"A NEW ALBUM!? NO! I don't want a complete LP of eight or more songs, most of which we've probably never heard! I want to buy the
Dangerous album for the third or fourth time! Who cares if there's a high probability it could wind up like the
Off the Wall reissue and NOT include any new material whatsoever!? I want
Dangerous25, despite the fact that there is still no evidence, proof, or substantiation to the fan-created rumor that such a reissue was even coming out!"
The fact that people actually have this mindset is incredible. A new project is clearly on the horizon and you whine and moan because it's not what
you want. It's not what
your ridiculous expectations have pushed you to believe.
To hell with
Dangerous25. I don't even want the damned thing to happen now. New music is such a smarter alternative.
Is the Much Too Soon demo available?
The original demo features only Michael's voice and the guitar accompaniment, as per Rob Hoffman's comments on gearslutz. I put it together using the leaked stems and, simply put, it's immensely boring. Beautiful execution but nothing special. McClain brought it to life.
What's up with the bashing of the LNFSG demo? It is a DEMO for God's sake and you are putting it up against the standards of a finished product. Obviously, MJ wouldn't have released it in that form either. You act like Timbaland/McClain turned some sh*t into gold. Actually it was never sh*t to begin with. I always loved the demo and saw the potential in it. I remember debating with people on this very forum before its release - people who freaked out about it being released as the lead single and said it would be a guaranteed flop. Even back then I said it is actually a good song to release on today's market and had potential. And it did. And no, not only because of the production. I am sure MJ could have produced it even better had he ever decided to release it - but you need a good song to create something good in the first place. I think it is unfair to give all the credit to the producers.
Bashing a demo is just as justifiable as praising one. Neither approaches are necessarily appropriate if stacked up against a finished song: "How can you say that [insert song title here] is incredible/terrible when it's clear Michael never finished it? It could have changed for the worse/better had it been completed!"
I find the demo of "Chicago," for example, to be flat-out terrible. I grasp that it is a vague approximation of what could have been, but it fails at the basic expectation of a demo (i.e., to set an example for what the finished product would be and entice me to want to hear said product) and doesn't make much of an impression on me. In contrast, I'm head over heels for the demo of "Loving You," despite being audibly unfinished, and set it at the same bar as Timbaland's remix (higher on certain days). I'm similarly crazy for Timbaland's cut of "Chicago" and would easily place it in my top ten favorite Michael Jackson songs had it been from Michael's handiwork, but since it isn't, I can't. But just my two cents.
Michael clearly is worthy of some praise for laying the foundation of "Love Never Felt So Good," but the majority of commendations should sensibly be given to Timbaland/McClain. (Credit also to Justin Timberlake for name recognition.) Critical compliments have all based themselves around their contributions. I cannot imagine the original demo making it to #8 on the Billboard Hot 100, but I can see why the remix did.
The claim that Michael could have produced it "better" had he decided to release it is throwaway as well, considering the fact that we will never know how his version would have turned out, and thus should not be used as a defense to lessen the quality of the one we got.