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"Chicago 1945" (1989 & 1995)?

BadAtGames42749

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Did he return to the track in 1989 and 1995? I checked the wiki, and it gave those two years, along with the 1983 (or so) version that has already been leaked. Has anyone else heard anything regarding the song in those 6 years?
 
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Agonum said:
The vocals in the leaked song sound more like 1989 than 1983 to me.
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Me too. In fact, I actually thought that Chicago 1945 was a Bad era outtake to begin with (especially in connection with Smooth Criminal and Al Capone). But I see many sources vary as to when the song was recorded. Some sources say it was recorded in 1983 (Thriller era) and others say it was recorded in 1985-1987 (Bad era). I believe the official Michael Jackson website even states that Chicago 1945 was a Bad session recording.

I wholeheartedly believe it's a Bad era outtake, but I think the reason it got associated with the Thriller era was because its leak came around around/close to the release of Thriller 40 and people just associated new song leaks with that + the fact that most of the leaks were Thriller era outtakes.
 
Steve Pocarro said it was recorded after Thriller was released and a few months before the Victory tour. If he was referring to the Thriller short film, this would be 1984
 
BlackAnon said:
Steve Pocarro said it was recorded after Thriller was released and a few months before the Victory tour. If he was referring to the Thriller short film, this would be 1984
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Bill Bottrell yesterday, when asked if he worked on Cheater, answered that he could hear Cheater being done at Soundcastle, "during or after Victory, '84." he said
If we take Bill's guess at face value, to me at least Cheater totally sounds like Bad (vocals wise), so if Chicago 1945 is from around the same time period then it totally makes sense for it to be 1984 and still sound like Bad

i guess MJ's voice was just weird like that lol
 
Steve Porcaro confirmed that they only worked together on the initial version made after Thriller. He wasn't brought back by MJ to finish the song, and he is not aware that MJ further worked on the song alone. But Steve continued to work a bit on the track on his own (like replacing the programmed drums with real drums and adding horns).

Edit: I listened to the seminar recording again and there he implied that there might be a Bad version of the song.

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"... even David Williams, a guitar player that I was very good friends with. He mentioned to me that he thought that he had recorded it once. That they tried doing a pass of it ..."
But the vocals from the leaked version where no doubt recorded before Bad.
 
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NeoGardiV8 said:
Bill Bottrell yesterday, when asked if he worked on Cheater, answered that he could hear Cheater being done at Soundcastle, "during or after Victory, '84." he said
If we take Bill's guess at face value, to me at least Cheater totally sounds like Bad (vocals wise), so if Chicago 1945 is from around the same time period then it totally makes sense for it to be 1984 and still sound like Bad

i guess MJ's voice was just weird like that lol
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Michaels voice was changing during this time. Some of the BAD songs were already recorded in 1983 and 1984
 
Michael's vocal evolution during the mid 80's into the Bad era will always be interesting to me.

When he performs on the Victory Tour he still sounds like Thriller era Mike to me, then you listen to some of these Bad era demo's and it sounds prime Bad era, reading some demo's were recorded as early as 1983-84 blows my mind
 
SmoothCriminal1995 said:
Michael's vocal evolution during the mid 80's into the Bad era will always be interesting to me.

When he performs on the Victory Tour he still sounds like Thriller era Mike to me, then you listen to some of these Bad era demo's and it sounds prime Bad era, reading some demo's were recorded as early as 1983-84 blows my mind
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The fact he was getting older & singing live all his life...so it makes sense
 
The version we got is from 1983? It's hard to believe. The synths, his vocals, they're sounding more like Bad era and beyond actually. But aight.
 
BadAtGames42749 said:
Did he return to the track in 1989 and 1995? I checked the wiki, and it gave those two years, along with the 1983 version that has already been leaked. Has anyone else heard anything regarding the song in those 6 years?
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As far as I’m aware Chicago 1945 was not worked on in 1995; it was only briefly considered for HIStory. Also, the version that leaked is a posthumous mix- it contains the 1983 vocal, but most of the instrumental was re-recorded in the 2010s.
 
Hollywood_Tonight said:
As far as I’m aware Chicago 1945 was not worked on in 1995; it was only briefly considered for HIStory. Also, the version that leaked is a posthumous mix- it contains the 1983 vocal, but most of the instrumental was re-recorded in the 2010s.
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Interesting if it was considered for HIStory because it doesn't sound like anything on the album
 
How finished is the demo we know actually? There are sound effects on it and it already as a lot of instruments.. But not many verses and the music is kinda.. mediocre..? I mean it's not very outspoken in terms of the percussion, bassline or melodies like other MJ tracks and demo's
 
Victorious said:
How finished is the demo we know actually? There are sound effects on it and it already as a lot of instruments.. But not many verses and the music is kinda.. mediocre..? I mean it's not very outspoken in terms of the percussion, bassline or melodies like other MJ tracks and demo's
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It's been significantly altered, it's hardly a demo in the strictest sense.
 
BlackAnon said:
Interesting if it was considered for HIStory because it doesn't sound like anything on the album
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That's a pretty standard way of making an album; in the early phase of preparing you bring the stuff you already have and like, some of it older, some newer. And then eventually you end up with a lotta newer being the predominant volume of work.
 
Victorious said:
How finished is the demo we know actually? There are sound effects on it and it already as a lot of instruments.. But not many verses and the music is kinda.. mediocre..? I mean it's not very outspoken in terms of the percussion, bassline or melodies like other MJ tracks and demo's
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The version that we have is a version that Steve has been working on himself and isn't finished yet, either. We haven't heard the actual demo.
 
Hollywood_Tonight said:
As far as I’m aware Chicago 1945 was not worked on in 1995; it was only briefly considered for HIStory. Also, the version that leaked is a posthumous mix- it contains the 1983 vocal, but most of the instrumental was re-recorded in the 2010s.
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Thank you for shedding this light upon me! I couldn't really find anything regarding the song lol.
 
Fuzball said:
Has Damien ever specified which original version of Chicago 1945 he's heard? I assume it's the one meant for inclusion on TUC - but from what year?
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I don't think so. I recall him saying that the version he heard didn't have the "chicaaago chicaaago" at the very beginning but I think that's all he said about it.
 
Mister_Jay_Tee said:
That's a pretty standard way of making an album; in the early phase of preparing you bring the stuff you already have and like, some of it older, some newer. And then eventually you end up with a lotta newer being the predominant volume of work.
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Definitely, hence why so many Bad-era and Dangerous-era tracks, instrumentals, and demos ended up on HIStory (TDCAU, Earth Song, Tabloid Junkie, Come Together, etc.).
 
Hollywood_Tonight said:
As far as I’m aware Chicago 1945 was not worked on in 1995; it was only briefly considered for HIStory. Also, the version that leaked is a posthumous mix- it contains the 1983 vocal, but most of the instrumental was re-recorded in the 2010s.
Click to expand...

I'm sorry but are you sure about that ? The instrumental seem very early mid 80's, it's seem the estate have asked Porcaro to use Chicago 1945 but he have refused (maybe it was Dream Away) because he feared they would have changed and remixed to modernize etc.., for me the title sound very Thriller/Victory area, the voice is more pure that during Bad
 
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