Invincible

JACKO COMES BACK IN FULL STYLE The main man back on top, don't listen to the skeptics, listen to the music. An amazing album, featuring the must have tracks "unbreakable", "invincible", "heaven can wait" and "whatever happens"

For such a boldly titled and apparently driven attempt to reinstate Michael Jackson at the centre of the pop world, Invincible is a listless thing. Split between scratchy funk workouts and mid-tempo ballads that might have appeared as Bad B-sides, the album plays on and on while never seriously promoting dancing or romancing. Its handful of weird moments--the resurrection-by-tape of Biggie Smalls on the bridge of the title track, for instance--are hardly large-scale bizarre like the first disc of HIStory. The title track turns out to be hardly the rampant ego-fest you'd imagine; instead, its subject is a female whom Jackson cheers on. Likewise, the most ear-catching moments of the "comeback" single "You Rock My World" come with Chris Tucker's jivey introduction. Despite a debt to "Payback"-era James Brown, "Rock" floats away like steam midway through. It's almost a relief when the old self-regard turns up: on the growling "Privacy", Jackson rants about muckrakers "stalking" him in search of "the stories you need to bury me", all this long after foundering divas and troubled boy-group members have replaced him on tabloid covers. The man may occasionally break away from the mirror, but he seems unsure about where else to find inspiration. --Rickey Wright