Album That Never Was: "Emancipation" Double LP (1978-1981)

[eckoes]

The idea

Let's make an album that never was: a double LP that features songs from MJ during his Emancipation years (which, IMHO, begins with the 1978 Jacksons' "Destiny" album and ends with "The Jacksons Live" 1981 LP). Four sources are available for us to choose from:

• Destiny LP by The Jacksons: 41 minutes
• Off The Wall LP by Michael Jackson: 42 minutes 37 seconds
• Triumph LP by The Jacksons: 44 minutes 39 seconds
• Sunset Driver Outtake: 4 minutes 03 seconds

It gives us 132 minutes and 19 seconds of music to choose from. Now, we want to do a double LP, which means that the maximum length of each side will be roughly 22 minutes and the minimum length for the sides could be anything. To accomplish our goal, we would need to remove roughly 44 minutes of music in our case.

Now, you can choose any versions you want for each track: Radio Edit, Single Mix, 7" Edit, 12" edits, Extended Version, etc. The idea is to end up with 4 sides of music.

But which songs shall we choose?

The Must-Haves

An easy starting point would be to select tracks that needs to be included no matter what. We can start with those Jacksons songs:

• Lovely One (Single from Triumph + Played live until Bad Tour 1987) - 3:45 (7" Edit) or 4:52 (LP Version)
• This Place Hotel (Single from Triumph + Played live until Bad Tour 1988) - 5:44 (LP version) or 4:52 (7" Edit)
• Can You Feel It (Single from Triumph + Played Live on Triumph Tour + Music Video) - 5:58 (LP Version) or (3:50) (7" Edit)
• Things I Do For You (Played live until Bad Tour 1987) - 4:05
• Blame It On The Boogie (Single from Destiny + Music Video) - 3:36 (LP Version) or 7:00 (12" Extended Mix)
• Shake Your Body (Single from Destiny + Played live until Bad Tour 1987) - 8:00 (LP Version) or 3:47 (7" Edit)

This gives us roughly 32 minutes of strong material already if we choose the LP versions. That's a start! Now, the MJ's tracks:

• Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough (Played live until 1997 - Single - Music Video) - 6:06
• Rock With You (Played live until 1997 - Single - Music Video) - 3:40
• Working Day and Night (Played live until 1992) - 5:12
• Off The Wall (Played live until 1997 - Single) - 4:06
• She's out of my life (Played Live until 1996 - Single - Music Video) - 3:38

This gives us roughly 23 minutes of material. Total so far: 55 minutes

The Strong contenders

We shall now find 30 minutes of material to add. Here are some suggestions:

• Sunset Driver (Written by MJ) - 4:03
• Get On The Floor (Written and co-produced by MJ) - 4:50
• Walk Right Now (Performed live briefly in 1981 and single from Triumph) - 6:27 (LP Version) or 4:26 (7" Edit)
• Its The Falling In Love (We need a duet and this is Patti Austin no less) - 3:48
• Destiny (single from Destiny - Performed on TV) - 4:55 (LP Version) or 3:47 (7" Edit)
• Thats What You Get For Being Polite (Co-Written by MJ and briefly considered for a single) - 4:57 (LP Version)

This adds roughly 29 minutes of music. Total so far: 84 minutes. Not too bad! Goal achieved!

The track list

Now, let's arrange those 17 tracks into LP sides. Lets try to keep the tracks that were grouped together as such.

Side A is obvious - it is the exact Off The Wall first side: (19 minutes 49 seconds):

1. Dont Stop Til You Get Enough (6:06)
2. Rock With You (3:40) - Single Mix
3. Working Day and Night (5:12)
4. Get On The Floor (4:50)

Side C could be Off The Wall side 2 with some alterations: (20 minutes 30 seconds):

1. Off The Wall (4:06)
2. She's Out Of My Life (3:38)
3. Destiny (4:55)
4. Its The Falling In Love (3:48)
5. Sunset Driver (4:03)

Side B could be based on Triumph (21 minutes):

1. Can You Feel It (6:00)
2. Lovely One (4:52)
3. Walk Right Now (4:26) - 7" Edit
4. This Place Hotel (5:44)

This leaves us with side D, based on Destiny (20 minutes 30 seconds):

1. Blame It On The Boogie (3:36)
2. Things I Do For You (4:05)
3. Thats What You Get (4:57)
4. Shake Your Body (8:00)

Conclusion

This little exercise is nothing more than a fun attempt of compiling an album that never was. By choosing those tracks in that order, it leaves us with a very strong double LP that sums up nicely the MJ Emancipation period.


What about you? How would you have done it? Let's Hear it