I can appreciate homage, especially to an icon like Michael Jackson. He’s my favorite song artist and performer, but I might turn down even a free ticket to see other people perform medleys of his songs. That makes Cirque Du Soleil’s Immortal World Tour; a stage show that sends dancers, acrobats, mimes and such around the globe to do just that; more of a negative than a positive. At least they’re not singing. Apparently director Jamie King had sense enough to leave that part up to the icon himself, which makes listening to this soundtrack album more tolerable than it should be.

What it presents, rather bombastically, are original Michael Jackson songs snipped apart and blended together to form what may as well be a glorified mixtape. The main difference and one positive thing the album has going for it is that many, if not most, of the songs are mixed in a way that would be impossible for the average DJ. Producer Kevin Antunes was given access to the individual track recordings of these songs. That allows him to make full-on remixes, shuffle vocals from one song to another and resurrect studio outtakes that weren’t included in the original album versions.

It makes for an interesting, sometimes surprisingly enjoyable, listen for those of us who are fanny enough to notice the often subtle differences. What ruins it is the conceptual context in which it’s presented, of which there seems to be none. The album, which puts Working Day And Night not after but before the Intro and teams Speechless with Human Nature, goes from song to song, and sometimes back to song, seemingly at random. So even though this new-age version of Wanna Be Startin Somethin sounds funky, it does nothing to cover that massive and ultimately dooming artistic flaw.

If this album were a general music review or perhaps the DJ’s setlist at a Michael Jackson party, I’d be inclined to praise it. One of my favorite Michael Jackson songs; Is It Scary; is included in the mix. It runs dead into Threatened, which serves as a notable promo for The King Of Pop’s final and largely underrated Invincible album. My main gripe with Michael Jackson compilations in general is that they tend to overlook his newer songs. As an album; a decision I’m willing to bet had a lot more to do with making money than creating art; this Immortal project stumbles and falls flat on its face.

my rating : 2 of 5

2011