Michael Jackson - Shout! (2001)

When Michael Jackson recorded his last studio album he employed 10 producers and over 100 musicians, including Carlos Santana, The Notorious B.I.G., and Slash, and it was reported to have cost $30 million to record, making it the most expensive album ever made. Prior to the release of 'Invincible', Jackson had not released any new material since the remix album 'Blood On The Dance Floor: HIStory In The Mix' in 1997, and his last full studio album was 'HIStory' in 1995. 'Invincible' was therefore viewed as his "career comeback", and recording began in October 1997, and finished with 'You Are My Life' being recorded only eight weeks before the album's release in October 2001. The music encompasses R&B, pop and soul, and even included a couple of tracks that featured (deliberately) unknown rapper Fats, and it was reported that the album had a budget of twenty five million dollars set aside for promotion, but despite this, due to conflicts between Jackson and his record label, little was done to promote the album, and there was no world tour to promote it. The album received mixed reviews from professional critics, although fans loved it, and it has sold between 8 and 10 million copies. However, in retrospective reviews, 'Invincible' has gained more positive acclaim, and the track 'Heartbreaker' has even been cited as an early development of dubstep. Producer Rodney Jerkins has commented that there was stuff they didn't put on the album that he wishes was on there, and since the out-takes have started to surface from the sessions we can now hear some of these tracks. Whether their inclusion over some of the songs that made it would have improved it's critical reception is open to debate, but when you listen to these tracks on their own stand-alone record you realise that there is some great stuff on here, including guest appearances from Lenny Kravitz and Ice Cube which didn't really deserve to be cut.  

Track listing

01 Another Day (feat. Lenny Kravitz)
02 Fall Again       
03 Beautiful Girl  
04 Shout
05 What More Can I Give
06 Save Our Galaxy?
07 In The Back
08 People Of The World
09 We Be Ballin' (feat. Ice Cube & Shaquille O'Neal)
10 Get Your Weight Off Me
11 We've Had Enough