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The Discussion of MJ's Unreleased Tracks

BlackAnon said:
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.
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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
 
Fuzball said:
Was John still working with MJ while he was touring the US in 1988/89?
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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.
 
ChanceToDance said:
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.
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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.
 
BlackAnon said:
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.
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Janet definitely got the year wrong. All producer and engineer accounts pin 1994 as the year those tracks were produced and presented. It’s not outside the realm of possibility that MJ and Janet wrote lyrics in 1993 that later wound up being used in “Scream,” but that would be the first known instance of MJ doing such a thing—his creative process has always been music first, lyrics last.
 
'Runaway' would be really nice for MJ (the background vocals make me almost think he already sung those) but I cannot imagine it as a duet tbh..

'Scream' works sort of as duet (although MJ's solo version sounds better) but it always seemed like a weird choice for Janet to be on it since I thought History was MJ's protest album in relation to the allegations. That was until I figured out History is not a protest album at all and basically (apart from 'D.S'. and maybe 'Childhood') has the same structure and themes as all of his other albums
 
Victorious said:
'Runaway' would be really nice for MJ (the background vocals make me almost think he already sung those) but I cannot imagine it as a duet tbh..

'Scream' works sort of as duet (although MJ's solo version sounds better) but it always seemed like a weird choice for Janet to be on it since I thought History was MJ's protest album in relation to the allegations. That was until I figured out History is not a protest album at all and basically (apart from 'D.S'. and maybe 'Childhood') has the same structure and themes as all of his other albums
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Isn't he sampled in Runaway? It would've been a cool duet but I think it would've been a bit too soft for HIStory but probably would've worked if it were on Velvet Rope
 
ChanceToDance said:
They're both orchestral-type of songs, so they'll be more like Seeing Voices if anything. I doubt those songs will have much in common with Dream Away.
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But he said that .he used to play make a wish for his kids to sleep I mean Steven Spielberg
 
ChanceToDance said:
They're both orchestral-type of songs, so they'll be more like Seeing Voices if anything. I doubt those songs will have much in common with Dream Away.
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Maybe happy song or Peter pan .like dream away I wish there is many songs like dream away .I think even Michael makeller
 
Sisoqqq said:
Maybe happy song or Peter pan .like dream away I wish there is many songs like dream away .I think even Michael makeller
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Neverland Landing, Make A Wish, etc. are likely more cinematic pieces with orchestral elements and such.

As of now, we don't know if Michael McKellar was recorded. Looking at the lyrics, the mood is almost certainly different - more somber and reflective.

Neverland Landing - as a title - seems to invoke excitement or a sense of magic. Lighthearted.

Dream Away is sorta in the middle. Optimistic with a touch of sadness.

A pretty big spectrum, in my eyes. But that's just my take.
 
For what it’s worth, “Neverland Landing” sounds pretty much exactly like you’d expect it to—classic Disney. The closest I can think of in terms of sound/aesthetic is “Something There” from Beauty and the Beast, specifically this version:


“Neverland Landing” is a good deal slower (closer to “The Lost Children” if anything), but as far as vibe goes I’d say this is pretty close. Not my cup of tea, but if you liked “Seeing Voices,” it’s absolutely up your alley.
 
AlwaysThere said:
For what it’s worth, “Neverland Landing” sounds pretty much exactly like you’d expect it to—classic Disney. The closest I can think of in terms of sound/aesthetic is “Something There” from Beauty and the Beast, specifically this version:


“Neverland Landing” is a good deal slower (closer to “The Lost Children” if anything), but as far as vibe goes I’d say this is pretty close. Not my cup of tea, but if you liked “Seeing Voices,” it’s absolutely up your alley.
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Have you heard this track? Any others you’ve heard? Did you go to the US copyright office or did you make connections with collectors
 
AlwaysThere said:
For what it’s worth, “Neverland Landing” sounds pretty much exactly like you’d expect it to—classic Disney. The closest I can think of in terms of sound/aesthetic is “Something There” from Beauty and the Beast, specifically this version:


“Neverland Landing” is a good deal slower (closer to “The Lost Children” if anything), but as far as vibe goes I’d say this is pretty close. Not my cup of tea, but if you liked “Seeing Voices,” it’s absolutely up your alley.
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That's very pretty actually, so that song is pretty catchy, and Seeing Voices was to me too, so I got high hopes for this one too then.
 
Inthestudiowithmj said:
Any lyrics you recall? I’m very curious to know what he was going for lyrically for his Peter Pan tracks. How long was the snippet? Do you think it could leak? Can you confirm it is vocally complete?
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Off-hand, the only lines I recall clearly are: “Rainbow skies and crystal streams / Butterflies and [something] dreams.” Seems like he was just describing this idyllic scenery.

The snippet was only about 15-20 seconds.

Not sure if it’ll leak truthfully, but given that it was meant for such a niche project and probably doesn’t have much use in any other project, I’d certainly love it to!

It seems to be vocally complete, yes. His voice was double-tracked and there was no mumbling nor humming (at least in what I heard).
 
AlwaysThere said:
Off-hand, the only lines I recall clearly are: “Rainbow skies and crystal streams / Butterflies and [something] dreams.” Seems like he was just describing this idyllic scenery.

The snippet was only about 15-20 seconds.

Not sure if it’ll leak truthfully, but given that it was meant for such a niche project and probably doesn’t have much use in any other project, I’d certainly love it to!

It seems to be vocally complete, yes. His voice was double-tracked and there was no mumbling nor humming (at least in what I heard).
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Vocals like dream away? Or childhood ?
 
ChanceToDance said:
@AlwaysThere do you happen to know of other snippets that we don't know of that's circulating? I never would've thought that people out there owned Neverland Landing lol.
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My best guess is all of the tracks registered at the copyright office in 2009/10 by Brad Buxer would be in high level trading. Michael Prince said “we handed everything over to the estate” and of course, leaks like “Hollywood tonight demo” “DIG” and “IAAL” all came from there. I assume traders have the following “Boy No”, “Just Remember”, “Innocent Man” “Rocker” & “Dark Lady”. “Neverland Landing” was also registered along with those tracks.
 
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