BabyBeMine said:

Even on "Hollywood Tonight" which is one of my favorites on the album when he has to speed his voice up he kinda stumbles a little bit. Im like...what did he just say?

Not sure about the parts on "behind the mask" where he sings with range

Superstition said:

BabyBeMine said:

Even on "Hollywood Tonight" which is one of my favorites on the album when he has to speed his voice up he kinda stumbles a little bit. Im like...what did he just say?

The only part I couldn't understand was "Tinsletown". The rest sounded perfectly normal to me. Behind the Mask isn't all that fast, not sure why he wouldn't have been able to sing that in his later years.

Yeah I understood what he was saying in the track.

just watched the cascio interview again and the guy who produced the stuff again pronounced his t's the way "michael" did in the song breaking news. He said "cur-ins" for curtains,he has an accent which can't help itself, the part of the song again "everybody wan-ing" saying wanting in a way mike never pronounced it, I thought it was an attempt to sound more modern but it's not, it's cascio. I hope it all comes out and we can have this guy back on oprah crying his ass off saying he lied. god, the state of America, I feel like crawling into a hole sometimes, there aren't any "friends" for any of us are there? Not really.

I just received an email that my CD,Visions DVD,and shirt have shipped!

babybugz said:

Oprah sure has been having a hard on for Michael this year.

I know right?

mozfonky said:

just watched the cascio interview again and the guy who produced the stuff again pronounced his t's the way "michael" did in the song breaking news. He said "cur-ins" for curtains,he has an accent which can't help itself, the part of the song again "everybody wan-ing" saying wanting in a way mike never pronounced it, I thought it was an attempt to sound more modern but it's not, it's cascio. I hope it all comes out and we can have this guy back on oprah crying his ass off saying he lied. god, the state of America, I feel like crawling into a hole sometimes, there aren't any "friends" for any of us are there? Not really.

Laaaawd have mercy. Just cancel the whole project. It's getting ridiculous.

Now fans are beginning to question tracks outside of the Cascio's on facebook and Twitter

It's like Manny Pacquiao...Because Floyd and his scrrrrd self wanted to throw it out there that maybe he's taking something..now ppl assume he might be.

Michaels nephew threw it out there, now the whole project is just screwed up. Like i said last week cancel the whole thing and enjoy the legacy. Will i am is correct

BabyBeMine said:

Now fans are beginning to question tracks outside of the Cascio's on facebook and Twitter

evidence? Most people realize that it's only the Cascio songs that sound like someone else.

The other 7 songs are unquestionably Michael. Anyone who questions non-Cascio songs must not know what Michael sounds like.

BabyBeMine said:

mozfonky said:

just watched the cascio interview again and the guy who produced the stuff again pronounced his t's the way "michael" did in the song breaking news. He said "cur-ins" for curtains,he has an accent which can't help itself, the part of the song again "everybody wan-ing" saying wanting in a way mike never pronounced it, I thought it was an attempt to sound more modern but it's not, it's cascio. I hope it all comes out and we can have this guy back on oprah crying his ass off saying he lied. god, the state of America, I feel like crawling into a hole sometimes, there aren't any "friends" for any of us are there? Not really.

Laaaawd have mercy. Just cancel the whole project. It's getting ridiculous.

Now fans are beginning to question tracks outside of the Cascio's on facebook and Twitter

It's like Manny Pacquiao...Because Floyd and his scrrrrd self wanted to throw it out there that maybe he's taking something..now ppl assume he might be.

Michaels nephew threw it out there, now the whole project is just screwed up. Like i said last week cancel the whole thing and enjoy the legacy. Will i am is correct

personally, as a boxing fan since the cradle practically, I suspected Manny long before anyone else did, does that mean anything? No, not in and of itself, he does have coaches who have a history with the stuff, but until caught red handed, I'll let it pass. That's a different conversation, I think there is hope of this stuff coming out right, let me say, it could be michael, but if it's not, I want to see it yanked, I want to see the people responsible figuratively tarred and feathered.

How come no one is passing off Hollywood Tonight as FAKE?

If you judge it from the same criteria that Breaking News was put under, having "another person" do a spoken part trying to sound like MJ to fill it out, then surely you'd have to argue it's fake. But it seems no one is batting an eye because it was Tarryl.

I wonder if it had been released first, would there have been the same reaction - that's not MJ on that bit. It's as though because it's family it's ok - whereas when it was someone else doing backing vocals there was a revolt.

Now to be clear I'm not calling it FAKE, I'm just sayin' that maybe people overreacted to the need to flesh out a few tracks and put some missing pieces of the puzzle together.

Or maybe it's just a case that many people weren't feeling Breaking News or the rest of the Cascio tracks and it was easier to blast it and call it fake than say maybe they weren't great MJ tracks.

I'm going to listen to the album for the first time tomorrow when I buy it and have the physical copy in my hands and try to be open to it and the questionable tracks.

BabyBeMine said:

mozfonky said:

just watched the cascio interview again and the guy who produced the stuff again pronounced his t's the way "michael" did in the song breaking news. He said "cur-ins" for curtains,he has an accent which can't help itself, the part of the song again "everybody wan-ing" saying wanting in a way mike never pronounced it, I thought it was an attempt to sound more modern but it's not, it's cascio. I hope it all comes out and we can have this guy back on oprah crying his ass off saying he lied. god, the state of America, I feel like crawling into a hole sometimes, there aren't any "friends" for any of us are there? Not really.

Laaaawd have mercy. Just cancel the whole project. It's getting ridiculous.

Now fans are beginning to question tracks outside of the Cascio's on facebook and Twitter

It's like Manny Pacquiao...Because Floyd and his scrrrrd self wanted to throw it out there that maybe he's taking something..now ppl assume he might be.

Michaels nephew threw it out there, now the whole project is just screwed up. Like i said last week cancel the whole thing and enjoy the legacy. Will i am is correct

Anyway, this whole affair just reminded me how michael planned to do the Johnny Cash Classic "hurt" a song I perform regularly and introduce as "about loss of self, betrayal of and by others" Michael would have understood every crook and cranny of that song and when people laugh at my saying he planned to record it I glare at them until they shutup then proceed to raise hell.

mozfonky said:

BabyBeMine said:

Laaaawd have mercy. Just cancel the whole project. It's getting ridiculous.

Now fans are beginning to question tracks outside of the Cascio's on facebook and Twitter

It's like Manny Pacquiao...Because Floyd and his scrrrrd self wanted to throw it out there that maybe he's taking something..now ppl assume he might be.

Michaels nephew threw it out there, now the whole project is just screwed up. Like i said last week cancel the whole thing and enjoy the legacy. Will i am is correct

personally, as a boxing fan since the cradle practically, I suspected Manny long before anyone else did, does that mean anything? No, not in and of itself, he does have coaches who have a history with the stuff, but until caught red handed, I'll let it pass. That's a different conversation, I think there is hope of this stuff coming out right, let me say, it could be michael, but if it's not, I want to see it yanked, I want to see the people responsible figuratively tarred and feathered.

You do know Pacquiao before the Margarito fight agreed. Also this week he said i will do anything Floyd wants including take test between rounds. Of course he was joking on that part

Mayweather only fights former 135 pounders or old welterweights who throw the same predictable right hand over and over...Shane Mosley...Watch Pac put Shane to sleep in April

Swa said:

How come no one is passing off Hollywood Tonight as FAKE?

If you judge it from the same criteria that Breaking News was put under, having "another person" do a spoken part trying to sound like MJ to fill it out, then surely you'd have to argue it's fake. But it seems no one is batting an eye because it was Tarryl.

I wonder if it had been released first, would there have been the same reaction - that's not MJ on that bit. It's as though because it's family it's ok - whereas when it was someone else doing backing vocals there was a revolt.

Now to be clear I'm not calling it FAKE, I'm just sayin' that maybe people overreacted to the need to flesh out a few tracks and put some missing pieces of the puzzle together.

Or maybe it's just a case that many people weren't feeling Breaking News or the rest of the Cascio tracks and it was easier to blast it and call it fake than say maybe they weren't great MJ tracks.

I'm going to listen to the album for the first time tomorrow when I buy it and have the physical copy in my hands and try to be open to it and the questionable tracks.

It might well be, who knows?

BabyBeMine said:

mozfonky said:

personally, as a boxing fan since the cradle practically, I suspected Manny long before anyone else did, does that mean anything? No, not in and of itself, he does have coaches who have a history with the stuff, but until caught red handed, I'll let it pass. That's a different conversation, I think there is hope of this stuff coming out right, let me say, it could be michael, but if it's not, I want to see it yanked, I want to see the people responsible figuratively tarred and feathered.

You do know Pacquiao before the Margarito fight agreed. Also this week he said i will do anything Floyd wants including take test between rounds. Of course he was joking on that part

Mayweather only fights former 135 pounders or old welterweights who throw the same predictable right hand over and over...Shane Mosley...Watch Pac put Shane to sleep in April

Ya, i'm watching it all as close as you are if not closer. Pac is phenomenal, with or without drugs, Floyd doesn't want to fight him obviously and I think his legal troubles show a tormented mind full of self-sabotage. It's all conjecture, all of it, I just say I'm very suspicious of Manny, means nothing until he's caught which he will be if he's doing anything wrong, no one keeps quiet about that stuff forever.

mozfonky said:

Anyway, this whole affair just reminded me how michael planned to do the Johnny Cash Classic "hurt" a song I perform regularly and introduce as "about loss of self, betrayal of and by others" Michael would have understood every crook and cranny of that song and when people laugh at my saying he planned to record it I glare at them until they shutup then proceed to raise hell.

"Hurt" is a Nine Inch Nails song.... Johnny Cash's version is a cover. A good cover, but I still prefer the original.

As for MJ covering it, never heard anything about that but I can believe it, because an engineer who worked with MJ on the "HIStory" sessions said that Michael was always listening to the Nine Inch Nails album "The Downward Spiral", which was the album "Hurt" was from.

Swa - my issue with the Cascio songs isn't that there's somebody else on parts of the song. It's that I don't believe it's Michael on the LEAD vocals. Obviously that's not the case with Hollywood Tonight. Nobody is claiming that Taryll's spoken part is actually Michael when it's obviously not.

"Keep your Head up" is a more soulful track than the others. Just like comparing "Butterflies" to lost children...Naturally Marsha from Floetry didn't want Mike singing in that tone..She wanted him to sing in a more hip and soulful tone.

Where is evidence of MJ after 2001 singing a soulful track. Dude was 47 years old in 2007 when "keep your head up" was recorded and he's trying to go back to his old school style.

He's not gonna sound like off the wall mike anymore when he tries to go soulful

Many of those invincible tracks were recorded in 1999 and 2000.

EW.com reviews Michael

Whatever creative evolution Michael Jackson intended for himself in middle age, we will never really know; his legacy now falls to the executors who control his vast musical estate. One can understand, though, why the superstar went quiet after releasing his last album of new material, 2001’s respectable if ultimately underwhelming Invincible. A famously relentless perfectionist in the studio, he kept his post-Invincible recording sessions under wraps while peers like Prince and Madonna remained relatively prolific.

But death, as late icons from Johnny Cash to Tupac Shakur have shown us, can be a great motivator — at least for the beneficiaries left behind. Even before Jackson went on to become by far the best-selling artist of last year, the posthumous product rush seemed inevitable. Now, in addition to the MJ-themed videogame, docu-film, and Cirque du Soleil extravaganza, his estate has promised seven more releases over 
 the next seven years.

The material on Michael is not by any means a deep dive into the Jackson archives; nearly all the songs are culled from the last five years of his life. Opener and first single ''Hold My Hand'' supplies the broad, pleasing fervor of an official theme song for a World Cup or Summer Olympics — an ideal repository for soaring choruses and generic lyrical uplift. ''Hollywood Tonight,'' from 2007, feels leaner and more urgent, crackling with Jackson’s trademark percussive shuffle and pop. The gospel-tinged bromide ''Keep Your Head Up'' offers a well-intentioned but somewhat soggy lead-in to the feathery, sweet-toned swoon of ""(I Like) The Way You Love Me.'' Window-smashing theatrics juxtapose with airy, danceable coos and a rat-a-tat 50 Cent guest spot on ''Monster'' (the beast in question, it turns out, is fame).

''Breaking News'' delivers Jackson’s now-requisite anti-tabloid screed, albeit with satisfyingly melodic gall, while ''(I Can’t Make It) Another Day,'' featuring Lenny Kravitz and Dave Grohl, galvanizes him further, yielding the album’s most genuinely fierce moment. The propulsive synths and vocodered trills on the otherwise intriguing ''Behind the Mask'' seem oddly dated by sax flourishes — though perhaps that makes it a good companion to the lilting closer ''Much Too Soon,'' an actual relic of the early ’80s (the track dates back to his Thriller days).

As musical epitaphs go, Michael is a solid album, arguably stronger than Invincible and certainly no great affront to his name. But it can be hard to listen and not wonder what he would have done differently — or if he would have wanted us to hear it at all. B

I think it's because Teddy produced "Hollywood Tonight" in the same style of the other tracks that makes you think "oh wait why not this one?" lol

USA TODAY review:

Michael (* * * out of four), which hits stores Tuesday, is the first album released under a seven-year, $250 million deal between the Jackson estate and Sony Music to put out a wealth of unreleased material. Estate co-executor John McCain and a host of collaborators and producers, including Akon,Lenny Kravitz, 50 Cent and Teddy Riley, completed 10 songs left unfinished by Jackson for this compilation, with mixed results.

Since some of the songs date back as far as the early 1980s while others are of very recent vintage, Michael is not an album with a cohesive theme or consistent sound. That's not to say it's lacking in potential hits. But it's hard to imagine that this is what a perfectionist like Jackson would have made, even though the producers were purportedly following his road map in adding all the finishing touches. Family members and will.i.am, who, like Akon, collaborated with Jackson on 2008's Thriller 25, have been critical of the release of any music not bearing Jackson's final stamp.

But controversy aside, it is a credible musical effort that can't simply be dismissed. For the most part, the songs don't have the pieced-together feel of many posthumous projects, and Jackson's vocals (Hold My Hand with Akon being the notable exception) are always front and center.

The best songs hark back to previous Jackson hits. There are club burners and tender ballads that showcase his elastic voice, replete with his signature hiccups and howls. The thumping Hollywood Tonight pulsates with Billy Jean-esque energy, while the aggressive Monster seems destined to leave blood on the dance floor. The first deals with the cost of chasing celebrity, while the second bemoans the price of being one. Less successful is Breaking News, on which he gripes once again that the entertainment media won't leave him alone. The most sonically forward song is the propulsive, synth-drenchedBehind the Mask. It would fit snugly on anybody's current playlist.

Still, while this may be a loving look back, it doesn't offer a lot of insight into where Jackson may have been headed with the new album he'd been working on since 2007. Part of Jackson's magic was that he always kept you wondering what he'd do next to amaze you. With this album, and presumably any future ones, the best you can hope for is to be pleasantly reminded of his gifts. The material here is solid, but if this is the best they've got, you have to wonder about what's left to come.

^^ grrrrrr - Billy Jean - please.

For those that listen how many songs sound like Michael's and How many don't?

Militant said:

mozfonky said:

Anyway, this whole affair just reminded me how michael planned to do the Johnny Cash Classic "hurt" a song I perform regularly and introduce as "about loss of self, betrayal of and by others" Michael would have understood every crook and cranny of that song and when people laugh at my saying he planned to record it I glare at them until they shutup then proceed to raise hell.

"Hurt" is a Nine Inch Nails song.... Johnny Cash's version is a cover. A good cover, but I still prefer the original.

As for MJ covering it, never heard anything about that but I can believe it, because an engineer who worked with MJ on the "HIStory" sessions said that Michael was always listening to the Nine Inch Nails album "The Downward Spiral", which was the album "Hurt" was from.

Swa - my issue with the Cascio songs isn't that there's somebody else on parts of the song. It's that I don't believe it's Michael on the LEAD vocals. Obviously that's not the case with Hollywood Tonight. Nobody is claiming that Taryll's spoken part is actually Michael when it's obviously not.

yes, i'm aware of that, Johnny Cash's is the quintessential version, both are brilliant in different ways but Johnny's is the one that will be a part of American Music forever in a way that Trent's won't. Michael would have done an equal job in my opinion and I do feel that Mike answered the angsty white boy resoundingly during the era of grunge and industrial outdoing them in the dark with Ghost, Is It Scary. He outdid the whiteboys like Elvis outdid the Blues singers on his sun sessions.

Billboard.com

babybugz said:

For those that listen how many songs sound like Michael's and How many don't?

All ten tracks are Jason from youtube. I say we email Sony, so they can hook the underground artist up with a couple of videos.

Swa said:

USA TODAY review:

Ever since Michael Jackson died 18 months ago, there has been speculation about what gems may lie hidden in the King of Pop's vaults. The answer is that there are at least a few sparklers that could be polished for public display.

Michael (* * * out of four), which hits stores Tuesday, is the first album released under a seven-year, $250 million deal between the Jackson estate and Sony Music to put out a wealth of unreleased material. Estate co-executor John McCain and a host of collaborators and producers, including Akon,Lenny Kravitz, 50 Cent and Teddy Riley, completed 10 songs left unfinished by Jackson for this compilation, with mixed results.

Since some of the songs date back as far as the early 1980s while others are of very recent vintage, Michael is not an album with a cohesive theme or consistent sound. That's not to say it's lacking in potential hits. But it's hard to imagine that this is what a perfectionist like Jackson would have made, even though the producers were purportedly following his road map in adding all the finishing touches. Family members and will.i.am, who, like Akon, collaborated with Jackson on 2008's Thriller 25, have been critical of the release of any music not bearing Jackson's final stamp.

But controversy aside, it is a credible musical effort that can't simply be dismissed. For the most part, the songs don't have the pieced-together feel of many posthumous projects, and Jackson's vocals (Hold My Hand with Akon being the notable exception) are always front and center.

The best songs hark back to previous Jackson hits. There are club burners and tender ballads that showcase his elastic voice, replete with his signature hiccups and howls. The thumping Hollywood Tonight pulsates with Billy Jean-esque energy, while the aggressive Monster seems destined to leave blood on the dance floor. The first deals with the cost of chasing celebrity, while the second bemoans the price of being one. Less successful is Breaking News, on which he gripes once again that the entertainment media won't leave him alone. The most sonically forward song is the propulsive, synth-drenchedBehind the Mask. It would fit snugly on anybody's current playlist.

Still, while this may be a loving look back, it doesn't offer a lot of insight into where Jackson may have been headed with the new album he'd been working on since 2007. Part of Jackson's magic was that he always kept you wondering what he'd do next to amaze you. With this album, and presumably any future ones, the best you can hope for is to be pleasantly reminded of his gifts. The material here is solid, but if this is the best they've got, you have to wonder about what's left to come.

^^ grrrrrr - Billy Jean - please.

They still can't help paring other tracks to Billie Jean can they?

babybugz said:

For those that listen how many songs sound like Michael's and How many don't?

7 songs are OBVIOUSLY Michael.

3 are not. And, no surprise, those three songs come from the same source.

The digitally added vibrato is present on the three fake songs. It's not present in any others, nor any other MJ song ever released in his entire career.

There's no documentation or evidence pertaining to the three fake songs or their origins. There is for all 7 others.

The inconsistent pronunciation compared to every other MJ song ever released and airy vocal tone are present on the three fake songs, and not on the 7 real songs.

The 7 real songs have been registered with ASCAP for years with Michael as a songwriter. The three fake songs were not registered until 2 days after Michael died, and even then, they weren't registered individually, but all in one registration under the title "MJ Songbook".

There are master tapes, multi-tracks, adlibs, written lyric sheets, and alternate versions (in some cases) for the 7 real songs. There are NONE of these for the 3 fake songs - the Cascio's sent the Estate already-processed vocal tracks and claimed that was all they had because the computer they were recorded on "broke" and the hard drive "was destroyed".

Should I keep going?

murph said:

Cute plagiarism...But let me put it to you like this.... Unless you are in Riley's camp or know him personally, commenting on his past financial issues in the context of a music discussion is equal to a 14-year-old discussing the latest gossip about how much Justin Beiber has in his bank account... In other words, it has absolutely nothing to do with the music... The only way you should be worried about Riley's finances is if he owes you money or you are currently doing business with him... Other than that, trying to connect the comments of a man who has actually had an artistic relationship with the person he is commenting about (MJ) is indeed....wait for it....silliness....

[Edited 12/8/10 15:14pm]

Actually, it does. It has a LOT to do with the music. All these things that happen in people's lives affect their decisions in their art. Do you think that VanGogh would have painted so many self portraits had he not been as poor as fuck? Do you think that Michael Jackson would have had so many songs about the paparazzi and their ills had he not had issues with them? If Teddy Riley is having financial problems...then there is a very strong possibility that he may have taken the job even if it meant sullying the man's legacy since he was getting $$$ and is under some sort of contract in which he can't speak out against it.

Or, as Militant pointed out already, to make sure he keeps himself on future projects is another strong possibility. This is what happens in business. There have to be sacrifices. Sometimes you have to bite the bullet. This doesn't take away from the fact that he's worked with the man, but to deny the influence his own financial issues are having in this case...would be wholly naive. I mean...come on murph. It's not as if we're talking just about the music, we are talking about BUSINESS here as well. Hell, had it not been for money, there is a strong possibility that MJ would not have done the This Is It concert series in the first place. Actually, I'm pretty sure of it.

Militant has been making a lot of valid points and convincing arguments and has been supplying strong evidence to back up his claims. I don't know why you are brushing it off as 'not making sense.' Besides the "Not your money, not your problem" argument that you have presented, there's been a lack of real convincing anything on your behalf. So, unless you are real close to Teddy or with the project, you are just as much in the dark as we are.

Swa said:

How come no one is passing off Hollywood Tonight as FAKE?

Because I can hear Michael Jackson's voice, accent, pronunciations, and all. All of those things are present in that song. None of these things were present in the Cascio tracks.

[Edited 12/8/10 20:17pm]

I just heard Best Of Joy,and it literally moved me to tears.

EmeraldSkies said:

I just received an email that my CD,Visions DVD,and shirt have shipped!

I haven't watch visions yet , The DVD is right on my desk and I finally brought the hello world motown collection.