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The Discussion of MJ's Unreleased Tracks

AlwaysThere said:
I love half of the Teddy contributions, but they were a little too samey for me. “Jam,” “In the Closet,” and “Dangerous” are effectively the same songs, which is the first (and last) time that issue has ever arisen for MJ. I think Dangerous would be better suited cutting “Why You Wanna Trip on Me” and “Can’t Let Her Get Away.”
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Leave WYWTOM and replace CLHGA and SDMW with For All Time and Someone Put Your Hand Out. Boom.
 
MJbr2 said:
Leave WYWTOM and replace CLHGA and SDMW with For All Time and Someone Put Your Hand Out. Boom.
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Replace Heal the World with Someone Put Your Hand Out and Gone Too Soon with Blood On the Dance Floor. Would’ve been an even better album Imo.
 
AlwaysThere said:
I love half of the Teddy contributions, but they were a little too samey for me. “Jam,” “In the Closet,” and “Dangerous” are effectively the same songs, which is the first (and last) time that issue has ever arisen for MJ. I think Dangerous would be better suited cutting “Why You Wanna Trip on Me” and “Can’t Let Her Get Away.”
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Not the last time at all. Tracks 1-3 of the 2001 album which shall not be named.

But I like the sameness. Like a fun megamix. A half CD of great dance music. I like the harmonies of the hooks and the analog sound of MJs style of NJS and the grit in the verses. They're just fun to me.
 
MJbr2 said:
I beg to differ. NJS was old news by 1991. Maybe if it was released a few years before, it'd be really groundbreaking.
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All other NJS was synthetic. The Dangerous cuts sound warm and analog. Like real instruments/noises and not just soundboard stuff. Compare it to what Quincy Jones did with NJS, or Stevie Wonder, or even Prince. It's a huge divide.
 
MJbr2 said:
Leave WYWTOM and replace CLHGA and SDMW with For All Time and Someone Put Your Hand Out. Boom.
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You're also getting rid of half of the African American music appeal that way. TBH, without Teddy, MJ would just be making pop music. Sure that's a heavy handed debate point, but just stop and think about it. What of these songs are getting played on BET and being danced to at Soultrain? Not Black or White or For All Time, that's for sure.
 
Hollywood_Tonight said:
Unbreakable, Heartbreaker and Invincible sound like 3 variations of the same song to me. Imo those are significantly more similar than any of the Teddy Riley tracks on Dangerous.
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They sound like one very long song.

The fact that these 3 songs are the first 3 songs is also another problem of the album.

The album is just at the beginning but the listener gets already exhausted and bored.
AlwaysThere said:
I love half of the Teddy contributions, but they were a little too samey for me. “Jam,” “In the Closet,” and “Dangerous” are effectively the same songs, which is the first (and last) time that issue has ever arisen for MJ. I think Dangerous would be better suited cutting “Why You Wanna Trip on Me” and “Can’t Let Her Get Away.”
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'She Drives Me Wild' should not have been included on the album as well.

'She Drives Me Wild' sounds immature and childish with all these sounds of car horns, car engines, slamming car doors, sirens, etc, and his growling vocals do not really suit him.

One has to wonder what was going on in Michael Jackson's mind when he decided to include that song on his 'Dangerous' album.
 
SmoothGangsta said:
Scratch vocal doesn't mean sang all the way through clearly.
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It is interesting that the cassette is dated October 30,1986 because it means that it was most likely recorded at Westlake. The 1986 rough demo of Streetwalker is dated October 27, 1986, and is also a scratch vocal. A Hayvenhurst demo must exist for both of these songs, because we know that Turning Me Off and Streetwalker were both initially recorded in early 86’, and it may contain a stronger lead vocal.

I believe these cassettes contain Westlake recreations and if this is true, that means that Turning Me Off was considered by the A-Team for an inclusion on the album. Apparently, (I don’t remember who said it, I think it was John Barnes) Michael really liked the song also.
 
dethorro said:
It is interesting that the cassette is dated October 30,1986 because it means that it was most likely recorded at Westlake. The 1986 rough demo of Streetwalker is dated October 27, 1986, and is also a scratch vocal. A Hayvenhurst demo must exist for both of these songs, because we know that Turning Me Off and Streetwalker were both initially recorded in early 86’, and it may contain a stronger lead vocal.

I believe these cassettes contain Westlake recreations and if this is true, that means that Turning Me Off was considered by the A-Team for an inclusion on the album. Apparently, (I don’t remember who said it, I think it was John Barnes) Michael really liked the song also.
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It was Eddie Cascio who said MJ really liked the track, he wrote about it in his book.
 
Mister_Jay_Tee said:
Well you stated it differently this time. If you don't like it, cool and fine. Just felt you yucked my yum a little too hard. No grudges held.

I think those Bad tracks are underrated as well. In fact I'm gonna listen to Speed Demon right now. As a matter of fact, it, Sunset Driver, and She Drives Me Wild are all amazing to actually drive to as well.
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JGF and Speed Demon are not filled lmao, just because they weren’t widely released as singles doesn’t mean they were fillers
 
Hollywood_Tonight said:
Unbreakable, Heartbreaker and Invincible sound like 3 variations of the same song to me. Imo those are significantly more similar than any of the Teddy Riley tracks on Dangerous.
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I don’t agree with this line personally. “Unbreakable” and “Invincible” are similar in tempo, but I think they all stand out as individual songs. Some of the Riley tracks, great as they are, all feel like they all use the same templates.
 
dethorro said:
It is interesting that the cassette is dated October 30,1986 because it means that it was most likely recorded at Westlake. The 1986 rough demo of Streetwalker is dated October 27, 1986, and is also a scratch vocal. A Hayvenhurst demo must exist for both of these songs, because we know that Turning Me Off and Streetwalker were both initially recorded in early 86’, and it may contain a stronger lead vocal.

I believe these cassettes contain Westlake recreations and if this is true, that means that Turning Me Off was considered by the A-Team for an inclusion on the album. Apparently, (I don’t remember who said it, I think it was John Barnes) Michael really liked the song also.
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Brad said majority of the songs on Bad were first recorded and went through pre-production at Hayvenhurst before being re-cut at Westlake

Turning Me Off is from 1984 and was initially recorded in LA around the same time as the first demo of We Are the World
 
mj_frenzy said:
'She Drives Me Wild' sounds immature and childish with all these sounds of car horns, car engines, slamming car doors, sirens, etc, and his growling vocals do not really suit him.

One has to wonder what was going on in Michael Jackson's mind when he decided to include that song on his 'Dangerous' album.
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Because he wanted to do all kinds of music, but above all it had to be 'fun'/family entertainment and in no way offend or exclude anyone. I think the car sounds are too corny as well, but in a way this song is more 'MJ' than any other song on the album (except for 'Heal The World' lol )

+ it's possibly a follow-up on 'Speed Demon'
 
threepea11 said:
JGF and Speed Demon are not filled lmao, just because they weren’t widely released as singles doesn’t mean they were fillers
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I don't think JGF is a filler too (again, MJ didn't believe in fillers) but an attempt to have another song like 'The Girl Is Mine'. And 'Ebony & Ivory' did well too; Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson: it could have been a hit
 
Victorious said:
I don't think JGF is a filler too (again, MJ didn't believe in fillers) but an attempt to have another song like 'The Girl Is Mine'.
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Actually, 'Just Good Friends' was an attempt to have another song like 'The Girl Is Mine' and 'P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)', according to Quincy Jones.

Quincy Jones later bitterly regretted having included this song on the 'BAD' album.
Victorious said:
Because he wanted to do all kinds of music, but above all it had to be 'fun'/family entertainment and in no way offend or exclude anyone. I think the car sounds are too corny as well, but in a way this song is more 'MJ' than any other song on the album (except for 'Heal The World' lol )

+ it's possibly a follow-up on 'Speed Demon'
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And it became a much inferior follow-up to the 'Speed Demon' song.

Compared to 'She Drives Me Wild', 'Speed Demon' at least has better vocals and some interesting moments, such as, its bass line, or even the brief falsetto.
 
mj_frenzy said:
Compared to 'She Drives Me Wild', 'Speed Demon' at least has better vocals and some interesting moments, such as, its bass line, or even the brief falsetto.
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I totally agree but I don't think he himself saw it as a filler at all. Also I think the song could be so much better: all lead vocals (and basslines too) are muffled away on the Dangerous album and there are catchy elements hidden; under the rap part for instance
 
mj_frenzy said:
Actually, 'Just Good Friends' was an attempt to have another song like 'The Girl Is Mine' and 'P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)', according to Quincy Jones.

Quincy Jones later bitterly regretted having included this song on the 'BAD' album.
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? - Why? Do you have more info? A video where Quincy talks about it or a quote or something. Why did he regret a duet between Stevie Wonder and MJ? _ Did he think the song was weak? Would like to hear more about this. :) - Did he argue with MJ over this?
 

For anyone that hasn't seen this video, I strongly recommend it. You can see Mike's thought process in the Dangerous tracklist and tellingly you can see him grooving to CLHGA around 5 mins. Clearly he loved CLHGA, like he loved Smooth Criminal on the Bad album

Blood, Ghosts, SPYHO and Joy were all fantastic songs left off the record, but perhaps their inclusion would have changed the focus of the album.

The story of the song Dangerous is similar to Blood, so it would make sense to pick one or the other.
Same with SPYHO - Will You Be There,
Ghosts - Trip
Joy probably has most in common with RTT, but perhaps Mike didn't want to convey love on Dangerous like he had on the Bad album.

Personally provided we hear MJ's version of Joy one day, I'm happy with choices that were made on Dangerous
 
mj_frenzy said:
Compared to 'She Drives Me Wild', 'Speed Demon' at least has better vocals and some interesting moments, such as, its bass line, or even the brief falsetto.
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She Drives Me Wild have incredible vocals. So does Speed Demon. And adding a bass line to the former wouldn’t necessarily be in its favour. It’s a song where the drums and percussion along with the vocals takes center stage. Just take the Dangerous demo, for an example, and compare it to the final version. In my opinion, the song work much better without the bass. It takes on a completely different, rawer character.
 
Victorious said:
I totally agree but I don't think he himself saw it as a filler at all. Also I think the song could be so much better: all lead vocals (and basslines too) are muffled away on the Dangerous album and there are catchy elements hidden; under the rap part for instance
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I wouldn’t say the bass lines are “muffled away” in, say, Remember the Time, Black or White, and Who Is It.

And regarding the vocals: Do you find them muffled on Heal the World and Gone Too Soon, too? As for the New Jack Swing tracks, I’m sure it’s a conscious choice to mix the vocals a bit lower than what you’d expect to hear from for example a Bad era up tempo song. Although, when you say “muffled” I cannot help but think that you are perhaps referring to lack of treble (high frequencies)?
 
mj_frenzy said:
[…] Quincy Jones later bitterly regretted having included this song on the 'BAD' album. […]
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I would love to know the source of this statement. I’ve never heard Quincy said anything of the like about Just Good Friends, and honestly, I would be quite surprised if he has actually expressed regrets regarding it.

As for me, I hold the song very dear. It’s a duet between my two favourite vocalists, for heaven’s sake – what more can you ask for?
 
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