Title - ‘The Stripped Remixes' (Motown/Universal)
Artist - Michael Jackson
Stripping away some instrumentation and background vocals and, in some places, adding new, acoustic instrumentation, pushes Michael's vocals to the forefront. An interesting experiment, but it should be remembered that Michael's vocals were originally recorded on top of the finished tracks and were performed to be heard over or complement the arrangements.
Isolated as they are here, some come across as overly forceful or strident. Great vocals they are, but definitely meant to be heard in their original context. Fun to listen to, but after the novelty wears off you'll still much prefer the original recordings.
Anyway, Pop music is the end product. And as good as the individual pieces are going in, I think it should be judged as a whole. This album is unnecessary and comes at a time where I can't help but think they're just trying to make some money by capitalizing on a tragedy.