Latest on MJJC

Songs demonstrating Michael’s vocal prowess

R1chard said:
Ain't No Sunshine, Got to Be There, Ben, Happy, and One Day in Your Life all spring to mind.
Click to expand...
A Man’s Temptation, Maria (You were the only one), Ain’t No Sunshine, Who’s Loving You, Don’t Know Why I Love You, La La Means I Love You

are all highlights for me as well
 
You Rock My World is really good actually. Even in the context of the time it came out, compared to Rock Your Body, or an Usher song, MJ at near 40 years old sounded pretty amazing.
 
filmandmusic said:
I love Michael’s 70s voice more than his 90s voice myself.
Click to expand...
Agreed, although he had incredible vocal prowess his entire life. I think it was because his voice was still very youthful and had the ability to hit more climactic notes (think "Got To Be There" or "Too Young" especially).

Once his voice dropped in puberty, it was harder for him to maintain those same notes. You can hear this especially on the live version of Got To Be There from the "Live in Japan" Jackson 5 album from '73, mainly when he sings "I need her sharing the world beside me", a line that originally had some of the most climactic notes in the song. But on this live version, he probably holds these notes for a third of the original time.
 
@mjfanatic777 said:
This has probably been already said in here but Who's Loving You is a great example
Click to expand...
Interestingly enough, "Who's Loving You" was originally recorded by Smokey Robinson, but it was Michael's cover that made it popular. Even now, when Smokey performs it, people come to him and say, "I didn't know you did a Michael Jackson song!" 😂
 
Moviefan2k4 said:
Interestingly enough, "Who's Loving You" was originally recorded by Smokey Robinson, but it was Michael's cover that made it popular. Even now, when Smokey performs it, people come to him and say, "I didn't know you did a Michael Jackson song!" 😂
Click to expand...
Yea I know but Mike's version came to be the most popular one 😅 😅
 
@mjfanatic777 said:
Yea I know but Mike's version came to be the most popular one 😅 😅
Click to expand...

Well, its just one of those situations, where we can't always see or control what's going to happen. Another example is the 1980s pop hit "Tainted Love", by the British duo Soft Cell. I heard that song so many times as a kid, and I still enjoy it. But when I was in college, I learned it was actually a cover, originally done by UK soul singer Gloria Jones in 1964.
 
Moviefan2k4 said:
Well, its just one of those situations, where we can't always see or control what's going to happen. Another example is the 1980s pop hit "Tainted Love", by the British duo Soft Cell. I heard that song so many times as a kid, and I still enjoy it. But when I was in college, I learned it was actually a cover, originally done by UK soul singer Gloria Jones in 1964.
Click to expand...
Gloria Jones is American but she was quite well known in the UK.


Songs for Michael's voice - my choices (today) are:
TLYS
If I Have To Move A Mountain
Find Me A Girl
Tell Me I'm Not Dreaming (Toronto live)
SC
Scream
SIM
The Lost Children
 
Moviefan2k4 said:
Well, its just one of those situations, where we can't always see or control what's going to happen. Another example is the 1980s pop hit "Tainted Love", by the British duo Soft Cell. I heard that song so many times as a kid, and I still enjoy it. But when I was in college, I learned it was actually a cover, originally done by UK soul singer Gloria Jones in 1964.
Click to expand...
I never knew that! cool!
 
DJs_Doodles said:
Agreed, although he had incredible vocal prowess his entire life. I think it was because his voice was still very youthful and had the ability to hit more climactic notes (think "Got To Be There" or "Too Young" especially).

Once his voice dropped in puberty, it was harder for him to maintain those same notes. You can hear this especially on the live version of Got To Be There from the "Live in Japan" Jackson 5 album from '73, mainly when he sings "I need her sharing the world beside me", a line that originally had some of the most climactic notes in the song. But on this live version, he probably holds these notes for a third of the original time.
Click to expand...

This is the only available live performance of the song where Mike sings it like on the record

 
filmandmusic said:
This is the only available live performance of the song where Mike sings it like on the record

Click to expand...
That's so crazy. It's also crazy how many live performance footage from the Jackson 5 era is unreleased or lost. Just think about all the stellar Got To Be There performances we will most likely never get to see and hear. 😲
 
DJs_Doodles said:
That's so crazy. It's also crazy how many live performance footage from the Jackson 5 era is unreleased or lost. Just think about all the stellar Got To Be There performances we will most likely never get to see and hear. 😲
Click to expand...
Hopefully it will be found so we can see all of Michael's performances!
 
DJs_Doodles said:
That's so crazy. It's also crazy how many live performance footage from the Jackson 5 era is unreleased or lost. Just think about all the stellar Got To Be There performances we will most likely never get to see and hear. 😲
Click to expand...
I would assume that a lot of concert audio is out there. Maybe not video footage but at least audio. The Jackson 5 Live at the Forum double album is testament to that.
 
filmandmusic said:
We’ll see what he says, it is at least implied imo
I also don’t really care, I love Michael’s 70s voice more than his 90s voice myself.
Click to expand...
MJs "90s Voice" was very important. Any guy with a "falsetto", any kid who started performing, they all could do what MJ did unfortunately. Hence all these new "Kings of Pop". Almost every male artist gotten popular in the last few years did what MJ did back then. He outgrew it just like he outgrew Off The Wall disco. Imo anyway.

But if he was still with us, well, who knows what he'd do. Seems he was going back that way anyway so it's measured evenly.
 
Thatkliqkid said:
Definitely.

I like the way Michael sings "There" at 0:16 in Keep on Dancing. It's something he didn't do much of later and it's a little bit of a pity.
Click to expand...
Ah, the Louis Armstrong growl! You’re right, he didn’t use that much later on.
 
Mister_Jay_Tee said:
Sounds like his verse on Get It. Another great case of his vocal talents.
Click to expand...
Does he do it on Get It? Are you sure you’re not confusing him with Stevie? Stevie does it quite often indeed.
 
filmandmusic said:
Agreed but does that mean he wasn’t very good anymore post 1975 to you?
Click to expand...
I didn't quite mean that. Just trying to shine a light on the earlier stuff that this board mostly ignores.

In 1973 you could listen to a MJ album and conclude he was one of the best singers in the world. When you think of MJ in the following decades, singer is not the first thing that dotings to mind.

There are still songs where he's a great singer (Earth Song, IJCSLU, Speechless, ...) but people mostly say he's a songwriter, dancer or whatever.

Honestly, I'd have much preferred an MTV Unplugged performance, rather than the way he mimed during the HIStory tour.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top