They're charging people in order to have crowd control on the day of the funeral. If it was free, everyone would be running to come and see his body.

noimageatall said:

It's real sad to read AND hear Quincy selling Michael out like that.

graecophilos said:

Basically around 1987 Quincy could see that rap was going to dominate the future, and said so, but Michael thought rap was over. He told Frank Dileo that Quincy was obviously out of touch. Maybe that would explain why Michael ditched the whole Run DMC collaboration. He probably thought rap was yesterday's news.

midnightmover said:

No he wasn't the one who ditched the collaboration. the group decided to tour Japan instead because the communication wasn't always there

midnightmover said:

No he wasn't the one who ditched the collaboration. the group decided to tour Japan instead because the communication wasn't always there

midnightmover said:

No he wasn't the one who ditched the collaboration. the group decided to tour Japan instead because the communication wasn't always there

bboy87 said:

Yeah, Midnightmover is making up stuff as always , I wonder if he is daine diamond or nancy grace in disguise ,sad they don't respect his death.

seeingvoices12 said:

You are not being honest with yourself. If you read my post I clearly said "MAYBE that's why he ditched the Run DMC collaboration". Do you understand the meaning of the word "maybe"? Do I really have to clarify something so basic?

By the way, to elaborate a bit on the Notorious B.I.G. session, it was kinda like this. Michael used to call people to ask them to participate on albums. It was interesting knowing that nearly anyone on the planet would come to the phone if it were Michael calling. Anyway, I heard rumors that B.I.G. was going to come, and I was excited about that! I knew that I would be the one to record that, as I had recorded nearly all of that tune, "This Time Around".

So, Dallas and I were expecting him any minute, and pretty much on time, Notorious strolls in. He was quite an imposing figure when he walked in, as he was quite popular at the time. I had no idea what to expect from him in terms of attitude, but he seemed nice when he walked in. No problem. But almost immediately, he blurted out, "Yo, Dallas, can I meet Mike?" To which, Dallas replied that he thought so. Biggie went on to talk about how much this opportunity meant to him, as Michael was his hero. Anyway, Dallas tells him that we're going to lay down the rap first, so Biggie heads in the booth, we get some headphone levels and get ready to start recording.

So, we hit the big red button (on a Sony 3348 machine), and away we go. During his first take, Dallas and I looked at each other, because it was spot on. wow. I was impressed, and so was Dallas. We listened back, and Dallas was like, "Wow, I think we got it". As I recall, we took another take for good measure, but I'm fairly certain that we ended up using the first take. So, Notorious comes in, and asks if he can meet Michael now. We sent word to the back room where Michael was working that Biggie was finished and wanted to meet him.

Simply for security, Michael's security would enter and make sure that no one was in the room that shouldn't be, and once that was confirmed (it was just me, Biggie and Dallas), Michael came in. Biggie nearly broke out in tears...I could tell how much this meant to him. Well, Michael could have this effect on anyone, even the most hardcore rappers! Biggie was tripping up on his words, bowing down and telling Michael how much his music had meant to him in his life. Michael was, as always, very humble and kept smiling while Biggie just went on and on how much he loved Michael. I watched Biggie just become this big butterball of a man, and it was really very sweet to witness. After all, we are all just people.

Michael finally asked to hear what we had done, and we popped it up on the big speakers and let her go. Michael LOVED it and was excited to tell Biggie that! "Oh, let's hear it again", I recall Michael saying, and we listened again. Michael just loved it...and thanked Biggie for coming all the way from Philadelphia. Biggie asked rather sheepishly whether he could get a photo, and Michael agreed. A shot was taken, we listened again, and Michael thanked Biggie. Michael said goodbye and stepped out, leaving Biggie standing there looking completely stunned.

It will always remain a great, great memory.

Exclusive: Michael Jackson Was Working On Two Albums

July 02, 2009 04:00 PM ET

Mariel Concepcion, N.Y.
At the time of Michael Jackson's death, it was well-known that he was preparing for a 50-show concert series at London's O2 Arena.

Billboard's Full continuing Michael Jackson coverage, including video, charts and more.


What was less well-known—and what many are now speculating about—was what kind of recordings Jackson had done for the last few years. Billboard has learned that the singer was working on two albums at the time of his death: one in the pop vein that made him famous and another that would consist of an instrumental classical composition. And while some believe the star wanted to recapture his '80s glory days—or escape financial trouble—those who worked with him recently say he was motivated by his fans and his children.

Jackson was working on the pop album with songwriter Claude Kelly and Akon, who says that Jackson was motivated by the ticket sales for his performances. "He said, 'My fans are still there. They still love me. They're alive,'" Akon says. "His kids are like his first priority, and they had never seen him perform live. He was trying to create the most incredible show for his kids."

Kelly, who wrote "Hold My Hand," the Akon-produced Jackson track that leaked last year, says Jackson never lost his passion. "He was the King of Pop, the biggest to ever do it, and the one thing you never lose—whether known by the whole world or just 10 people—is your love for music," Kelly says. "That never goes away, and it never went away for him amidst his troubles."

Composer David Michael Frank had worked with Jackson on a 1989 TV tribute to Sammy Davis Jr. and received a call from the star's assistant two months ago about collaborating again. Jackson invited Frank to his home in Los Angeles' Holmby Hills, told him he was working on an instrumental album of classical music and asked for help with orchestration.

"He had two demos of two pieces he'd written, but they weren't complete," says Frank, who adds that he was impressed with Jackson's knowledge of classical music. "For one of them, he had a whole section of it done in his head. He had not recorded it. He hummed it to me as I sat at the keyboard in his pool house and we figured out the chords—I guess this recording I made is the only copy that exists of this music."


A few weeks ago, Jackson called to see how Frank was progressing on the orchestrations. "He mentioned more instrumental music of his he wanted to record, including one jazz piece," Frank says. "I hope one day his family will decide to record this music as a tribute and show the world the depth of his artistry."

'MAYBE'...

You don't know what you're talking about.

Meanwhile, picked this up from another forum by an engineer who worked on HIStory...

midnightmover said:

Dude, your comments especially after Mj's death make my skin crawl ,
[Edited 7/2/09 15:08pm]

During History MJ did indeed come up with many of the arrangements for his songs. Sometimes the producer would present a track to Michael, like Scream or Too Bad. It might be a groove, or a pretty finished track. Scream was a relatively finished track, music only. This Time Around was also pretty finished musically but Bruce added a bridge too it. You Are Not Alone was kind of a basic R&B groove with a verse and chorus. The rest of the arrangement came from MJ, and lots of overdubs by Steve Porcaro with programming by Andrew Scheps. I like to think R. Kelly's subsequent success with ballads came from watching what MJ did with his initial track idea.

If you listen to the bridge of Too Bad, the entire horn thing was Michael's idea. He had Jerry Hey come in, and sang him all the parts. Jerry went away, arranged it, and came back a bit later to track it. Rene asked me to make it less "real", so I processed it through various filters (the minimoog for one), and sampled it on the MPC, then layered that over the top of the original horns.

I think very few people realized how deeply MJ was involved in his records. He had an incredible music vocabulary - from showtunes to jazz, and whatever was on the radio. He studied, and I think you can hear it in his music. There's lots of speculation as to why he didn't work with Quincy after Bad, but I can't really offer anything new there.

Thanks for the article. That truly is a shame. The classical album (and the jazz piece!!) sounds interesting, I'm sure he mentioned a while ago that he always wanted to do something like that. It would have been great to see what he could have done, the start of Little Susie is an example I suppose - that intro works so well in the context of the song.

Its so weird thinking about it, all the projects like this one that will now never be finished and all the ideas and music that he had.

Hearing a lot of the unreleased stuff that may come out will be cool, but it doesn't compare to the finished real thing.

'MAYBE'...

You don't know what you're talking about.

graecophilos said:

Basically around 1987 Quincy could see that rap was going to dominate the future, and said so, but Michael thought rap was over. He told Frank Dileo that Quincy was obviously out of touch. Maybe that would explain why Michael ditched the whole Run DMC collaboration. He probably thought rap was yesterday's news.

seeingvoices12 said:

Then ignore me. There are several orgers who I don't respect, so I just skip over their posts unless they're addressing me directly. I have no wish to talk to the hardcore fans like yourself. I would appreciate it if you didn't mention me or address me. I know you guys are obsessed, but surely it can't be that hard, can it?

midnightmover said:

Dude, your comments especially after Mj's death make my skin crawl , I would respect someone's death even if he was my enemy.
[Edited 7/2/09 15:08pm]

midnightmover said:

oh, okay. MJ should have never worked with rappers.

seeingvoices12 said:

I#m with midnightmover on this one. Just because someone is dead doesn't mean you can't critize him/her.

Also he answered my question and told me what Quincy said.

moussemaker said:

When is this supposed to hit shelfs? I finally found the Time,and Newsweek one,but haven't seen the People one yet.

graecophilos said:

but the man died before days and hasn't been buried yet what this bloody world is coming to...

midnightmover said:

LOL, that made me laugh,Me obsessed with who? MJ? let me tell that you are more than obsessed with MJ, More than obsessed.

I don't mind if you critisize as you always do since you joined this board but there is a time to do it, The man is dead, that should be respected, or you don't know how to respect?
[Edited 7/2/09 15:22pm]

bboy87 said:

If the communication wasn't there maybe that's because Michael wasn't interested.