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How would you have handled the 2001 special editions?

Spaceship

Spaceship

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On Off the Wall, Thriller, and Bad, they should have used extended mixes for some songs; a CD can hold about 80 minutes, and these are all relatively short albums, so it'd work. "Rock with You", "Off the Wall", and "Burn This Disco Out" with the longer outros and extra ad-libs.

The full version of "The Lady in My Life" with the second verse, longer outro, and extra ad-libs. The full version of "Billie Jean" with the longer intro, bridge, outro, and extra ad-libs.

The full version of "Smooth Criminal" with the extra lyrics in the second verse. It was in Moonwalker; the mix doesn't have to be the same, but definitely make sure to use the extra lyrics. Also, keep the breathing in the intro; removing "I Just Can't Stop Loving You"'s cringey spoken intro was the right move, but the breathing in "Smooth Criminal"'s intro was cool.

I'd have also included the demos to "Don't Stop til You Get Enough", "Working Day and Night", "Billie Jean", "Beat It", "Thriller" (or "Starlight"), "PYT", "Girl is Mine", "Smooth Criminal" (or "Al Capone"), etc as well the full versions of outtakes like "Sunset Driver", "Hot Street", "Carousel", "Streetwalker", "Fly Away", "We Are Here to Change the World", etc.

As for Dangerous, it was already nearly 80 minutes, so not much you can do besides remaster it. A second disc would've been too pricey.

I've read that the remasters were badly done, but I never owned the original versions of the albums, so I wouldn't really know about that. I do have the 1999 SACD remaster of Thriller, though, but I'm not sure what the difference is. I guess the sound is clearer, but the 2001 special editions seemed fine to me. I'm not an audiophile lol
 
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Spaceship said:
I've read that the remasters were badly done, but I never owned the original versions of the albums, so I wouldn't really know about that.
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Michael Jackson fans were disappointed because certain sound glitches on the original versions were not corrected in those 2001 Special Editions (such as, in the 'Give In To Me' song), and also because new sound glitches even appeared for the first time in those 2001 Special Editions (such as, in the 'BAD' song).
Spaceship said:
As for Dangerous, it was already nearly 80 minutes, so not much you can do besides remaster it.
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Matt Forger (who was involved in the making of these 2001 Special Editions) stated that a second, bonus disc (with 'Dangerous' era outtakes) was ready for release, but the record company eventually did not allow that to happen due to its high costs.
 
I wouldn't have bothered. The original albums are great, don't interfere with the versions of the songs. And especially don't "remaster" anything the way Sony did.

Dangerous already had a second disc, full of remixes.
 
mj_frenzy said:
Matt Forger (who was involved in the making of these 2001 Special Editions) stated that a second, bonus disc (with 'Dangerous' era outtakes) was ready for release, but the record company eventually did not allow that to happen due to its high costs.
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Yeah, it was for the best.

R1chard said:
I wouldn't have bothered. The original albums are great, don't interfere with the versions of the songs. And especially don't "remaster" anything the way Sony did.
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Technically, the songs weren't originally released as MJ and Quincy intended them, because many of them had to be shortened to fit on an LP. This was a good opportunity to restore them to their original states, and it's not like it would have negatively affected the quality of the album in any shape or form.
 
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Technically, the special edition of Dangerous was released in October 2001, near the 10th anniversary of the album in November.
 
Also different back cover. That alone is worth ... Umm... Something
 
AlwaysThere said:
No interviews.
More demos of album tracks.
2-3 unreleased songs.
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That was pretty much the initial plan - see Sony's press release from January 2001.

However, at some point execs at Epic/Sony Music must have realized, that 19 bonus tracks (13 of them previously unreleased) would have overshaddowed, if not cannibalized, the sales of Invincible.
 
They had no problem giving Bad's special edition two previously unreleased outtakes as bonus tracks ("Streetwalker" and "Fly Away"), though.

I don't see why they couldn't have just delayed the special editions to after Invincible came out.
 
Fuzball said:
That was pretty much the initial plan - see Sony's press release from January 2001.

However, at some point execs at Epic/Sony Music must have realized, that 19 bonus tracks (13 of them previously unreleased) would have overshaddowed, if not cannibalized, the sales of Invincible.
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I suspect it was MJ who made the decision, same as how he neutered Thriller 25.
 
I would have replaced the chatter with Hot Street and TYLA and added a second disc for Dangerous.
 
AlwaysThere said:
No interviews.
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I agree.

Have to mention the word 'interview'always bothered me. These tracks are just sound bites. An interview is a conversation with questions and answers. These are just ramblings.
 
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