Janet's magnum opus
My oh my, how years go by! I still can’t believe that this fabulous album above me was released over 20 years ago this month. I can remember the FIRST time I had seen Janet, it was as that 20, 21-year-old who broke out from her family to become a pop star in her own right with her fabulous Control album. And I can remember how excited I was when I heard she was coming back with a new one. The first track, “Miss You Much”, had already been a slice of pop heaven, but what made it for me was when she put out that mini-film that fall. It was a different Janet, someone who was looking to make a change while still having a good time. Produced with a black-and-white setting, it was perfect promotion for the album and the singles afterwards showed a wide variety from dancing to military to partying to fantasizing to longing to revenge to an sexual climax. The album itself showed that same variety and with producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, it more than held up to what Control had been even more so, it also led Janet to the path of the superstardom that has become a part of her since, going on to sell nearly fifteen million copies worldwide, spanning seven top five singles (the only album to ever do that) and spanning a successful debut tour for its artist.
Being a fan of Janet as much as I am of MJ, I finally had to do a review of at least one of her albums so this will be a start!
Now since HALF this album features interludes, I’m just gonna review the songs, lol.
SONG REVIEW:
1.) “Rhythm Nation” (Jackson/Harris/Lewis) – Starting off with the sound of bells and a pledge for unity and harmony, the music comes in after this interlude especially after Jackson begins counting down with producers screwing her voice down as the countdown edged. Then, it becomes a free-for-all funk fest! Featuring a clever sample of Sly Stone’s “Thank You Fallettin’ Me Be Mice Elf Agin”, Jackson sings a song about coming together and stopping the effects of racism. It’s a defiant Jackson that is determined to get her point across in whichever way possible (“it’s time to give a damn/let’s work together” she sings harmoniously). It’s one of those songs where you can go back to the video about, the video with Jackson sporting the all-black militant-like suit with her dancers doing complicated choreography in what remains one of her greatest musical video works. The song is just as great itself and it became a popular hit in the fall of 1989 reaching #2. The song caveats what most of the album would be about: a defiant socially and self-conscious masterwork. After the end of the song, Jackson’s album segues into her changing channels before finally getting into…
2.) “State of the World” (Jackson/Harris/Lewis) – Following “Rhythm Nation”, Jackson sings a song where she talks about subjects such as homelessness and a lonely and abandoned daughter of a teenage runaway mother. It’s issues that have Jackson crying for change and understanding in almost much the same way as her brother Michael or even one of her other idols, Marvin Gaye, did nearly 20 years before. Like “Rhythm Nation”, there’s a funky feeling to the song, which, like that song, has a new jack swing flow to it. It was one of the most popular songs on this album and could’ve been a great single but only was released to radio airplay charts, reaching #5, had it not been for it not being released as a single, it would’ve likely been her eighth top five single. Nonetheless, it remains a Jackson classic. After a brief monologue about race, Jackson cuts into the next track.
3.) “The Knowledge” (Harris/Lewis) – a funk-styled new jack swing dancer, it continues the social consciousness of the early part of the album. Jackson shows fine vocals here. In many ways it is the sequel to “Rhythm Nation” though ironically it predated that song on its video where Jackson dances, first with other dancers, and then by herself before dropping into a heap in perfect timing. The entire song is one of those song where you can “work it out”. Hell by now, you’re probably already in a sweat. My favorite part of the song is when Jackson and her backgrounds go into this: “Prejudice. NO! Ignorance. NO! Bigotry. NO! Illiteracy. NO!” It’s what made this song to me and I’m sure it’s what made this song another one of those Jackson classics. Then after the song ends, Jackson chortles, “get the point? Good, let’s dance…”
4.) “Miss You Much” (Harris/Lewis) – Another Jimmy and Terry composition, this continues the funk flow of the album and is more funk-oriented than the previous three, which had a hip-hop/new jack swing flow. This track however is what you call a classic funk song in the style of Harris and Lewis’ “Minneapolis Sound”. It’s again one of those songs where you can never imagine it without the video, which featured the now-classic chair dance routine where Jackson and her dancers cutting loose creating another classic music video moment. And this song is just as classic as the video itself reaching #1 in the fall of 1989. “That’s the end? NO!” The song then segues into a short instrumental of “Come Back to Me”, which appears later in the album. The segue prepares itself for the next song, which like “Miss You Much”, carries a romantic sentiment.
5.) “Love Will Never Do (Without You)” (Harris/Lewis) – Rumored to be a duet between Prince and Jackson (how’s that for weird irony?), Jackson sung the first half of the song in a deep vocal that she wasn’t used to singing while singing the second half with her trademark soprano. Jackson’s vocals always had a Diana Ross approach to it in some ways to me though Jackson’s “coos” are more enunciated than Diana’s. My favorite part is when they get to the “call and response” vocals and it crescendoes from there. The song’s video showed a sexier Jackson than most were used to, seeing her with her hair in blond-ish curls around a scarf, wearing a halter showing off her impressive abs and wearing her hip-hugging leather jeans while seducing handsome models such as Antonio Sabato, Jr. and Djimnou Hounsou (later Kimora Lee Simmons’ new hubby). The song became so popular it reached #1 in the winter of 1991! And this was after the album had become such a big hit in 1989, 1990.
6.) “Living in a World We Didn’t Make” (Harris/Lewis) – After the end of the track, this song begins with kids playing in a playground and the song starts off in a sentimentally dark mood as if you can tell something bad was going to happen. It then cuts into Jackson talking about the loss of innocence in inner city communities and how the children grow up imitating and joining gangs. Jackson pleads for help for her children throughout the song, which becomes more tragic as Jackson sings “save the babies”, a hail of gunfire erupts the children’s play ending with a news reporter reporting the chaos near the school. It’s a graphic tale but it does get its point across. Despite the album’s more carefree affair, this track continues to bring the social conscious flow that has become part of that album’s concept.
7.) “Alright” (Jackson/Harris/Lewis) – After that brooding mood ends, it’s back to party mode and back to the new jack swing flavor of the album. The song features a sample of Lyn Collins’ funk hit “Think (About It)”, called one of the most sampled songs in the history of popular music. The song is known more for its groovy melodies (and its entertaining video, which has Jackson and her dancers going back to the musical days of the early 20th century) than what Jackson sings about, which is about a monogamous relationship. Either way, it’s still a fun song that you can’t help BUT get down to and it became a big hit reaching #4. It becomes a funk workout halfway through the album after Jackson stops singing. Then suddenly it cuts with a short interlude: “baby? Hey baby, don’t get me in here acting silly now (giggles), you’re not taping this, are you? (laughs) EDIT!”
8.) “Escapade” (Jackson/Harris/Lewis) – Starting off with a circus/parade-like melody, it then begins with a sound that is similar to the snow chains in Martha and the Vandellas’ “Nowhere to Run” where the drums brittle in the same way as the chains. Another carefree dancer that is full of funk, it also has the same type of feeling that classic Motown and classic sixties pop carried with elements of seventies and eighties funk caveating the premises (Jackson at times sing under a vocoder that was no doubt emulated by Harris and Lewis). After this song, the mood again alters: “(CRASH!) Ain’t no acid in this house…”
9.) “Black Cat” (Jackson) – With the roar of a mountain lion, this track snarls its way through hard rock drums and guitar. In an unusual development, Jackson is the singular writer behind this song, co-produced by longtime Flyte Tyme musician Jellybean Johnson, who does an impressive guitar solo later on in this song. Jackson sings in a snarl not unlike her big brother’s while talking to her lover, whom she chides at for “living on the edge” and one step away from getting caught by the law. It’s a chilling song which impressed critics once the album came out. The video shows Jackson in performing mode during her successful concert showing the power of rock and dance together. The song became another #1 hit for Jackson in the late summer of 1990. The original song ends in a funkier instrumental before a rainstorm suddenly erupts leading on to the sentimental part of the album…
10.) “Lonely” (Harris/Lewis) – Heading into quiet storm mode, Jackson sings about needing a friend in need, not unlike her later hit “I Get Lonely” but more sentimentally about needing someone to be there for her. The singer even speaks romantically in Spanish to her lover and the song itself has a Latin flow to it. It’s one of my favorite songs on the album and it features some of the best melodies on the album. It wasn’t released as a single but, I believed, it was released as a b-side, nevertheless, I do remember this song playing on the radio and falling in love with it – and Janet – in the process.
11.) “Come Back to Me” (Jackson/Harris/Lewis) – “Lonely” quickly changes to what has now become an R&B classic starting off with her pleading moans, Jackson pleads for longing even more so than on “Lonely” and puts her point across in several lines (“Lord knows that I have tried/to live my life as one/friends tell me to hold on/tough times don’t last for long”). You feel Jackson’s pain in the song as she continues pleading. At one point, during the ending, it almost sounds as if Janet is weeping as she says “I don’t know what else to say”. The symphony then helps to end this beautiful but painful song, then suddenly the man DOES come back (“I’ve been waiting for you…”)
12.) “Someday is Tonight” (Jackson/Harris/Lewis) – The so-called sequel to “Let’s Wait Awhile”, the song features Jackson and her mate apparently getting it on. Despite her full fledged embrace of sexuality in the later albums, there was always a sexual element in Janet’s music and like “Funny How Time Flies” ended for Control, “Someday” did the same for this album where Jackson seduces her listeners. After the end of this song, Jackson gets into her classic seductive moans reminiscent of Sylvia and Donna Summer while Herb Alpert plays his trademark trumpet to end the song, which ends with just drums and Jackson finally reaching a soft climax. Then afterwards, the conclusion of the album comes with kids repeating the line “living in a world we didn’t make”. Janet comes in the end: “in complete darkness we are all the same/it is only our knowledge and wisdom that separates us/don’t let your eyes deceive you” (GONG! GONG! GONG!) And there ends one of the greatest pop albums ever released.
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This album remains one of Janet Jackson’s celebrated masterworks to this day and after the period of 1989-1991, what Janet had accomplished was just as iconic as her brother’s Thriller period from a few years before. 20 years on, it’s still a timeless album to me and I’m happy to be a fine owner of this great album. Get the point? Good.
