midnightmover said:

No,they just don't agree with you.You're one of those people who doesn't know the difference between a "fact" and an "opinion".It bothers you that the world doesn't always see things the way you do.You frequently assume that your opinions are facts.

midnightmover said:

Pissed? Not at all I'm actually amused by people who spend so much time on artists they claim that they don't like.It's hilarious.

2blax2proud said:

This is just not true. Talent CAN go away and it does. Whitney Houston has also lost her vocal ability. Aretha can't sing like she used to and she ain't gonna get that voice back no matter how many prayers she sends to heaven. Prince has lost the ability to write great songs. It would be nice to think otherwise, but it would also be unrealistic.

SoulAlive said:

Wrong. For instance fans will always point to vocals on albums as proof that MJ can still sing. When you point out that that is not the same thing as singing live, and that those vocals have been patched together, they simply don't understand the point and ignore it.

It's not an opinion that you can fix things up in the studio. It's a simple fact. MJ fans don't understand these facts. That's why you have to repeat it to them over and over.

midnightmover said:

Well, the voice is obviously still there, damaged or not, because if it were lost completely there would be nothing to "patch together" as you say.

Maybe his voice is damaged, I mean his three lines at the World Music Awards in 2006 were very shakey and all over the place...

Still, patched together vocals from MJ are still more pleasing on the ear than most male singers at their peak...

MattyJam said:

Those vocals sound exactly the same as they did when he went on stage with Diana Ross and all the WATW people at the AMAs and Diana Ross was all like "Sing Michael, sing!" which was back in the late Thriller era
[Edited 3/22/08 13:39pm]

midnightmover said:

fans don't realize that people who record DO NOT do it all in one take usually, it's usually one phrase or one verse at a time, so they could give that their all, and then come back to record another part, or polish another part.

But just to let you know midnightmover, I AM a fan, but a critical one too.
[Edited 3/22/08 14:43pm]

midnightmover said:

Hmmm that's weird. I have friends who are really into Dylan, Stevie, Marvin, Prince and other artists but they also like Michael also. Now Cyndi Lauper? That's a different story

midnightmover said:

what a fool....that was a great moment. see where he cried during his speech to JB....well, that's where he was headed....to give a speech....

Rodney said:

co-sign. Michael didn't know Danny Ray was trying to put the cape on him

What ever happened to that Michael rumor wanting to do rap, getting buff, and collaborating with fitty cent?

DANGEROUSx said:

Agreed. There's proof of that on YT, I just can't find it right now...

Anyways, what's this "keeping footage under wraps" shit? Just coz it's not ALL on YT? There's plenty of MJ concerts from 1997 available. Have a look on some forums and you'll find a shitload. What a load of crap. pfft. lol

There's no way he's gonna be able to sing like he did in 1984; he simply hasn't sung like that since 1984 anyways. It's obvious he can still sing recorded, but no one knows how well he can sing live now because he hasn't done for so long.

marnifrances said:

That sucks. There's like 4 shows of the Victory Tour , at least 12 shows of the Bad tour, but a SHITLOAD from the HIStory Tour It's almost as if there was a bootlegger at EVERY show

bboy87 said:

Exactly what I am saying- I want more Bad, Dangerous and Vic tour footage- I feel like I am drowning in HIStory Tours when I am looking for his concerts.

You're not telling me he was miming WATW at the 2006 WMAs are you?

I mean, it was hardly a great vocal peformance...

MattyJam said:

Well, it wasn't meant to be a performance at all for a start, and no he didn't mime. What I was saying is there is proof his live vocals were just as good as his 1985 vocals (as in a very clear comparison) I just can't find the vid right now....
[Edited 3/23/08 1:55am]

delete this message, it was an error.
[Edited 3/23/08 1:54am]

He was hardly operating under conditions suited for a great vocal performance.

Jackson was given, what looked like to me, a presenter's microphone without any of the appropriate compression or reverberation effects for it (there were no initial plans for him to sing that night). He was supposed to sing over a recorded backing track in an echoing hall with the music coming from a completely different direction than the stage monitoring (and no, he wasn't probably wearing in-ears like the rest of the "other" performers that night). If you look at the clips on youtube that were recorded with mobile phone cameras by the audience members who were closer to the stage, you will notice that his vocals coming from the stage monitors are several times louder than the music he was supposed to perform his ridiculous little karaoke bit over. He opens his mouth and instantly seems to draw back by surprise, nevertheless he seems to give it a modest try for a few lines as someone who has worked long enough in the business would. He tries to come up with somekind of a performance I guess,

I'm not defending him for his "laziness", which seems to be an appropriate description of his current attitude towards working, but I will totally applaud him for even going on that stage and trying to carry it out the end. And of course the press just had to blame it on his "detoriating vocal skills", when they don't even have the slightest clue of what kind of preparations it actually takes to perform live at places like that.

Let me tell you something. In my town, there is a lady who has been a teacher all her life, she´s about 50 years old and she LOST her voice completely. She walks around with a pen a paper and has to write things down. Nobody knows why. MJ has been singing since the age of 5, it is no surprise to me that his voice is weaker. I am actually glad that he still has some voice. I am a teacher as well and after 5 hours of talking, I do feel that my voice is weak.


You know, it is actually you who is unrealistic. All of us who argue in MJ´s favour can accept that at the age of 50 he won´t be as good as at the age of 20 without saying that the person has lost all his talents. MJ´s dancing is still great, better than dancing of any other 50 year old and that´s why he still has the talent. And also, I don´t expect MJ to do a 100 % at each concert of each tour because I do realize he´s only human.



Amen to that.

I don't think his singing on he WMA 2006 was worse than his singing from 1985.
Watch the Making Of WATW Video, were MJ sings 10 minutes his part. Mj's part of WATW was never as complicated like Stevie Wonder's.
Michael sang, even in 1985, with his schoolchoir voice and so he did in 2006. What did people expect? That he sang along with Bruce Springsteens part??
It was unfair, the promoter told the press Michael would "perform" when MJ actually never intednded to perform.
But once he was on stage he could not say no, because this would have put a bad shien on him and he tried his best. He had NO ear phones or however it is called!

Here's that comparison vid I was talking about. You'll hear that Mj's vocals really aren't all that different compared with 1985.... (IMO)

marnifrances said:

Thanks for that video. Interesting to hear the 1885 demo and the 2006 "performance" side by side. His voice hasn't changed that much. He can still hit the same notes, but I think now he can hit even more notes, he's got a wider range. Also, his live voice and studio voice aren't that much different. Michael's the kind of recording artist who will record something until he gets it perfect in one take. So his studio voice pretty much is live.

I think everybody know his voice ain't as up-to-par as it once was but it ain't like, as some of you said, he lost it or something. He has it in spots. And about the WMA thing, Michael didn't really wanna sing but he did it for his fans, I believe.

I wonder when these "pitch-perfect pop songs" will see the light of day. All 1000 of them that he claims to be working on.

alphastreet said:

Probably next year. Late this year if we're lucky.

DarlingDiana said:

third quarter of this year would be perfect, I don't see him getting much hype if he releases it after, that's just the truth. Last 2 years were full of mj wannabes that people were feeling, this year thriller 25 is out and the thrillious commercial will increase public consciousness towards mike, so what better time to drop it than this year? I think that mj and akon duet should be released soon, with proper vocals for this summer, and then as people begin to wonder if he still can make his own good music, BOOM he drops the new video for his new work and album.

DarlingDiana said:

No problem. Actually studying Michael's recording style, several people say that he does a lot of his main vocals in less than a few takes- ie. Billie Jean main vocals were done in ONE take, so was Keep The Faith, according to Bruce Swedien. Quincy has said he does his homework and comes to the studio prepared and that a lot of vocals on Off the Wall were live. People who worked on Invincible also said some songs were recorded (the main vocals at least) in 3 takes or less. He is a perfectionist, yes, but goes to work uber prepared. Thee are from Q's bio:

Rodney said:

Indeed you are, son. Indeed you are. Surely you must have noticed that Mike specialized in awkward moments during this period. He was always out of synch with his surroundings. This was when he mistook a birthday cake at the MTV Awards for an Artist of the Millennium Award. This was when he nearly tripped up Boris Becker in Germany by going up on stage too early. This was also baby dangling time. That speech you referred to was another example of how out of it he was. Talk about over-emotional. He'd obviously been visiting the same pharmacist as Paula Abdul.
[Edited 3/26/08 15:42pm]

midnightmover said: