Not sure if anyone here is on any MJ boards because I definitely am. Although I am an honest fan not one of those "MJ is an Angel" fans. The Estate seems to mess a lot of things up and I am not sure how this album will turn out.
It looks like we will have a lot of leaked songs. I am glad we get the original demos this time instead of only remixed tracks. I'm thankful at least Bad 25 gave us original demos too. I hate when they take Michael's music and try to turn it into something it isn't. No one has the same ear for music like Michael did.
Hopefully with the preorders coming up we can get a definitive track list. The 2002 Escape is awesome. I hope the songs that are leaked we get slightly different demos than what has leaked. Keep in mind for both Slave To The Rhythm and Do Yo Know Where Your Children Are what is leaked are 2010 "Michael" album mixes that didn't make the album, not the original demos.
I am just thankful the demos, but that cover is a mess, it doesn't even look like Michael. They should have just used a photo. It looks like CG.
I share the same feelings, especially since I felt the quality of his work had started to deteriorate after the release of Invincible, so I don't know what to expect from this album.
(Scratch that, it was Blood on the Dancefloor that was the bad apple.)
Blood On The Dancefloor is an amazing album. Invincible was bad and completely generic and tired sounding. The new songs on The Ultimate Collection were amazing though, Fall Again, We've Had Enough, Way You Love Me, etc.
A rumor was that Michael supposedly recorded a catalog of songs (somewhere around 100?) specifically that the record labels couldn't directly touch, so his estate could release them over time after his death to make sure his children were taken care of. They weren't unfinished scraps, as is usually the case; he planned ahead to have posthumous album releases.
It isn't about recording stuff for when he died, he over recorded for each and every album and was also recording tracks even when he wasn't making anything specifically for an album. The original plan for Bad was a 2 LP album. In this video he mentions, he records 120 songs for every album.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wt6zVypo72E
It is a bit of an exaggeration but still. There is tons of material out there. There is even a 3 hour 1993 court deposition (all on youtube) where Michael confirms 100+ unreleased songs, each individually by name. The Estate releasing all these known leaked songs is questionable though. I want to hear stuff like Buffalo Bill, Men In Black, Michael McKellar, Bottle Of Smoke, and Edgar Allan Poe.