Michael’s best vocal performance is…?

[AlwaysThere]

Let’s say you’re invited to participate in a famous vocalist ranking, and you’re appearing on MJ’s behalf. You’re allowed to bring one piece of media that you feel represents Michael at his best. It could be a song, a live performance, a rehearsal sound bite, whatever you wish, from any era you choose.

What would you choose? What, to you, is the vocal that is the best argument in MJ’s favor?

 

[Nite Line]

One Day In Your Life Mexico 1975.

 

[lubyss]

You were there....

 

[ssj]

I Can't Help It!!

 

[Maxym]

I'm not a voice expert and I may be inclined to prefer ballads but one of the first thing that would come to my mind is:
All The Things You Are

Others I would consider: All In You Name, She's Out Of My Life, Push Me Away, We've Had Enough, Give In To Me, Be Not Always, To Make My Father Proud, Another Day, Best Of Joy (but not the 2010 version),Is It Scary,...

 

[analogue]

Earth Song

 

[8th wonder]

Interms of studio vocals maybe Keep the faith or Someone in the dark. For live vocals Rock with you in Oakland 79' is the closest I've ever heard him sound like the record & that long note after the bridge is so full & amazing or She's out of my life on the Triumph tour.

If I were to include the early 70s then Who's loving you in Gary, Indiana is my all time favourite vocal.

 

[Michaels Lover]

If I were to include the early 70s then Who's loving you in Gary, Indiana is my all time favourite vocal.

I agree with this. Also In Our Small Way

 

[king_of_style]

I'd put up "We've Had Enough". If I had to go with an officially released song, then "Chicago" or "Another Day". If I had to go with one of the more recognizable ones, then "Earth Song" is probably the best vocal performance out of his most well-known songs.

 

[Nite Line]

Gone Too Soon is a great vocal performance. Michael puts so much emotion in his vocal delivery.

Butterflies is another one. His vocals are absolutely heavenly, especially during the second verse.

 

[Hess]

Gone too Soon live at the Bill Clinton galla. - that's great.

We've Had Enough and Earth Song comes to mind too.

- yeah, as mentioned above - Who's Loving You - absolutely amazing.

 

[Mikky Dee]

Man in the Mirror

We've Had Enough

Is It Scary

Leave Me Alone

I Can't Help It

 

[Hess]

Is It Scary is such a great song. - Such a shame absolutely noone outside the fan community knows the song.

But that can be said about many songs. - Not many outside the fan community knows We've Had Enough... sad

 

[Maxym]

Personally I left aside MJ's child voice in my selection. If child voice (ending around 1973) is considered, it may be possible to fill multiple complete albums with perfect vocals... Just take the nearly the whole "Got to be there" album, stuff from the J5, or even from "Looking Back To Yesterday". But I think I'd consider "Greatest Show on Earth" then (or "Happy").

I'd put up "We've Had Enough". If I had to go with an officially released song, then "Chicago" or "Another Day".

"We've Had Enough" was officially release. The Ultimate Collection is an official release ;-)

Gone Too Soon is a great vocal performance. Michael puts so much emotion in his vocal delivery.

I am at same time pleased and disturbed how he uses a wrong word and then correct it, bringing some "improvised" precision to the lyrics.
"Like a perfect sun ... ... flower... that is just beyond your reach". When I hear "flower" in Gone Too Soon, I just don't figure a "sunflower" that one would want to reach...

 

[Themidwestcowboy]

1. I Don't Know Why I Love You

2. Can't Help It

3. Man In The Mirror

4. We've Had Enough

 

[Antwort]

Speechless

When I first listened to it, probably in mid-November of 2001, it made me cry, instantly.

When I saw this little gem in late 2009, it made me smile.

Today, it does both. Ok, mostly crying, but it doesn't matter.
I still think it's THE loveliest tune ever.

 

[SmoothCriminal1995]

Man 😂 I'm gonna need to think about this one. Great question my friend

Off the top of my head, Man In The Mirror, Earth Song, Human Nature live Yokohama, Who's Loving You (Ed Sulivan show), Someone In The Dark, DSTYGE

It's hard to nail down one thing because Mike was such a phenomenonal deeply underrated singer

 

[Mikky Dee]

Is It Scary is such a great song. - Such a shame absolutely noone outside the fan community knows the song.

But that can be said about many songs. - Not many outside the fan community knows We've Had Enough... sad

Is It Scary is an absolute masterpiece. I remember the first time I heard it - it was playing on the new CD in my car. I literally had to pull over to listen to it. I restarted the song, turned it way, way up and just sat in my car at the side of a country road, listening to the grandeur of it.

 

[Fuzball]

This.

 

[Hess]

I would love if All in Your Name was officially released by Barry Gibb

 

[Maxym]

It was released digitally as a product you had to pay for on Gibb's site. Does it make an official release? I wonder, don't know the details.

 

[Hess]

It was released digitally as a product you had to pay for on Gibb's site. Does it make an official release? I wonder, don't know the details.

I mean on Spotify, iTunes etc.

 

[Fuzball]

It was released digitally as a product you had to pay for on Gibb's site. Does it make an official release? I wonder, don't know the details.

It's an official release. Unfortunately only in lossy format.

 

[Maxym]

I mean on Spotify, iTunes etc.

On Qobuz, with true hi-res please. Oh and, on CD too ! ;-)

 

[FlyMeToTheMoon]

To name one! song is definitely impossible in my opinion. I mean, what we love in Michaels❤️ voice - and the posts in this thread are some kind of demonstration for it - is the virtuosity of his voice. The wide range from expressing People Make The World Go Round to, for instance, We´ve Had Enough is unique. We believe in Michaels dance songs, his ballads, his love songs, his protest songs, his rock songs, I for myself love his very true voice and lyrics! in Money, his fighting voice in Keep The Faith, I love Smile, and also his rough voice in the original version(!) of A Place With No Name (really), his tender and bitter voice in Chicago (original version), his perfect voice in SIM, and so on ... To that come Michaels live performances through the years, all the short films. But when you force me to say one song? Maybe Earth Song.

 

[Dangerous1991]

I've always thought Michaels best vocal was a Jacksons track, "Be Not Always"

You Are Not Alone is also a pretty incredible vocal, along with Earth Song and Keep The Faith

 

[Maxym]

I heard You Are Not Alone's ""You are always ... in my heaaaaaaa - heeeeear - heeaaaart" is artificial, three samples from the same sound, so I would not consider this song. I don't remember the source exactly but I think it was reliable. Fact check?

 

[mj_frenzy]

I heard You Are Not Alone's ""You are always ... in my heaaaaaaa - heeeeear - heeaaaart" is artificial, three samples from the same sound, so I would not consider this song. I don't remember the source exactly but I think it was reliable. Fact check?

Brad Sundberg stated that this vocal part in 'You Are Not Alone' is artificial.

They cut that vocal part and they pasted it two or three times so as that particular note to sound longer.

Multitracks of that song also seem to support this Brad Sundberg's statement.

Generally, this was nothing unusual for Michael Jackson because his vocals in many occasions were enhanced or even reshaped later (by means of specific types of software, like Melodyne) in order to achieve the desirable result/effect on certain sections of the official versions of his songs.

Michael Jackson did that a lot especially in his final studio album ('Invincible'), when his weak voice at that time could not sustain such long notes and as a result he resorted more to such tricks and techniques for that album.

 

[Themidwestcowboy]

Brad Sundberg stated that this vocal part in 'You Are Not Alone' is artificial.

They cut that vocal part and they pasted it two or three times so as that particular note to sound longer.

Multitracks of that song also seem to support this Brad Sundberg's statement.

Generally, this was nothing unusual for Michael Jackson because his vocals in many occasions were enhanced or even reshaped later (by means of specific types of software, like Melodyne) in order to achieve the desirable result/effect on certain sections of the official versions of his songs.

Michael Jackson did that a lot especially in his final studio album ('Invincible'), when his weak voice at that time could not sustain such long notes and as a result he resorted more to such tricks and techniques for that album.

Where/who is your source for that last part?

 

[innuendo141]

Where/who is your source for that last part?

Edit - nevermind! My mistake