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The Discussion of MJ's Unreleased Tracks

BlackAnon said:
They were likely creating a track list with the songs presented at the time
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I don’t think so. Every song on that configuration of the track list ended up on the album except for BOTDF and SPYHO.

This was the tracklist:

Dangerous early Tracklist:

  1. Jam
  2. Why You Wanna Trip On Me
  3. In The Closet
  4. She Drives Me Wild
  5. Remember The Time
  6. Can’t Let Her Get Away
  7. Someone Put Your Hand Out
  8. Black Or White
  9. Who Is It
  10. Will You Be There
  11. Gone Too Soon
  12. Heal The World
  13. Blood On The Dance Floor
  14. Dangerous
I don’t think BOTDF would have been on that configuration of the album if it wasn’t truly considered as a contender for the album.
 
Fuzball said:
There's only one date on Bill's calender. Could have been previously worked with others or it's from much earlier times - like it's the case with Sunset Driver or Bad Girl.
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If it's the former it seems likely lots of outtakes from the Bad Era have scratch vocals.
 
Themidwestcowboy said:
Wasn’t it though? I remember seeing a video from the dangerous session where they’re arranging the tracklist, and both BOTDF and SPYHO was part of the tracklist.

If I recall correctly BOTDF 96 was not re-recorded or even re-produced (as in teddy “modernizing” it). They wanted it to stay as close to how it was done during the dangerous sessions.
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Wrong.
Teddy Riley even said and repeated his point that the released version wasn’t what he had in mind for BOTDF. It went a different direction after the dangerous sessions, after what was done early with Teddy.
 
MJJuniorSinceMW said:
Wrong.
Teddy Riley even said and repeated his point that the released version wasn’t what he had in mind for BOTDF. It went a different direction after the dangerous sessions, after what was done early with Teddy.
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When did he say that?


This is what Teddy supposedly said about the song when MJ was alive:

“Blood on the Dance Floor" was revisited in 1997 at Mountain Studios. According to Matt Forger, the original 1991 DAT with Riley's original instrumental groove was used for the rework. Riley was a little upset, however, that Jackson didn't call him to "vacuum clean this old master", but "Michael knew what he wanted and he was happy with it".



This is a Teddy Riley interview done by Joseph Vogel 2012 (I believe):


“Ultimately, however, "Blood on the Dance Floor" didn't end up making it onto Dangerous. "It wasn't quite finished," Riley says. "There were still some vocal parts missing. Michael loved the song, but he would listen to it and say, 'I like what you did here, but we still need this here.' He was a perfectionist."

As the Dangerous sessions continued, other tracks began to take priority, including "Remember the Time" and "In the Closet." Jackson wouldn't resume work on "Blood" until nearly seven years later. It was now January of 1997. Jackson was in the midst of his HIStory World Tour, and had decided to visit Montreux, Switzerland during a break between the first and second leg (according to news reports, while there he also tried to purchase the home of his longtime idol, Charlie Chaplin).

Here, at Mountain Studio, Jackson went to work on the old demo. "We took Teddy's DAT (Digital Audio Tape) and worked it over with a four-man crew," recalls musician, Brad Buxer. The completed multi-track, engineered, and mixed by Mick Guzauski, was modeled very closely on the last version Jackson and Riley recorded.”
 
@NeoGardiV12 But to your point, I think you were right. It probably wasn’t finished [to Michael’s standard]. But it still baffles me that he let this one fall to the wayside while working oj the other Teddy tracks. In The Closet, Remember The Time and Blood On The Dancefloor is a deadly trio. The three greatest track to come out of their collaboration, IMO.
 
Themidwestcowboy said:
Not saying I don’t believe you, but when was it ever stated/confirmed that MJ re-recorded all his vocals? I’ve heard about additional vocal overdubs though.
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I believe Brad Buxer confirmed this to Brice Najar. I don’t have a copy of Let’s Make HIStory on hand, but if anyone else does, I believe it was commented in his chapter!
 
Themidwestcowboy said:
I don’t think so. Every song on that configuration of the track list ended up on the album except for BOTDF and SPYHO.

This was the tracklist:

Dangerous early Tracklist:

  1. Jam
  2. Why You Wanna Trip On Me
  3. In The Closet
  4. She Drives Me Wild
  5. Remember The Time
  6. Can’t Let Her Get Away
  7. Someone Put Your Hand Out
  8. Black Or White
  9. Who Is It
  10. Will You Be There
  11. Gone Too Soon
  12. Heal The World
  13. Blood On The Dance Floor
  14. Dangerous
I don’t think BOTDF would have been on that configuration of the album if it wasn’t truly considered as a contender for the album.
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I mean in a sense of creating the track list with what you have, saying “okay this is what we’re working with right now” but as the sessions progress, new songs come into play that ultimately beat out another song.

Look at the original list for Thriller…songs were still being presented (Human Nature, PYT, Beat It, Lady in My Life) that beat out songs like Nite Line, Hot Street, Trouble and Carousel.
 
Clay7 said:
I know what he's referring to. I believe it was watches though, not clocks. I never looked into it much since i don't care about that song.
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Watches could've been part of it but these were clocks and I remember one being white, red and black in particular
 
"I co-wrote Shut Up and Dance for Michael and he loved it. But the key to many of the unreleased songs is that the music and VOCALS were not finished. The real dilemma is what is the correct way or process to present them to the fans and SHOULD they be released ever. I have as many tracks (almost) as the vault but it is Michael's legacy that I am passionate about, this above all." - Michael Prince
 
"Those were some of the new songs we were working on up to the start of rehearsals for This Is It.....There are demo's, but, all these decisions are up to the Estate, as they are the embodiment of the interests of Michael. While it's true that any co-owner of the copyright 'could' release something, I doubt that will ever happen. NO new songs were ever rehearsed for This Is It!" - Michael Prince on songs like Broken Chair, D.I.E., Don’t Make Me Stay, H20, Lady of Summer, Red Eye, Silent Spring, Water
 
BlackAnon said:
"I co-wrote Shut Up and Dance for Michael and he loved it. But the key to many of the unreleased songs is that the music and VOCALS were not finished. The real dilemma is what is the correct way or process to present them to the fans and SHOULD they be released ever. I have as many tracks (almost) as the vault but it is Michael's legacy that I am passionate about, this above all." - Michael Prince
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Is that a new interview with Michael Prince? Could you post a link?
 
BlackAnon said:
"I co-wrote Shut Up and Dance for Michael and he loved it. But the key to many of the unreleased songs is that the music and VOCALS were not finished. The real dilemma is what is the correct way or process to present them to the fans and SHOULD they be released ever. I have as many tracks (almost) as the vault but it is Michael's legacy that I am passionate about, this above all." - Michael Prince
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It's no secret that I'd just like them to release the demos. I'm not overly interested in writer's demos but I think stuff that Michael actually heard and intended to record at some point would be interesting to hear.
 
"Don't Make Me Stay" doesn't get mentioned quite often (if ever) but it's a song that I'm quite eager to hear, especially since it's one of the rare songs from the 2000's which we have confirmation that has vocals recorded.

The way Damien Shields described the chorus being similar to Janet Jackson's "Runaway" specifically is something that makes me wonder if MJ at one point didn't regret, in a way, not saving that song for himself since the groove of the song was originally made as a contender for a MJ/Janet duet.
 
I think over all the years of hearing so many titles, I've rarely allowed myself to get interested or excited in things we may never hear.

The one exception, is Buffalo Bill. It's the one song that I have wanted to hear the most ever since I first watched the ""Unauthorised" interview at Hayvenhurst in '83.

The day that leaks will render me catatonic, regardless of how good or bad it is.
 
Themidwestcowboy said:
Wasn’t it though? I remember seeing a video from the dangerous session where they’re arranging the tracklist, and both BOTDF and SPYHO was part of the tracklist.

If I recall correctly BOTDF 96 was not re-recorded or even re-produced (as in teddy “modernizing” it). They wanted it to stay as close to how it was done during the dangerous sessions.
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Oddly enough, engineer Jean-Marie Horvat recalled the song having a different kind of sound to what was released. During that online Kingvention video in 2020.

Since Teddy and his original engineer Dave Way attempted to re-create the song at least twice and Michael still wasn’t satisfied… so they abandoned it.
The original instrumental demo (which Michael liked) was recorded straight to stereo DAT so there was no way to isolate individual parts in those days.

My theory is, after Dave Way left the project, a different version of BOTDF was attempted with Bruce Swedien recording (before Jean-Marie Horvat joined) and vocals were cut but Michael was never fully satisfied with it. Deep down he preferred the demo.

By the time of BOTDF, they finally could use Teddy’s original DAT demo and re-create sounds so they could control it. They had a DAW (digital audio workstation) as well to sync up re-created parts to the demo. Thus, certain elements could be used to enhance Teddy’s demo.
Michael re-did his vocals to this.
 
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Seeing some talk about SPYHO made me think:

I wonder if MJ progressed the demo any further than the leak we have, or if it was never worked on again and just brought out for Teddy to rework. Would be cool if there's a more finished pre-Teddy version.

I remember that there were rumours that the original version was called Someone Put Your Hand Down, but not sure if that's true and haven't seen anyone mention it in a long time.
 
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SmoothGangsta said:
Seeing some talk about SPYHO made me think:

I wonder if MJ progressed the demo any further than the leak we have, or if it was never worked on again and just brought out for Teddy to rework. Would be cool if there's a more finished pre-Teddy version.

I remember that there were rumours that the original version was called Someone Put Your Hand Down, but not sure if that's true and haven't seen anyone mention it in a long time.
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When they said "Someone Put Your Hand Down" during the deposition, Michael quickly corrected him and said "hand OUT". If there was a DOWN version, I don't think he would've corrected him.
 
BlackAnon said:
When they said "Someone Put Your Hand Down" during the deposition, Michael quickly corrected him and said "hand OUT". If there was a DOWN version, I don't think he would've corrected him.
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Ah, so that's where it came from then. Thanks for letting me know. I wasn't aware that it was mentioned during the deposition. I agree it was likely just a mistake.
 
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SmoothGangsta said:
Ah, so that's where it came from then. Thanks for letting me know. I wasn't aware that it was mentioned during the deposition. I agree it was likely just a mistake.
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At the 2:49:45 mark. Michael says "Someone Put Your Hand Out", the attorney says "Someone Put Your Hand Down" and Michael corrects him and says "hand OUT"

 
AlwaysThere said:
Yeah, it seems like there were a few mistakes in the deposition, “What a Lonely Way to Go” being another. The lawyers probably couldn’t fully read MJ’s handwriting on the cassettes lol.
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What was wrong with that one?
 
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