Thriller 40th Anniversary

Another thing to take into consideration is that Freddie lived in Munich, Germany from about 1983-1985, so just finding the time to go to havyenhurst in that period of time would not have been an easy task unless he was in the USA for whatever reason that summer. That's my personal opinion and I still believe Freddie's account.
Freddie recorded some stuff for his solo album (which became Mr. Bad Guy) at The Record Plant on April 21st and 22nd, 1983.
 
Freddie recorded some stuff for his solo album (which became Mr. Bad Guy) at The Record Plant on April 21st and 22nd, 1983.
Nice, I didn't know that! Then he had a reason for being in the US during that time.

This is a direct quote from Peter Freestone, Freddie's assistant.

The first that I heard about it was when Michael came to a Queen show at the Forum in Los Angeles. I remember him talking in the corner with Freddie and John. Afterwards Freddie said 'Huh! Michael says we should be doing something together because he loves what he’s heard!' Because he’d been listening to Another One Bites the Dust and loved that and the whole feel of it. So Freddie said 'He wants to meet up to record. Ah, but it’ll never happen, it’s just talk!'. Months later that was followed up with a phone call from Michael, because he had heard Freddie was in L.A. and he invited him over.
 
I am starting to think that 1983 may be correct after all. Because the Queen LA concert was late 1982 and Peter Freestone said that Michael called after months when he heard Freddie was in LA (which could be when he was recording stuff for his solo album in record plant spring/summer of 83). I think you guys are right.

I just find it odd that Freddie would say such as specific comment about missing out on the royalties for Thriller
 
What is better in your opinion: The SACD or the mofi vinyl?
Well...since masters are on analogue tape, listening on vinyl should create a more authentic listening experience with richer and softer sound.
On the other hand, digital music is free of hiss and other artefacts that come with analogue music.
But I mean...listening to a CD that was recorded from original masters probably has very little improvement to listening to a CD that was recorded from something other than original master. I mean sure, there is probably some difference, but I'm guessing that difference is bigger on vinyl.
So what I'm saying is, digital music is digital music and wouldn't really benefit from the fact that you recorded from masters. At least not as much as a vinyl would.
I already have the Thriller (and others) LP from Music on Vinyl who have a great track record with their releases. Maybe they even recorded from the actual masters if I remember correctly. So I really don't know how much of a difference this Mofi release would make in comparison to the MOV release. And for the price they are asking, ughhh...
 
Dirty Diana, too. And iirc all of the the Brian Malouf engineered songs (e.g. Abortion Papers), too.
I have to correct myself. Malouf has worked with MJ for a period of nearly 18 month - probably late 1983 to early 1985.

In 1981, Malouf went to work for Can-Am Recorders in Tarzana, California, where he'd been working for two years when he first met Michael Jackson. One day, while the Jacksons were recording there, Michael asked if Malouf would like to engineer for him that evening.

"He came to me on one of their sessions and said, 'I want to come back tonight and do my own stuff. Can you do it with me?' And that was the beginning of working with him for a year and a half..." The songs they recorded together would eventually comprise the Bad album.
 
I don't believe Freddie got Thriller and Victory mixed up because Thriller was after all the greatest selling record of all time and he said something to the effect that he "missed out on the royalties on that one!" So that specific comment gives the credence that he was very aware what album subsequently came out after they recorded their songs. He also spoke about Michael calling him asking him to complete State Of Shock for the Victory album which proves that Freddie did not lump these two albums together.

Another thing to take into consideration is that Freddie lived in Munich, Germany from about 1983-1985, so just finding the time to go to havyenhurst in that period of time would not have been an easy task unless he was in the USA for whatever reason that summer. That's my personal opinion and I still believe Freddie's account.

Edit:
This is an interview with Peter Freestone from 2013
When asked about where the impulse came from for Freddie and Mike to record together this is what he said

The first that I heard about it was when Michael came to a Queen show at the Forum in Los Angeles. I remember him talking in the corner with Freddie and John. Afterwards Freddie said 'Huh! Michael says we should be doing something together because he loves what he’s heard!' Because he’d been listening to Another One Bites the Dust and loved that and the whole feel of it. So Freddie said 'He wants to meet up to record. Ah, but it’ll never happen, it’s just talk!'. Months later that was followed up with a phone call from Michael, because he had heard Freddie was in L.A. and he invited him over.

This makes perfect sense which means that they recorded in 82 not 83. This is the story I believe.

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But Another One Bites The Dust was released as a single in 1980 and it was on The Game not on Hot Space, so they may have been planning on recording music together as early as 1980, and they may have done so.

I believe State of Shock and Victory to have been recorded in 1983 though.
 
But Another One Bites The Dust was released as a single in 1980 and it was on The Game not on Hot Space, so they may have been planning on recording music together as early as 1980, and they may have done so.

I believe State of Shock and Victory to have been recorded in 1983 though.
Wow. I completely misplaced ABTD. So that means that MJ saw them at the forum in 1980 and 1982 as well. I believe you to be correct btw
 
Dirty Diana, too. And iirc all of the the Brian Malouf engineered songs (e.g. Abortion Papers), too.

I'm thinking the demo to Alright Now may have been 1983 as well. The early work with Barnes..
 
What I am excited for is the promo of this possibly something VR with new Sony PSVR2 would be amazing. I also think that Sony should bring a michael jackson lets sing out.
 
Well...since masters are on analogue tape, listening on vinyl should create a more authentic listening experience with richer and softer sound.
On the other hand, digital music is free of hiss and other artefacts that come with analogue music.
But I mean...listening to a CD that was recorded from original masters probably has very little improvement to listening to a CD that was recorded from something other than original master. I mean sure, there is probably some difference, but I'm guessing that difference is bigger on vinyl.
So what I'm saying is, digital music is digital music and wouldn't really benefit from the fact that you recorded from masters. At least not as much as a vinyl would.
I already have the Thriller (and others) LP from Music on Vinyl who have a great track record with their releases. Maybe they even recorded from the actual masters if I remember correctly. So I really don't know how much of a difference this Mofi release would make in comparison to the MOV release. And for the price they are asking, ughhh...
The Music On Vinyl releases are sourced from 2001 special editions and are all digital. Get rid of them and get some originals.

Find a Pittman pressing of Thriller.
 
Are the Estate watching us now?
random question lmao. maybe... hopefully they read that we would like to have new unreleased material and upgraded short films and no remixes
 
this snippet of the Motown 25 rehearsal was released on dvd many years ago. it was confirmed (by Susan depasse I think) that more footage exists, but the estate blocked it. ‘thriller 40’ would be the perfect time to release it. I would love to see the difference (if any) between it and the final performance.
 
this snippet of the Motown 25 rehearsal was released on dvd many years ago. it was confirmed (by Susan depasse I think) that more footage exists, but the estate blocked it. ‘thriller 40’ would be the perfect time to release it. I would love to see the difference (if any) between it and the final performance.
Apart from Billie Jean, Motown has nothing to do with Thriller
 
I never stated anything about the Jackson’s.

right at the end of that 20-odd second clip, Michael is shown rehearsing ‘billie Jean’ solo. a song that came from the ‘thriller’ album. a performance that would go on to define his entire career, and boost the sales of the ‘thriller’ album 💿

weren’t some of you suggesting unfinished songs that Michael did with Freddie mercury for the ‘victory’ album to be on ‘thriller 40’? what do they have to do with ‘thriller’?
 
I never stated anything about the Jackson’s.

right at the end of that 20-odd second clip, Michael is shown rehearsing ‘billie Jean’ solo. a song that came from the ‘thriller’ album. a performance that would go on to define his entire career, and boost the sales of the ‘thriller’ album 💿

weren’t some of you suggesting unfinished songs that Michael did with Freddie mercury for the ‘victory’ album to be on ‘thriller 40’? what do they have to do with ‘thriller’?
Right! M25 bj was on t25 so why not make this special....oh yeah. Motown might block it. I wouldn't blame them
 
So I have some theories:

In the most recent episode of the MJ Cast, they interviewed the director of Sonic Fantasy. They were asking him about why certain people weren’t interviewed for his doc about Bruce Swedien and Thriller, such as Quincy Jones and Siedah Garret, as well as some others I can’t remember. And he said that he *did* either interview them, or have plans for interviews, but then several people had to withdraw. They asked him why and if it was because of LN (since he was producing the doc in 2019) and he said firmly that it was not and that he signed an NDA and could not share any details about it. He also mentioned several times how his documentary is a different take this Spike Lee’s album docs, and that he has the expectation that Sonic Fantasy will be on a major streaming service by the fall.

I bring all this up because my theory is that several people had to withdraw because they were already contractually bound to do a Spike Lee doc about Thriller and if the release date for the documentaries are around the same time then they would want them to be differentiated as much as possible. To me that makes sense.

My other theory is about the reasoning they are focusing on Thriller 40 instead of celebrating the anniversaries of HIStory and Dangerous. Since LN (and Covid, but especially LN in this case) derailed everything, I believe they are focusing on Thriller because it will *always* sell. Thriller will always be the primary era and album that brings in new Michael fans. It is an undeniable record-breaker with mass appeal and widely known by the general public. So as their first major release post-LN it makes sense, from a business standpoint, to focus on reminding the world of Thriller and who Michael was in that era, as well as its significance. Now that we are 3 years out from LN, the musical is hugely successful, and Michael’s popularity has grown a lot on social media, a big effort with Thriller could help *really* turn the tables for Michael, generating a swath of new fans, and therefore making the eventual Dangerous and HIStory projects much more successful. Right now it seems like only current fans know about those albums. But with a proper push, these projects wouldn’t only exist for the fans that have been around for a long time (who understandably crave non-Thriller projects) but they would be timed just right to ride the wave of a year-long Thriller campaign, some Tony Awards (fingers crossed), a biopic, and a number of documentaries, within the next couple years. Because as of right now, we know Sonic Fantasy is coming out and we hope a Spike Lee doc is coming out. But we also know that the director Jin Chohan is working on a 3 part doc called Trial by Media and Taj Jackson proclaims to be working on a series too, both of which focus on Michael’s innocence in one way or another.
So just imagine how all of these projects could collide in the next 1-3 years! Think about how many different ways Michael could be vindicated, both as a human being and as an artist if there are enough successful projects spaced out over time and from multiple sources, not just the MJ estate. The more the estate does for Thriller this year, the more successful everything else will be, and may even lead to major streaming releases for Jin and Taj’s projects, because ultimately streaming services only care about making money. If they know there is money in MJ, not just as a punching bag, but as someone with a major and current fan base, it will help a lot!
So these are my theories and they may be hopelessly idealistic lol. But I’m holding out hope!
But i want to hear unreleased material from invincible and this is it era 😭😭😭😭😭
 
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