For a moment, let's all sit back and consider something. Right now, completely erase the tracks from your mind. Don't worry about how the vocals sound or how they were recorded; we can get to that later. For now, I want to put forth a few questions (which have been asked before) regarding the actual creation of these tracks, most of which does not make any logical sense.
- How in the world did Michael Jackson finish twelve songs in two months? Any one of his collaborators, whether recent or older, can testify that it would take Michael years to finish a song. He worked on Hollywood Tonight for nine years, a song that was fully written lyrically, and never recorded the bridge or third verse. He was even less prolific in his later years, as many have revealed.
- There are only two people in the world to testify that they were in the room when Michael recorded the vocals: James Porte and Eddie Cascio. None of Eddie's family members have commented that they heard any music or saw Michael recording; even Frank Cascio in his book said that he was never in the studio with them. Eddie has given one interview regarding the songs, while James has remained completely silent. Wouldn't you think that someone, even one of Michael's own children, would have heard some of the music that they were working on in the three months Michael resided with the Cascio family? (Also, Allow me to set in stone that THESE ARE FINISHED SONGS. Each song has TWO VERSES, FULL CHORUS VOCALS, A COMPLETE BRIDGE SECTION and NUMEROUS AD LIBS. Regardless of the merit of the vocals themselves, these are far from "song fragments," as some have attempted to make us believe.)
- The Cascios claimed that Michael was so pleased with the songs that he requested all other vocal takes be erased; they later retracted this claim by saying that the alternate takes were erased to make space on the hard drives. Several questions arise simply from these two comments. If these takes were supposedly "rough vocal demos" and "not up to Michael's standards," why would he be so pleased with them that he would delete every other take? Why wouldn't the Cascios simply buy another hard drive, or move the outtakes to another? When has Michael ever asked to completely delete a vocal performance?
- People only began hearing Michael's supposed vocals months after he passed away. Even this Angelo fellow, who was working on the songs since June, I believe, said that he did not work with Michael's vocals; rather, he worked with James's. Why wouldn't the Cascios offer Michael's vocals if, at the time, the tracks were complete?
- Around November 2010, a freelance journalist over on another forum spoke to Jason Malachi over the Internet (when he still was pushing his own independent music) and asked him if he was involved with the production of the Cascio songs. According to him, Jason said that "he couldn't comment on it". If he wasn't involved, what was holding him back from just saying no?
- It has been long claimed that Eddie has proof that Michael recorded the songs. Where is it? There is no logical explanation as to why he would withhold evidence that would put thousands of furious fans to shame.
Regarding the vocals themselves, there's nothing to say that hasn't already been said.
I don't hate these songs; some of them are actually written and produced quite well. Stay, Water and Burn Tonight are all pretty great pop songs, in my perspective. I hate the idea that Eddie actually attempted to pass them off as Michael Jackson songs and expect the fan base to not notice that something was fishy with the situation. Listen to Breaking News. That is hands down the most pathetic attempt at sounding like Michael Jackson I've ever heard.