The Return of the Scarecrow

Michael Jackson's 'Invincible'

By Mark Anthony Neal
SeeingBlack.com Music Critic

It was during the filming of the 1978 film The Wiz that Michael Jackson and Quincy Jones laid the groundwork for the very productive and profitable professional relationship that would transform Jackson from former-child star to global pop star. It was Jones's brew of sophisticated and subtle pop-jazz that grounded the early successes of the second movement in Jackson's career. His 1979 recording Off the Wall is the purest form of pop music genius that we've seen in the last 25 years. And Thriller became the biggest selling pop recording in the world, guaranteeing that the little nappy-head Negro from Gary, Indiana would never again be able to view his recording career with any semblance of reality.

Michael Jackson has of course been chasing "Michael Jackson" ever since, with decreasing degrees of success with Bad (1987), Dangerous (1991), and the incredibly pretentious History (1996). Scandals and self-inflicted misfortunes aside, for most audiences, Jackson had, for all intents and purposes, fallen off the face of the earth ("what's that sound? Oh that's Blood on the Dance Floor slipping violently from the Top 200 list"). Nevertheless the prognosis for a new Michael Jackson recording wasn't good. And rumors of a collaboration with Rodney "Dark Child" Jerkins (easily the most pedestrian and mundane of contemporary R&B producers) were not likely to allay the contempt and indifference that most audiences, even fans, had for the possibility of a new Jackson disc.

The film version of The Wiz—the original Broadway production debuted in 1974 with Stephanie Mills in the lead role—featured Jackson in the role the "Scarecrow". My referencing of Jackson's "Scarecrow" is relevant as his appearance in the film marked the last time Jackson resembled anything close to a "normal" pop star. No doubt, the role provided some inspiration for his future monstrous transformations in the videos for "Thriller", "Smooth Criminal" and the recent Halloween special "Ghost" (the video was originally released in Europe nearly four years ago).

More specifically though, at the time that Jackson did The Wiz, he was little more than the lead vocalist of an highly accomplished pop-inflected R&B group, that while beyond their commercial peak, still produced quality recordings. Goin' Places (1977), contains one of Jackson's great vocals on "Find Me a Girl." Destiny (1979) brought the group back to the top-10 with disco hits such as "Blame It On the Boogie" and "Shake Your Body Down to the Ground." Their best post-Motown disc, Triumph, contains one of MJ's most brilliant performances on "Heartbreak Hotel" (later renamed "This Place Hotel"). Over-hype aside, like the MJ celebrations in NYC in early September, Invincible represents a return of sorts to the kind of solid infectious R&B that marked the best of Jackson's recordings with his brothers and his "adult" debut with Off the Wall.

This is not to say that Invincible isn't an uneven endeavor with the majority of the missteps featuring Jerkins behind the boards. When the lead single "You Rock My World" was initially leaked to radio, there was much speculation that the single would "disappear" because of lukewarm reception, much the way that lead singles from Maxwell and Usher "disappeared" in the past year. Jackson is of course notorious for releasing "weak" lead singles as witnessed with Thriller's "The Girl is Mine" with Sir Paul McCartney and his "duet" with Siedah Garrett ("I Just Can't Stop Loving You") from Bad, thus "You Rock My World" was not really a surprise.

What most audiences were unaware of is that "You Rock My World" is easily the strongest of Jerkins's productions. Featuring a funny-ass opening with comedian Chris Tucker ("We'll sh'mon then…") the track is on par with, "He wasn't Man Enough for Me" the fine lead single that Dark-Child produced for Toni Braxton's The Heat. The track is unexpected in that it marks Jackson's clear intention top get in to the R&B/pop hit-parade that has made commercial successes of Destiny's Child and N'Sync. It is perhaps the first time in more than a decade that Jackson has decided to follow a trend as opposed to believing that the trends would follow him. Unfortunately the Jerkins/Jackson collaboration offer little beyond "You Rock My World" and the opening track "Unbreakable," which is in the fine tradition of Jackson openings such as "Don't Stop 'Till You Get Enough" and "Wanna Be Startin' Something."

"Unbreakable" is of note because of a "from the grave" appearance of The Notorious B.I.G., which initially appeared on Twism's "I Can't Stop the Reign." The rapper "Fats" appears on the forgettable Dark Child cuts "Heartbreaker" and the title track. The closing track "Threatened" is little more than an update of "Thriller" with The Twilight Zone's Rod Serling replacing the late Vincent Price. Logically, the song will allow Jackson to funnel his often brilliant pretensions into an over-priced video.

The rest of project is produced by a wide array of producers including A-list collaborators Teddy Riley, Babyface, and R. Kelly. Co-written by Jackson with Babyface and Carole Bayer Sager, "You Are My Life" so convincingly invokes Jackson's 1972 movie theme "Ben" that one expects to hear the rodent sing-along in the song's weepy chorus. R. Kelly contributes "Cry." Given the vibrancy of History's "You Are Not Alone" and Kelly's general ability to work "one-time" magic for a host of artists—The Isley's and Syleena Johnson are good recent examples—"Cry" is an underwhelming addition to the project, even more unsatisfying and syrupy than Kelly's "I Believe I Can Fly."

Teddy Riley's most recent production efforts have been less than inspiring and such is the case with some of his contributions to Invincible, though "Whatever Happens"—where Jackson's voice is as full and confident as it has ever been—is an infectious Latin-groove that comes to life courtesy of Carlos Santana. Riley is also behind the boards for the pretty stutter-stepped "Heaven Can Wait," which features arguably one of Jackson's best vocal performance since Thriller's "Lady in My Life." Jackson is just brilliant, alternately pleading, grunting, demanding and cooing as he brings the song home. Dr. Freeze's "Break of Dawn", like Riley's "Heaven Can Wait", also invokes an Off the Wall era ballad like "I Can't Help It" (See De La's "Breakadawn" from Buhloone Mind State for a great sample of the song), but without the kind of conviction and aplomb that marks Jackson's effort with Riley.

The recording's highlight come courtesy of Andre Harris, formerly of the Phlliy-based "Touch of Jazz" collective that provided supple, meaningful musical landscapes for Jill Scott and Musiq Soulchild. It is not too overstated to suggest that "Butterflies" is one of Jackson's most significant R&B recordings in some time. It is the one track that will likely find a regular home on "black" radio—many NYC stations were regularly playing the track as an "extra" cut in the week prior to Invincible's release. Jackson opens the song with growl-like murmur of a tenor, but the song takes off in the second verse when he pushes his range to a breathy lilting falsetto that powerfully captures the vulnerability that the song's lyrics attempt to convey. By the end of the song, Jackson is in classic closing form as the thin growl becomes more confident and demanding and is juxtaposed to his pleading falsetto. "Butterflies" is the best example of why Jackson's investment in Jerkins was such a misstep as Harris and other splinters of the "Touch of Jazz" camp could have legitimately done the whole project themselves.

There's no doubt that Invincible represents a missed opportunity for Jackson to remake himself. How thrilling would the recording have been if Dr. Dre, The Soulquarians, or The Neptunes—whose own obtuse sense of rhythm would have been a perfect match for Jackson—had had any significant contribution. But, do we really want 40-plus year-old pop stars, 20 years past their peak, to continue to remake themselves for 14- and 15-year-old audiences? Jackson answers part of this question himself with such a conscious reminder of his legacy as the video for "You Rock My World" reads like the Jackson video catalogue and Invincible so consciously invokes his most satisfying artistic accomplishment Off the Wall.

Ultimately Invincible is a solid, though less than significant R&B recording—on par with anything we would expect from Tyrese, Joe, Usher or the high-end work of an artist like Jesse Powell. This alone does not make Invincible a disappointment, and the project wouldn't be one if Jackson had the kind of artistic and commercial sensibilities that would allow him to record more consistently. Clearly audiences did not wait this long for a project that is on par with the kind that Joe releases every year.

In this regard Jackson is challenged much the same way that former-child star Stevie Wonder has been challenged; How to you top the singular artistic vision of Wonder's Songs in the Key of Life or the earth-shattering sales of Thriller, which as Craig Werner suggests, left Jackson without any commercial peers? The quick answer is that you can't. You can only go back to work and make the kind of music that fits your passions, since your legacy as an artist has already been defined. Nothing you do in the aftermath of singular brilliance will ever add to it. Hopefully, Invincible is a beginning attempt by Jackson to come to terms with that reality.

-- December 21, 2001

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