come out, but still remained loyal to Michael.
This is a great album and includes some amazing songs. My favourites are 1. Who is it - I can never get enough of it, his vocals, the beat and the fact he sounds exasperated by who it is. 2. Will you be there - I love perfect gospel pop songs and this is one, not so much for the choir (They are great), but Michael's singing in this song, his voice, the use of melisma, the high emotion and pleading at the end, and yet who was paying attention, Michael was baring his soul here. 3. In the Closet - Again, sexy and mysterious with a Prince like feel, this is great stuff. 4. Heal the World, this is beautiful and cute in a good way. 5. Give in to me, classic rock ballad and great guitar bit by slash. 6. Gone too soon - really really grown on me, again Michael is doing what he does best in his serious songs, he is being entirely sincere and you can feel it. 7. Why you wanna trip on me - The song where he states the agenda of the album and good frenzied vocals. 8. Dangerous, funky and tension filled and non stop danceathon with that beat. . There is nothing I don't like, although the talking before Black and White and Heal the world is lame after a while and She drives me wild and a couple of other songs are slightly slight. For me it made a perfect companion to Diamonds and Pearls and those albums were my 1991/1992.
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Post by HIStoric on Aug 20, 2017 9:29:38 GMT
'Gone Too Soon' is the other track not to have any songwriting input from Jackson. As first it seems out of place on Dangerous, as it's a short ballad about early loss, dedicated to AIDs sufferer Ryan White as shown in the video. Beautifully sung, as we've become accustomed to, and hits the right spot emotionally before the album draws to a close. Ahh man, FANTASTIC review Tony! I have to say though, I'm genuinely surprised by this. For such a personal song, I thought it would've been written solely by him - but alas! Only just reading the Wikipedia article now have I learnt that not only was it written years before, but even performed live in 1983 by Dionne Warwick who dedicated it to many dead celebrities such as Elvis, Joplin, Lennon, Redding, Hendrix etc. Michael saw that performance and called the writer, saying it made him weep and that he wanted to record it some day!
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Post by dancingmjsdream on Sept 1, 2017 8:00:33 GMT
Listening to the album in my free period with my new earphones. Who Is It gives me goose bumps.
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Post by dancingmjsdream on Nov 26, 2017 15:50:47 GMT
Happy 26 years to Dangerous album!
First album I ever bought (together with HIStory), absolutely magical!
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TonyR
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Post by TonyR on Nov 26, 2017 19:32:41 GMT
In the words of Nelson Mandela:
"Dangerous is so fucking good, I made sure I got released in time to listen to the bastard."
Happy Birthday to the album that changed my life.
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Post by MattyJam on Nov 26, 2017 19:44:14 GMT
I had to post this here. All credit to Snow White:
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