Over the last week, the news has been announced that there will be a new album released "by" my favourite musician, Michael Jackson, an album titled Xscape. This produces conflicting emotions - while I am always happy for their to be new music released by a musician I love, there is the definite fear that it may be handled badly by those in charge, especially as the musician in question has no say in the matter.
I was happy to see that the 8 unreleased songs will be released in their original, untouched form; however, these will apparently be as bonus tracks (or a bonus disc for a deluxe edition - reports are conflicting at the moment). The first 8 songs on the album will be "contemporized" songs. My first problem with this is the fact that this isn't a word. My second problem is the fact that these should be the bonus tracks, not the first 8 tracks. If the rumour of there being a deluxe edition containing the original songs is true, then I find it frustrating and sad that the "contemporized" versions of the songs will inevitably sell more than the original versions - the versions that were as the artist intended.
Not that I am entirely against remixed versions of songs - there were seven remixed songs on the Michael Jackson album Blood on the Dance Floor: HIStory in the Mix. It was the six original songs the I bought that album for, but in fairness, there are a few of the remixes that I do really like. There's also a remix of a Plan B song on the Prayin' EP that I am a big fan of, partly because it has an extra verse that covers more of the story of the concept album, The Defamation of Strickland Banks. But the difference, ultimately, is the fact that those remixes were all released when the artist were alive - Plan B being involved in that particular remix, and Michael Jackson producing the "remix album*", respectively. Regardless of the merits of remixed/"contemporized" songs, the original versions should always take precedent in an album's release.
Ultimately, though, this is a release I am excited about. There are said to be tracks that talk about the topics of being a gangsta and missing children; considering two of my very favourite unreleased Michael Jackson sogns are 'Blue Gangsta' and 'Do You Know Where Your Chilren Are?', this is looking like it'll have some original tracks that are genuinely top-quality.
The album is out May 13th 2014. This'll probably be one of those rare times where I will do an album review, so if you wish to find out what I think of the finished product, you can read my review next month!
Take care. I might write another new blog soon, I've got things sitting on my mind.
Tom.
*The album is officially considered one, being the top-selling remix album in history. That's for you, trivia fans.
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