After all the hoopla about Michael Jackson’s Cirque du Soleil show, you’d think the CD soundtrack would have sold better in its first week. But “Immortal,” an album of remixes taken from the Cirque show, sold just 45,000 copies last week according to estimates. It finished at number 23 for the week far below the new number 1 album from Nickelback (225,000) and chart stalwart Adele, who has two CDs in the top 50. For Jackson, selling 45,000 copies is a sad echo of his halcyon days in the 80s with “Thriller,” “Bad,” and “Dangerous.” But the botching of last winter’s “Michael” album–which had no marketing and a whisper campaign that killed it–didn’t help. “Immortal” had almost no pre-release publicity. It just sort of appeared. much the way “Michael” did. By contrast, the Beatles’ “LOVE” CD–which came from their Cirque du Soleil show–arrived with a greatly thought out plan and lots of explanation for how it was put together. Interestingly, what’s happened is that “Immortal” is Jackson music “reimagined” by producer Kevin Antunes. Neither Jackson’s long time engineer, Bruce Swedien, nor his famed producer, Quincy Jones, had anything to do with the recording. In the case of the Beatles, it was all George Martin, their highly respected producer, and his son Giles, who reworked the recordings. The result: a gigantic yawn from Michael Jackson fans, who certainly number more than 45,000.
Wednesday, January 15, 2025
