The Discussion of MJ's Unreleased Tracks

Bill Bottrell:

I did get to my journals.
Dec. 29, 1983
Can Am
7:00 - 1am
Vocs
"Don't Look Any Further"

Only that.

AND:

Jan. 4, 1984
Jermaine
7:00-11:00
Dynamite

On a side note, this is interesting, as I have no recollection of it. "Liberian Girl"?
As far as I remember was fully produced at Hayvenhurst sessions, as documented in my BAD notes, but here is this:

Dec. 21, 1983
Randy
12:00-6:00

Michael
7:00-1:30
Liberian Girl



I'm sure "Liberian Girl" was started fresh at Hayvenhurst with John Barnes, Michael, and me.
So this was an early version completely erased from my memory.
I'd give my right Kidney to listen to all those songs from 1983. It's crazy how a lot of the songs that are the most sought after by fans, ended up being put on Michael's albums years later or were even being worked on before his death all come from that year in particular. His output was simply insane.

The 1983 demo of Dirty Diana still remains one of my most sought after demos.
 
I'd give my right Kidney to listen to all those songs from 1983. It's crazy how a lot of the songs that are the most sought after by fans, ended up being put on Michael's albums years later or were even being worked on before his death all come from that year in particular. His output was simply insane.
Was there ever confirmation that the Paul Anka songs are from 1980 or 83?

If they're 1983 that just adds to the list
 
Was there ever confirmation that the Paul Anka songs are from 1980 or 83?

If they're 1983 that just adds to the list
The US Copyright Office says they’re from 1980, but a few MJ songs have incorrect dates listed (most notably “In the Back” and “Throwin’ Your Life Away”). I personally think 1983 makes more sense seeing that Anka’s Walk a Fine Line album was released in 1984.
 
Was there ever confirmation that the Paul Anka songs are from 1980 or 83?

If they're 1983 that just adds to the list
From Xscape origins (2018):

"Many years would pass between the
Jackson family's Vegas days and Michael's next meeting with Paul Anka, which would ultimately take place in California in 1980.
Anka invited Jackson to visit as a guest at his Carmel-by-the-Sea home in Monterey County, California. Jackson ended up staying for two weeks, during which time the pair collaborated on a number of work-in-progress song ideas including "Love Never Felt So Good," "I Never Heard"and "It Don't Matter To Me".


In 1983 they had talks again because Michael's team had taken the tapes, Michael apologized for that and after the meeting they registered the songs and six months later Johnny Mathis released LNFSG
 
From Xscape origins (2018):

"Many years would pass between the
Jackson family's Vegas days and Michael's next meeting with Paul Anka, which would ultimately take place in California in 1980.
Anka invited Jackson to visit as a guest at his Carmel-by-the-Sea home in Monterey County, California. Jackson ended up staying for two weeks, during which time the pair collaborated on a number of work-in-progress song ideas including "Love Never Felt So Good," "I Never Heard"and "It Don't Matter To Me".


In 1983 they had talks again because Michael's team had taken the tapes, Michael apologized for that and after the meeting they registered the songs and six months later Johnny Mathis released LNFSG
This is the only chapter in Xscape Origins that I take with a grain of salt, solely because Damien wasn’t able to conduct any actual research beyond publicly-available material. Every other song/chapter had new, detailed input from the engineers and musicians.

Not saying he’s definitely wrong, but I personally feel that 1983 makes more sense given the timeline.
 
This is the only chapter in Xscape Origins that I take with a grain of salt, solely because Damien wasn’t able to conduct any actual research beyond publicly-available material. Every other song/chapter had new, detailed input from the engineers and musicians.

Not saying he’s definitely wrong, but I personally feel that 1983 makes more sense given the timeline.
I've been checking Damien's Original source for this, he's not wrong. I feel that 1980 coincides quite well, the songs are almost in the same line as the home demos he did during the Thriller sessions.

"When I first met Michael Jackson I knew he was immensely talented—this was before Thriller and his huge hits—and I began to think about collaborating with him.
I first sat down with Michael Jackson and talked about collaborating in 1980. We started working together at my house in Carmel. It was a fun place to be—he was using my guesthouse, playing with my girls in the Jacuzzi. He clearly had a real fondness for kids—he was very childlike himself and related to them on their own level"

 
I've been checking Damien's Original source for this, he's not wrong. I feel that 1980 coincides quite well, the songs are almost in the same line as the home demos he did during the Thriller sessions.

"When I first met Michael Jackson I knew he was immensely talented—this was before Thriller and his huge hits—and I began to think about collaborating with him.
I first sat down with Michael Jackson and talked about collaborating in 1980. We started working together at my house in Carmel. It was a fun place to be—he was using my guesthouse, playing with my girls in the Jacuzzi. He clearly had a real fondness for kids—he was very childlike himself and related to them on their own level"

Thank you for sharing this! Genuinely had no idea Anka himself ever provided a timeline. All the interviews I ever saw were more vague.
 
This is really cool! I found a live performance of “I Have This Dream” from the lyricist, I didn't know this was on YouTube.
So we have:
1999-2002 instrumental
The lyrics
A versión by one of the producers
A performance by the songwriter
Literally the whole history about the song

BUT WE STILL DON'T HAVE THE REAL VERSION
 
I'm not sure, but I remember "I Have This Dream" circulating around the same time (2013–2014) as when leakers got their hands on "I Am A Loser", "Days in Gloucestershire" and "People Of The World" Or at least, there was a lot of buzz about it back then.

What other tracks were in collectors' hands alongside IAAL and DIG that haven’t leaked yet? I feel like I have a vague memory about all of this.
 
There's also an alleged snippet, although some believe it's AI. It sounds better to me with MJ on it.
It's scary how legit those AI fakes are sounding like but I honestly kind of like those types of fake leaks, that channel also uploaded an AI fake of For The World and what I like about it is that it makes it much easier to get an idea of how the actual song may sound like.

Every time we get new info on a song I start picturing different kinds of melodies for it which is impossible for me to get it out of my head since there's no way for us to hear the song, but with those leaks it kind of scratches the itch of wanting to hear the songs, in a way. At least for me lol
 
What other tracks were in collectors' hands alongside IAAL and DIG that haven’t leaked yet? I feel like I have a vague memory about all of this.
By all accounts seems like there wasn't a whole lot on the Sony servers except for those Buxer/Cascio tracks that leaked (I still find that hard to believe but anyways.) There were some people around that time saying there were collectors who were in possession of some RedOne/Will.i.am/Neff-U tracks but I'm not sure how legit that is. Most of the description they gave on the tracks that leaked did turned out to be legit, so...
@AlwaysThere I found my source.


Now keep in mind, this was simply what it states. Might not be accurate; Korgnex debunks, so consider that useful if you want.


B__Marco
Marco Balletta · @B__Marco

7th Oct 2012 from Twitlonger



Posted online on a Forum by a user :

I've been fortunate enough to hear a number of unreleased Michael Jackson songs through a number of contacts, a few of which are recording engineers who worked on a few of Michael's later releases. (The Ultimate Collection, Michael, etc.) A long time ago my contacts instructed me not to talk about every single song I've heard (they named a few specific ones they would like me to keep to myself), but some didn't matter. I've been asked to share information on the songs I've heard with you. Again, I am not going to talk about EVERY single song I've ever heard; just the ones that I think the fan community think about the most.

PLEASE NOTE that I DO NOT have any snippets/full songs in my possession. I used to be a large collector of unreleased material before everything I had leaked to the public. (I had Stay, Soldier Boy, All I Need, Burn Tonight and snippets of all the Cascio demos, as well as Slave to the Rhythm, Do You Know Where Your Children Are and snippets of the Hollywood Tonight demo.) Also, please do not ask me for any e-mail or ooVoo account names of my contacts; out of respect, loyalty and their own privacy, they've instructed me not to give out any names, and I don't plan to. If I come into contact with any other unreleased song I'll be the first to update this thread.

ALSO, there are apparently multiple versions of each song that I've heard. (There are apparently two different demo versions of Ready 2 Win and All Right.) If any song that I list below leaks, it may not be 100% accurate. As is the case with multiple mixes of normally released songs and multiple takes of demos, an alternative version may be the leak.

HOLLYWOOD TONIGHT (DEMO) - This incarnation is both better than the album version and worse. My only complaint is that I prefer the instrumentation in the album version -- much stronger, more of a club banger. Overall though, this demo blows me away. Michael sings in high falsetto during the song's bridges that were never fully recorded, right before jumping into some beatboxing parts that aren't heard in the album version/are buried in the mix. He talks to Brad Buxer -- or whatever engineer may be in the studio with him. The Throwback Mix is the closest the general public will get to the demo if it doesn't leak, both musically and vocally. (Birchey's mix is also a contender.)

I AM A LOSER - Beautiful, beautiful song. This version was recorded back in 1999 and was on a very early incarnation of the Invincible album that was originally headed by Babyface and Teddy Riley (a few months before Rodney Jerkins signed on). Michael's depressed because of his girlfriend, who left him for someone else. Lyrically similar to I'm So Blue in some respects. Built on a piano, strings, bass and a drum beat reminiscent of Stranger in Moscow.

UNKNOWN BRAD BUXER TRACK - I don't know the title of this song, but from what I've heard, I'm guessing that it is the long-time speculated Bottom of My Heart. I've only heard about 25-30 seconds of it, though. It is similar to Heal the World and Cry in terms of music; a smooth drum track that is slightly buried under the strings, pianos and guitars. Lyrically, it leans towards What More Can I Give and We Are the World. It's a down-tempo ballad about a tragedy. (If my memory serves me correctly, it was aimed towards a Hurricane Katrina disaster in 2006.) Michael even borrows a few ad-libs from What More Can I Give in the song ("Oh, my God! Oh, my God!" and "Teaching, I'm preaching my brother!"). The version I heard was taken from the ending of the song, where I assume a choir would have been inserted; however, since it's an unfinished song, it's just multi-layered vocals of Michael. "Sending love from the bottom of my heart."

UNKNOWN NEFF-U TRACK - "To have and to hold/ To love and to let go..." This is one of the more beautiful tracks Michael's made in his later years. Again, I've only heard about 25 seconds of this track, but it nearly brought a tear to my eye when I heard it. I don't know the title of this song, but according to my contact it was recorded in late 2008 with Neff-U. It's built on a piano and strings (similar to All I Need) with drums, bass and guitar coming in later. It sounds like an anti-war track, with Michael singing about parents having to let their children go off to war; I don't know if this is the base of the entire track though. It's mostly in falsetto.

UNKNOWN REDONE TRACK - This 30-second snippet of a RedOne song was played to me over a phone conversation, so I couldn't really make out everything that Michael was saying. Sounded something like, "...wasting your time with a man... let's get on the floor, babe!" He talks to RedOne, referring to him by his actual name (Nadir), saying "Nadir, turn this up a bit... little more... alright!" Michael even busts out a "hee! hee! hee!" which he hasn't done since Privacy back in 2001. I really missed hearing him do that. Musically sounds like a mix of Pokerface by Lady Gaga and the rhythm of Speed Demon.

UNKNOWN WILL.I.AM TRACK - This 20-second snippet was taken from one of the unfinished songs. (I believe it was Can You.) It's a mid-tempo track about falling in love with someone and wanting to live your life with them. He scats through part of it (pretty much the same type of scatting he does on In the Back), but the only true lyric I heard him sing was, "No matter how I try, with everything I find it's you, you on my mind all the time." Very catchy melody, soulful harmonies. Sounds like a mixture of Butterflies and a Stevie Wonder song. Built upon piano, synths and something that sounds like a synthesized flute -- interesting choice.
 
By all accounts seems like there wasn't a whole lot on the Sony servers except for those Buxer/Cascio tracks that leaked (I still find that hard to believe but anyways.) There were some people around that time saying there were collectors who were in possession of some RedOne/Will.i.am/Neff-U tracks but I'm not sure how legit that is. Most of the description they gave on the tracks that leaked did turned out to be legit, so...
>UNKNOWN REDONE TRACK - This 30-second snippet of a RedOne song was played to me over a phone conversation, so I couldn't really make out everything that Michael was saying. Sounded something like, "...wasting your time with a man... let's get on the floor, babe!" He talks to RedOne, referring to him by his actual name (Nadir), saying "Nadir, turn this up a bit... little more... alright!" Michael even busts out a "hee! hee! hee!" which he hasn't done since Privacy back in 2001. I really missed hearing him do that. Musically sounds like a mix of Pokerface by Lady Gaga and the rhythm of Speed Demon.

Must be Dancing For Love. Title perfectly fits the lyrics.
 
By all accounts seems like there wasn't a whole lot on the Sony servers except for those Buxer/Cascio tracks that leaked (I still find that hard to believe but anyways.) There were some people around that time saying there were collectors who were in possession of some RedOne/Will.i.am/Neff-U tracks but I'm not sure how legit that is. Most of the description they gave on the tracks that leaked did turned out to be legit, so...
Every time I read this it makes more sense really. But Dancing For Love. MJ and Red One produced the songs but with Redone's voice only, that's what has me doubting. Otherwise (From The) Bottom Of My Heart is supposed to have no vocals. Unless it's another song we don't know or it's actually I Have This Dream (that would explain why 2seas called it FTBOMH, I had to check the songwriter lyrics)

About the two Ready 2 Win and All Right demos. Two CDs with those songs were found at MJ's house. If it becomes true that they already had those songs then Sony and the estate wanted to be scammed by the cascios.

The neff-u song is the snippet he play in the Michael Doc
 
I'm not sure, but I remember "I Have This Dream" circulating around the same time (2013–2014) as when leakers got their hands on "I Am A Loser", "Days in Gloucestershire" and "People Of The World" Or at least, there was a lot of buzz about it back then.

What other tracks were in collectors' hands alongside IAAL and DIG that haven’t leaked yet? I feel like I have a vague memory about all of this.
The only other unreleased songs on Sony's server were Hollywood Tonight, I Like (The Way You Love Me) and Escape (literally the same file that leaked years ago.)
 
The only other unreleased songs on Sony's server were Hollywood Tonight, I Like (The Way You Love Me) and Escape (literally the same file that leaked years ago.)
Do these circulate as lossless files?
 
The only other unreleased songs on Sony's server were Hollywood Tonight, I Like (The Way You Love Me) and Escape (literally the same file that leaked years ago.)
Someone still have Xscape file?
I tried looking for it in threads from 2003 on Mjhideout and they were all down
 
Back
Top