Friday, August 29th, 2008

The Friday Mixtape: 8/29/08

by Robert Cass

Michael Jackson turns 50 today. Fifty! Jacko is five-oh!

Hard to believe, probably because the man hasn’t acted his age — or looked his age, for that matter — in years, but ever since he was a preteen he’s created timeless music, first with his brothers in the Jackson 5, then on his own as the biggest pop star of the ’80s. If you don’t own Off the Wall or Thriller, buy them right this instant. (Seriously, Jackson could probably use the royalty checks these days.) The former is a perfect combination of pop, soul, and disco, every track a winner, while the latter lives up to its title, a greatest-hits factory that cranked out one monster smash after another.

Below is a mix of singles, album cuts, and demos by Jackson, plus covers by other artists, hip-hop songs that sample his work, a pair of songs that employ his backing vocals, and a remix/update that lights a fire under the one weak track from Thriller. There’s even a special birthday wish from a 1991 Simpsons episode that featured the Gloved One’s speaking voice but not his singing voice: due to contractual red tape or something of the sort, MJ-style vocals were provided by singer Kipp Lennon.

Michael Jackson – Christmas Greeting From Michael Jackson, from A Motown Christmas Carol (1995)
The Jackson 5 – Stand! (1969), from Diana Ross Presents the Jackson 5/ABC (2001)
The Jackson 5 – 2-4-6-8 (1970), from Diana Ross Presents the Jackson 5/ABC
Michael Jackson – I Wanna Be Where You Are (1972), from The Ultimate Collection (2004)
The Jacksons – All Night Dancin’, from Destiny (1978)
Michael Jackson – I Can’t Help It, from Off the Wall (1979)
De La Soul – Breakadawn, from Buhloone Mindstate (1993)
Michael Jackson – Burn This Disco Out, from Off the Wall
Robin Danar featuring Julian Coryell – Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough, from Altered States (2008)
Kenny Loggins – Who’s Right, Who’s Wrong, from Keep the Fire (1979)
Dave Mason – Save Me, from Old Crest on a New Wave (1980)
Michael Jackson – Baby Be Mine, from Thriller (1982)
Michael Jackson with Will.i.am – The Girl Is Mine 2008, from Thriller’s 25th-anniversary edition (2008)
SWV – Right Here/Human Nature [Human Nature Radio Mix] (1993), from Platinum & Gold Collection (2003)
David Mead – Human Nature, from Indiana (2004)
Michael Jackson – Sunset Driver [Demo] (1982), from The Ultimate Collection
Michael Jackson – Carousel (a.k.a. Circus Girl) [Demo] (1982), from the Thriller sessions
Michael Jackson – Bad (1987), from The Essential Michael Jackson (2005)
Michael Jackson – Remember the Time (1991), from The Essential Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson – You Rock My World (2001), from The Essential Michael Jackson
Leon Kompowski & Bart Simpson – Happy Birthday, Lisa (1991), from Songs in the Key of Springfield (1997)

Jackson was interviewed by Garry George for Crawdaddy magazine in 1972, when he was 13. Here’s one excerpt from George’s article:

“Who are your favorite singers and performers?”

“I like Three Dog Night, Moody Blues, Temptations, Diana Ross. And all Motown … and Crosby, Stills, Nash and that’s about it. Oh, and I especially like the Chi-Lites.”

“If Motown came to you and said ‘Michael, we want you to do an album with your favorite person,’ who would it be?”

“Diana Ross, or uh … Jethro Tull.”

(Thanks to Jeff Giles, Jason Hare, and Terje Fjelde for their help in hunting down some of the tracks for this mix.)

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This entry was posted on Friday, August 29th, 2008 at 4:30 pm and is filed under Music, The Weekly Mixtape. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

  • Nice job on the mix Robert!! "All Night Dancin'" is smokin', and the Loggins song is very pretty. I am also very, very grateful to whoever had the presence of mind to not put "Carousel" on "Thriller".

    Happy birthday MJ!!
  • I like "Carousel," although I don't see why an edited version was put on the 2001 edition of "Thriller." The full version, which Terje pulled from a YouTube video for me, is a little too long, but it's nice to hear the whole thing. If Quincy Jones had to decide between "Carousel" and "Human Nature," though, I can see why he chose the latter.

    "All Night Dancin'" is great, isn't it? I first heard it on a rerun of "Soul Train" a few months ago during the "Soul Train Line" segment.
  • I think I may have been watching the same "Soul Train" rerun as you!!

    Look, I'll agree as much as anyone that Michael is a stone cold freak, but if you can't separate the artist from the art, then it would be damn near impossible to like anyone!!

    The stuff the Jacksons put out on Epic is criminally underrated. From roughly 1978-1982: "Destiny", "Off the Wall", "Triumph" and "Thriller", the man was on fire. The fact that he put out so much great material in such a small amount of time makes me scratch my head even more as to why it now takes him six years to put out albums that are barely mediocre.

    And yep, Stevie Wonder co-wrote "I Can't Help It" along with Susaye Greene, who if I remember correctly, was one of the scab Supremes after Diana bolted.
  • Jackson had youth on his side in the late '70s and early '80s, but he probably also wanted to prove to everyone that he was no longer just a cute kid who could belt out words other people wrote for him. I should probably buy "Destiny" and "Triumph." I'm guessing Legacy will be reissuing the two albums Gamble & Huff produced for the Jacksons right after they left Motown; I think "Destiny" and "Triumph" are being reissued this fall.
  • WHarrisBullzEye
    Bonus points to you, Robert, for including "Baby Be Mine." I have often said that, even despite the number of tracks which were released as singles from 'Thriller,' "Baby Be Mine" still should've earned that honor as well. It really harks back to the 'Off the Wall' days...and that's not a bad thing.
  • It's certainly superior to "The Girl Is Mine" and "Beat It," and even "Thriller."
  • I hate Michael Jackson. He makes this great music and then lives this creepy, psychotic life and you almost have to ask forgiveness for liking his work.

    For the record, I'm betting Jackson has never heard a Tull song in his entire fifty years.
  • You can't separate the man from the music? Tsk tsk. Forgive and forget. Right now I'm in the middle of a double feature with my good buddies Mel Gibson and Michael Richards. We're watching "The Birth of a Nation" and "Triumph of the Will" and having a wonderful time.
  • Are you having difficulty keeping Carrie Fisher from stirring her tea with her coke spoon?
  • Wait a second, now you hate celebrities who've been addicted to drugs? You must hate every celebrity who's ever lived!

    Seriously, though, I know what you mean about Jackson, but I've never had a problem separating what him or Gibson or Richards do in their work from what they do or say in their own lives. There are plenty of "artists" who I admire yet I'd never want to meet them.
  • I'm Mr. Cranky. Everybody knows that.

    You don't have MJ's version of "Love Is Here (And Now You're Gone)" do you? I think it was the B-Side to "Rockin' Robin"...
  • What am I, a jukebox?!

    No, sorry, don't have that one.
  • D Ragland
    Oh yeah! Love MJ's music! Thanks! Nice selection. I wish they would come out with an edition of Thriller with more of the demos and unreleased tracks. The 2001 edition was just scratching the surface. I wish he would put out "Hot Street" . . . I love almost anything by Rod Temperton.

    Thanks for including "I Can't Help It". This is one of his very best songs, and you never hear about it.
  • Yeah, the special editions of "Thriller" and "Off the Wall" were both disappointing. What happened to Rod Temperton anyway? I blame his absence on "Bad" being a subpar album. Someone compared Maroon 5's "Makes Me Wonder" last year to Temperton's style of songwriting.

    I first heard "I Can't Help It" in '95, two years after hearing the sample used throughout "Breakadawn," so when I got to that track on "Off the Wall," I was surprised. It's a great "quiet storm" track. Stevie Wonder cowrote it, didn't he?
  • Ted
    I was surprised by the David Mead cover of "Human Nature" -- surprised how good it is.

    Hey Robert, did Mel bring the director's cut of The Passion of the Christ?
  • We watched that last week. It's six hours long! Jesus Christ!
  • Ted
    With 5/12 hours of beatings, it's so far ahead of all those other snuff films. You're a lucky man.
  • And here's where the centurion guts Christ from the side. Note how he fishes around in there a while. We were really going for that "churning butter" quality in the goring.
  • Elaine
    Am I forgiven for not downloading the Black Eyed Pea guy? I'm so over them. Fergie played our annual fair last week and now I have a vivid memory of hearing her backing track loudly chanting "OH SHIT!" across the parking lot as I was leaving with my kids. She's gross. She was off-key, too.

    My very favorite MJ songs is "Working Day and Night." There's just something about that tune. It's got the funk. I'm surprised to see how many of MJ's songs were either written (or co-written) by himself. Never heard of Louis Johnson before today.

    Good idea for a mix guys. Happy 50th birthday to MJ. He doesn't look a day over uh.. 49.
  • You're forgiven, Elaine, but of the two or three "Thriller 25" remix/updates I've heard, Will.i.am's is the best. I like how he makes midtempo cheese like "The Girl Is Mine" into thumping up-tempo cheese. His rap isn't anything special, but his production's not bad. I'm not a fan of the Black Eyed Peas either, though.

    Louis Johnson is one of the Brothers Johnson. "I'll Be Good to You," "Strawberry Letter 23," "Stomp!," etc. He played on "Off the Wall" and "Thriller," but I'm not sure if George, the other Johnson brother, did. I'll have to check the liner notes. Yes, "Workin' Day and Night" is great too. EVERYTHING on "Off the Wall" is great. It's Jackson's best album. Have you heard Paul McCartney's version of "Girlfriend"? Jackson's is much better. But McCartney won the "Say Say Say" vs. "The Girl Is Mine" battle.

    I wanted to say MJ doesn't look a day over whatever age E.T. was, but I scrapped that joke.

    Robbie Fulks is a fan of Jackson's songwriting. The following is from the 1/16/04 issue of the Chicago Reader:

    Eight months ago Robbie Fulks finished recording an album of songs by Michael Jackson, a project he hoped would spotlight the pop icon's skill as a songwriter. "It was a tough sell, but I was finalizing a deal when the charges came up," Fulks wrote in an e-mail this week. "It seems like the worst possible time for me to invest (and ask others to invest) in a reappraisal of Michael's music. I still think, of course, that he's a spectacular and oddly underrated musician....For now, though, I'd call it 'indefinite hold,' pending his trial and other future developments."

    It would be a shame if the record never came out. Watching Fulks perform a wrenching live version of "Billie Jean," I felt aware for the first time of the substance of that strange song. And obviously being a great artist and a loathsome person are hardly mutually exclusive.
  • Elaine
    MJ actually looks a little like a 65-year-old white lady, but the older I get, the more I realize he suffers from some pretty serious mental issues. I really shouldn't pile on him. It's kind of a testament to his character that he has survived all these years through his childhood, self-directed changes, & inability to maintain normal relationships. In a ...weird way. I looked for Robbie Fulks on YouTube. If you ever see it online let me know. I'm interested in hearing his Billie Jean. I could see how an MJ-as-songwriter project would be worthwhile. Michael wrote a lot of great songs. Wasn't Billie written about MJ's older brothers, and how girls would claim pregnancies and try to insinuate themselves into the family?
  • I haven't heard about the origin of "Billie Jean," but what you heard or read makes sense. Didn't a crazy woman claim in the '90s that Jackson was the father of her child? Lady, we ALL heard the song, not just you. It's an airtight alibi.

    It turns out David Foster cowrote "It's the Falling in Love," which is on "Off the Wall." Jesus, Terje, that guy really was EVERYWHERE!
  • True - he cowrote that and played on "Girlfriend" as well. He also played on "The Girl Is Mine" in '82, and he produced "Smile", "Earth Song" and "Childhood" in '95. You can create a Foster mixtape of almost any artist that had a career in the 1970s-80s and relied on external songwriters and session musicians.

    You're doing a great job here, by the way - great mix; and you even got more comments than I did (how is that possible??) - respect, my man, respect!
  • Like you said, reply to everything and people will think there's a party going on inside when they see the number of comments displayed on the home page. Or they'll think we're all calling each other names. Whatever it takes!

    Temperton wrote fewer songs on "Off the Wall" and "Thriller" than I originally thought, so maybe his absence on "Bad" wasn't that, uh, bad. But his contributions do stand out.
  • WHarrisBullzEye
    Though Robert may disagree, you are absolutely forgiven for not downloading the remix, as far as I'm concerned. I was really disappointed with the decision to call in the "new kids" to update the classic "Thriller" tracks on the 25th anniversary reissue. This is what I said in my review at the time:

    "It’s clear that Michael Jackson has brought in these younger and – let’s face it – hipper artists in order to make the statement, 'Hey, world, I’m still relevant,' but, as ever, he just doesn’t get it. Nowhere is this more evident than on the DVD that’s included in this package, which provides the album’s three iconic videos ('Billie Jean,' 'Beat It,' and 'Thriller'), along with the performance of 'Billie Jean' from the “Motown 25” television special that serves as the 1980’s version of the Beatles on 'The Ed Sullivan Show.' He didn’t need to bring in a bunch of young upstarts; all he had to do was take this DVD and the original nine-song CD version of Thriller, hold them aloft, and say, 'This is why you should respect me!' Even 25 years on, the record still speaks for itself as one of the greatest albums of all time; it didn’t need to be updated for a new generation."
  • Nice post....if you want to check out some info on Michael's Number 1 Albums check out Number1Albums.com
  • Jackson wrote 66 songs for "Bad"?!
  • Really enjoyed the "Don't stop till you get enough" cover...not heard it before..

    all the best,


    Matt and Dan
    http://www.myspace.com/themattanddanshow
  • Pete Yorn and Kinky's cover of Bill Withers's "Use Me," which is also on that Robin Danar album, is great as well. They reinvent the song.
  • trying this again, man. thanks for the comment! let's see where this one posts.
  • hey guys. thanks a ton for digging my track. since you're from glasgow, you might enjoy my version of "message of love" as well. i had Paul Buchanan from the Blue Nile sing it for me. maybe i'll see you guys the next time i crash at the Townhouse in Glasgow.
  • looks like these replys got posted backwards. this one's a thank you for commenting on my version of "use me" featuring pete yorn and kinky. i had a blast with those guys!
  • Marcus
    Good to see someone showing the love for MJ.
  • Jon
    Great post! Thank you!
  • wow. thanks for the post and thanks for the comments. love this mixtape, and quite happy to be on it!!
  • Thanks for stopping by, Robin!
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