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Thriller 40th Anniversary

AlwaysThere said:
  1. Select 10 demos from the vault.
  2. Hire the highest-rated mixing and mastering engineers on Fiverr to overhaul the demos. If the multitracks aren’t accessible, hire an audio restoration specialist (also from Fiverr) to ensure the best possible quality.
  3. Hire a graphic designer on Behance and provide them with enough rare and unpublished photos to craft an eye catching, brand-new cover and booklet.
  4. Hire @JohnC and provide him with the necessary resources to write an album retrospective and track notes for the booklet.
That’s it. That’s all they had to do.

Obviously Thriller deserves far more, but if the estate was insistent on a two-disc format, they could’ve pulled off something great for a few thousand dollars at most—probably a fraction of what they spent on Thriller 40. Absolutely insane.
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Only the Estate can take something that simple and turn it into a perfect exercise in laziness.
 
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AlwaysThere said:
If the source material was this damaged, it shouldn’t be released and they should be upfront about it, as they were with Wembley (which, quality aside, was the most transparent they’ve ever been).

The recording isn’t the issue here; if it was, you’d be able to tell. There’s no clipping, no overload of room ambiance, nothing that would imply that MJ’s engineers didn’t do their job correctly. It’s the mixing and mastering.
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Absolutely. I understand thinking that it may just be the condition that the recording was in but if you know about this stuff it's rather easy to tell if something is just badly produced. These demos, however rough they sounded in their raw form, could have easily sounded better. I've heard Beatles recordings that were recorded with a shitty cassette recorder that are still pleasing to listen to. It's not a case of the recording circumstances. Your job is to make it sound presentable when you officially release it and charge money for it.

Obviously there's exceptions, but let's not pretend listening to these songs that they couldn't have sounded a lot better.
 
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Disappointing but also not surprising that the estate seems to be the problem here. Maybe they had a financial related falling out? Either way totally sucks.
 
AlwaysThere said:
https://twitter.com/x/status/1593090968278163460

https://twitter.com/x/status/1593092710788841473

“THE GIRL IS MINE” STUDIO FOOTAGE!?
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Lol don’t count on it. That would be the logical and fan serviceable thing to do. However, it’s probably going to be some cringy ass shit like the Hollywood Tonight video or the LNFSG video…… Jesus I HATE the Estate. We haven’t had new material since 2014 so what do they do? Fill up HALF of an 80+ min CD with mostly already previously officially released outtakes or songs that have been leaked for like 14 yrs. Then give us two rough demos of posthumously released songs that are HORRIBLY mixed and mastered (if at all) and then give us just 2 new songs. 2!!!!! No wonder we all got so hyped about the damn leaks cause we don’t get anything!

Now yes, the two 4K videos are AMAZING! Fantastic job (for once!) on that that! However this could have been so much better! Give us at least 6 new unheard songs like Bad 25. Give us an HD concert from the victory tour (unlike Bad 25’s bullshit attempt) some studio footage and maybe the making of Thriller in some form of restoration. BOOM success! That is if they actually MARKETED the damn thing!

Makes me sad, this thing is going to flop and when it does they’re going to think “Oh well new MJ music and 4K videos aren’t what the fans want.” And then they’ll keep peddling their bullshit biopic idea and more goofy one off projects like musicals and remix albums…..
 
I think there is fight between Estate and Sony.
I think it was also a sign that the biopic-deal is with Lionsgate and not Sony.
But this fighting is on cost from Michael and his fans, the Estate seems only to fulfill the contract.

BTW my CD from Amazon is on the way.
 
Annita said:
I think there is fight between Estate and Sony.
I think it was also a sign that the biopic-deal ist with Lionsgate and not Sony.

But this fighting is cost from Michael and his fans, the Estate seems only to fulfill the contract.
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There definitely seems to be a problem if we're believing the rumours. Doesn't change the disastrous effort of the MJ estate on this release though.
 
SmoothGangsta said:
Nah, I really don't think that's true at all. Mixing a song to sound good is sound 101. I really hate this "If the estate released the songs sounding great you guys would still complain!" narrative. It makes absolutely no sense.
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I had the same thought as @luis98 , what if the Estate is giving us untouched demos the way Michael left them! Why are the fans complaining now when we complaint so much about remixing. Though, I cannot speak for Luis, but I don't know anything technical about music. If I understand right, what knowledgeable people are saying is that the Estate should have hired a good production engineer, someone who worked with Michael and they could have made the demos sound better without loss of authenticity. Michael would have done the same, i.e. worked with a producer.

Though I still have question about actual vocal quality. If they were recorded somewhere, not in a proper studio as Demo to be re-recorded properly later, the vocals themselves would sound not so good, right? Like background noise, not hitting all the notes etc.

I have not heard anything yet, but I am curious because I thought we would expect the songs to be 'not Michael quality' because he did not polish and release them.
 
Annita said:
I agree and in no way professionell.
Somehow resembles Michael's self-boycott
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That would explain all the lack of publicity. Sony would have done publicity as they would want to increase sales and make money. It's a for profit company.
 
Hiker said:
I had the same thought as @luis98 , what if the Estate is giving us untouched demos the way Michael left them! Why are the fans complaining now when we complaint so much about remixing. Though, I cannot speak for Luis, but I don't know anything technical about music. If I understand right, what knowledgeable people are saying is that the Estate should have hired a good production engineer, someone who worked with Michael and they could have made the demos sound better without loss of authenticity. Michael would have done the same, i.e. worked with a producer.

Though I still have question about actual vocal quality. If they were recorded somewhere, not in a proper studio as Demo to be re-recorded properly later, the vocals themselves would sound not so good, right? Like background noise, not hitting all the notes etc.

I have not heard anything yet, but I am curious because I thought we would expect the songs to be 'not Michael quality' because he did not polish and release them.
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It's really just basic sound mixing and mastering. Nothing complicated about it. They did not do that.
 
SmoothGangsta said:
It's really just basic sound mixing and mastering. Nothing complicated about it. They did not do that.
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I believe you and all the other knowledgeable people here. Being a logical person (and perfectionist), I just find it hard to believe that someone will publish a sub-par product especially it being the first one in so many years. It makes no sense from any perspective.
 
luis98 said:
But they might sound bad because of the way they were recorded! Not polished, because they are DEMOS! If the estate mixed them, fans would be complaining about THAT! For once, theyve given us the demos untouched! Which is what fans have been asking for for years.

The presentation of the whole release has been bad though. That hideous font, weird behaviour from the estate, taking down the Remastered videos, lack of communication with the fans, branca's tiktok, barely any promotion. All so strange.
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I'm pretty sure most of us would rather hear Mark Ronson's Lovely Way over this version. And the 2010 version is still considered "finished" by the estate, so this demo is just that, a demo. A rough one, not meant to surpass.
 
AlwaysThere said:
https://twitter.com/x/status/1593090968278163460

https://twitter.com/x/status/1593092710788841473

“THE GIRL IS MINE” STUDIO FOOTAGE!?
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Nah, b. I ain’t buying or streaming shit anymore from MJ. I hope they go bankrupt and the whole vault leaks.

No one’s gonna convince me that “but if you don’t support it MJ’s legacy gonna be screwed”, It’s their fault and I’m not taking part in this shitshow anymore, at least until Branca leaves.

Fans having to do promo for a half assed product. Pathetic.
 
Dorian said:
Nah, b. I ain’t buying or streaming shit anymore from MJ. I hope they go bankrupt and the whole vault leaks.

No one’s gonna convince me that “but if you don’t support it MJ’s legacy gonna be screwed”, It’s their fault and I’m not taking part in this shitshow anymore, at least until Branca leaves.

Fans having to do promo for a half assed product. Pathetic.
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MJ's legacy will never be screwed. Certainly not over one guy not playing up one rerelease. At any point in his adult life, MJ could literally have his entire catalogue erased except for one single album, and he would still be one of the biggest stars of all time. The world only really thinks about Thriller anyway, so there you go.

The real question is would you rather be rid of Sony or the Estate?
 
Mister_Jay_Tee said:
MJ's legacy will never be screwed. Certainly not over one guy not playing up one rerelease. At any point in his adult life, MJ could literally have his entire catalogue erased except for one single album, and he would still be one of the biggest stars of all time. The world only really thinks about Thriller anyway, so there you go.

The real question is would you rather be rid of Sony or the Estate?
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What is everyone’s problem with Sony at this point? Wtf?
 
Dorian said:
What is everyone’s problem with Sony at this point? Wtf?
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Sony set all of this in motion. We are where we are because of the 2000s. Career wise anyway, they caused a lot of the failures. And their servers suck if they can he hacked so easily.
 
A lot of the complaints about Thriller 40 are the same complaints from Bad 25, just nostalgia had blinded people. Think people hated Afrojack way worse though.

Is it worse than Thriller 25? Surely say no.
 
Dorian said:
No one’s gonna convince me that “but if you don’t support it MJ’s legacy gonna be screwed”, It’s their fault and I’m not taking part in this shitshow anymore, at least until Branca leaves.
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Michael's legacy is not one anniversary album that he did not create, him being dead and all. Michael's real legacy is what he released during his life time, the performances and influence he has on all other artists. So don't sweat, keep focused on the good stuff.
 
Dorian said:
I guess this is what happens when people eat up what Michael said as gospel. I won't even bother.
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Don't even bother then, I guess you really don't have anything to say.

Tommy Mottola wasn't good at his job, and there really isn't much to say about the 2000s times after. By all means, inform me of anything otherwise, I'll listen.
 
AmitLal92 said:
Clearly something has happened between The MJ estate & Sony and it’s a real shame. Bring back LA Reid, at least he knew how to promote a MJ release.
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The Estate needs a creative like L.A. Reid in charge. That man knew how to get a project off the ground. And he has fiscal/financial business savvy. He could do it.

You don't have to bring back Timbaland and co, though I wouldn't mind for a couple songs. If people want faithful reworks then certainly it's much easier to manage now.
 
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