The Discussion of MJ's Unreleased Tracks

Larry Janus:
I recorded the demo for "Smooth Criminal" at the BeeGees Studio in the 80's !
It was called "Al Capone" at the time.
John Barnes had a LOT of MIDI stuff in our room. You couldn't walk around. =)

(it didn't have Bruce's cool voice at the time, of course)

Bruce Swedien:
Larry - Isn't that a great track???? John Barnes was such a pain-in-the-ass!!!
 
The Hayvenhurst vs Westlake drama should be studied. They didn't like each other at all
I read somewhere that Michael took tapes (slave reels) to work on at Hayvenhurst behind Quincy's back during the main Bad sessions... Quincy soon caught wind of that, and that was basically the end of the B team.
 
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I remember reading somewhere that Michael took tapes (slave reels) to work on at Hayvenhurst behind Quincy's back during the main Bad sessions... Quincy soon caught wind of that, and that was basically the end of the B team.
There was a lot of tension between those sessions. My thought is Quincy wanted sole producer credit which is why he or Michael, sent Brad to retrieve tapes Michael worked on at home. Quincy purposely found ways to tweak the songs to get his credit while reducing Michael’s contributions to co-producer
 
The Hayvenhurst vs Westlake drama should be studied. They didn't like each other at all
Hayvenhurst team basically made the Bad album, no discussion. Except for JGF and MITM but that's it. Quincy wanted to take all the credit for himself. The people that should have gotten their deserved credit as the ACTUAL producers of the album were the Hayvenhurst team (John Barnes, Bill Bottrell and Matt Forger).
 
Hayvenhurst team basically made the Bad album, no discussion. Except for JGF and MITM but that's it. Quincy wanted to take all the credit for himself. The people that should have gotten their deserved credit as the ACTUAL producers of the album were the Hayvenhurst team (John Barnes, Bill Bottrell and Matt Forger).
Exactly. Barnes already said they were at Hayvenhurst recording actual songs, not demos to turn in. A shame a lot of this is being realized after so many years
 
Hayvenhurst team basically made the Bad album, no discussion. Except for JGF and MITM but that's it. Quincy wanted to take all the credit for himself. The people that should have gotten their deserved credit as the ACTUAL producers of the album were the Hayvenhurst team (John Barnes, Bill Bottrell and Matt Forger).
Funnily enough, the Just Good Friends demo was allegedly MADE at Hayvenhurst. If that is true, then Man In The Mirror is the only track where Quincy deserves more than 50% credit.
 
There was a lot of tension between those sessions. My thought is Quincy wanted sole producer credit which is why he or Michael, sent Brad to retrieve tapes Michael worked on at home. Quincy purposely found ways to tweak the songs to get his credit while reducing Michael’s contributions to co-producer
Absolutely. It seems to be more the case Quincy viewed Bill Bottrell and John Barnes as interlopers (at least on a producer level) and not a member of his trusted team, from what I remember reading... He was like, "either they go or I go".

Sure enough, John Barnes plays piano on "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" and appears on some of the other Quincy-produced tracks. So John wasn't completely out of the picture - he was in as a musician, not a producer or collaborator like on the Hayvenhurst sessions.
 
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Based on some conversations I had with Barnes, I don't think Roger Troutman was necessarily on the James Brown-sampled version. But, I can't recall exactly what was said.
Did John ever mention working on Chicago 1945?
 
Funnily enough, the Just Good Friends demo was allegedly MADE at Hayvenhurst. If that is true, then Man In The Mirror is the only track where Quincy deserves more than 50% credit.
Just Good Friends came in later, as did MITM. They are the only two songs on BAD not to be written by Michael...

From my research (check out Rolling Stone's 87 feature on MJ), it was in February 1987 that Quincy started looking for songs from outside writers. Bear in mind, the album was well underway at Westlake and Bill Bottrell (Hayvenhurst) was already fired by then... So I'd say it's relatively unlikely a Hayvenhurst demo exists for JGF.
 
Omg Loren found these it claims they are showing snippets or did i make a mistake?
WHAT THE HELL!?

I can immediately tell that the tags are a bit misleading because there are songs that we know for sure aren’t finished (“Seven Digits”) labeled as “complete.” Still, this is fascinating.

MJ-Inventory-Page-3-JPG-NEW-EMBED-2024.jpg

It’s also amazing to get confirmation that (a) “A Pretty Face Is” WAS recorded, and (b) it was worked on with Loren.
 
A
WHAT THE HELL!?

I can immediately tell that the tags are a bit misleading because there are songs that we know for sure aren’t finished (“Seven Digits”) labeled as “complete.” Still, this is fascinating.

MJ-Inventory-Page-3-JPG-NEW-EMBED-2024.jpg

It’s also amazing to get confirmation that (a) “A Pretty Face Is” WAS recorded, and (b) it was worked on with Loren.
It says they are all finished, but the Estate sent them a letter refusing to purchase it and preventing them from ever being leaked to the public.
 
A

It says they are all finished, but the Estate sent them a letter refusing to purchase it and preventing them from ever being leaked to the public.
why did they refuse to buy them. They should be buying anything with michaels voice on it.

If they could pay millions for those crappy FAKE cascio tracks they should buy these.
 
WHAT THE HELL!?

I can immediately tell that the tags are a bit misleading because there are songs that we know for sure aren’t finished (“Seven Digits”) labeled as “complete.” Still, this is fascinating.

MJ-Inventory-Page-3-JPG-NEW-EMBED-2024.jpg

It’s also amazing to get confirmation that (a) “A Pretty Face Is” WAS recorded, and (b) it was worked on with Loren.
Others songs that are on the tapes but aren't mencioned on this document:

BUBBLES
3 SONGS IN ONE?? (It's listed for some reason in two tapes, it sounds like a Loren title LOL)
HOMELESS
HOUSE GROOVE
SUPERFLY SISTER (Dangerous Demo)

Maybe instrumentals
 
On another tape, Jackson can be heard explaining the intended meaning to a song called “Seven Digits” which references the identification number bodies receive in a morgue.
Perhaps one of the most fascinating tracks on the tapes is titled “Truth on Youth,” which is seemingly a rap duet between Jackson and LL Cool J. The rapper has spoken in the past about working with Jackson, confirming they had recorded music together. The song stands out for many reasons but largely due to Jackson rapping on it.
 
Omg Loren found these it claims they are showing snippets or did i make a mistake?
Update:

"Dec. 12, 7:03 p.m. The physical tapes are not currently in Musgrove’s possession. They are in a secure facility under the control of his attorney."
 
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