Did New MJ Collection Empty MJ's Vault

The 162-track "Ultimate Fan Extras" is a bargain at $82, but is it too much too soon?

The recent release of two massive Michael Jackson anthologies, the most comprehensive sets in his catalog, raises a question about an artist never known for stockpiling songs: Is this it?

The 270 tracks released to iTunes might just have cleaned out the pop legend's vault a mere four years after his death. No one at Epic or Legacy Recordings would comment on the digital box sets or what's left in the can.

The Indispensable Collection compiles seven albums, from 1979's Off the Wall to 2001's Invincible, plus a live 1988 performance. The Ultimate Fan Extras Collection gathers career-spanning demos, alternate versions, radio edits, remixes, instrumentals and live cuts.

These are the latest lures in a pipeline that began flowing soon after Jackson died of a propofol overdose in 2009 while preparing for his This Is It concert run.

Their arrival coincides with Michael Jackson ONE, a new Cirque du Soleil production in Las Vegas that follows the lucrative touring Cirque show, The Immortal World Tour. They also overlap the ongoing wrongful death suit filed by his mother against AEG Live.

"Why release two anthologies now, when Michael Jackson's reputation is being tarnished, yet again, in a much-publicized court case?" says George Varga, U-T San Diego pop music critic, who decries "the continuing rush to again cash in on Jackson's tragic death."

"Of course, it's not surprising that this enormously gifted and tragic artist seems to be even more exploited now than when he was alive. But it doesn't make it any less disconcerting. In the old days — like, you know, a decade or two ago — the estates of dead pop superstars might actually have waited until the fifth anniversary to simultaneously release two mega-compilations. But why wait when opportunity is knocking?"

Billboard editor Joe Levy takes a rosier view, dubbing the 162-track Ultimate's $82 price tag "a bit of a bargain," presuming fans desire five versions each of Remember the Time, Black or White and One More Chance.

"I don't think we've hit a point where they've released too much, and certainly the market doesn't think so," says Levy, citing Nielsen SoundScan data indicating that 21.7 million Jackson albums sold between 1991-2009 and 12.3 million since he died.

The question may not be what's left but "what you do with the assets, how you remix and recombine them," Levy says. "If you invited collaborators in, what might you be able to create that's new and lets you hear the music in a new way?

"Michael Jackson wasn't like 2Pac, someone who went to the studio and just laid down ideas. There were artists like Jimi Hendrix, whose genius was restless and short-lived and whose work has been mined far longer and deeper than you would have imagined. Michael doesn't appear to be that kind of an artist. I wouldn't rule out other unheard tracks surfacing, but I wouldn't count on it."

He does envision countless reconfigurations, "given how important he was to so many different generations."

"Look at how many times Jay-Z references him on his current album," Levy says. "Certain legacy artists continue to sell forever, like Elvis, The Beatles. Michael will be repackaged endlessly and new generations can be introduced to the work through those packages."

Pointing to The Complete Remix Suite, a recent compilation of retooled Jackson tunes, Levy adds, "In the age of remixes, I would not say this music is over, particularly because so many artists talk about Jackson's influence on their work. There are any number of rappers, pop stars, R&B artists and veterans who would be thrilled and honored to collaborate on a Michael Jackson record."

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No a chance did these 2 iTunes even come close to emptying the 'vault'. This piece IMO is laughable.

LOL michael recorded so many songs so IDKJ when the vaults will be officially "empty"
i wouldn't mind if every few years the estate release am album of 12 or more UNRELEASED songs!

I want to hear those song michael recorded in 2009. There's quite a lot, they are most likely just short demos. But the Days in Gloucestershire snippet that leaked sounds pretty good.

And if they do ever release them, I hope they leave them untouched. I hate how best of joy had melodyne used on it. I would have liked to have heard the original demo also, but I know that's not gonna happen.

Gloucestershire? i want to hear that?

It's on youtube but I don't think I'm allowed to post it on here.

I always want more and more MJ. 

if u can PM it to me? or E-mailit to me? JW224
me too May

It's only like a 2 second snippet, but ok.

Yeah, there's still a lot, if you go here you can see the names of some unreleased tracks.

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Has anyone bought either of these collections?  I didn't like the sound of this article at all but I am a little concerned that we have only received Michael and a few new songs on Bad 25 in 4 yrs.  There was so much chatter about all the music Michael left behind after his death.  Raw or not - IDC.  I hope that the undeserved negativity about Michael isn't hindering other future albums.

jw224 - Thx. That's an interesting site. I wonder if there's music for these songs and where it is.

It's the US copyright site I think. And I remember reading somewhere that the estate won't be releasing all of Michaels unreleased songs, because they are very critical about the quality of them. And some of the copyright entries on that site say that it contains music only, and sometimes there's 2 of them for the same song, one with music only, and one with vocals.

wow cool JW224!!! why did Michael get such a bad "review"? i think its pretty epic. always a thrill to put on! what about the casico tracks, whats the diffrence between them and the others

The Cascio tracks are 12 songs that were allegedly recorded at Michaels friend Eddie Cascio's house in 2007. Many fans believe that the vocals are not michaels, but are the vocals of an impersonator known as jason malachi. This is wildly disputed as Sony said they had performed tests that proved the vocals were in fact michaels. Although many fans still dispute sonys findings, while many still believe the songs are real. I personally do not, but I respect other people's opinions. Michael got a bad "Review" because of this, in my opinion. All the other songs on there are awesome though. I especially love hollywood tonight. I still enjoy the cascio tracks though.

The 3 songs on Michael that are referred to as the "Cascio tracks" are Keep Your Head Up, Monster and Breaking News.  I personally believe they are Michael's vocals. Michael & PPB stayed with the Cascios for several months in 2007 and Michael worked with Eddie Cascio daily in a studio in their basement.  Also Michael told Frank Dileo he was working on new music w/ Eddie that he was excited about.  Plus it just sounds like Michael IMO.  That said, many believed otherwise and had reasons for their viewpoint. There were charges of auto tuning and over programming of Michael's voice to make it sound more polished/finished from the demos which also led to suspicion that it wasn't really Michael.  

The mudslinging and vitriol of the opposing sides that pervaded the MJ community before the album's release was shameful.  The only one who really got hurt was Michael.  The album's sales suffered.     Even if you take those 3 songs out, it was still an incredible album (I also love HT) and should have sold much better than it did.  I don't know what the final sales numbers were but they were lower than hoped for which was very disappointing for those who wanted it to do well.

Have any of you heard the ones that aren't on the album?

I have a couple of cd's that have unreleased tracks. Someone recorded them for me about 3 years ago. I have no idea where he got them from or how but they are great tracks and you can tell with some that they sound very much like the popular released tracks. I can guess that Michael picked out the best bits from the unreleased tracks so he could create the songs he wanted them to end up sounding like. When listening to them you can pick out parts where you can say 'Hey, this has hints of Billie Jean or Human Nature for example.

Awesome, I wish I had some unheard unreleased tracks lol. The only one I have are ones that can be found by using google and the 12 cascio tracks. And considering the fact I personally think they are fake they don't really count.

And I would share them if I had them. There are many people on soundcloud who claim to have unreleased tracks but refuse to share them, that annoys me.

that would annoy me too jw224 that usually means they really don't have any and they are just trying to show off, i've met my share of those kinds of ppl.

MJJpuresoul:  Are there names to any of the songs you have?  I know there are songs like Blue Gangsta and more on Youtube but I've rarely found full, complete songs however raw.  Most are just snippets of demos.  You are lucky to have the collection you have.  I support the Estate and all they've done but wish we could get more music and also DVDs.

I love the song hot street, that one's awesome.

The estate won't be releasing all of his music, which kind of sucks.

I really wonder why some of his music was never released, blue gangsta is amazing.

I agree, jw224.  If this stuff is on the internet, PLEASE give it to us in a new release!!  Fans wld go crazy for it.  I also wonder why more of MJ's performances haven't been released on DVD/HD/Blue Ray -- Ghosts, for example, is one of my absolute favorites.  When I was at Fanfest, they were showing a version of Michael doing Earth Song on the cherry picker which I had never seen before.  I have every DVD of MJ's concerts and never saw that particular version.  I asked several people where that clip came from -- no one knew.  Also why no Victory tour DVD?  I've supported the Estate from day one.  I think Branca is a genius for what he's done to resurrect Michael's legacy and acknowledge that he's more than had his hands full.  However I  can't help but being a bit disheartened by things that I wish were available 4 years later that aren't.
 

Hi corlista, you know what I haven't any idea what the songs are called because the CD's are blank. My friend just downloaded them for me as a surprise gift. It just says on the discs 'Demo's collection'. I'm really sorry I'm not able to help  

jw, I have never heard of Soundcloud before. What actually is it? is it like Napster? How mean of them.

I thought it was Sony that had all control over Michael's back catalogue and not the Estate?