unreleased

1) The 1975 – Settle Down

I love every single song from The 1975’s debut album but some tracks do get more listens than others! I neglected this song for quite a while but was recently reminded of how awesome it is. The slamming beats and funky guitar riffs contribute to its catchiness.

2) Gabrielle – I Wish

90’s R&B at its best with an awesome new jack swing vibe. Smooth, soulful with a message we can all relate to, this is an underrated beauty! Gabrielle has one of my favourite voices in Pop music and is worthy of far more credit than she receives. Many only know her for ‘Dreams’, ‘Out of Reach’ and ‘Rise’ but a listen to her Greatest Hits album proves her diversity and her level of talent. Love this.

3) Broken Social Scene – Major Label Debut

I watched ‘It’s Kind of a funny story’ for the first time last week and completely fell in love with it. Funny and moving, it tells the story of a teen boy who checks himself into a mental-health clinic. These guys did the score all the way through and this song played during the credits. It’s just a great feel-good song.

4) Queen & David Bowie – Under Pressure

One of Queen’s best songs and certainly one of my favourites. Gives me plenty of fond memories from performing in my school production of ‘We Will Rock You’ and from seeing the musical live in the West End twice. Bowie is a legend too of course. Irresistibly good.

5) Janet Jackson – That’s The Way Love Goes

Smooth and sultry, this song captures everything Janet Jackson is as an artist. Awesome production, clever sampling of James Brown’s ‘Papa don’t take no mess’ and a timeless song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUOkg4jFNus

6) Michael Jackson – Beautiful Girl

Stunning demo which appeared on Michael’s 2004 Ultimate Collection box set. The finished version (if it was ever fully completed) has never come to light but fans value this version greatly. Michael’s falsetto is gorgeous. Even his unreleased material was in a different league. Beautiful song.

7) S Club 7 – Sunshine

Track from the album with the same name, I’ve always adored this song. It’s so optimistic, so catchy and has an irresistible feel-good vibe. It’s a little bit more mature than some of their best known singles and Jon Lee’s voice is absolutely incredible on it. Some beautiful memories always return to me with this song.

8) S Club 7 – Have You Ever

Upon its release, I was never that fond of this track. Since their split, however, this song has found a place in my heart and it’s now one of my all time favourite S Club 7 songs. Written by one of my favourite songwriters Chris Braide along with Cathy Dennis (responsible for many of S Club 7’s material in addition to some of the best loved pop music over the past twenty years), this was released as Children in Need’s Official Single back in 2001. Beautiful, relatable lyrics, amazing vocals from Jo O’Meara and simply pop music at its best. Gorgeous.

9) S Club 7 – Two In A Million

Beautiful, mellow ballad from S Club 7’s début album and one of their more underrated singles. Jo O’Meara’s voice is absolutely incredible.

10) S Club 7 – S Club Party

This remains an absolute classic in the history of pop! Was very lucky to be able to experience this live once again when I saw a newly reformed S Club 7 perform live at the 02 Arena – the atmosphere was incredible during this song. Still much loved today.

NEW:

Album of the week:

Revolutionary Road: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack by Thomas Newman

Stunning score by my favourite composer, Thomas Newman. He’s been responsible for the scores of some of my favourite films e.g. American Beauty, The Green Mile & The Shawshank Redemption. His scores are always haunting and accompany any scene perfectly.

Today marks the fifth anniversary of Michael Jackson. Michael Jackson was and remains one of my musical and artistic idols and I was gutted at his death. These days, my obsession levels with the king of pop have decreased a little but he remains one of my heroes and I am still a huge, die-hard fan.

I thought I would share a playlist as a celebration of Michael’s contribution to music and the entertainment industry. This playlist is a collection of unreleased or little known tracks that I believe are as good as Michael’s released works. The aim is for those who haven’t heard these before to fall in love with at least one of them!

18 Greatest MJ unreleased tracks

1) For all time

An absolutely gorgeous track. This surfaced on the internet many years ago before a remastered version was stuck on the release of Thriller 25. I’m not keen on the remastered version, however. There’s very little different about it but there’s some extra instrumentation that just seems to remove some of the magic from the low quality version that still exists. I’ve embedded my preferred version!

2) Love never felt so good

Technically it’s now released but not in Michael’s lifetime. This is an Off The Wall-era track which is so catchy and fantastic. I’ve embedded Michael’s original demo. Do love the new versions though, including the one with Justin Timberlake!

3) Carousel

An outtake from Thriller. I really love the melody to this. I think it’s right that it wasn’t included on the final version of Thriller as it wouldn’t have fit in with the rest of the tracks but it’s a lovely song all the same.

4) The way you love me

Two versions of this exist. The first appeared on the definitive Michael Jackson box set – 2004’s Ultimate Collection as a demo (which sounded like a finished product). I always loved this. It then appeared on the controversial posthumous album ‘Michael’ back in 2010. I love both versions. Just such a happy, beautifully written song. I’ve embedded the original demo

5) Best of joy

It’s sickly sweet and a little repetitive but this is a gorgeous song that was included on the first posthumous MJ album, ‘Michael’ in 2010.

6) Beautiful Girl

A smooth, soulful track that appeared on The Ultimate Collection back in 2004.

7) Scared of the moon

Another beautiful song that appeared on The Ultimate Collection. Many fans aren’t as keen on this but I think it’s truly beautiful. It’s apparently an outtake from Bad.

8) Trouble

An outtake from Thriller, this was eventually recorded by Musical Youth. SO catchy. It wouldn’t have fit in on Thriller, however.

Michael’s version:

Musical Youth’s version:

9) Elizabeth I love you

Michael wrote this song and performed it for his friend Elizabeth Taylor at her 65th Birthday Gala in 1997. This was the only time we heard the song as a studio version isn’t known to exist. Beautiful, cleverly written song.

10) I am a loser

A demo of this appeared around a year after Michael’s death. You can tell it’s not finished as it has very little instrumentation. Beautiful song, however.

11) Xscape (Original version)

This appeared on the internet back in 2002. The version that appears on the latest posthumous MJ album is far inferior and an awful interpretation. Check out the original version. It’s funky, catchy and an MJ classic.

12) What more can I give

A planned charity single written by Michael Jackson before Sony refused to release and promote it. It therefore never fully saw light of day. Plenty of stars on this – Nsync, Beyonce, Usher, Celine Dion, Michael himself amongst others. A truly beautiful song that should have been released.

13) Joy

Gorgeous song co-written by Michael with his Dangerous album producer Teddy Riley. Michael wrote the melody and backgrounds before deciding he wasn’t happy with it. He gave permission for Teddy Riley to finish the song lyrically and record it with his band BlackStreet for their debut album in 1994.

Here’s the eventual version by Blackstreet:

And a snippet of Michael’s original idea:

14) To Satisfy You

Another fantastic song co-written by Michael with Bryan Loren. Again, Michael wasn’t happy with this so he gave it to his co-writer who released it as a solo effort. Love how soulful this is and the use of the strings. The version on the net is sung by Bryan Loren with Michael singing the chorus.

15) Mind is the magic

Written by Michael and Dangerous era collaborator Bryan Loren. Catchy as hell. It was written in 1989 before being re-written for German illusionists Siegfried and Roy for one of their stage shows.

16) Someone put your hand out

A smooth and beautiful song written by Michael with Dangerous producer Teddy Riley for the Dangerous album. Found its way around thorough its inclusion on rare MJ releases.

17) On the line

Gorgeous ballad which should have been released. Recorded for a Spike Lee movie but wasn’t featured on the soundtrack album. Written by Babyface (Bobby Brown, Whitney Houston, Boyz II Men, Beyonce and many more).

18) We’ve had enough

Powerful song which found it’s way onto 2004’s Ultimate Collection. Dramatic and an awesome song.

Tag: unreleased

The forgotten Michael Jackson songs. A Celebration of life through unreleased and rare songs.