t/s: george michael vs michael jackson

You mean it's only on ILM that Michael Jackson is judged on more than just the music?

We need a poll on who had the better post-death acts of kindness discoveries

MJ could never, would never, write a song like "Outside" GM forever.

yes!

its kind of obvious of course, but it’s interesting to see how GM/Wham had hits but was not really taken seriously at all in the 80s but has now firmly been rehabilitated, while MJ had the opposite arc.

Challops time: MJ was only good in the '70s (with his '79 solo album Off the Wall being his only good solo album). Not weighing in on George Michael, though, whose music I'm not as familiar with (though I did admire his singing talent).

I hadn't listened to Ladies & Gentlemen until now - I wanted to put on his uptempo/dance material, so I streamed disc two, and it's pretty awesome. The split (which pushes all the ballads on to disc one) doesn't feel like a utilitarian gimmick, at least for disc two, which really flows like a cohesive work in its own right. Even with the omission of "I Want Your Sex Pt. 1," I'd put it up there with Off the Wall as one of the great dance albums (and IMHO that was the only truly great album Jackson ever recorded - nothing else he did ever came close in terms of consistency).

as front-to-back great as the three Quincy produced Michael Jackson records

I think the only one of those three that actually meets that description is Off the Wall. The other two are about half great and half not so great.