Piek;4278818 said:
Interesting – I never heard that statement by Michael, but it makes a bit sense to me. When I hear tracks like Shout and 2000 Watts, they sound experimental to me. At least experimental for Michael Jackson tracks. I always wondered whether or not Michael considered a completely different direction with Invincible.
I wished Michael had released some EP's, every now and then. With experiments, or collaborations... by sticking to albums only, he limited himself. An EP with Shout and 2000 Watts would have been lovely inbetween albums.
DuranDuran;4278821 said:
You mean like those electronic music albums Paul McCartney released under the name "The Fireman"? If a listener didn't know it was Paul and heard The Fireman's stuff, they'd never guess it was him. Most of it is instrumental. Mike is too commercial minded and concerned about selling the most records and getting hit singles to do that. It's not like Mike is an avant-garde or free jazz artist.
Michael Jackson had to stick only to albums because the contract that he signed with Sony Music demanded that.
The contract demanded that he had to deliver complete studio albums, not EPs, throughout the contract’s long period.
Also, the sum of all the new songs (in that long period) had to reach a minimum number.
These clauses (set by the record company) were meant to protect and benefit Sony Music.
The only exception was the ‘Blood On The Dance Floor’ album.
Sony Music wanted at least ten new songs in that album, but Michael Jackson rejected their demand for delivering such an album with at least ten new songs, so both parties reached a compromise for only five new songs plus the remixes.
But it was a compromise that eventually left both parties not satisfied because neither Michael Jackson nor Sony Music actually wanted such a messy format of the album (5 new songs plus eight remixes).
According to information from his camp, Michael Jackson in particular felt extremely upset by the official, hybrid format of that album (and also by the company’s decision for the inclusion of those eight remixes because he thought that the remixes were ruining the original versions of the songs).