This is not it
'New' single is the sound of a feeble, desperate attempt
05:55 AM Oct 16, 2009

So, this is it, eh? Michael Jackson sings from beyond the grave in a new single, currently streaming on his website.

Handily entitled This Is It, it's the first taste of the album of the film of the show that never was. Unfortunately, if this is really the best they could come up with from the promised vault of unreleased material, then we might do well to draw a veil over proceedings now, before things get ugly.

Basically, it sounds like Michael Jackson singing a gentle ballad to a piano accompaniment, possibly recorded in a barn, which has then been overdubbed to within an inch of its life with orchestration, trademark Jackson slinky guitar and lots of backing vocals from his brothers. So many backing vocals, in fact, that they almost drown Jackson out.

Which is a pity, because MJ sounded relatively good, given that he recorded the vocals in 1983 when he was just 25 years old, and at the height of his powers.

The "new" single is certainly not new. It turns out that Jackson has been bandying his "this is it" catchphrase around for at least 26 years. And apparently, his messianic tendencies were present and correct even before his superstardom.

"I'm the light of the world," he announces in the second line of a scarily egotistic love song. We also learn that the object of his self-adoration has "got addicted with your eyes" (however you manage that), and is "gonna live it" for themselves. Otherwise, he doesn't stray far from "feel/real" rhyming cliches.

It actually sounds like he's making this stuff up as he goes along, which he probably was. If you think the song sounds vaguely familiar, it may be because it was recorded and released by Latin singer Sa-Fire in 1991, under the original title I Never Heard. It wasn't a hit.

So this is how it ends. Not deemed good enough in 1983. A flop in 1991. But it's the best that they can come up with now. At least we have the album to look forward to, featuring "the music that inspired the film, demo recordings and two versions of a previously unreleased song". In other words, his greatest hits, some rejected outtakes and another version of this.

And if you are wondering what that scraping noise is, it's the sound of the Jackson family reaching the bottom of a barrel. THE DAILY TELEGRAPH