The Discussion of MJ's Unreleased Tracks

Little we do know on what made it to Westlake, and how many of those were worked with Q and Bruce.

Btw, why nobody has asked those yet who were there (especially Matt Forger or Russ Ragsdale)?
What songs did make it to Westlake? Just askin
 
The brothers probably came in later to lay bgvs but Michael probably discarded the track early on. Most of the outtakes from Victory notated all the brothers singing on backgrounds.

John was with Michael almost everyday from 1983 to 1986.....if the song progressed, it was during later years since it was set aside to be worked on for BAD and discarded again. John never mentions the song being complete during any later session
Some people insist he revisited it for Dangerous too.

But I do agree, so many songs and ideas probably definitely lay with Quincy and co. Without him involved, there's so many tracks greyed out and locked for estate access.
 
Some people insist he revisited it for Dangerous too.

But I do agree, so many songs and ideas probably definitely lay with Quincy and co. Without him involved, there's so many tracks greyed out and locked for estate access.
I heard about that but no one confirmed it was revisited during that time. Quincy is sitting on songs as well as John Barnes.
 
Whatever "rough mix from 1990" means. Was it (re)worked in 1990 or just quickly mixed from existing older multitracks?🤔
I assume it was possibly reworked, but don't quote me on that
I feel like it’s the same as DBMR. He worked on that from Thriller to Dangerous with little to no updates.
 
Last edited:
Is there some other source for Buffalo Bill being worked on in the 90's beyond some random bloke who said it and has been inactive for almost a year? I'm not buying it otherwise. Anyone can easily lie about stuff like this like we've seen on this thread many times.
 
Is there some other source for Buffalo Bill being worked on in the 90's beyond some random bloke who said it and has been inactive for almost a year? I'm not buying it otherwise. Anyone can easily lie about stuff like this like we've seen on this thread many times.
None of us actually believe it, I'm just mentioning it's been said.
 
John Barnes on Roger Troutman
He worked with us on several early Bad tracks. It wasn't kept but it felt and sounded great. Tomboy and Al Capone.


On if he's featured on the Bad25 version of Al Capone
No he is not.
Does that mean there is a more advanced version of Al Capone than the one released ?
 
I say this every few months on here, but I would love a finished version of Don't Be Messin' Round. The vibe on the demo we have is so fresh and positive, I feel elated every time I listen to it

Please let Michael have come back to this one
He worked on it for basically every single adult solo album. There's no doubt that there is a more advanced version out there.
 
More from John Barnes -

We worked in Los Angeles and the Valley. I also worked in studios in different cities traveled to with the Victory Tour. My full time job was working in studio with Michael for many things. I developed and recorded many songs, worked with New Technology, developing New Sounds from the end of Thriller to Dangerous. Many people have worked on sessions with MJ. almost no one worked with him like I did. I've worked with him many times since then including Bahrain as well. As of this point I have not worked on anything with the estate. I will be sharing many experiences and thoughts soon. Buffalo Bill is one of the first complete songs I did for and with Michael. It is difficult listening to people speak as experts who were not as involved as they would have the public believe.

I wonder who that last sentence was in reference to. Brad Sundberg comes to mind.
 
More from John Barnes -

We worked in Los Angeles and the Valley. I also worked in studios in different cities traveled to with the Victory Tour. My full time job was working in studio with Michael for many things. I developed and recorded many songs, worked with New Technology, developing New Sounds from the end of Thriller to Dangerous. Many people have worked on sessions with MJ. almost no one worked with him like I did. I've worked with him many times since then including Bahrain as well. As of this point I have not worked on anything with the estate. I will be sharing many experiences and thoughts soon. Buffalo Bill is one of the first complete songs I did for and with Michael. It is difficult listening to people speak as experts who were not as involved as they would have the public believe.

I wonder who that last sentence was in reference to. Brad Sundberg comes to mind.
If true, that would seem to echo Bottrell's comment about getting a lock/locker for tapes during Dangerous.
 
Didn't Bill say this about the Bad recording session as well? How Brad came in and took the tapes without knowledge back to Westlake?
I believe he said it occurred slightly before his dismissal from Bad, so for Dangerous, he had a lock/locker for his tapes. I could be misremembering slightly, though, which is why I'm trying to archive Bill's tweets before they go Houdini on us.
 
I believe he said it occurred slightly before his dismissal from Bad, so for Dangerous, he had a lock/locker for his tapes. I could be misremembering slightly, though, which is why I'm trying to archive Bill's tweets before they go Houdini on us.
I do remember the locker bit......it's somewhere in this thread.

I think John was talking about Brad
 
More from John Barnes -

We worked in Los Angeles and the Valley. I also worked in studios in different cities traveled to with the Victory Tour. My full time job was working in studio with Michael for many things. I developed and recorded many songs, worked with New Technology, developing New Sounds from the end of Thriller to Dangerous. Many people have worked on sessions with MJ. almost no one worked with him like I did. I've worked with him many times since then including Bahrain as well. As of this point I have not worked on anything with the estate. I will be sharing many experiences and thoughts soon. Buffalo Bill is one of the first complete songs I did for and with Michael. It is difficult listening to people speak as experts who were not as involved as they would have the public believe.

I wonder who that last sentence was in reference to. Brad Sundberg comes to mind.
Was John still working with MJ while he was touring the US in 1988/89?
 
Michael was growing and wanted to experiment free of the restrictions of the Westlake scene. That's why he got me and John Barnes to work at his home studio for, like, a year and a half? On and off. We would program, twiddle, and build the tracks for much of that album, send the results on two-inch down to Westlake and they would, at their discretion, re-record, and add things like strings and brass. - Bill Bottrell
 
Was John still working with MJ while he was touring the US in 1988/89?
Not sure about the tour, specifically, but I remember hearing on the MJ Cast that Barnes was around mainly in 1989-90, the pre-Riley sessions. I'm sure that's one reason many Bad outtakes were re-evaluated for Dangerous. Also would explain tapes like TMO having copies made in 1989.
 
With Barnes, he was present for the entirety of Victory. He worked on Bad until summer '86. Was present likely during the first half of Dangerous. Did sporadic sessions at Neverland in the early 2000s (I remember him mentioning 2004), followed by the Bahrain sessions.

Most of this I gleaned from the minutiae of interviews, podcasts, and the like.
 
In 1994 Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis made 5 tracks for a MJ/Janet duet, one was picked for Scream and the other Janet had chose another for herself to work on a song of her own, which turned into Runaway. There's also a track made in 1990 for a possible duet but there's not much info on that.
in Janets documentary, it shows 1993 when they started writing Scream together. I wonder if this was written prior to Jimmy and Terry presenting the tracks or if they were presented a year prior......or maybe Janet got the year wrong.
 
Back
Top