Michael Cragg 

Xscape review – eight Michael Jackson demos are given a makeover

Producers Timbaland, Stargate and Rodney Jerkins craft the odd fantastic moment from Jacko's leftovers on his second posthumous album, writes Michael Cragg
  
  


The second posthumous Michael Jackson collection, following 2010's disastrous Michael, Xscape – curated by Epic CEO LA Reid – features eight unfinished demos "contemporised" by lead producer Timbaland, plus Rihanna favourites Stargate and previous Jackson collaborator Rodney Jerkins. Veering between a polished take on Off the Wall-era disco (elegant single Love Never Felt So Good, first recorded in 1983), intricate electro-pop (the unfortunately titled Do You Know Where Your Children Are) and Timbaland's default industrial-sounding R&B (Blue Gangsta, Slave to the Rhythm), it's an understandably ad hoc collection that conjures up snatches of wonder from scraps of genius.

 

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