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The Discussion of MJ's Unreleased Tracks

BlackAnon said:
TJ and Taj on whether a full version of Why exists with Michael.

At first, it was one of our uncle’s songs for the HIStory album. He made the mistake to let us listen to it before the release of the album and we fell in love with this track -as it happens with all of his songs - but he gave us that one. We admire Babyface a lot, which could explain the reason why Michael gave us this particular song. So we could have the song, but under one condition: we should keep his voice on it. So we kept the chorus as it was, sang by Michael, and we re-sang the verses. Uncle Michael was with us during the recording, he helped us with our singing as well as getting into the atmosphere of the song. You should hear Michael’s version of “Why”, that would be cool. - TJ


No, unfortunately it doesn't exist. There was only my uncle's backgrounds on the demo. There is a Babyface version of Why with MJ backgrounds though. - Taj
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There’s another interview with TJ from 2022:

Yes, there is a version of “Why” with my uncle. […] The reason why I know there is another version is because, in the bridge, when Taryll is singing the words, we had no idea what the words were, so we had to listen over and over to how my uncle sang it, and try to figure out what the words were. We still couldn’t figure it out so he just tried to sing it just like him and hope that the words would just come across. But some of those words, Taryll didn’t even know what they were so he was just trying to sound exactly like my uncle since we didn’t have the lyrics. If this was now, I’d have it on my computer but in the 90s, there was none of that. It’s probably on some tape or CD somewhere in storage, but there definitely exists a version. I know for a fact there is at least the bridge and I’m pretty certain there is a whole version. Because when he firstplayed, we wouldn’t have known what the song was without the vocals…
 
BlackAnon said:
If that’s the case, he should’ve said “the Babyface version” since Michael is only singing the chorus on both versions.
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AlwaysThere said:
There’s another interview with TJ from 2022:

Yes, there is a version of “Why” with my uncle. […] The reason why I know there is another version is because, in the bridge, when Taryll is singing the words, we had no idea what the words were, so we had to listen over and over to how my uncle sang it, and try to figure out what the words were. We still couldn’t figure it out so he just tried to sing it just like him and hope that the words would just come across. But some of those words, Taryll didn’t even know what they were so he was just trying to sound exactly like my uncle since we didn’t have the lyrics. If this was now, I’d have it on my computer but in the 90s, there was none of that. It’s probably on some tape or CD somewhere in storage, but there definitely exists a version. I know for a fact there is at least the bridge and I’m pretty certain there is a whole version. Because when he firstplayed, we wouldn’t have known what the song was without the vocals…
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You left out a whole other comment.
 
"Michael is such an inventor of sound," Jerkins said. "I think he wanted some new stuff that the ears haven't heard yet, that radio hasn't heard yet, that people haven't heard yet." Jackson recorded at least one rock-flavored track with Jerkins for possible inclusion on the album, as well as a ballad written and produced by R. Kelly, Jerkins said. (Dec 21 2000)
 
Fuzball said:
"Michael is such an inventor of sound," Jerkins said. "I think he wanted some new stuff that the ears haven't heard yet, that radio hasn't heard yet, that people haven't heard yet." Jackson recorded at least one rock-flavored track with Jerkins for possible inclusion on the album, as well as a ballad written and produced by R. Kelly, Jerkins said. (Dec 21 2000)
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It's possible the track could be Privacy.
 
Fuzball said:
"Michael is such an inventor of sound," Jerkins said. "I think he wanted some new stuff that the ears haven't heard yet, that radio hasn't heard yet, that people haven't heard yet." Jackson recorded at least one rock-flavored track with Jerkins for possible inclusion on the album, as well as a ballad written and produced by R. Kelly, Jerkins said. (Dec 21 2000)
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I wonder if the R Kelly track is One More Chance. Wasn’t it suggested this was recorded in 2003?
 
I know these questions have already been asked, but I can't find them using the search function and I have a lot of confusion in my head:

1) How many 'Streetwalker' mixes are we aware of? Is there a well-organised list or something? Naming them by the top of my head I remember that one with the Western Intro, Quincy's unreleased (?) mix and the album version.

2) How many demos made it to Westlake? I remember reading somewhere on here that it was only 'Streetwalker' that was mixed by Quincy, while the others were scrapped out early.
But I have a vague recollection of a more complete version of "Price Of Fame" mixed by QJ, which couldn't be released on Bad 25 for legal reasons. Am I right?
 
Maybe it's the Pepsi version?

And do we know if Fly Away is a finished track like Streetwalker? Cause Bill Bottrell is the credited producer on both, unlike the other MJ demos from Bad (at least it's what I see on Spotify).
 
Price of fame is basically the same as the Pepsi version so it might be the final version
 
Saka21 said:
1) How many 'Streetwalker' mixes are we aware of? Is there a well-organised list or something? Naming them by the top of my head I remember that one with the Western Intro, Quincy's unreleased (?) mix and the album version.
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Four. The 1986 demo (from the Brad leak), the 1987 mix by Quincy which almost made it, the 1988 Bill Bottrell remix (aka the officially released one) and an alternate version of the 1988 mix.
 
MJbr2 said:
Four. The 1986 demo (from the Brad leak), the 1987 mix by Quincy which almost made it, the 1988 Bill Bottrell remix (aka the officially released one) and an alternate version of the 1988 mix.
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Has the 1987 mix by Quincy ever been leaked?
 
MJbr2 said:
Four. The 1986 demo (from the Brad leak), the 1987 mix by Quincy which almost made it, the 1988 Bill Bottrell remix (aka the officially released one) and an alternate version of the 1988 mix.
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Five, working title Florida Groove
 
This 'Streetwalker' talk made me go back to Bad 25.

It's really a testament to how strong the era was that even the Estate couldn't mess up the anniversary release.

I mean, the album itself would be the greatest hits of almost anyone - to MJ it was just another album.

Al Capone, Free, Price of Fame, Abortion Papers.. such a good release.
 
dam2040 said:
This 'Streetwalker' talk made me go back to Bad 25.

It's really a testament to how strong the era was that even the Estate couldn't mess up the anniversary release.

I mean, the album itself would be the greatest hits of almost anyone - to MJ it was just another album.

Al Capone, Free, Price of Fame, Abortion Papers.. such a good release.
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I'm so blue . .don't be messing around
 
Mister_Jay_Tee said:
Weird how they weren't able to put it in record this early on.. things with Quincy weren't even south yet. Why choose it?
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What exactly do you mean? Keep in mind that the leaked Sundberg mix from October 1986 is just a WIP version.
 
dam2040 said:
This 'Streetwalker' talk made me go back to Bad 25.

It's really a testament to how strong the era was that even the Estate couldn't mess up the anniversary release.

I mean, the album itself would be the greatest hits of almost anyone - to MJ it was just another album.

Al Capone, Free, Price of Fame, Abortion Papers.. such a good release.
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And to think the Estate has already released an album's worth of outtakes from that era and it still has SO much more content to offer (Make Or Break, Chicago 1945, Buffalo Bill, Tomboy, Changes, Turning Me Off, etc). It's one of the most fascinating periods in MJ's career that's for sure.
 
ChanceToDance said:
And to think the Estate has already released an album's worth of outtakes from that era and it still has SO much more content to offer (Make Or Break, Chicago 1945, Buffalo Bill, Tomboy, Changes, Turning Me Off, etc). It's one of the most fascinating periods in MJ's career that's for sure.
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It's even more fascinating that MJ kept returning to his 80s stuff on a regular basis.
 
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