Billie Jean - album key vs live key?

[ThunderPower]

I've long had a debate with people who claim that the album key of Billie Jean is the same as how it performed live.

Anybody can hear the difference, but the question is: why was it done this way? Wouldn't it make more sense to bring the song down a full semitone (half step), rather than half of a semitone (quarter step)? Was the original song in an unconventional tuning?

Album version:


Live version (Munich 1997, lip-synced)


If you ask me, the fact that the lipsynced version from the HIStory tour is lower than the album proves that the album track was pitched up artificially.

What do you think? This is the only song I've seen that seems to have this little anomaly.

 

[MJultimatemusiclegen]

The original key from the Thriller album was F# minor i think thats the best key for it. Im not sure about the live version, it sounds similar, but it may be down a quarter step as you say, although this is strange as the band were live and most instruments would struggle to play down a quarter step and would have to be specially tuned.

 

[PaceMioDolceCuore]

Is it just my dysfunctional ears or does the tempo also seem slower in most live versions?

 

[ginvid]

I don't know. But it sure doesn't seem sped up to me.

 

[xthunderx2]

my two cents...maybe that is just the way Michael the genius wanted it...:wink:

 

[MJultimatemusiclegen]

Is it just my dysfunctional ears or does the tempo also seem slower in most live versions?

I think it could be just a little yeah. It also draggs a bit more, cause the synth sound he uses for the famous chords is a little less light and slightly more heavy.

 

[PaceMioDolceCuore]

I think it could be just a little yeah. It also draggs a bit more, cause the synth sound he uses for the famous chords is a little less light and slightly more heavy.

I always wondered if the chords (like you said, the famous ones) would simply get lost in a huge open space like stadiums they played in. The probably didn't have much of a choice to go a bit "denser" or the single chords might have been lost. Anyway, that's just my theory. It must be hard to get each chord (because they are so "airy") to be heard in a huge crowd like that.

 

[MJultimatemusiclegen]

I always wondered if the chords (like you said, the famous ones) would simply get lost in a huge open space like stadiums they played in. The probably didn't have much of a choice to go a bit "denser" or the single chords might have been lost. Anyway, that's just my theory. It must be hard to get each chord (because they are so "airy") to be heard in a huge crowd like that.

Yes perhaps, most probably, but i think thats whats making it feel slower. It's always gonna vary between performances. Cause the band are live. I mean bucharest was much faster say than some of the history tour ones.