Thriller 40th Anniversary

I mean, I think I agree. Purely due to the fact it should have been one of the first things the Estate did and they still haven't bothered doing it.
I just think in 5 years time, having Billie Jean/Beat It/Thriller available in pristine 4K will be more important and better for MJs art than releasing some unfinished songs.

If Thriller 40 looked like this, I'd honestly be happy:
- Disc 1, original album, crisp master
- Disc 2, blu-ray of the short films & bonus footage where possible, Making of Thriller in 4K
 
BEHIND THE MASK is track 1!!
I just came here to say that, the Facebook page was updated with the following piece:

After hearing the original instrumental recording of this song by the group Yellow Magic Orchestra, Michael reached out to them to ask if he could create a version of the song with lyrics. They readily agreed and Michael wrote the lyrics and recorded the demo which he played at a listening session at his home studio attended by Quincy Jones, Rod Temperton and Greg Phillinganes at which Michael also played the demos for “Billie Jean”, “Beat It” and “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’”. Unfortunately, “Behind The Mask” didn’t make the cut for the Thriller album and, although Michael worked on the track over the years, a finished version wasn’t released until the Michael album. But this original demo by Michael has never been released. https://michaeljackson.lnk.to/Thriller40th
 
I assume this graphic will be progressively added to eventually showing all 10 titles.
Came to say the same thing.

Expected, but still interested in hearing the original demo (though I don’t expect to like it half as much as the 2010 version).
 
I assume this graphic will be progressively added to eventually showing all 10 titles.
That sounds cool, but is really not that obvious and makes the first graphic look very odd.

Could’ve been executed much better if that is their intention
 
Not a bad start I guess, I thought they were either gonna show a leaked demo or a remix first.
 
I hope the demo isn't the exact same as Greg Phillinganes's version, even if it's just one chord different or if it has one new ad-lib I still want to hear something that feels new in case Chicago 1945 or some other unheard song isn't released.
 
I hope the demo isn't the exact same as Greg Phillinganes's version, even if it's just one chord different or if it has one new ad-lib I still want to hear something that feels new in case Chicago 1945 or some other unheard song isn't released.
I assume it's pretty close. The vocals on the 2010 edit sync perfectly to Greg's version. I also wonder if Greg may have even performed on the demo.
 
I am a little worried about the Way it is written.

For the 1st time, hear MJ’s demo played along with demos of Billie Jean and Beat It at a listening session with Q.

Does this mean it is not just the song? But a recording from the studio where they listen to the song? And maybe even talk over it? And also BJ and BI ??

I really hope we get a clean “normal” song. Just like the “We are the World” demo on TUC.

If so - great great start. This was one of the songs I really hoped for, so I am very happy. Nice
 
So is there no truth to the rumor that BTM failed to make the Thriller album due to a copyright issue?

I now assume it just didn't make the album because it wasn't strong enough.
 
After hearing the original instrumental recording of this song by the group Yellow Magic Orchestra, Michael reached out to them to ask if he could create a version of the song with lyrics. They readily agreed and Michael wrote the lyrics and recorded the demo which he played at a listening session at his home studio attended by Quincy Jones, Rod Temperton and Greg Phillinganes at which Michael also played the demos for “Billie Jean”, “Beat It” and “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’”. Unfortunately, “Behind The Mask” didn’t make the cut for the Thriller album and, although Michael worked on the track over the years, a finished version wasn’t released until the Michael album. But this original demo by Michael has never been released. https://michaeljackson.lnk.to/Thriller40th
I think this is a (partially) made up story. It doesn't match. It doesn't match what Bruce & Q previously have said.
 
I am a little worried about the Way it is written.

For the 1st time, hear MJ’s demo played along with demos of Billie Jean and Beat It at a listening session with Q.

Does this mean it is not just the song? But a recording from the studio where they listen to the song? And maybe even talk over it? And also BJ and BI ??

I really hope we get a clean “normal” song. Just like the “We are the World” demo on TUC.

If so - great great start. This was one of the songs I really hoped for, so I am very happy. Nice

Only the twitter post is worded that way and has been sloppily edited. It's supposed to say that MJ played it for them.
 
Interesting they mention MJ continued working on Behind The Mask over the years. Wasn't a track I'd ever considered him going back to tbh.

I don't think that is correct either as Greg Phillinganes was given the track a year later for his own album. Which means to me MJ dumped it off.

I wonder if this was the demo that was registered under the name "Who Do You Know".
 
Surprising, in my opinion. Wasn't expecting this to be their first choice and quite frankly, I wasn't even sure they would include it on the album.
 
So is there no truth to the rumor that BTM failed to make the Thriller album due to a copyright issue?

I now assume it just didn't make the album because it wasn't strong enough.
Co-writer Ryuichi Sakamoto confirmed it in an old Maximum Jackson interview (which no longer is accessible, unfortunately). If memory serves me, MJ wanted the largest chunk of the royalties, and Ryuichi basically said no. By the time they resolved the dispute, Thriller had already come out.

I imagine the estate is avoiding acknowledging any legal disputes because… well, y’know.
 
I think this is a (partially) made up story. It doesn't match. It doesn't match what Bruce & Q previously have said.
I don't think that is correct either as Greg Phillinganes was given the track a year later for his own album. Which means to me MJ dumped it off.

I wonder if this was the demo that was registered under the name "Who Do You Know".


Yeah, it could be they just made up some stuff to put in the description.
 
Co-writer Ryuichi Sakamoto confirmed it in an old Maximum Jackson interview (which no longer is accessible, unfortunately). If memory serves me, MJ wanted the largest chunk of the royalties, and Ryuichi basically said no. By the time they resolved the dispute, Thriller had already come out.

I imagine the estate is avoiding acknowledging any legal disputes because… well, y’know.
Ok, thanks for that info.

That being said, even without hearing the demo, I don't think the track would've been strong enough to make the final tracklist anyways.
 
I am a little worried about the Way it is written.

For the 1st time, hear MJ’s demo played along with demos of Billie Jean and Beat It at a listening session with Q.

Does this mean it is not just the song? But a recording from the studio where they listen to the song? And maybe even talk over it? And also BJ and BI ??

I really hope we get a clean “normal” song. Just like the “We are the World” demo on TUC.

If so - great great start. This was one of the songs I really hoped for, so I am very happy. Nice
If it's a recording of them talking about it then I think I've seen a video clip of that before
 
I'm really happy that Behind The Mask is track 1. That's a great start and it'll be interesting to hear if it's like Greg's version

I love Behind The Mask, I hope it has those great background vocals (Who do you love) running throughout, one of the stand out parts missing in the 2010 version
 
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