June 30, 2009

Michael Jackson - HIStory - PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE - Book I

Here’s a really good remembrance of Michael Jackson from a guy who was involved in creating this album: Michael Jackson at the Hit Factory.  Random quotes:

One morning MJ came in with a new song he had written overnight. We called in a guitar player, and Michael sang every note of every chord to him. “here’s the first chord first note, second note, third note. Here’s the second chord first note, second note, third note”, etc., etc. We then witnessed him giving the most heartfelt and profound vocal performance, live in the control room through an SM57.

He would sing us an entire string arrangement, every part. Steve Porcaro once told me he witnessed MJ doing that with the string section in the room. Had it all in his head, harmony and everything. Not just little eight bar loop ideas. he would actually sing the entire arrangement into a micro-cassette recorder complete with stops and fills.

At one point Michael was angry at one of the producers on the project because he was treating everyone terribly. Rather than create a scene or fire the guy, Michael called him to his office/lounge and one of the security guys threw a pie in his face. No further action was needed … . .

If you can enjoy the style of music, taken outside of the context of the intensely artificial newsscape built around him, it’s an incredible work of mankind, a product of a huge number of people focused on one goal, working intently without rest to achieve it, like Star Wars or the Statue of Liberty.

If you can’t enjoy the music, or can’t ignore the context, then it’s just “wacky Jackson” or whatever.

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Tags: Michael Jackson popular idiom story studio production process
September 16, 2008
[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

Saw Horse - Raised By Robots (track starts quiet/noisy)

I still like this album.  It’s a little episodic, and for that reason it works best knowing the story: a radio becomes sentient, and when it realizes it is trapped in a metal chassis it has words to say.  In that context, the episodes are like the radio flipping itself through the stations, falling back into the static, dropping in and out of the middle of different sounds.

This account did occur to me while I was making it, but not as a directive.  I have to admit, the process of making and putting together was dominant, and various stories arose as necessary.  But the stories work.

I’m really grateful to Emily Brock, Linda Kelen, and Lea Brock for sending me their thoughts about this album.

Many musicians say that they do or don’t listen to their own works.  I listen to mine, and not just narcissistically, and not just because I enjoy them.  Often, I can’t believe that they work, so I’ll see if I was justified in leaving them in whatever state.

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Tags: Raised By Robots Saw Horse process radio self story tim zach parker