The production was one of the reasons. I pointed out it was perhaps shallow as the technological advancements utilized by Ocean and JT were unavailable when Stevie and Wacko Jacko were recording, although I feel they wouldn't have been used to their fullest if they had. MJ especially strikes me as someone who probably let others plot his music for him in terms of composition and song structure.
I genuinely believe both Channel ORANGE and 20/20 are better than Thriller and Inversions respectively, this does not make me wrong. It is my opinion. It is not correct that the latter two are better either. It's not that I prefer the former because they are newer I prefer them to the reasons outlined in my first post.
Honestly, I don't know how those two people you mentioned are. I just know what sounds slicker, more well rounded and more complete to me as an album and it isn't Thriller. I've always felt of Thriller as being incredibly gimmicky, I appreciate MJ as an entertainer and recognize the impact he's had but as a musician, when he wasn't shrouding himself in gimmicks - he was incredibly weak.
Wonder was obviously different. He was a singer who was all about the music, but I felt he lacked the charisma and intrigue to make his music interesting. It may seem like a double edged sword, MJ had too much character, Wonder had too little but they both struggled with the balance. That's why I feel MJ is too contrived and Wonder is just pretty dull. I have the same issue with Wonder as I do with Marvin Gaye. I appreciate the music, but it's just not that interesting to me. What you hear on the surface is all there is, Frank Ocean and JT are more like icebergs where there's much more going on then what one would immediately hear.
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