Re: 'Official Michael Jackson Opus'(BooK) Will Pop With Photos, Tributes
Another article came out about it today (Fri).
Michael Jackson Opus to include unseen lyrics and pictures
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/article6795428.ece
The only new official Michael Jackson book is being compiled after weeks of legal wrangling. It will include lyrics never seen before, plus drawings and pictures from the singer’s personal archives.
The Michael Jackson Opus will be handbound in leather in a silk clamshell case and is being produced by the team behind several other Opus books, including one on Manchester United that changed hands this year for £1 million, making it the most expensive sports publication on record.
Plans to publish the book began before Jackson died. Last week a judge in Los Angeles ruled that the project could go ahead and a team of researchers has now started the huge task of going through his notebooks and boxes, as well as other material associated with him that is scattered around the world, with the agreement of his estate.
The 13in by 18in book is likely to be a huge hit with Jackson fans and will also feature handwritten lyrics that never made it on to any of his albums. The researchers are also hoping to find drawings that he did for his most famous albums, including Thriller.
The book will include a feature called augmented reality, with which a computer and webcam can be used to show 3D images emerging from the page.
Days before he died, Jackson was expressing his enthusiasm for the book, according to Peter Lopez, his entertainment lawyer. “There is no question that Michael was really excited about it,” he said. “He thought it was grand on a scale he had never seen before.
“He loved the format of the book. He said to me, ‘We must do this.’ A ten-minute meeting we had with the Opus people turned into an hour and we were discussing putting stuff in that people had never seen before. He was just very excited about doing the definitive book of his life in great pictures and in great detail.”
The Opus books are usually limited editions, but the Jackson one will have an unlimited run until a certain date. It will include a picture taken of the singer in Minneapolis in May 1988 during his Bad tour — he had it blown up and put in an ornate picture frame at his Neverland ranch. He told friends that it was one of his favourite performance photographs.
Karl Fowler, chief executive of Opus Media Group, which is producing the book, said: “We know there are lyrics and notes on songs that he wrote that have never been seen before.”
There are also some photographs taken at rehearsals for some of his pop videos that have not been made public before as well as scores of other photographs.”
The former Goldman Sachs derivatives expert added: “We have a team of two dozen people whose sole job is to research all his documents and notes to dig out these nuggets. We know that Michael did some doodles of how he wanted things to look and we will be looking to see if these can be included.
“So much of the material is scattered in various places around the world and we have already begun the mammoth process of getting it all together.
“When we were discussing this with Michael, when we met in LA shortly before he died, he could not wait to see the Opus. He was so interested in the mechanics of it all and how much detail we went into. He was literally jumping up and down with excitement.
“He was asking loads of questions about how we stitch the book, how we print it etc. The Official Michael Jackson Opus is the only new fully sanctioned endorsement from the Michael Jackson Estate.”
Jeff Wald, president of Opus Media Group North America, a former music producer who knew Michael, told The Times that it was the attention to detail that the singer loved so much.
“The Opus is exactly what Michael wanted and he was impressed by the obsessive attention to detail. His kids need to have their father’s legacy preserved with integrity and this represents his wishes.”
