CD reviews: Michael Jackson and Kevin Eubanks

Michael Jackson, "Michael" (Sony)

There is a strange interior contradiction to this first in a planned series of posthumous releases from Jackson. Reproduced in the booklet of the disc are several handwritten notes. The first details Jackson's process of hearing and constructing entire song arrangements in his head before bringing them to life. "I don't give in until I get exactly what I want," he writes.

It's a statement that argues against the very existence of "Michael," which, 18 months after his death, presents 10 tracks that were in various stages of development but never finished to the superstar's famously exacting standards. Instead, collaborators -- including Akon, Teddy Riley, Lenny Kravitz and 50 Cent -- took demos, sketches and nearly completed songs and buffed them for public consumption.

The result is shockingly better than might be expected -- and in some ways superior to his final regular studio album, 2001's uneven and bloated "Invincible." Not shockingly, "Michael" only rarely approaches the heights of Jackson's best work. It is economical and listenable, but much of it sounds like the solid second-string efforts from his less thrilling later albums, fleshed out with contemporary R&B window-dressing.

Lead-off track "Hold My Hand" is essentially an Akon song with MJ flavoring. Kravitz brings his A-game to the funky swagger of "(I Can't Make It) Another Day," but the song, featuring Dave Grohl on drums, wouldn't feel out of place on one of his own records.

The most captivating tracks, unsurprisingly, are those that feel less manhandled by the chosen producer. Riley imbues the paparazzi-scalding "Monster" with real dance-floor crackle, while Theron (Neff-U) Feemster piles up harmonies like celestial strings on the understated "Best of Joy," and captures that particularly Jacksonian sense of heavenly airiness on "(I Like) The Way You Love Me." The sweetly contemplative closer is an acoustic "Thriller"-era ballad, "Much Too Soon." Fans may be glad to have it -- and it does offer testimony that even his leftovers had sparkle -- but it seems likely that he might not have wanted them to.

SARAH RODMAN, BOSTON GLOBE

It may take a while to shake the persona that guitarist Eubanks projected for nearly 18 years as musical director of "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno." But this CD nicely changes the channel. Eubanks, who played in the early 1980s with drummer Art Blakey, among many others, is a serious player, and this quintet recording finds him sounding very assured.

Intelligent fusion is the general theme here. Eubanks doesn't project his own sound so much as exhibit proficiency and ease at many guises. It's as if he's drawing from Leno's long line of musical guests. "Dirty Monk" has a dark, stomping feel and some vicious solos along with a pretty coda, while "Adoration" is folky and prettier still. "The Dancing Sea" hints at a Pat Metheny vibe, which resonates occasionally through these 10 originals.