Thriller 40th Anniversary

I really don't understand what is going on? Very few promos! Sub-par CD! Messed up distribution! How, just how!!! There is go to be more to it.

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Email from HMV:

Dear Fabrizio,

Thanks for getting back in touch.

Unfortunately, it now looks as though Sony have recently updated what this version of the LP will entail. They have confirmed with us that this version will contain the following:

• Alternative Sleeve Version Of Thriller Album Vinyl Featuring the ‘Thriller 40th’ Branding.

• Audio: The Audio Remains The Same As The Standard LP

Unfortunately, it seems Sony has decided to remove the bonus tracks. Apologies. As such, we have updated our website to reflect these changes.

We can assure you that all prices are a direct reflection of the price that we in turn, have paid our suppliers for that product. If we are able to negotiate a special purchase price on an item, then this discount will of course, be extended to our customers, as you would have seen with our regular sales and promotions that we run in store.

I do hope that this helps.

Kind regards,

Kevin

Customer Service Team
hmv.com
Hey man,

I'd like to thank you for your great investigation. The fact that this info has come out only in the last day is beyond ridiculous.

I also checked the HMV website earlier today and realised that it now said '1-disc'. It's obviously not HMV's fault that they assumed, as they should, that the ANNIVERSARY REISSUE (!!!) is not the exact same as the normal album but with the addition of a horrible cover.

I reserved a copy of the vinyl version at a local indie for £40.00 (!!!); almost DOUBLE what is being asked for the regular Thriller. Safe to say it's getting unreserved.

Who do they think is going to pay double the price for not only the exact same version of Thriller that's been knocking about for 40 years, but with a half-arsed cover that pales in comparison to the original?? Utterly baffling.
 
It is allowed to svare links to YouTube
 
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I hope the iTunes Apple digital master Will Sound good.
 
  1. Select 10 demos from the vault.
  2. Hire the highest-rated mixing and mastering engineers on Fiverr to overhaul the demos. If the multitracks aren’t accessible, hire an audio restoration specialist (also from Fiverr) to ensure the best possible quality.
  3. Hire a graphic designer on Behance and provide them with enough rare and unpublished photos to craft an eye catching, brand-new cover and booklet.
  4. Hire @JohnC and provide him with the necessary resources to write an album retrospective and track notes for the booklet.
That’s it. That’s all they had to do.

Obviously Thriller deserves far more, but if the estate was insistent on a two-disc format, they could’ve pulled off something great for a few thousand dollars at most—probably a fraction of what they spent on Thriller 40. Absolutely insane.
 
  1. Select 10 demos from the vault.
  2. Hire the highest-rated mixing and mastering engineers on Fiverr to overhaul the demos. If the multitracks aren’t accessible, hire an audio restoration specialist (also from Fiverr) to ensure the best possible quality.
  3. Hire a graphic designer on Behance and provide them with enough rare and unpublished photos to craft an eye catching, brand-new cover and booklet.
  4. Hire @JohnC and provide him with the necessary resources to write an album retrospective and track notes for the booklet.
That’s it. That’s all they had to do. Of course they should do much, much more, but if they were insistent on a smaller release, they could’ve pulled one off for a couple thousand dollars at most—probably a fraction of what they spent on the actual thing.

Yes, it's not even like we're asking much. I think we would all be happy with the bare minimum being done correctly at this point. It's just awful to me that MJ's stuff is getting released sounding like this.
 
Listen to "What A Lovely Way To Go" for the first time. Thanks that i never listen to this stupid poor snippets. (y)

Very interesting. For me the most interesting title on that disc. Completely new side, that i never saw of him. I like that. Love that from the first second. 😊 Thanks Mike!
Feeling be back in the 80s/90s/00s to hear new music, when the KING was still there. Thanks Mike for that feeling and good time again.
Greetings to the people listening to the snippets. You will never get that feeling. 😛
 
Obviously Thriller deserves far more, but if the estate was insistent on a two-disc format, they could’ve pulled off something great for a few thousand dollars at most—probably a fraction of what they spent on Thriller 40. Absolutely insane.
Yes, it's not even like we're asking much. I think we would all be happy with the bare minimum being done correctly at this point. It's just awful to me that MJ's stuff is getting released sounding like this.
All of this.

I haven't heard anything yet but there are so many of these comments it just seems obvious to me we're not talking about personal taste. To some extent, maybe, but not that much, it seems to me. This just doesn't sound like one person's taste vs. another. It sounds as though something is profoundly wrong with this whole project.

The context here for me is I only found out a few days ago about the Estate publishing a photo not long after Michael died. A photo allegedly of Michael but, in fact, of one of the impersonators. I'm still reeling from that so all of this T40 stuff is just ...

I don't even know what to say ...
 
Do you guys think it’s worth it to email the label/estate and try to make something viral via Twitter/Facebook etc? I got some spare time tomorrow and could try to put some things together.

I expected the release to be bad, but not this bad.
 
Normally I would just listen to all of this stuff now but seeing it's being released so soon I'll have to wait it out... I want to experience it by myself in the most proper way possible. Got to say though... seeing a lot of people comment on the songs will tease me to unimaginable amounts lol.
 
Do you guys think it’s worth it to email the label/estate and try to make something viral via Twitter/Facebook etc? I got some spare time tomorrow and could try to put some things together.

I expected the release to be bad, but not this bad.
Hell no it's not worth it
 
Do you guys think it’s worth it to email the label/estate and try to make something viral via Twitter/Facebook etc? I got some spare time tomorrow and could try to put some things together.

I expected the release to be bad, but not this bad.
They won't listen. They never do. They don't give a f#@* about what the fans think
 
im sorry to say but Thriller 40 is BAD. I wasn't expecting ten never before released/leaked amazing perfect polished songs but DAMN. This is hilariously bad. Why did they think it ok to release Starlight with loud static and scratches for half the song? It makes it unlistenable. What a lovely way to go is off beat at multiple points and the bgvs are earrape but WOULD have potential if fixed. The Toy is just kinda weird and has bad vocal mixing on the harmonies, seems even worse when we have Best Of Joy for comparison. Who do you know is painfully mid but at least the quality is decent on it so i'll give it a pass. The rest is absolutely inexcusable. They have had several years to work on this and deliver THIS. It is absolutely embarrassing and unacceptable. I don't think we should support this.
 
This really isn't that bad.

Considering first of all, it's just another leak were dealing with. The material is not bad, it's just rough. It's literal sketches and outtakes. Are we saying that if this material was what made it to Thriller than MJ wouldn't deserve the accolades? It should certainly make us appreciate what did make the final tracklisting.

But what's the expectation? Is it really about quality assurance or are we just subconsciously expecting more hit worthy material? I'm just enjoying hearing an artist work and refine his craft.
 
This really isn't that bad.

Considering first of all, it's just another leak were dealing with. The material is not bad, it's just rough. It's literal sketches and outtakes. Are we saying that if this material was what made it to Thriller than MJ wouldn't deserve the accolades? It should certainly make us appreciate what did make the final tracklisting.

But what's the expectation? Is it really about quality assurance or are we just subconsciously expecting more hit worthy material? I'm just enjoying hearing an artist work and refine his craft.
I see what you mean entirely but if that's the case, why even release these songs if they're quite literally unreleasable? If theyre not even good then there's no point it just kinda makes mj look bad. Especially when they have been trying to hype this up for months upon months. Super underwhelming imo. And again, I already wasn't expecting much along with many others. It seems like they really ran out of material to use so just threw this together.
 
I would be happy with this release (if I ignore everything else surrounding it) if most of the songs didn't sound like trash (not the songs themselves, the sound quality). That is not expecting too much, that's just expecting the basics.
 
They won't listen. They never do. They don't give a f#@* about what the fans think
Well, the fans said, don't release the phony tracks - they haven't listened but eventually they've learned it the hard way.

Imo if enough fans would raise their voice the label (and thus the Estate) have to take note of our displeasure.
 
I see what you mean entirely but if that's the case, why even release these songs if they're quite literally unreleasable? If theyre not even good then there's no point it just kinda makes mj look bad. Especially when they have been trying to hype this up for months upon months. Super underwhelming imo. And again, I already wasn't expecting much along with many others. It seems like they really ran out of material to use so just threw this together.
That's the thing I can't answer. Obviously that's why they had a few padding songs.

But if we wanted a box set of everything he put out, every scratch vocal and half finished instrumental, what's the difference? This isn't a commercial product, it's more like an archive thing. What else are we gonna expect? It can't all be hits. There can't be anything more than glimpses of what his next full bodied project would've been, and what ifs for everything else he did. That's the kinda artist MJ was, quality over quantity. I'm losing my thought a little but you see what I'm getting at. Yes a good song like Hot Street was left on the cutting room floor, and probably for a good reason. If this project wasn't mean to have all eyes on it, then that's just what it is. I mean, they probably would've put a remix on it if that was the case.
 
I would be happy with this release (if I ignore everything else surrounding it) if most of the songs didn't sound like trash (not the songs themselves, the sound quality). That is not expecting too much, that's just expecting the basics.

There's always the slim chance it sounds better on Friday, on Spotify. It could just be a Defective CD rip.
 
Are people complaining about the quality of the audio or the songs themselves? We've all been saying for years that we want the music as Michael left it. These are the demos as he made them and they are 40 years old!!!! We are lucky they still exist at all! Personally, i wanna hear everything he recorded no matter the quality. I think if people keep complaining about this then the estate will completely stop releasing ANY unreleased demos. What I have more of an issue is with the estate themselves. The lack of promotion and Their attitude towards the fans in general is very disrespectful.
 
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