Michael Jackson Album: “Dangerous”

Firstly I'd like to thank the media for creating such unnecessary fuss about Michael Jackson's personal life over the past few months. If they hadn't, I'd never have got into Michael Jackson's music as much as I have done recently; I basically had no interest in him for years. A few months back I happened to pick up a copy "Dangerous" which I borrowed from my dad. Well, if I wasn't just blown away by the excellence of this record! The album "Dangerous" was the follow up to the immensely successful "Bad" from 1987. Dangerous was released in November 1991 and sold 27 million copies worldwide - 10 million copies of which were sold in its first four weeks of worldwide release. Nine songs were released as singles in the UK from this album, leaving a minority of five songs left unreleased.

Dangerous opens with the rather disappointing "Jam." The fifth song to be released as a single from the album, it peaked at No.13 in the UK in September 1992. The song is good, but fails to live up to the rest of this amazing album. "Why You Wanna Trip On Me" has an amazing guitar intro, followed by a different guitar beat that's very similar to that of Justin Timberlake's "Like I Love You." Coincidence? Hardly. The chorus with the exact words as in the title of the song is amazing. "In The Closet" has to be one of the absolute best songs on the entire album. Michael has never been this [] explicit before, but it works rather well with the female vocals of the 'Mystery Girl'. The video was banned in some countries, and features Naomi Campbell while the song peaked at No.8 in the UK upon its May 1992 release. The song runs for more than six minutes, but this is only a good thing because of the amazing beat that we are treated to. While not the most upbeat and lively song on the album, it definitely is a highlight because of its pure funk nature. "She Drives Me Wild" is a fairly good song, with a great funky beat and a cool rap. A great song, but the car horn beeping away at the beginning is dreadful!

"Remember The Time" is just an all-time classic. By far the best released song from this album, it charted at No.3 in the UK in February 1992. The lyrics are brilliant, the beat is so funkadelic and the video was truly eye-popping. Michael's world-famous "Woo!" also crops up a few times towards the end of the song. Just brilliant. Things can't possibly get better after that, and they don't. "Can't Let Her Get Away" shows strong promise, but falls flat on its face with far too many beats all clustered together, and the extreme repetition of the lyrics "I can't let, I can't let her get away." Take a look at the lyrics on the inlay and you'll know what I mean - the same line fills half the page. Luckily, things pick up with the amazing "Heal The World." Released as the sixth single from the album, this touching and heart-felt ballad peaked at No.2 in the UK in December 1992. In my opinion, Michael has never been very successful in promoting all this world peace stuff. In this case, however, Michael is very convincing because the message is not one that involves a mass audience, but the song speaks to you as an individual - each and every listener. "Black And White" was the biggest and most successful single from this album, peaking at No.1 in both the UK and US upon its November 1991 release. The lyrics are great and the rap is excellent, while the video is particularly memorable because of its comedy.

"Who Is It" and "Give Into Me" are another two brilliant songs, perfectly executed with killer beats and funky basslines. The former is about Michael's lover who has run off with another, while his voice is filled with the raw emotion necessary to make this song excellent. The latter has the same emotion in Michael's vocals, and a superb rocky chorus. "Will You Be There" runs for almost eight minutes, which is a bit too long for this exceptional ballad. The first two minutes are taken up by pointless, but effective, choir vocals that really do sound epic and heavenly. The song featured in 1993's smash-hit blockbuster 'Free Willy' and was brilliant even before the film claimed it. "Keep The Faith" is another excellent song about self-power and really does make an impact on the overall face-value of the album. "Gone Too Soon" is perhaps one of the worst songs on the album. The term 'worst' when reviewing this album can only be used lightly, as no song is [bad] - all are consistently good, but there is obviously a line which separates the great ones from the stunning ones. The album finishes with the title-track, "Dangerous." At almost seven minutes long, the song is the perfect finish to a near-flawless record with incredibly descriptive lyrics which are displayed on the inlay and shaped like the hourglass figure of this 'dangerous' lady.

OVERALL GRADE: 10/10

Dangerous is by far one of the most essential albums of the 1990's. The entire album is almost 80 minutes long, so you definitely get your money's worth, with each song usually running into the six/seven minute time bracket. I'd definitely put this stunning piece of work in my top 10 albums of all time, because every song is great and there's nothing like Michael Jackson's music to get you moving and grooving on the dancefloor. Also, the record still sounds brand new despite being released more than ten years ago. Buy this now - you'll feel like a fool if you decide not to and pick it up years later...

Though this album may already be eight years old, it still plays up there with the recent trend in musical style. This album is amazing! From the begining we ae taking on a tour of the singers smost creative side, his darkest side and his warmest side. The album shines with brilliant production, fantastic songwriting and beautiful orchestration. 'Jam' begins the album on a heavey note, not because it is emotionally raw but because the song's driving beats and rhythms are unforgetable. 'In The Closet' raves up to the ultimate climax, a song which was originally intended as a duet with Madonna, has no problem making the grade without her (it is hard to imagine her here!) 'Remember The Time' is a wonderfull up-tempo song filled with lip-smacking beats and a great chorus, pure genius. The hits 'Black Or White' and 'Heal The World' never sound out of date but rather define the time they were huge on the POP charts. 'Who Is It' (my favorite on the entire album, and let me tell you it is hard to come up with one! ) is so pure, but angry in its beat that you can't stop listening. That is the whole effect of this album, you can't stop listening! 'Will You Be There'? Do I have to say more, Beethoven would be proud! 'Keep The Faith' is the second time Jackson, collaborated with Alanis Morisette hit maker Glen Ballard and the result was amazing! The greatest album on the face of the planet, well the greatest POP album. The singers ultimate perfection, though his new release in 2000 may prove otherwise, he reached his creative climax (so far, maybe not though with the first five songs off 'Blood On The Dance Floor'!)with this album. Everyone should buy a copy, becuase here is michael jackson at his best. Not the Michael Jackson that we've come to know (or think we know) through the tabloids, but the Michael Jackson we came to love through the music. If I could give this album six or seven or higher out of five I would! Five out of Five.

I recently went through some old stuff from my childhood, and amongst other things I found a Michael Jackson poster,and some tapes(Dangerous, Thriller, off the Wall) and I rememmbered how big a fan I was! I put Dangerous in the tape player and suddenly I was back in 1991-92..

Disregard what others say, this is such a great album, not only the music, but the way it makes you feel. All the song are great, but Black and White, Heal the World, In the Closet, and Rememmber the Time are really excellent!

No matter how hard certain people try to diss Michael, it's impossible not to respect this madly talented artist!

The Michael haters, are the young teeny boppers, who are to young to rememmber the time when Michael rocked the world!!

Two words 'buy it'!!

I can honestly say that Dangerous is MJ's most daring work since Thriller.The reason it's not a 5-star masterpiece is that like Bad it tries too hard to top Thriller.The first problem is that this is his first CD album where he fills up the entire 77+ minute playing time.Second,Quincy Jones is replaced by Teddy Riley.Where the work with Q was groundbreaking, this collaboration with "Ted" seems like chasing trends than setting them(that includes the appearence of rapper Heavy D).Where Q would've made a well balanced collection of songs,the album feels schitzo due to the fact that Teddy's production's dominates the first half,while MJ's sole production dominates the other.Though there are some great songs in this collaboration(Jam,In The Closet,and the classic Remember The Time)the new jack production sounds redundent after a while.The best songs (along with the aforementioned Remember The Time)is MJ's own productions.The atmospheric drama of Who is It and Give In To Me displays the true brilliance of Michael.Black or White is short & snappy(but the intro and that whack rap should be edited out on future pressings),while Heal the World & Keep The Faith may mean well,they're obvious copies of past songs(We Are The World and Man In The Mirror respectivly).The two tracks that really lift this album is the trancending Will You Be There & the sweet but sad Gone Too Soon.Like most CDs these days, Dangerous is a belabored album to listen to.It takes way too long to get to the best songs.You can always program your player, but always remember,great albums are listen to as a whole,not pieces.

Long before the invention of MP3's, I bought Michael Jackson's "Dangerous" album on audio tape. I loved it. Most critics said Michael's voice sounded "strained." "Black or White" was the first single and music video to ever debut on prime time television on the major networks. After it aired they criticized MJ for grabbing his crouch. They did the same thing to Elvis for shaking his pelvis a few decades earlier. This amazing album continued to release singles for 2 whole years after it debuted, then came the allegations. People stopped buying this album overnight. Now after his death, whenever the media does a story about MJ they always play a song in the background from "Dangerous" and people are buying it again. I'm glad everyone is rediscovering this really great work of art.