Is Michael Jackson’s Xscape good? Depends on who you ask

Michael Jackson’s estate was paid quite a pretty penny by Sony for his unreleased songs. They have now released Xscape which features songs with Justin Timbaland and others. Is it good? Well depends on who you ask.

Plains Dealer loves it:

“Up until now, we’ve gotten posthumous albums and compilations that have consisted of other artists and producers refining songs that didn’t need to be refined. Let us not forget Jackson’s previous posthumous album, “Michael,” which regrettably featured a song with 50 Cent.

What makes “Xscape” different is that this group of collaborators, led by L.A. Reid, Timbaland and others, seem intent on fine-tuning songs that Jackson would have actually released. The results are astonishing.

The opener “Love Never Felt So Good” is a gorgeous and soulful tune that brilliantly blends “Off The Wall” era Jackson with his best work from “Invincible.” And what’s most amazing is just how much of the song’s skeleton remains intact.”

Daily Beast declares it a dud:

“Xscape is the second Jackson disc assembled by Sony since the artist’s death in 2009; the first was 2010’s Michael. But unlike MJ’s previous posthumous release—10 songs that Jackson wrote, recorded, and reworked from 2007 to 2009 but never got around to releasing—Xscape doesn’t have anything fresh to offer. It’s not a glimpse of what Jackson was working on post-Invincible (2001), his last studio LP. Nor is it a collection of archival ephemera and outtakes, like the Beatles’ Anthology. Instead, it’s something else entirely: a meager batch of pre-1999 scraps and stray demos selected by Epic Records boss L.A Reid to be “contemporized”—read: inflated, balloon-like, into something that will sell—by Timbaland, Stargate, Rodney Jerkins, John McClain, J-Roc, and various other producers.”

I have not listened to it, but give the Timbaland and Jackson duo a thumbs up. Have you listened to it? What do you think about the album?