Thriller 40th Anniversary - Songs Discussion

MJ5

Proud Member
Joined
Jul 25, 2011
Messages
7,369
Points
113
Looking for a Thriller 40 song discussion here. ;) preferably, no words about C45 and DA leaks or 2pac and xscape :D there are enough threads for non-specific unreleased song talks already. thanks, danke, grazie, gracias, obrigado...!

DISC 2 incl. 6 previously unreleased Songs:
  1. Starlight - 05:03
  2. Got the Hots - 04:25 (released)
  3. Who Do You Know - 05:22
  4. Carousel - 03:39 (short version, released)
  5. Behind the Mask Demo - 05:00
  6. Can't Get Outta the Rain - 04:06 (released)
  7. The Toy - 03:04 (Different Version, 33secs less)*
  8. Sunset Driver - 04:02 (released)
  9. What a Lovely Way to Go - 03:55**
  10. She's Trouble - 04:12 (final version, HQ unleaked)
* fan DamienShields heard a 3:37 version before: "In the full demo, the “we are forever” vocals repeat several more times before fading out."
** produced by MJ (no co-production)


My "first listen" review:

Starlight (3/10): I am just so happy it evolved to Thriller, and did not stay like this. A nice-to-have addition for a complete Demo collection of the whole album along BJ, WBSS, or Beat it Demo imo.
GTH (7/10): The song has such a strange rhythm, but I somehow like it since day one after T25 Japanese release. In my ears, still a nice-to-listen song in between.
Who do you know (9/10): Great chill vibe, lovely vocals. Even if it is very different, the vibe feels like a mix out of "Why?" and a The Jacksons late 70s song. Love it!
Carousel (8/10): Transition from Who do you know is sweet. But why not the longer version?
BTM Demo (6/10): I expected more, mostly because I hoped for a more-finished 80s version compared to the 2010 mix. Anyway, one could have known we will now in fact get the real DEMO, that might be one of the earliest versions of the songs - a similar state compared to existing BJ or WBSS demos. It is cool to have, but not a song I would listen to every day.
CGOTR (1/10): not fitting T40 that much, especially in such a shortlist of songs. They at least could have put it in the end of Disc 2. Whatever, next.
The Toy (5/10): Interestingly, not much difference to the 2008/2009 Best of Joy version. Happy that Michael worked on it again. The 2010 release was a great inclusion on "Michael".
Sunset Driver (4/10): Inclusion is okay, but not one of my favorites. Some parts are groovy though.
What a lovely way to go (8/10): I really like the refrain including the beatboxing. I wish it was properly mixed and finalized. For a demo it is truly great. Happy about this one, as it is the only MJ production without co-production. This one would have fit as the last track, not only because of its title.
She's Trouble (6/10): Great to hear this in crisp quality. It fits the T40 concept. The wav-file will get a nice place next to Nite Line and Hot Street in my digital collection.

Overall rating the disc 6/10, today I am grateful it was not strongly promoted towards a wide audience, as it consists of songs and mixing Michael would have never wanted seeing the light of day. Well, there was not much promotion investment anyway. Even so, I am very happy about the release for the fan base. In my opinion a few songs could have been considered for a later release, definitely.

Positive:
+ WDYK
+ WALTG
+ She's Trouble HQ

Negative:
- CGOTR inclusion
- BTM Mike Mix = less finished mix as expected
- Hot Street and Niteline missing

Changing my previous votes now (no vote for BTM 🤫 ). Don't forget to vote for your favorite HERE!


0196587345624.jpg


FhpUdg5UAAA0VRU
FhpUdg7VEAABo0n

Fhq9mwUUAAAj6ba


What song/s are you most excited for? Vote HERE for your favorites!
 
Last edited:
I’m so curious about who do you know. I hope its not a demo of Behind the Mask
 
Overall, i'm super excited. The only true disappointment is "Can't Get Out of the Rain". I can make excuses for everything else, but that song has no business being on Thriller 40. Sunset Driver, unless its a mix or rerecording or something that we haven't heard before, probably could've been left off as well. To a lesser extent, same could be said with Carousel and Got the Hots (although I love both, especially Got the Hots).

Its not a complete disappointment for those three to be on for me though. Mainly CGOTR thats the true waste of space. But otherwise, im so hyped for this release.
 
  • Like
Reactions: MJ5
They are 2 different songs.

Anyway, so it is true that we do NOT get the uncut Carousel version? Why?
If we don’t its crap! Also the toy seems pretty short. I don’t understand why they wouldn’t release the full versions…
 
If we don’t its crap! Also the toy seems pretty short. I don’t understand why they wouldn’t release the full versions…
Most likely because its third verse is a repeat of the first verse.

Also, has anyone noticed that the tracklist is a perfect checkerboard of released and unreleased songs? The only song that seems to break that trend is She's Trouble, which makes me think that disc two was originally going to be nine songs rather than ten.
 
Most likely because its third verse is a repeat of the first verse.

Also, has anyone noticed that the tracklist is a perfect checkerboard of released and unreleased songs? The only song that seems to break that trend is She's Trouble, which makes me think that disc two was originally going to be nine songs rather than ten.
or they removed another released OTW track from 10th position to shorten the list from 11 to 10 tracks eventually. haha
 
asked by mods to create another T40 thread to discuss
Oh, let the records show, I take no credit, it was all your idea 😅
preferably, no words about C45 and DA leaks or 2pac and xscape
😂

DISC 2:
Starlight - 05:03
Got the Hots - 04:25 (released)
Who Do You Know - 05:22
Carousel - 03:39 (short version, released)
Behind the Mask Demo - 05:00
Can't Get Outta the Rain - 04:06 (released)
Why??!
The Toy - 03:04 (Different Version, 34secs less)*
Sunset Driver - 04:02 (released)
What a Lovely Way to Go - 03:55
She's Trouble - 04:12
(final version, HQ unleaked)
Now that I see it properly in text as oppose to the horrible Mish mash of fonts that hurt my eyes 👀, it's quite good. I am looking forward to hearing all of them. I already love Starlight and She's Trouble!
 
Now that I see it properly in text as oppose to the horrible Mish mash of fonts that hurt my eyes 👀, it's quite good. I am looking forward to hearing all of them. I already love Starlight and She's Trouble!

It's one Font, whereby unreleased tracks are in Bold


Did we establish is The Toy is same is Best of Joy?
An earlier version of the same song.
 
It hasn't even been released yet and I'm being let down by 2 things already. We're getting the same version of Carousel so the inclusion of that song is completely useless and The Toy is being chopped up (unless we're getting an earlier version of the song). I hope we'll listen to WALWTG and WDYK the way MJ left them and not botched versions at least.
 
I can't wait for new songs.

Chicago 1945 and Dream Away is helping me a lot these days. Now I hear them on repeat so it's a little easier to wait till Friday. :)

Starlight
The Toy
Behind The Mask
Who Do You Know
What A Lovely Way To Go

I can't even describe how much I look forward to getting these songs in HQ crystal clear quality...

New songs, new versions. AMAZING. Friday will be such a perfect day. :)
 
I can't wait for new songs.

Chicago 1945 and Dream Away is helping me a lot these days. Now I hear them on repeat so it's a little easier to wait till Friday. :)

Starlight
The Toy
Behind The Mask
Who Do You Know
What A Lovely Way To Go

I can't even describe how much I look forward to getting these songs in HQ crystal clear quality...

New songs, new versions. AMAZING. Friday will be such a perfect day. :)

Additionally, I am also quite happy about She's Trouble (final version) in HQ, what you think about that inclusion?

Overall, a great re-issue imo! I just wish they would have put CGTOR in the end of the Disc, so I could simply stop the CD earlier, without the need of skipping.
 
I can't really remember She's Trouble... I will wait till Friday to listen to it.

But I am happy if we get the final version. I have no problem with the inclusion.
 
In case someone wants to give the final version of She's Trouble a listen before Friday, I added a YouTube link to the low-quality leaked version in the 1st post. Looking forward to the song in high quality.
 
Additionally, I am also quite happy about She's Trouble (final version) in HQ, what you think about that inclusion?

Overall, a great re-issue imo! I just wish they would have put CGTOR in the end of the Disc, so I could simply stop the CD earlier, without the need of skipping.
You can't get out of the game with this tracklist.
 
You can vote HERE for your favorite unreleased track/s of T40! A poll was created.

Let's see how the poll result will change after the songs will have been leaked. ;)
 
Last edited:
So from what i could gather here... The inclusion of Carousel is totally and completely useless as it is the same, old chopped up version from King of Pop CDs, The Toy is getting cut short (i don't care if the third verse is the same as the first one.), and Sunset Driver is same as the TUC version, not to mention we don't know if they actually cut short the two unreleased songs as well.

Oh man, what a great reissue lol
At this point, i think i'm just gonna listen to BTM and She's Trouble and ignore everything else.
 
I've just placed my order I can't wait. I still can't believe we're so close new MJ music
We got to watch Thriller and Beat It in 4K and we'll get 3 more remastered clips soon, we got to hear one of the most hyped songs in the vault and a new one that we hadn't even heard of before and on top of that we're getting 3 new songs? This week feels like a dream lmao
 
I have not seen any official source saying anything about 5 videos in 4K - did mkgenie mention 5 or where does the number come from?
 
We have a thread for discussing Thriller 40, and a thread for discussing the tracks on there, what is the point of this one?
 
No off-topic here, but focused discussion on an already revealed track list with 10 specific songs that can be heard soon. Not more, not less.

There is no more guessing needed for example if C45 is part of the project or not. The other thread went into a unreleased tracks jungle.

CD backside
0196587345624.jpg
 
Last edited:
focused discussion on an already revealed track list with 10 specific songs that can be heard soon.
Thanks for providing the CD back cover, with the titles included. My question : "Starlight" isn't labelled as "demo", so that means it should be a different version than the demo that leaked back (in 2009 I think) amongst the "Thriller Genesis" songs ? I recall it was the first time one could hear "Starlight", but it definitely sounded like a demo, which turned later into Thriller as you all know. So might the newly released Starlight be a finalised version of the song with the original lyrics, before it was reworked completely into Thriller ? Any of you have some info ?
 
  • Like
Reactions: MJ5
It will be same song because in youtube already copyright all starlight videos
 
Thanks for providing the CD back cover, with the titles included. My question : "Starlight" isn't labelled as "demo", so that means it should be a different version than the demo that leaked back (in 2009 I think) amongst the "Thriller Genesis" songs ? I recall it was the first time one could hear "Starlight", but it definitely sounded like a demo, which turned later into Thriller as you all know. So might the newly released Starlight be a finalised version of the song with the original lyrics, before it was reworked completely into Thriller ? Any of you have some info ?
interesting thinking actually! maybe there is a vocally more complete starlight version to be released. that would be great, if so
 
3 days to go. Still not even a 30sec preview of any song leaked.

On amazon.de I cannot even find Disc 2 to buy now, I ordered it 2 weeks ago though. Strange.
 
Back
Top