They need to just wipe their hands of the whole Michael album. It's a joke. They need to redeem themselves this year with a quality release, followed by a formal apology when the truth about 'Michael' comes out.

JoeTyler said:

I've finally heard the "new" album. It sounds like his 95-01 work...not surprised, he NEVER left new jack/modern R&B sound behind...the album sounds dated as hell, but at least is not shit-hop/shit-dance...

This is huge reason why it sounds dated. lol

JoeTyler said:

I've finally heard the "new" album. It sounds like his 95-01 work...not surprised, he NEVER left new jack/modern R&B sound behind...the album sounds dated as hell, but at least is not shit-hop/shit-dance...

Most of the material was remixed or "completed" by Teddy Riley so that could be the reason

bboy87 said:

JoeTyler said:

I've finally heard the "new" album. It sounds like his 95-01 work...not surprised, he NEVER left new jack/modern R&B sound behind...the album sounds dated as hell, but at least is not shit-hop/shit-dance...

Most of the material was remixed or "completed" by Teddy Riley so that could be the reason

And Teddy hasn't been relevant since 1996. If I heard "Hollywood Tonight" now I'd probably hate it.

bboy87 said:

JoeTyler said:

I've finally heard the "new" album. It sounds like his 95-01 work...not surprised, he NEVER left new jack/modern R&B sound behind...the album sounds dated as hell, but at least is not shit-hop/shit-dance...

Most of the material was remixed or "completed" by Teddy Riley so that could be the reason

didn't know that... it makes sense

bboy87 said:

I just emailed someone who works with the estate with suggestions/ideas I've come up with. They'll be sending them to the executors I think

Hopefully if they have ANY BRAINS, they'll take your word for it.

MyLuv229 said:

Chilli on Michael: "that is MY husband"

WildStyle said:

They need to just wipe their hands of the whole Michael album. It's a joke. They need to redeem themselves this year with a quality release, followed by a formal apology when the truth about 'Michael' comes out.

Exactly. I'm not ashamed that i didn't buy it. The Estate already got their money from Sony. To be honest i liked seeing them (Sony) drop the ball. It is no reflection on Michael or his ability and means nothing to his legacy which is locked and secure.

Marrk said:

Exactly. I'm not ashamed that i didn't buy it. The Estate already got their money from Sony. To be honest i liked seeing them (Sony) drop the ball. It is no reflection on Michael or his ability and means nothing to his legacy which is locked and secure.

It's sad that there are fans that actually think the album underperforming looks bad on MJ. On the KOP board, there's an asshole who ripping MJ's legacy to shreds just because this album didn't break records and shit. According to him, because MJ broke records in the 80's, he should still be breaking records now.

[Edited 1/23/11 15:38pm]

mookie said:

Marrk said:

Exactly. I'm not ashamed that i didn't buy it. The Estate already got their money from Sony. To be honest i liked seeing them (Sony) drop the ball. It is no reflection on Michael or his ability and means nothing to his legacy which is locked and secure.

It's sad that there are fans that actually think the album underperforming looks bad on MJ. On the KOP board, there's an asshole who ripping MJ's legacy to shreds just because this album didn't break records and shit. According to him, because MJ broke records in the 80's, he should still be breaking records now.

[Edited 1/23/11 15:38pm]

Ok, now that's just sad. I remember the drama that errupted in MJJC regarding the album and it had to temporarily shut down for a while. Haven't been back since.

Sadly thought the underperformance of this album is fodder for a hungry press. Whilst Michael was alive, they liked to call each success album after Thriller a flop - even though most artists these days would kill to havee "flops" with those sales figures. So it's not hard to see how the media could latch onto the album's poor sales with headlines like "The love affair with Michael Jackson is over" and they will go on about how in the wake of his passing sales skyrocketed but now the interest in him has waned.

Maybe it's too soon to write off the album, but unless Sony gets their act together then there isn't going to be any resurgence in sales any time soon.

For me the sad part isn't that its not selling millions, it's more that it didn't even get to number 1 - not even for a week.

Marrk said:

WildStyle said:

They need to just wipe their hands of the whole Michael album. It's a joke. They need to redeem themselves this year with a quality release, followed by a formal apology when the truth about 'Michael' comes out.

Exactly. I'm not ashamed that i didn't buy it. The Estate already got their money from Sony. To be honest i liked seeing them (Sony) drop the ball. It is no reflection on Michael or his ability and means nothing to his legacy which is locked and secure.

It's fine that some fans didn't buy it. And yes the estate got money from Sony but I am sure the deal has royalties factored into it.

I don't mind if people bought it or didn't buy it. But (and I'm not saying you are Marrk just to be clear ) it annoys me when fans who didn't buy the album moan that it's not selling. That's like not voting and moaning about who got elected.

Swa said:

Marrk said:

Exactly. I'm not ashamed that i didn't buy it. The Estate already got their money from Sony. To be honest i liked seeing them (Sony) drop the ball. It is no reflection on Michael or his ability and means nothing to his legacy which is locked and secure.

It's fine that some fans didn't buy it. And yes the estate got money from Sony but I am sure the deal has royalties factored into it.

I don't mind if people bought it or didn't buy it. But (and I'm not saying you are Marrk just to be clear ) it annoys me when fans who didn't buy the album moan that it's not selling. That's like not voting and moaning about who got elected.

Least I ain't moaning. I knew they weren't gonna do shit. Hell even if I did buy it, it wouldn't have made a difference. Oh well.

Would a Special Edition of the album work? If they released a revised version to replace the current

1. “Hold My Hand” (featuring Akon)
2. “Hollywood Tonight”
3. “Do You Know Where Your Children Are”
4. “(I Like) The Way You Love Me”
5. “Slave To The Rhythm"
6. “Best of Joy”
7. “Blue Gangster”
8. “(I Can’t Make It) Another Day” (featuring Lenny Kravitz)
9. “Behind the Mask”
10. “Much Too Soon”

something like that, could they recover?

bboy87 said:

Would a Special Edition of the album work? If they released a revised version to replace the current

1. “Hold My Hand” (featuring Akon)
2. “Hollywood Tonight”
3. “Do You Know Where Your Children Are”
4. “(I Like) The Way You Love Me”
5. “Slave To The Rhythm"
6. “Best of Joy”
7. “Blue Gangster”
8. “(I Can’t Make It) Another Day” (featuring Lenny Kravitz)
9. “Behind the Mask”
10. “Much Too Soon”

something like that, could they recover?

Yeah and also add a few more tracks. And add some type of dvd to it maybe.

Yeah bboy, if they got rid of those fake ass Cascio songs I'd buy like 5 more copies just on principle LOL.

Militant said:

Yeah bboy, if they got rid of those fake ass Cascio songs I'd buy like 5 more copies just on principle LOL.

Jackie fans, later this week (Tuesday) they are re-releasing his Motown debut album and next week, his Polydor album Be The One.

... but, it's only in MP3 format.

LittleBLUECorvette said:

Jackie fans, later this week (Tuesday) they are re-releasing his Motown debut album and next week, his Polydor album Be The One.

... but, it's only in MP3 format.

bboy87 said:

LittleBLUECorvette said:

Jackie fans, later this week (Tuesday) they are re-releasing his Motown debut album and next week, his Polydor album Be The One.

... but, it's only in MP3 format.

LOL, that's why I seperated it like that, and I got the dates mixed up.

http://www.amazon.com/Jac...p;sr=301-3

http://www.amazon.com/Be-...p;sr=301-2

bboy87 said:

Would a Special Edition of the album work? If they released a revised version to replace the current

1. “Hold My Hand” (featuring Akon)
2. “Hollywood Tonight”
3. “Do You Know Where Your Children Are”
4. “(I Like) The Way You Love Me”
5. “Slave To The Rhythm"
6. “Best of Joy”
7. “Blue Gangster”
8. “(I Can’t Make It) Another Day” (featuring Lenny Kravitz)
9. “Behind the Mask”
10. “Much Too Soon”

something like that, could they recover?

They won't redo the listing (least it be acknowledgment that some tracks are suspect).

And certainly wouldn't replace tracks with others that they can hold onto for future release.

A deluxe edition would be warranted if they released a bonus disc of all the source demo material And if they fixed up the shoddy production on some of the tracks - like in Hollywood tonight in the 3rd verse the first line is treated through a filter the rest clear; Orianthi's guitar is barely audible in Monster, and the crowd noise in Behind The Mask ruins it.

Found this interesting regarding Hollywood Tonight:

..........the whistled outro came from Michael and Brad, whistled by Michael Prince and is on the original demo............

The person who posted this alleges to be the daughter of Michael Durham Prince, MJ's sound engineer who worked on the sessions MJ did with Brad Buxer when "Hollywood Tonight" was recorded.

LittleBLUECorvette said:

Jackie fans, later this week (Tuesday) they are re-releasing his Motown debut album and next week, his Polydor album Be The One.

... but, it's only in MP3 format.

My wishes have been fulfilled. If only Hip-O Select/Motown/Universal could release his debut as a physical copy, I would be in heaven. But glad it's coming on MP3. Sign of good things to come for the Jackson clan.

As good as DYKWYCA is, I don't think it should've been on this release, nor should it be on a re-issue of "Michael" (in fact, I'd rather Michael just be a learning project and hope they move onto something else). I also don't think Behind The Mask should've been on the album. They really should've put 10-12 tracks from the last ten years or so on the new album. They should've made it as close to a "recent studio album" as they could've gotten. Instead, it's a strange mish-mash of songs.

Blue Gangsta, Slave To The Rhythm and Escape would've been good candidates. There's still a lot of Thriller-era stuff that maybe could have went on a unique album. Maybe an album of Thriller demos, or a pack-in CD along with a documentary on Thriller which includes The Making Of video and some other stuff. Thriller still has a lot of life left in it, there's still stuff that has never been released digitally, or at all.

All this talk about a re-release of Michael just cringes me even more. Look, in order for the folks at Sony to fully redeem themselves...a lavish, career-spanning box set of only rare material, rare mixes and unreleased gems from 1976-2009 needs to be in the works. They need to forget about the Michael project all together and do what they've been doing for folks like Elvis, Johnny Cash, Bruce Springsteen, etc. all these years. Let's face it, the Michael compilation is out there in the stores, they stood behind it, screwed up, fooled the public like they always do. Whether you brought it or not, it's out there, it's selling in spells, and there's a divided reaction behind it. I don't think they will do MJ complete justice until we get more quality product that warrants full attention and cements Michael's legacy.

I'm still waiting on:

- A career-spanning box set of rare material from 1976-2009

- Concert box set of DVD's/CD's (Destiny Tour, Triumph Tour, Bad Tour, Dangerous Tour, HIStory Tour)

- Ghosts DVD/Blu-Ray

- The Making of Thriller DVD/Blu-Ray

- Off The Wall reissue, which has mastering from original tapes (no loudness war and compression) and deluxe packaging

-Hell, do the whole reissue series all over again and do it the right way this time (and yes, this includes Thriller)

-Victory Tour DVD set

I know that's asking alot, but I'm just keeping it real!

[Edited 1/23/11 23:13pm]

silverchild said:

All this talk about a re-release of Michael just cringes me even more. Look, in order for the folks at Sony to fully redeem themselves...a lavish, career-spanning box set of only rare material, rare mixes and unreleased gems from 1976-2009 needs to be in the works. They need to forget about the Michael project all together and do what they've been doing for folks like Elvis, Johnny Cash, Bruce Springsteen, etc. all these years. Let's face it, the Michael compilation is out there in the stores, they stood behind it, screwed up, fooled the public like they always do. Whether you brought it or not, it's out there, it's selling in spells, and there's a divided reaction behind it. I don't think they will do MJ complete justice until we get more quality product that warrants full attention and cements Michael's legacy.

I'm still waiting on:

- A career-spanning box set of rare material from 1976-2009

- Concert box set of DVD's/CD's (Destiny Tour, Triumph Tour, Bad Tour, Dangerous Tour, HIStory Tour)

- Ghosts DVD/Blu-Ray

- The Making of Thriller DVD/Blu-Ray

- Off The Wall reissue, which has mastering from original tapes (no loudness war and compression) and deluxe packaging

-Hell, do the whole reissue series all over again and do it the right way this time (and yes, this includes Thriller)

-Victory Tour DVD set

I know that's asking alot, but I'm just keeping it real!

[Edited 1/23/11 23:13pm]

I made that suggestion to the estate in the email I sent

The Jacksons At The Forum '81

Bad Tour Live At Wembley Stadium

Making Michael Jackson's Thriller

a boxset of rare material from 1974-2007

Agreed, there are a crapload of potential projects.

-30th Anniversary DVD/Blu-Ray (Unlikely we'll get the full show, but maybe the Jacksons/MJ portion could be released)

-Compilations containing many of the outtakes/demos we've already heard.

Serious Effect

If You Don't Love Me

Earth Song Demo

Starlight

Blue Gangsta

Escape

Do You Know Where Your Children Are

etc.

-Demos and outtakes we've never heard before.

-An original documentary with interviews from Q, Rod Temperton, Bruce Swedien, Teddy Riley, Bryan Loren, Rodney Jerkins, plus other musicians/industry folk like his brothers, Berry Gordy, Smokey, Stevie, McCartney, R. Kelly, etc. Includ official music, studio footage, etc. That could really be something.

I know people sometimes complain about reissues, but they can be really great stuff when done right.

[Edited 1/24/11 0:36am]

^^ I agree with you guys about a career defining boxset (though some would argue that's what the Ultimate was) but I know you all mean unreleased stuff.

Truth is Sony paid big bucks for multiple releases and they are going to drip feed tracks for as long as they can and THEN they'll cash in one last time on a boxset.

We already know that OTW reissue is in the works, as no doubt is an Immortal soundtrack (which if done with the same love and attention as The Beatles LOVE it could be something really special - but I'm not holding my breath).

I personally think they'll play it safe with a few DVDs and Re-Issues before they try another "all new" unreleased album.

Long time lurker...First time poster.

I haven't purchased Michael and don't plan on doing it. First time I've ever not purchased a Michael Jackson CD. However, I feel the pieces were there to make it a much better album. Evidently, the Estate/Sony just doesn't know what they are doing. The obvious were the Cascio tracks. Never should have seen the light of day, let alone be put on this album. The Will.I.Am tracks should have been on this album. In my mind, those are the best unreleased tracks and also probably the most current sounding. Like Will's music or not, MJ and Will.I.Am working together is like what Teddy Riley was to MJ working on Dangerous. And to my knowledge, they completed 3 tracks together. No, I haven't heard these tracks. But I have such a strong feeling this material is classic.

I also think there should have been at least one Rodney Jerkins track. Some of the material left off Invincible is probably just as strong or even stronger than what made the album. The work with Dr. Freeze is a perfect example of this. Why wasn't Blue Gangsta and A Place With No Name not on this album?

Behind The Mask. When I first saw the tracklisting, this was what I was looking forward to the most. But why mess with it? The song tries too hard to sound modern and IMO fails. Just release it as it was.

If done properly, this album could have been so much better. IMO, the Estate/Sony were given a fastball right down the middle of the plate and whiffed.

Derek1984 said:

Long time lurker...First time poster.

I haven't purchased Michael and don't plan on doing it. First time I've ever not purchased a Michael Jackson CD. However, I feel the pieces were there to make it a much better album. Evidently, the Estate/Sony just doesn't know what they are doing. The obvious were the Cascio tracks. Never should have seen the light of day, let alone be put on this album. The Will.I.Am tracks should have been on this album. In my mind, those are the best unreleased tracks and also probably the most current sounding. Like Will's music or not, MJ and Will.I.Am working together is like what Teddy Riley was to MJ working on Dangerous. And to my knowledge, they completed 3 tracks together. No, I haven't heard these tracks. But I have such a strong feeling this material is classic.

I also think there should have been at least one Rodney Jerkins track. Some of the material left off Invincible is probably just as strong or even stronger than what made the album. The work with Dr. Freeze is a perfect example of this. Why wasn't Blue Gangsta and A Place With No Name not on this album?

Behind The Mask. When I first saw the tracklisting, this was what I was looking forward to the most. But why mess with it? The song tries too hard to sound modern and IMO fails. Just release it as it was.

If done properly, this album could have been so much better. IMO, the Estate/Sony were given a fastball right down the middle of the plate and whiffed.

Hi! I was also a long time lurker until recently. Nice of you to join us!

Regarding Behind the Mask actually I like what they did with it, of course I'd like to hear the original but it still seems tasteful, well except for the croud noise which for the life of me I can't figure out why anyone would ever think that it was a good idea to include...