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Michael Jackson’s New CD, Song to Be Released by Sony (Update1)

By Mark Beech

Sept. 23 (Bloomberg) -- The first new song by Michael Jackson to emerge since the star’s death is to be released next month by Sony Music Entertainment.

The single will be called “This is It” and comes out on Oct. 12, Jackson’s official Web Site said.

A two-disc album of the same title will be available internationally on Oct. 26 and North America on Oct. 27 through Sony Music Entertainment’s Columbia/Epic Label Group. The album contains music from the movie “Michael Jackson’s This is It,” which follows on Oct. 28.

Jackson, 50, who died in June, sold 750 million records worldwide in his lifetime and was recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the Most Successful Entertainer of All Time, according to Sony.

The film will show Jackson as he rehearsed for his sold-out concerts that would have taken place beginning this summer in London’s O2 Arena.

The album’s first disc features the original masters of some of Jackson’s biggest hits arranged in the same order as they appear in the film, said Sony. The disc ends with two versions of “This is It,” with backing vocals by Michael’s brothers, the Jacksons.

Disc two offers previously unreleased versions of Jackson songs. It also has a spoken word poem from the star entitled “Planet Earth” that has never been heard before.

To contact the writer on the story: Mark Beech in New York at mbeech@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: September 23, 2009 12:44 EDT

Michael Jackson Exhibition
Event date:28 Oct 09 - 31 Jan 10

Showing for only three months at The O2 bubble, Michael Jackson: The Official Exhibition brings together an extraordinary collection of personal memorabilia from The King of Pop.

With individual galleries reflecting key stages in Michael’s career, this never-seen-before collection of over 250 objects is a unique insight into the life of one of the world’s most popular performers.

And if you’re with O2, you can get Priority Tickets before they go general release. Get yours now before they all get snapped up.


http://www.o2blueroom.co....entid=4139

Michael Jackson's 'This Is It' film to have global premiere this October

It will have 25 premieres across the world

Michael Jackson's 'This Is It' documentary film has been confirmed to be released globally on October 28 (although the first screening officially gets underway on October 27 in Los Angeles due to the time difference).

The film, pictured, which shows Jackson in preparation for his 'This Is It' tour before his death in June, will be premiered in over 25 locations across the globe.

The London premiere will take place at 1am (BST) on October 28 at the Odeon Cinema in Leicester Square. It will be screened at the same time as the Los Angeles premiere (taking place at 6pm local time on October 27).

Following the premiere, UK audiences will be able to see the film on October 28 for a limited two-week run.

Tickets for the film go on sale worldwide on September 27, with UK audiences able to buy tickets at cinemas nationwide from 12.01am.

The first public screenings of 'This Is It' will also be coordinated, with the debut Los Angeles showing set for 9pm, the first in New York at midnight and the first in London at 4am.

For more information go to Thisisit-movie.com.

Remembering The Simpsons' dalliance with Michael Jackson


By Alex Strachan, Canwest News Service
September 23, 2009 11:02 AM


Maggie, Marge, Lisa, Homer and Bart Simpson begin their 21st season this week.
Photograph by: Handout, Matt Groening

PASADENA, Calif. — Talk about a “thriller” experience.

Al Jean still remembers the day he worked with Michael Jackson on The Simpsons 1991 episode “Stark Raving Dad,” in which Jackson — under the pseudonym John Jay Smith — performed the speaking voice of Leon Kompowsky, “a big white guy who thinks he’s a little black guy.”

Jackson, a longtime Simpsons fan, had called executive-producer James L. Brooks out of the blue, Jean told Canwest News Service and offered to do a guest-voice role.

Brooks came up with the initial idea of an overweight mental patient who thinks he’s Michael Jackson, then asked Jean and Jean’s co-writer at the time, Mike Reiss, to write the script.

“Like a lot of things involving Michael, it was full of mystery and intrigue,” Jean recalled of his experience. “Musically, there was no doubt he was a genius. I’m not the first person to say that. But it was also probably the most high-pressure assignment of my life, except for doing The Simpsons Movie.”

Jackson wouldn’t commit to doing the episode until the actual table read, Jean recalled.

“Which is the only time that’s happened in the history of The Simpsons.”

The table read was at the house of Michael Jackson’s agent at the time. Jackson was there, but one of the cast members — Jean wouldn’t say who — was half an hour late in arriving.

“So we’re just sitting there in silence, very nervously,” Jean said. “Then, finally, we have everyone there, and we start to read. And we come to his lines, and — thank God — he laughs.”

The following Monday, Jackson suddenly stipulated that he wanted a sound-alike to do the singing in the episode. He would record his own dialogue, though.

Oookay, Jean thought. That’s a little — weird. But, what the hey, it’s Michael Jackson. Roll with it.

The singing chores fell to singer-songwriter Kipp Lennon, lead singer at the time for a rock band called Venice. Jackson thought Lennon was hilarious, Jean recalled. Cue a sigh of relief.

Then, things got complicated.

Jackson wrote the song “Happy Birthday Lisa,” which appears in the episode, Jean confirmed, and was later included in the album Songs in the Key of Springfield.

“Singing in the show is Kipp,” Jean explained. “Speaking in the show is Michael. And the song, ‘Happy Birthday Lisa,’ was written by Michael, but sung by Kipp.”

Got all that?

The Fox network repeated the episode shortly after Jackson’s sudden death on June 25 of heart failure.

Jean said he wanted to look at the episode again before it aired.

“I wanted to make sure it was OK,” he explained. “We had to make one fix, but it had nothing to do with Michael. There was a phone number there that is now a real phone number, so we had to blot that out digitally. Otherwise, it was unchanged.”

Looking back after Jackson’s death was hard, Jean admitted.

“I’d met him briefly when we did the episode, but I wouldn’t say I knew him well. Obviously so much happened between then and now that, when you watch the episode, you can’t help but have mixed feelings. I think he was brilliant. And he was very nice to us. He was a genius, but clearly a troubled guy. It’s sad the way it ended, and it’s sad he’s not with us here today.”

www.vancouversun.com
© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun
[Edited 9/23/09 11:08am]

Beautiful picture choice Timmy.
[Edited 9/23/09 11:26am]

EmeraldSkies said:

Thanks.

Timmy84 said:

They just showed the commercial for this on TV. I am still not finding any showtimes for the Regal Theater near me.

I love you MJ.

I have always appreciated his older songs, but I appreciate them more now, especially the not so popular ones.

I have always appreciated his older songs, but I appreciate them more now, especially the not so popular ones.

Have we covered all the negatives?

Push Me Away is a tremendous track, so underrated and forgotten. Blues Away as well.

Mike, the world´s sweetheart.


[Edited 9/23/09 11:53am]

Songwriters/Producers Gamble and Huff on The Death of Michael Jackson(From June 2009)







Legendary producers and recent Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff, who brought Philadelphia soul music ("The Sound of Philadelphia") to "people all over the world” and recorded two albums with the Jacksons, said this morning they are “extremely saddened by the sudden death of our dear friend Michael Jackson.

“Michael was a great and wonderful artist and performer,” said Gamble and Huff in a joint statement. “ We were privileged and honored to record him and his brothers here at Philadelphia International Records.”

The Jacksons recorded their first two albums after leaving Motown in Philadelphia with Gamble and Huff songs and the Philadelphia International production crew.






When the Jacksons came to PIR, they were transitioning away from the brand name of the Jackson Five. In 1976 and 1977, Gamble and Huff produced and co-wrote songs for the albums The Jacksons and Going Places, as part of a double imprint deal with CBS/Epic Records, the Jacksons’ new label. Several hit songs came out of that production effort, including "Enjoy Yourself" and "Let Me Show You the Way to Go."

During those recording sessions, Michael Jackson paid close attention to the production and songwriting techniques of Gamble and Huff, and learned from those observations to create his own mega-platinum recording career. Jackson also had the opportunity to work at that time with legendary Philadelphia International producers McFadden and Whitehead, Dexter Wansel and Bunny Sigler.

Several songs that Michael and his brothers particularly enjoyed recording with Gamble and Huff were "Man of War," which has much significance today, as well as the soulful "Blues Away" and romantic "Find Me a Girl":

Michael Jackson was recently quoted paying tribute to Gamble and Huff in a magazine article. "There was a message in their music that raised a social consciousness and political awareness without offending," Jackson said. "Theirs is a gift of genius and I love them."

“We are very honored to have been a part of Michael Jackson’s music and creative career in helping to write and produce his own music with his brothers,” Gamble and Huff continued this morning. “We know his music and legacy will live on for a very long time".



http://www.l2pnet.com/jackson

i can't wait to hear the new song!


i pray to see this in HD on dvd someday soon

Timmy84 said:

What MJ death has also done is to make people who weren't aware already, more aware of how much music he did. From the Jackson 5 at Motown to the Jacksons at Epic, to Off The Wall to Thriller to Bad to History. There is so much music there, that you can pick a particular era and just discover gems after gems.

I know people who until MJ died had gone to parties and heard songs like "Let Me Show You the Way to Go" and "don't Blame it on the Boogie" and didn't realize it was MJ on those records, because to them MJ was just about "Thriller","Bad" "shamone" and wackiness. I know kids that are just now discovering the Jackson 5/Jacksons.

I've alway said to people if you want to hear the "soul" of Michael you need to listen to the first 15 years of his career because that is truely, vintage Michael.

whatsgoingon said:

yup i agree with you

whatsgoingon said:

That's his best years to be honest

How long we going to keep these RIP threads going , until after the movie?

whatsgoingon said:

I told a friend (and fellow MJ fan) this. We had the opportunity to go to the record store and discover his music on our own.

I grew up in the 90s but by the time I was 10, I had The Jacksons, Goin' Places, Destiny, Triumph, Got To Be There, Ben, and Soulsation all on heavy rotation. I remember being 8 or 9 when HIStory came out (I already had OTW, Thriller, Bad, Dangerous), going to the record store with my sister and seeing ROWS of stuff. One side of the store was vinyl, one side was CDs, one side was videos, and one side was cassettes and me searching the "Jackson" parts of each

Kids these days don't have that pleasure of doing that because record stores are an endangered species

babybugz said:

until he comes back to life

mimi07 said:

bboy87 said:

It's sad this generation of music i'm 22 and even I know who the jacksons are I actually prefer the jacksons/off the wall to Michael's later stuff.How these kids fans of chris brown and Ne-yo and only know one MJ song