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The Discussion of MJ's Unreleased Tracks

SmoothCriminal1995 said:

For anyone that hasn't seen this video, I strongly recommend it. You can see Mike's thought process in the Dangerous tracklist and tellingly you can see him grooving to CLHGA around 5 mins. Clearly he loved CLHGA, like he loved Smooth Criminal on the Bad album

Blood, Ghosts, SPYHO and Joy were all fantastic songs left off the record, but perhaps their inclusion would have changed the focus of the album.

The story of the song Dangerous is similar to Blood, so it would make sense to pick one or the other.
Same with SPYHO - Will You Be There,
Ghosts - Trip
Joy probably has most in common with RTT, but perhaps Mike didn't want to convey love on Dangerous like he had on the Bad album.

Personally provided we hear MJ's version of Joy one day, I'm happy with choices that were made on Dangerous
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Very good points, which echoes my thoughts on the matter.

You have to remember that if you were to swap songs in and out, you’d risk rubbing the balance. For example, the suggestion to swap out two of the up tempo songs for Someone Put Your Hand Out and For All Time would make the album quite heavy with ballads, which ironically is a common complaint about Invincible.
 
mj_frenzy said:
[…] 'She Drives Me Wild' sounds immature and childish with all these sounds of car horns, car engines, slamming car doors, sirens, etc, and his growling vocals do not really suit him. […]
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The car related sounds (along with Michael’s vocals) are exactly what makes the song! I fail to see what one could see as childish about these sounds, because sound experimentation sure shouldn’t make it so. Then I must ask: Is the sound of glass breaking in Jam childish, too?

And the “growling” is a perfect match for She Drives Me Wild. Michael’s delivery is insane; I have a hard time imagining anyone else pulling them off with the same grit, sense of urgency, and level of (technical) control.
 
Agonum said:
I wouldn’t say the bass lines are “muffled away” in, say, Remember the Time, Black or White, and Who Is It.

And regarding the vocals: Do you find them muffled on Heal the World and Gone Too Soon, too? As for the New Jack Swing tracks, I’m sure it’s a conscious choice to mix the vocals a bit lower than what you’d expect to hear from for example a Bad era up tempo song. Although, when you say “muffled” I cannot help but think that you are perhaps referring to lack of treble (high frequencies)?
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With muffled away vocals and basslines I meant less dominant (than I was used to from MJ). I was generalizing a bit, the tracks you mention are much better yes. So I guess it's a conscious choice to mix down the vocals in the NJS tracks but then again RTT is also a NJS track, strange.

I only learned the vocals for CLHGA last week, just totally unclear. On purpose or not I think the NJS tracks would benefit a lot from clearer vocals and louder basslines
 
Agonum said:
The car related sounds (along with Michael’s vocals) are exactly what makes the song! I fail to see what one could see as childish about these sounds, because sound experimentation sure shouldn’t make it so. Then I must ask: Is the sound of glass breaking in Jam childish, too?

And the “growling” is a perfect match for She Drives Me Wild. Michael’s delivery is insane; I have a hard time imagining anyone else pulling them off with the same grit, sense of urgency, and level of (technical) control.
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That synth build-up on the song is 👌
 
SmoothCriminal1995 said:

For anyone that hasn't seen this video, I strongly recommend it. You can see Mike's thought process in the Dangerous tracklist and tellingly you can see him grooving to CLHGA around 5 mins. Clearly he loved CLHGA, like he loved Smooth Criminal on the Bad album

Blood, Ghosts, SPYHO and Joy were all fantastic songs left off the record, but perhaps their inclusion would have changed the focus of the album.

The story of the song Dangerous is similar to Blood, so it would make sense to pick one or the other.
Same with SPYHO - Will You Be There,
Ghosts - Trip
Joy probably has most in common with RTT, but perhaps Mike didn't want to convey love on Dangerous like he had on the Bad album.

Personally provided we hear MJ's version of Joy one day, I'm happy with choices that were made on Dangerous
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Came for the tracklist, stayed for the Mickey watch.
 
SDMW and CLHGA might be "filler" but they provide an atmosphere for the album. Personally, I enjoy both tracks immensely and listen to them more than anything else on the album because they were never over played on the radio.

Tracks 1-6 on Dangerous are great for listening to during a workout. It's non-stop energy.
 
Agonum said:
I would love to know the source of this statement. I’ve never heard Quincy said anything of the like about Just Good Friends, and honestly, I would be quite surprised if he has actually expressed regrets regarding it.

As for me, I hold the song very dear. It’s a duet between my two favourite vocalists, for heaven’s sake – what more can you ask for?
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I think the issue is the song itself- lyrically and melodically it’s a weaker song compared to other songs on Bad (especially if you compare it to MITM- the other song MJ didn’t write on the album). Quincy himself said Just Good Friends didn’t work as a song on the Bad 25 documentary and I completely agree with him on this. That aside, it does have great vocals and the production is quite good. I wish MJ and Stevie tried to duet Cheater, TYLA or another Bad outtake written by MJ.
 
Derek1984 said:
SDMW and CLHGA might be "filler" but they provide an atmosphere for the album. Personally, I enjoy both tracks immensely and listen to them more than anything else on the album because they were never over played on the radio.

Tracks 1-6 on Dangerous are great for listening to during a workout. It's non-stop energy.
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I personally don’t see these tracks as filler- do people just assume this because they weren’t released as singles? They’re really good songs with great vocals and adlibs.
 
Hess said:
? - Why? Do you have more info? A video where Quincy talks about it or a quote or something. Why did he regret a duet between Stevie Wonder and MJ? _ Did he think the song was weak? Would like to hear more about this. :) - Did he argue with MJ over this?
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Agonum said:
I would love to know the source of this statement. I’ve never heard Quincy said anything of the like about Just Good Friends, and honestly, I would be quite surprised if he has actually expressed regrets regarding it.

As for me, I hold the song very dear. It’s a duet between my two favourite vocalists, for heaven’s sake – what more can you ask for?
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Quincy Jones stated that on several occasions, for example:

"[On the 'BAD' album Michael Jackson] did all but two songs. I made a mistake on the duet with him and Stevie. That didn't work" (Quincy Jones, Rolling Stone Interview, 2017)
Agonum said:
The car related sounds (along with Michael’s vocals) are exactly what makes the song! I fail to see what one could see as childish about these sounds, because sound experimentation sure shouldn’t make it so. Then I must ask: Is the sound of glass breaking in Jam childish, too?

And the “growling” is a perfect match for She Drives Me Wild. Michael’s delivery is insane; I have a hard time imagining anyone else pulling them off with the same grit, sense of urgency, and level of (technical) control.
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The sound of glass breaking in 'Jam' is homage to Michael Jordan, who dunked the ball so hard that it shattered the backboard during a Nike exhibition game in 1985.

But the sound of glass breaking in 'Jam' has also another (social) meaning, as shown in the music video.

The blue ball (which symbolizes the globe) shatters the window glass and flies through it, showing in that way that people play with it and thus how messed-up is our world.
 
Hollywood_Tonight said:
I think the issue is the song itself- lyrically and melodically it’s a weaker song compared to other songs on Bad (especially if you compare it to MITM- the other song MJ didn’t write on the album). Quincy himself said Just Good Friends didn’t work as a song on the Bad 25 documentary and I completely agree with him on this. That aside, it does have great vocals and the production is quite good. I wish MJ and Stevie tried to duet Cheater, TYLA or another Bad outtake written by MJ.
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I see it mentioned in Allard and Lecocq’s book All the Tracks. But I still believe the quote has been taken out of context.
 
mj_frenzy said:
"On the 'BAD' album Michael Jackson] did all but two songs. I made a mistake on the duet with him and Stevie. That didn't work" (Quincy Jones, Rolling Stone Interview, 2017)
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Thank you for clearing it up! I somehow thought you were saying that Quincy regretted having Michael doing a duet with Stevie.

mj_frenzy said:
The sound of glass breaking in 'Jam' is homage to Michael Jordan, who dunked the ball so hard that it shattered the backboard during a Nike exhibition game in 1985.
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Okay, but why then do you have glass breaking all throughout Scream? That seems like an oddly placed homage to Jordan from where I’m standing.
 
As usual my feeling is different to the majority of fans. I adore both SDMW and CLHGA.

I can't think of anyone else singing SDMW with so much swagger and cool as MJ, it is filthy as **** just like the glorious lyrics. @turtleneck_sweater I comment this person on the choice of username before and here I do it again, great homage to a great song!

Black jeans
And a turtleneck sweater
I know the girl is fakin'
'Cause I've seen her look better

This is amazing, the delivery, the music, the lyrics :devilish:

As for CLHGA it has a SICK beat, the tease we had a few years ago of an extra rap part by Michael himself was enticing. Michael's voice is mixed to the background which emphasizes the awesome hard beats and later when he starts rapping it becomes part of the beat. Awesome song.
The entire first 6 songs are amazing and a shocking departure of his former sounds, I loved it so much back then. These song can be extended with minutes for me, I'm sure they cut a lot out of these tracks.
 
Hollywood_Tonight said:
I personally don’t see these tracks as filler- do people just assume this because they weren’t released as singles? They’re really good songs with great vocals and adlibs.
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I define MJ's filler as a track that doesn't have hit potential on the charts. Doesn't mean it's a poor song. Just doesn't have that mass appeal to it.
 
filmandmusic said:
As usual my feeling is different to the majority of fans. I adore both SDMW and CLHGA.

I can't think of anyone else singing SDMW with so much swagger and cool as MJ, it is filthy as **** just like the glorious lyrics. @turtleneck_sweater I comment this person on the choice of username before and here I do it again, great homage to a great song!

Black jeans
And a turtleneck sweater
I know the girl is fakin'
'Cause I've seen her look better

This is amazing, the delivery, the music, the lyrics :devilish:

As for CLHGA it has a SICK beat, the tease we had a few years ago of an extra rap part by Michael himself was enticing. Michael's voice is mixed to the background which emphasizes the awesome hard beats and later when he starts rapping it becomes part of the beat. Awesome song.
The entire first 6 songs are amazing and a shocking departure of his former sounds, I loved it so much back then. These song can be extended with minutes for me, I'm sure they cut a lot out of these tracks.
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CLHGA is a homage to James Brown. Listen to that beat and it's a James Brown song, just as New Jack Swing.
 
Derek1984 said:
Tracks 1-6 on Dangerous are great for listening to during a workout. It's non-stop energy.
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That's the key. They are great for dancing. Too many fans are straight out static and unmoving. They didn't move even when the album originally came out, probably.
 
ChanceToDance said:
Some of them are decent but they're no match for Teddy Riley's tracks. Even his best songs are only good enough for re-issue albums and not for full albums like Xscape or Michael.
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I say the Loren tracks are perfect candidates for being contemporized, Actually. They're really interesting vocally and melodically, just the instrumentation is dating and lacking.
 
I wonder though, would Bryan Loren's work for MJ be more appreciated if 'Do The Bartman' never existed? A lot of Loren's up-tempo work for MJ sounds very similar as that track and maybe it gives them an unintentionally comical/even childish association.. instead of fun-funky
 
AlwaysThere said:
There’s no evidence “Turning Me Off” was considered for XSCAPE. As far as I recall, the only “source” was that a DAT/cassette tape with the song on it was spotted in a promo video. That doesn’t really say anything.
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Idk why for the life of me I can’t pinpoint exactly where in the video the tapes are shown!!
 
What about the existence of the 'Promo Flight Only', a cd for executives as a preview for 'Decade'; was that ever cleared up? 'Men In Black' is supposed to be on there..? With MJ rapping on it?
 
Victorious said:
What about the existence of the 'Promo Flight Only', a cd for executives as a preview for 'Decade'; was that ever cleared up? 'Men In Black' is supposed to be on there..? With MJ rapping on it?
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I think Bill Bottrell said he doesn't remember a promo cd being handed out but he also said if it were true, the songs on there were just early versions and that Black or White was the same and most likely had no guitar. Bryan said there's a more complete version of MIB
 
Have we discussed the possible JayZ collaboration with Michael singing backing on 'Girls Girls Girls'? It was just discussed in a recent MJCast episode. I think the producer Just Blaze said he found the vocal in storage.
 
knigofpop said:
Have we discussed the possible JayZ collaboration with Michael singing backing on 'Girls Girls Girls'? It was just discussed in a recent MJCast episode. I think the producer Just Blaze said he found the vocal in storage.
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I don't think there's been any actual info about this other than MJ featured on a remix of the track that was released.
 
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