Advanced Search >
Help Me Search

Music

All-Time High (And Low) Scores
Best of 2009
Best of 2008
Best of 2007
Best of 2006
Best of 2005
Best of 2004
Best of 2003
Best of 2002
Best of 2001
Best of 2000
Best of the Decade

Upcoming &
Recent Releases

sort by namesort by score

75 2562
54 30 Seconds to Mars
62 50 Cent
71 AC/DC
70 The Album Leaf
52 Kris Allen
68 Tori Amos
66 Animal Collective
84 Animal Collective
77 Annie
57 Apse
63 Asobi Seksu
59 Bad Lieutenant
83 Julianna Barwick
82 Beach House
72 Beak>
72 Bibio
65 Justin Bieber
76 Biffy Clyro
74 Blakroc
75 Mary J. Blige
78 Blockhead
52 Bon Jovi
54 Susan Boyle
57 The Bravery
39 Chris Brown
64 V.V. Brown
70 Basia Bulat
79 Chew Lips
74 Citay
65 Clipse
66 Cold War Kids
75 The Cribs
58 Dashboard Confessional
81 Dave Rawlings Machine
70 Delphic
78 The Doors
58 Echo & The Bunnymen
73 Edan
59 Editors
69 Eels
80 Felt
74 First Aid Kit
69 Flyleaf
83 Four Tet
82 Ben Frost
82 Fucked Up
83 Charlotte Gainsbourg
63 The Gilded Palace Of Sin
68 Githead
65 Joe Goddard
58 Good Shoes
72 Gucci Mane
75 Holopaw
82 Jesca Hoop
79 Hot Chip
72 The Hot Rats
88 Ray Wylie Hubbard
54 Hurricane Chris
66 Allison Iraheta
59 Jay Sean
82 Freedy Johnston
57 Nick Jonas And The Administration
73 Norah Jones
49 Juvenile
58 Ke$ha
62 R. Kelly
66 Alicia Keys
68 Kid Sister
81 King Midas Sound
63 Lady Antebellum
76 Lady GaGa
71 Adam Lambert
78 Lawrence Arabia
61 Leona Lewis
74 Lightspeed Champion
36 Lil Wayne
82 Lindstrom & Christabelle
77 Lissie
78 Los Campesinos!
70 Lostprophets
73 Magnetic Fields
72 Massive Attack
64 John Mayer
71 Paul McCartney
58 Katherine McPhee
86 Memory Tapes
72 Midlake
88 Motion City Soundtrack
63 Mr. Hudson
53 Mudvayne
75 Oh No Ono
70 OK Go
72 Ola Podrida
61 OneRepublic
80 Owen Pallett
80 Pantha du Prince
90 Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
80 Phantogram
60 Pit Er Pat
63 Priestess
70 Radian
79 Corinne Bailey Rae
54 Rakim
79 Real Estate
77 Retribution Gospel Choir
76 Rihanna
64 Rjd2
65 Omar Rodriguez-Lopez
77 Sade
77 Gil Scott-Heron
72 Shakira
82 Shining
61 Snoop Dogg
62 Snow Patrol
71 The Soft Pack
80 Spoon
64 Ringo Starr
59 Stereophonics
76 Angie Stone
79 Surfer Blood
74 Switchfoot
75 Them Crooked Vultures
74 Robin Thicke
50 Timbaland
79 tUnE-YaRDs
80 Vampire Weekend
79 Laura Veirs
79 Tom Waits
78 Wale
65 The Watson Twins
66 Kanye West
76 The Whitefield Brothers
64 Robbie Williams
80 Yeasayer
62 Young Money
75 Neil Young
61 Rob Zombie

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.

Invincible

EMAILPRINTby Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson reviews
51
8.4 User Score:

Mixed or average reviews

Based on 19 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 60 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album >

Album Info

Label: Sony/Epic

Release Date: 30 October 2001

Discs: 1 disc

Genre(s): Pop

Summary

The King of Pop's first full album of new material since 1992's 'Dangerous' features 16 tracks.

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

91

Village Voice (Consumer Guide)

At 78 minutes this is too long, and especially given his history, "The Lost Children" is offensive. But the first three tracks are the Rodney Jerkins of the year, "2000 Watts" is the Teddy Riley of the past five years, and even the prunables offer small surprises.

Read Full Review >
90

CDNow

Formula or not, with Invincible, Jackson reclaims his pop crown and wears it well.

Read Full Review >
70

PopMatters

The mix is such that the saccharine ("You Are My Life" and "Heaven Can Wait") is outweighed by the brilliant ("Whatever Happens" and "The Lost Children"), creating a record that is quite relevant while at the same time being experimental and fresh.

Read Full Review >
60

All Music Guide

Ultimately, the record runs too long, losing steam halfway through.... Fortunately, Jackson was clever enough to front-load this record, loading the first seven songs with really good, edgy dance numbers.

Read Full Review >
60

New Musical Express

'Invincible' is a relevant and rejuvenated comeback album make overlong and embarassing by the unavoidable fact that Michael Jackson is a) exceedingly rich and b) a bit of a wanker.

Read Full Review >
60

Rolling Stone

We're placed squarely in Michael Jacksonland, a bizarre place where every sparkling street is computer-generated, every edifice is larger than life and every song is full of grandiose desperation.

Read Full Review >
60

Village Voice

To really care about this album you have to be able to get into the pure hard sounds of the dance-track percussion and the way Michael tends to garnish them with his voice.

Read Full Review >
60

Q Magazine

Though fatally flawed, Invincible does boast its fair share of sonic exhilaration. [#184, p.132]

50

Spin Cycle

Halfway through the album, Michael ruins the good mood with a seemingly endless run of soggy, would-be anthems and self-pitying celebrity complaints.

Read Full Review >
50

E! Online

The fortysomething performer doesn't have the stamina he used to, and the album quickly turns into a long run of listless ballads and silly cries for privacy.

Read Full Review >
50

Playlouder

It does at least manage to include several of the things we hold dearest about Michael Jackson the singer, and it also steers clear of anything as laugh-out-loud as 'Earth Song'.

Read Full Review >
42

Entertainment Weekly

For all of the energy and money that went into it, ''Invincible'' is curiously lacking in excitement or thrills, cheap or otherwise.

Read Full Review >
40

Billboard

It simply isn't his best work.

Read Full Review >
40

Blender

A long-winded, soulless soul album of the kind Levert might have once turned in. [#4, p.117]

40

Dot Music

'Invincible' is an album almost unbearably mired in schmaltz.

Read Full Review >
30

New York Magazine

Invincible is an assembly-line bore.

Read Full Review >
30

Uncut

Starts badly and gets worse for a very long time (77 minutes). [Jan 2002, p.146]

30

The Onion (A.V. Club)

Jackson has lived a bizarre train-wreck life of mystery and tragedy, but following such a lengthy absence, Invincible just reeks of desperation and aimlessness.

Read Full Review >
20

Mojo

Tired, frightened-sounding and hopelessly misjudged.... Hugely disappointing. [Dec 2001, p.116]

What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this album is 8.4 (out of 10) based on 60 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Ritesh N gave it a7:
If the album was kept limited to only 10 songs and if the last 5 songs had been kept off the final album , this would have been an album better than Thriller. The initial 10 songs are AMAZING ! Best songs are - Heaven can wait, Heartbreaker, Break of dawn, 2000 watts.

Tebit E. gave it a10:
Invincible album is not a video album but yet listening to the lyrics filled the gap left out.Invincible was not well received by critics but yet it sold very well as compared to albums in 2000s.Micheal is still "alive" and he will still do more "Great works". Just sit back and watch.

H J. gave it a10:
There key elements in a song that makes it stand shoulder above the rest. The instruments arrangements, vocal tempo and sonic accuracy. Then their are major vendor critics who score their rating +-2 of their industry peers before they have a listen to a single track. We know you haters, There is very few good materials out there to compare with.

Dan B gave it a6:
Some really well crafted songs like "Unbreakable" "Break Of Dawn" "You Rock My World" "Butterflies" and "Whatever Happens", but for every good song there are 2 that are bad on this album. All of the songs sound virtually the same and are pretty boring. This album seems to only incorporate r&b and doesn't include other great genres that Michael has incorporated into his other albums like rock, funk, soul, pop, and gospel. This album doesn't deserve a 10 in any strech of the imagination, but certainly doesn't deserve a 0 either. Since I like Michael Jackson's music so much, I'll give this album a 6.

Super N. gave it a10:
I vehemently disagree with the majority of the critic's estimations on the supposed mediocrity of this album. It is not only excellent, it sounds even better 6 years on. Michael Jackson's inward perspective, that the critics interpret as self-pity, seems more like a revelation to his public of the feelings inside the most famous living human being on earth. I think that is quite acceptable. The criteria for music criticism is so cynical as to not be a true reflection of the public's perspective, which is based more on emotional impact than advanced musicology and snide remarks.

Jason M. gave it a10:
Absolutely brilliant album, with an appearence from the late Notorious B.I.G. - genius, 'Unbreakable' just great and inventive plus good opening track, 'You Rock My World' another album highlight, 'Butterflies' awesome ballad, 'Whatever Happens' totally rocks, 'Privacy' - brings truth and reality, 'Cry!' another catchy ballad, 'Heaven Can Wait' - great piece of songwriting, '2000 watts' - futuristic track with a good appearance by Teddy Riley- this shows Michael can adapt to current times, I truly great 10 out of 10 album, people shouldn't review this so bad the album is awesome, can't wait for his next offering. BY the way Michael Jackson fans NEW TRACK OUT - Gangsta (No friend of mine) try and download it now it's brilliant, new and exciting new MJ tack with a rap performance by Temperamental. Can't wait for the BAD 2Oth anniversary Re-Release OUT October 2007' the 15th. Can't wait for the new album!!!!!!!!!!

Holly gave it a10:
I thought it was one of his best albums ever. We have to remember...we are no longer living in the 80's. If he were to release another Billie Jean or something, no one would buy it people would think he was crazy. The guy has to adapt to the current time, and I think he did that very well. I thought it was a little long though and to many ballads. But, i still loved it! I'm a huge fan! long live michael jackson1

Read more user comments >

Popular on CBS sites: College Signing Day | Olympics | Lost | iPhone | Cell Phones | Video Game Reviews | Free Music

About CBS Interactive | Jobs | Advertise

© 2010 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. | Privacy Policy (UPDATED) | Terms of Use