It may be one of the most anticipated albums of the year, but expectations of Michael Jackson's second posthumous release, Xscape, is mixed. The last album, 2010s Michael, contained some inspired moments but the project sagged under the amount of weak tracks and controversy surrounding the authenticity of Jackson's vocals.
Xscape aims to dispel such notions through painstaking research. The American music mogul and former Michael Jackson collaborator L A Reid trawled the music archives of unreleased MJ songs and vocal snippets between 1983 and 1999, whittling down the choices to eight tracks that Jackson fully sang and recorded multiple times ("That's how I knew he was serious about the song," Reid says in the accompanying album documentary).
Reid then enlisted super-producers including Timbaland and Sweden’s Stargate to contemporarise the sound. The end result is a lean and entertaining tribute to Jackson that is superior to Michael. Here is the track-by-track breakdown of Xscape.
Love Never Felt so Good, featuring Justin Timberlake
Remember the crooner Paul Anka? Well, the Diana singer was still hot property back in 1983 when he and Jackson hit the booth together to demo the song. Anka may have now being ditched for Timberlake but fortunately the sound remains pleasingly vintage. The opening dance beat echoes Billie Jean with a dash of extra modern percussion before a young Jackson sashays in with wonderfully warm vocals. Perhaps in awe, Timberlake's kept his performance straight and allowed Jackson to lead the way in this pleasant nostalgia trip.
Chicago
A 1999 track recorded during the sessions for the 2001 album Invisible. An ominous affair as Jackson, in a low croon, uses the verses to detail an illicit affair over producer Timbaland's nudging keyboards. It is in the terse bridge where Jackson's let's her have it, snarling his realisation that "filthy lies was the go she played". It is then you realise that the bridge was actually the chorus and a sudden underwhelming feeling descends. Chicago is all tension and no release.
Loving You
Jackson wanted Bad, his 1987 classic album, to contain a tougher sound. Perhaps this why the romantic Loving You didn't make the cut. The twinkling pianos have been augmented with heavy bass and staccato drums and now it is a wonderful breezy contemporary pop-song.
A Place with no Name
This one received the biggest sonic make over. The original (heard on the deluxe edition), thought to be recorded in the late eighties, is nearly identical to seventies rockers America's A Horse with no Name. Swedish duo Stargate upped the beat and done away with the acoustic guitars to replace it with a funky wormlike synth-riff. The end result is something that is funky and modern.
Slave to the rhythm
Part of the 1991's Dangerous sessions, proving that Jackson was aiming for a more ambitious dance sound. Slave to the Rhythm sounds like a slicker cousin to one of Dangerous's big hits Jam. The repetitive chorus maybe the reason for the song being culled from the album.
Do You Know Where Your Children Are
Jackson always had a penchant for including a socially-conscious track or two with each release. The guitar driven Do You Know Where Your Children Are continues that vein as the lyrics follow a young girl leaving an abusive home before experiencing more bad luck in Hollywood. Jackson's voice is fully committed, ranging from melancholy to rage.
Blue Gangsta
Timbaland earns his money here. The original version sounds anaemic with the staid drum tracks not serving Jackson’s vocal passion. Timbaland’s percussions are intense and compliments Jackson’s vocal paranoia as he oscillates between anger and doubt.
Xscape
Interesting in that producer Rodney Jerkins returns to work on the same track he began with Jackson 15 years ago. The tune is not the most memorable, but it has many of Jackson’s vocal signatures as such as those “yee-hees” and breathy vocals. Xscape ends the way it started in that it elicits a euphoric nostalgia to the pre-twerking days when Jackson was king
The verdict
It may only clock over half an hour but Xscape does enough to remind you of Jackson's supreme vocal command and versatility. The album's deluxe version is a keeper for music fans as the second CD contains the original tracks as found by Reid, there is also an additional documentary showcasing the making of the album. Xscape should set to bring the discussion surrounding Michael Jackson away from the courthouse and back to where he would have wanted it to be, the music.
• XSCAPE (Epic Records) is out on Monday, May 13, through Sony Music Entertainment Middle East
sasaeed@thenational.ae
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MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – FINAL RECKONING
Director: Christopher McQuarrie
Starring: Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Simon Pegg
Rating: 4/5
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Read more from Aya Iskandarani
Another way to earn air miles
In addition to the Emirates and Etihad programmes, there is the Air Miles Middle East card, which offers members the ability to choose any airline, has no black-out dates and no restrictions on seat availability. Air Miles is linked up to HSBC credit cards and can also be earned through retail partners such as Spinneys, Sharaf DG and The Toy Store.
An Emirates Dubai-London round-trip ticket costs 180,000 miles on the Air Miles website. But customers earn these ‘miles’ at a much faster rate than airline miles. Adidas offers two air miles per Dh1 spent. Air Miles has partnerships with websites as well, so booking.com and agoda.com offer three miles per Dh1 spent.
“If you use your HSBC credit card when shopping at our partners, you are able to earn Air Miles twice which will mean you can get that flight reward faster and for less spend,” says Paul Lacey, the managing director for Europe, Middle East and India for Aimia, which owns and operates Air Miles Middle East.
How has net migration to UK changed?
The figure was broadly flat immediately before the Covid-19 pandemic, standing at 216,000 in the year to June 2018 and 224,000 in the year to June 2019.
It then dropped to an estimated 111,000 in the year to June 2020 when restrictions introduced during the pandemic limited travel and movement.
The total rose to 254,000 in the year to June 2021, followed by steep jumps to 634,000 in the year to June 2022 and 906,000 in the year to June 2023.
The latest available figure of 728,000 for the 12 months to June 2024 suggests levels are starting to decrease.
Milestones on the road to union
1970
October 26: Bahrain withdraws from a proposal to create a federation of nine with the seven Trucial States and Qatar.
December: Ahmed Al Suwaidi visits New York to discuss potential UN membership.
1971
March 1: Alex Douglas Hume, Conservative foreign secretary confirms that Britain will leave the Gulf and “strongly supports” the creation of a Union of Arab Emirates.
July 12: Historic meeting at which Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid make a binding agreement to create what will become the UAE.
July 18: It is announced that the UAE will be formed from six emirates, with a proposed constitution signed. RAK is not yet part of the agreement.
August 6: The fifth anniversary of Sheikh Zayed becoming Ruler of Abu Dhabi, with official celebrations deferred until later in the year.
August 15: Bahrain becomes independent.
September 3: Qatar becomes independent.
November 23-25: Meeting with Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid and senior British officials to fix December 2 as date of creation of the UAE.
November 29: At 5.30pm Iranian forces seize the Greater and Lesser Tunbs by force.
November 30: Despite a power sharing agreement, Tehran takes full control of Abu Musa.
November 31: UK officials visit all six participating Emirates to formally end the Trucial States treaties
December 2: 11am, Dubai. New Supreme Council formally elects Sheikh Zayed as President. Treaty of Friendship signed with the UK. 11.30am. Flag raising ceremony at Union House and Al Manhal Palace in Abu Dhabi witnessed by Sheikh Khalifa, then Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi.
December 6: Arab League formally admits the UAE. The first British Ambassador presents his credentials to Sheikh Zayed.
December 9: UAE joins the United Nations.
Six large-scale objects on show
- Concrete wall and windows from the now demolished Robin Hood Gardens housing estate in Poplar
- The 17th Century Agra Colonnade, from the bathhouse of the fort of Agra in India
- A stagecloth for The Ballet Russes that is 10m high – the largest Picasso in the world
- Frank Lloyd Wright’s 1930s Kaufmann Office
- A full-scale Frankfurt Kitchen designed by Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky, which transformed kitchen design in the 20th century
- Torrijos Palace dome
'Ashkal'
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The flights: South African Airways flies from Dubai International Airport with a stop in Johannesburg, with prices starting from around Dh4,000 return. Emirates can get you there with a stop in Lusaka from around Dh4,600 return.
The details: Visas are available for 247 Zambian kwacha or US$20 (Dh73) per person on arrival at Livingstone Airport. Single entry into Victoria Falls for international visitors costs 371 kwacha or $30 (Dh110). Microlight flights are available through Batoka Sky, with 15-minute flights costing 2,265 kwacha (Dh680).
Accommodation: The Royal Livingstone Victoria Falls Hotel by Anantara is an ideal place to stay, within walking distance of the falls and right on the Zambezi River. Rooms here start from 6,635 kwacha (Dh2,398) per night, including breakfast, taxes and Wi-Fi. Water arrivals cost from 587 kwacha (Dh212) per person.
Results:
6.30pm: Handicap (Turf) | US$175,000 2,410m | Winner: Bin Battuta, Christophe Soumillon (jockey), Saeed bin Suroor (trainer)
7.05pm: UAE 1000 Guineas Trial Conditions (Dirt) | $100,000 | 1,400m | Winner: Al Hayette, Fabrice Veron, Ismail Mohammed
7.40pm: Handicap (T) | $145,000 | 1,000m | Winner: Faatinah, Jim Crowley, David Hayes
8.15pm: Dubawi Stakes Group 3 (D) | $200,000 | 1,200m | Winner: Raven’s Corner, Richard Mullen, Satish Seemar
8.50pm: Singspiel Stakes Group 3 (T) | $200,000 | 1,800m | Winner: Dream Castle, Christophe Soumillon, Saeed bin Suroor
9.25pm: Handicap (T) | $175,000 | 1,400m | Winner: Another Batt, Connor Beasley, George Scott
The specs
Engine: 3.8-litre twin-turbo V8
Power: 611bhp
Torque: 620Nm
Transmission: seven-speed automatic
Price: upon application
On sale: now
