Detailed list of unreleased songs that could be released

[farlnd]

They should do an EP every few years. Just to keep MJ relevant and give the fans new material. Something like 3 tracks for the EP. Here's an example:

1.) Chicago 1945
2.) Buffalo Bill
3.) What You Do To Me

Now if they want to throw in some re-mixes with current artists/producers, whatever. I don't care. If that's what it takes, so be it. As long as the original tracks are included as MJ left them, I really don't care.

This would work really well. It makes for a constant stream of new content, plus they can throw other songs like demos on there too. I wouldn't mind an ep with some unreleased songs and demos.

 

[mj_frenzy]

I guess it depends on what you mean by "almost empty". Almost empty of 100% finished tracks? Absolutely. The only fully-finished tracks that we all know of are "Hot Fun", "World of Candy", and maybe "Can't Get Your Weight". But just because it's not 100% finished doesn't mean it can't be finished, or that it's not releasable in any form. I mean, "In the Back" and "Fall Again" is perfectly listenable as is, and those are obviously not finished. Some people over on the HIStory Continues forum even think that "Chicago" wasn't vocally complete (based on what they think is splicing together vocals where the first verse wasn't finished) -- meaning that an almost or half-complete track could certainly be worked to "completion".

Almost empty vault apparently refers to fully finished tracks/nearly finished tracks that are in the possession of the Estate and/or Sony Music.

But, at the same time, there have been press reports or interviews over the years that seem to contradict the claim about the singer’s almost empty vault, meaning that his vault does contain more songs in such a state of completion.

For instance, at one point (in 2006), British music industry executive Guy Holmes (the then-manager of Michael Jackson) was holding a CD in his hands and kept bragging that this CD contained brand new completed songs that Michael Jackson recorded for his forthcoming, new studio album (under Two Seas label).

‘He Who Makes The Sky Grey’ and ‘Light The Way’ were allegedly two of these finished songs in that CD.

There have been also statements that seem to point to a bigger number of fully finished tracks/nearly finished tracks that the singer left in his vault, like this one from American record executive L.A. Reid (who was in charge of compiling the track list of the ‘Xscape’ album):

“… I was surprised by how much was there because I knew Michael, and he didn’t record a lot of music that he didn’t release. Some artists record endlessly; Michael recorded purposefully to release music, so I was surprised to find as much. And recently I found more, like some Michael Jackson-Queen music that’s pretty unbelievable…” (L.A. Reid, 2014)

There have been also certain fully finished tracks/nearly finished tracks (that are unknown to the fans) which were taken from the singer’s vault and they were sold at auctions.

 

[king_of_style]

Re: What unreleased songs do you think have the highest/lowest likelihood of being released or leake

Which reminds me, has anyone found out what ever happened to that ill-fated eleventh studio album? I know he worked with Two Seas, then will.i.am, and then when "This Is It" was announced it wasn't talked about hardly ever, but presumably Michael still did some recording. So was there three attempts at an album -- one with Two Seas, one with will.i.am, and one self-published in conjunction with "This Is It" -- or was it the same album the whole time, or was the entire idea scrapped by the announcement of "This Is It"? It seems like the story gets murky near the end.

 

[AlwaysThere]

Re: What unreleased songs do you think have the highest/lowest likelihood of being released or leake

Which reminds me, has anyone found out what ever happened to that ill-fated eleventh studio album? I know he worked with Two Seas, then will.i.am, and then when "This Is It" was announced it wasn't talked about hardly ever, but presumably Michael still did some recording. So was there three attempts at an album -- one with Two Seas, one with will.i.am, and one self-published in conjunction with "This Is It" -- or was it the same album the whole time, or was the entire idea scrapped by the announcement of "This Is It"? It seems like the story gets murky near the end.

Technically, there were two albums: one for Two Seas, and one as an independent artist.

Michael was infrequently working on material from 2005-06, but it was clear to everyone in his inner circle that he wasn't yet far enough removed from the trial to be fully committed to his Two Seas contract, which he basically reneged by fleeing Bahrain in summer 2006. By the time he started working with will.i.am that fall, the slate was more or less clean. It's worth noting that Michael stopped working on every song that originated in Bahrain after he left (other than "I Have This Dream," but even that was rewritten as "Bottom of My Heart"). I don't think we would've ever heard any of that material had Michael lived to finish the album, especially considering the Prince Abdullah fallout.

Will.i.am was one of the contributors to the "independent album," which (technically) began in September 2006. The production process was fundamentally the same as every album from Dangerous onward: a variety of songwriters and producers would contribute material, from which the final track list would be assembled. This time around, Michael spent time in the studio with will.i.am, RedOne, Akon, Neff-U, and Brad Buxer, and was still taking and making calls with potential contributors, both old and new. Production slowed once This Is It kicked into gear, but Michael was recording vocals as late as the week of his passing.

 

[Hess]

Re: What unreleased songs do you think have the highest/lowest likelihood of being released or leake

Technically, there were two albums: one for Two Seas, and one as an independent artist.

Michael was infrequently working on material from 2005-06, but it was clear to everyone in his inner circle that he wasn't yet far enough removed from the trial to be fully committed to his Two Seas contract, which he basically reneged by fleeing Bahrain in summer 2006. By the time he started working with will.i.am that fall, the slate was more or less clean. It's worth noting that Michael stopped working on every song that originated in Bahrain after he left (other than "I Have This Dream," but even that was rewritten as "Bottom of My Heart"). I don't think we would've ever heard any of that material had Michael lived to finish the album, especially considering the Prince Abdullah fallout.

Will.i.am was one of the contributors to the "independent album," which (technically) began in September 2006. The production process was fundamentally the same as every album from Dangerous onward: a variety of songwriters and producers would contribute material, from which the final track list would be assembled. This time around, Michael spent time in the studio with will.i.am, RedOne, Akon, Neff-U, and Brad Buxer, and was still taking and making calls with potential contributors, both old and new. Production slowed once This Is It kicked into gear, but Michael was recording vocals as late as the week of his passing.

Do we know what song MJ made vocals for? - HAs it really been confirmed, that MJ was in the sudio recording just a week before his passing?

 

[AmitLal92]

Re: What unreleased songs do you think have the highest/lowest likelihood of being released or leake

From what I read some of the tracks he was working on in the later years are not completed enough vocally.

Do we know what song MJ made vocals for? - HAs it really been confirmed, that MJ was in the sudio recording just a week before his passing?

 

[mj_frenzy]

Which reminds me, has anyone found out what ever happened to that ill-fated eleventh studio album? I know he worked with Two Seas, then will.i.am, and then when "This Is It" was announced it wasn't talked about hardly ever, but presumably Michael still did some recording. So was there three attempts at an album -- one with Two Seas, one with will.i.am, and one self-published in conjunction with "This Is It" -- or was it the same album the whole time, or was the entire idea scrapped by the announcement of "This Is It"? It seems like the story gets murky near the end.

The story gets murky near the end because the announcement of his ‘This Is It’ shows changed his usual way of releasing a new studio album.

In the past, he firstly released the first single of his new album, then his new album was released, and then the rest of the singles (of that album) were released.

But when he announced his ‘This Is It’ shows, he also agreed to reverse his usual way of releasing new music: he firstly was about to release the first single, and every 2 or 3 months each new single was about to get a release (but without the new album being released).

When the released singles eventually would become around 15, then he was about to include them all in one album (the new album) and to release it at that point (towards the end of his 50 London shows and before the start of his ‘This Is It’ World Tour).

These 15 or so released singles in that new album were songs that Michael Jackson recorded and completed between 2006 and 2009.

 

[SmoothGangsta]

Re: What unreleased songs do you think have the highest/lowest likelihood of being released or leake

From what I read some of the tracks he was working on in the later years are not completed enough vocally.

Yeah, as far as we know most are either one verse or just mumbling if they have any vocals at all. If we're talking about 08/09.

 

[AlwaysThere]

Yeah, most of the songs from 2006-09 are scratch vocals and choruses only.

 

[mj_frenzy]

Re: What unreleased songs do you think have the highest/lowest likelihood of being released or leake

Production slowed once This Is It kicked into gear, but Michael was recording vocals as late as the week of his passing.

You seem to contradict yourself for one more time, considering that few years ago you said the following:

Michael's last recording session (i.e., instance in which he recorded vocals of any kind) apparently took place in October 2008 at the Hotel Bel-Air in California, which included the vocals for "Best of Joy" and "I Was the Loser" among others. They almost certainly aren't the last songs Michael worked on, but are the last he recorded.

As far as I know, in the week of his passing and due to his serious health issues at that time, Michael Jackson was not able to record vocals of any kind.

 

[dethorro]

Re: What unreleased songs do you think have the highest/lowest likelihood of being released or leake

You seem to contradict yourself for one more time, considering that few years ago you said the following:

This is from July 2020:

Some information I've recently become privy to:

- "Remember What I Told You" was recorded around June 19, 2009, and is the last song Michael ever put vocals to. It's reportedly similar to "Speechless" in terms of tone, and only has a short verse and multi-layered chorus. It can't be finished in the same way "Boy No" could, but perhaps (in the words of the wonderful individual who told me) it could be a great intro or interlude on an album.

Stop trying to start an argument for no reason, please.

 

[mj_frenzy]

This is from July 2020:

Stop trying to start an argument for no reason, please.

I am not trying to start an argument for no reason.

On June 19th 2009, the singer appeared to be too ill to do anything.

Kenny Ortega testified that he sent Michael Jackson home early from rehearsals (on June 19th 2009), and he described the singer’s health condition as scary:

“… It was scary … I couldn't put my finger on it … [Michael Jackson] didn't look well at all… [he] was chilled and soft-spoken … He wasn't in the kind of condition to be at rehearsal ... I said, 'Michael, is this the best place for you to be or do you want to go home and be with your family?' He said, 'Would you be OK with that?' I said, 'OK', and he left..."” (Kenny Ortega)

So, given the singer’s very serious health issues on that day, I find it hard to believe that Michael Jackson was recording vocals on a song.

 

[dethorro]

To answer to you:

The thing is that June 19th was one of the worst rehearsal days according to Kenny Ortega (btw they were still rehearsing at The Forum on that day), so it's interesting to know that he also recorded a song on this day.

In fairness, the person I spoke to seemed uncertain about that date in particular. It was definitely in June, so perhaps it was earlier and/or later. But definitely June!

It isn't impossible that he recorded vocals on that day, just very unlikely. He did however try on most of the Zaldy outfits on that day. Maybe he recorded some scratch vocals.

 

[SmoothGangsta]

OT but I don't think MJ would have worn those outfits. A few of them were clearly designed for someone with a much bigger build and MJ would have died on stage trying to dance in them lol. I did like some of them quite a bit though.

 

[king_of_style]

OT but I don't think MJ would have worn those outfits. A few of them were clearly designed for someone with a much bigger build and MJ would have died on stage trying to dance in them lol. I did like some of them quite a bit though.

I liked the outfit that Zaldy put together for "Billie Jean" -- that would've been very cool

 

[femi]

‘MJ Melody’ is also a finished, unreleased song that Michael Jackson wrote in 1982.

I'm very curious about this MJ Melody, I wonder what the elements and part of this song is.

 

[ChanceToDance]

I read 2 comments saying Hot Fever is a demo of TWYMMF but it's just an instrumental with no vocals, while the other said that it's a track with only the chorus singing "You give me hot fever" in the same melody as TWYMMF, which one is true?

 

[mj_frenzy]

I read 2 comments saying Hot Fever is a demo of TWYMMF but it's just an instrumental with no vocals, while the other said that it's a track with only the chorus singing "You give me hot fever" in the same melody as TWYMMF, which one is true?

According to certain authors, 'Hot Fever' is a demo, instrumental song which evolved into the 'The Way You Make Me Feel' song.

Also, the 'The Way You Make Me Feel' song was originally titled 'Hot Fever' by Michael Jackson himself.

 

[ChanceToDance]

According to certain authors, 'Hot Fever' is a demo, instrumental song which evolved into the 'The Way You Make Me Feel' song.

Also, the 'The Way You Make Me Feel' song was originally titled 'Hot Fever' by Michael Jackson himself.

Interesting, so is Hot Fever basically just an incomplete instrumental of T.W.M.M.F or is it an entirely different one?

 

[dethorro]

Pretty sure Hot Fever was the working title for The Way You Make Me Feel. During the Bad 25 documentary, Matt Forger showed a multitrack sheet for the song and you can see that the title written at the top of the sheet is Hot Fever.

Working titles seem to have been used a lot when referring to certain tracks which were 'works in progress'. Pee was the working title for Bad, Hanson for The Way You Love Me and I'm assuming Pyramid Girl was the working title for Liberian Girl.

 

[Derek1984]

Pretty sure Hot Fever was the working title for The Way You Make Me Feel. During the Bad 25 documentary, Matt Forger showed a multitrack sheet for the song and you can see that the title written at the top of the sheet is Hot Fever.

Working titles seem to have been used a lot when referring to certain tracks which were 'works in progress'. Pee was the working title for Bad, Hanson for The Way You Love Me and I'm assuming Pyramid Girl was the working title for Liberian Girl.

Pee makes no sense for Bad expect maybe that was the working title because of Prince possibly being on the track?

Pyramid Girl was probably the working title for Liberian Girl but as early as 1983 (private home video) Michael referred to the song as about a Liberian Girl.

 

[SmoothGangsta]

Don't think Pyramid Girl is real.

 

[Derek1984]

Don't think Pyramid Girl is real.

Was a demo ever registered with that title? I can't remember. Maybe Pyramid Girl was just something made up by fans.

 

[mj_frenzy]

'Pyramid Girl' is apparently something made up by his fans.

Michael Jackson mentioned that song for the first time as 'Liberian Girl' in the 1983 Unauthorized interview, when he began writing the song for the 'Victory' album.

He continued referring to it as 'Liberian Girl' in the following years.

For example, in 1987 he referred to it again as 'Liberian Girl', when he was asked about the conception of the song.

Besides, the 'Pyramid Girl' title was never confirmed by any of his collaborators.

 

[dethorro]

'Pyramid Girl' is apparently something made up by his fans.

It's something that was mentioned in both Mike Smallcombe's and Joe Vogel's book (both editions).

For example, in 1987 he referred to it again as 'Liberian Girl', when he was asked about the conception of the song.

Of course, because the song had come out at that point. Why would he call it by its working title?

 

[Fuzball]

'Pyramid Girl' is apparently something made up by his fans.

LOL

 

[Derek1984]

Hmmm... Makes me wonder if the record label wasn't fond of the "Liberian Girl" title and it almost was released as Pyramid Girl or the person reporting this just thought the song had this title. Strange. More clarity would be nice.

 

[SmoothCriminal1995]

Hmmm... Makes me wonder if the record label wasn't fond of the "Liberian Girl" title and it almost was released as Pyramid Girl or the person reporting this just thought the song had this title. Strange. More clarity would be nice.

That's good thinking actually mate, I wonder if it was possibly people at the listening party who misremembered the title for Liberian Girl, instead calling it Pyramid Girl? I remember it happened with a few of the songs with the Xscape listening party in 2014

 

[SmoothGangsta]

That's good thinking actually mate, I wonder if it was possibly people at the listening party who misremembered the title for Liberian Girl, instead calling it Pyramid Girl? I remember it happened with a few of the songs with the Xscape listening party in 2014

Yeah, I wouldn't say a mention in an article like that is proof it was called that at any point.

 

[ChanceToDance]

Could Days In Gloucestershire be released? MJ worked further more on the song in 2008 and Michael Prince said in an interview that Michael completed 3 songs at Bel Air Hotel (I Was The Loser, Best of Joy and the other wasn't specified), could he have been talking about this song?