something like that don't stop til you get enough home recording demo kind of prove that it's not all about the production
― ( ͡☉ ͜ʖ ͡☉) (jim in vancouver), Monday, 28 January 2019 19:19 (five years ago) link
I remember lot of the "oh, Quincy's the REAL genius behind those records!" stuff coming from insufferable jazz snobs (usually along the lines of, "See?! Jazz musicians can make hit records any time we want! We just don't want to because it's, like, squaresville, daddy-o!").
Meanwhile when I listen to Jones' big band arrangements, they sound like too-slick finger-popping wallpaper music for coffee commercials.
― grawlix (unperson), Monday, 28 January 2019 19:26 (five years ago) link
I think his real gift was as an arranger, not as a producer.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 28 January 2019 19:27 (five years ago) link
i like coffee
― sarahell, Monday, 28 January 2019 19:28 (five years ago) link
Quincy Jones's real gift is living. See his Netflix doc.
― dinnerboat, Monday, 28 January 2019 19:37 (five years ago) link
― grawlix (unperson), Monday, January 28, 2019 2:26 PM (seven minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
Some of his small-group arrangements are ok, but when an orchestra or big band gets involved, the results are usually unimaginative at best, and frequently dull. And some of his '50s arrangements -- particularly something like Art Farmer's Last Night When We Were Young -- are instantly-dated slushy harp-fests.
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Monday, 28 January 2019 19:40 (five years ago) link
re MJ - without in any way wishing to condone or minimise the atrocity of his actions, it is so painfully clear that this is what must have happened to him as a boy.
― an incoherent crustacean (MatthewK), Monday, 28 January 2019 21:14 (five years ago) link
one thing that is interesting is how people reluctant to give Michael his due (often for very meritorious reasons) are quick to credit quincy jones w/ the sleek power of his best records. but for all QJ's talents, if you look at what he was working on in the late 1970s and through the 1980s, pretty much none of it is anywhere near as memorable as his work w/ MJ. a late period Lena Horne record? Patti Austin? some of the more mediocre Rufus and Donna Summer LPs? the only classic among QJ's productions of that era, other than MJ, is George Benson's "Give Me the Night" (single, not full LP). so whatever MJ brought to the table and/or brought out in QJ is immense. it doesn't hurt that they probably had songwriters lining up to place their best songs w/ MJ.
― breastcrawl, Monday, 28 January 2019 21:21 (five years ago) link
I still marvel at the fact that "The Girl is Mine" not only made Thriller but was the first single off it
― frogbs, Monday, 28 January 2019 21:22 (five years ago) link
thanks for stanning for Donna Summer and Brothers Johnson.
― Your sweetie-pie-coo-coo I love ya (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 28 January 2019 21:24 (five years ago) link
Jones' "Summer in the city" is amazing of course
― brimstead, Monday, 28 January 2019 21:24 (five years ago) link
thanks for stanning for /Donna Summer/ and Brothers Johnson.
― breastcrawl, Monday, 28 January 2019 22:07 (five years ago) link
:)
i was too hasty in my dismissal of some of those other albums. i still don't think they measure up to the MJ stuff, esp. in their songwriting.
btw i am trying to make some sort of pun inverting the whole shangri-las "he's good-bad, but he's not evil" to say something like "michael jackson's not bad, he's evil," with reference to his hit record bad (get it??) but i just can't seem to form it correctly. any assistance is much appreciated, thanks in advance.
― affects breves telnet (Gummy Gummy), Tuesday, 29 January 2019 03:15 (five years ago) link
xp Right on Time rules
― Nhex, Tuesday, 29 January 2019 05:30 (five years ago) link
I think this broader conversation to some extent exposes how much of the r Kelly convo was enabled by the fact that in some circles he was *never* taken seriously whereas mj was universally so, and we will see ppl flip. Ie Questlove is apparently an MJ truther?
I think a lot of the convos I’d hear about mj’s strange appearance were that he was like a more extreme version of a baseball player risking his health using steroids: the world’s most competitive, driven musician doing everything he could to become the most popular artist in the world—in a world that’s fundamentally anti black. He was driven to the point of self mutilation.
― ILX’s bad boy (D-40), Wednesday, 30 January 2019 12:54 (five years ago) link
Except wasn't Michael the most popular, successful artist *before* he did all that?
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 30 January 2019 14:11 (five years ago) link
Not really, the transformation work between his first solo record and his second pales compared to what subsequently happened but people were shocked at the time of the Mowtown 25 gig not just by Billie Jean and the moonwalk but by the radical transformation in MJs appearance.
― Acting Crazy (Instrumental) (jed_), Wednesday, 30 January 2019 14:24 (five years ago) link
I dunno, I just did some googling and he generally looks the same to me up to 1983 or so. The big changes came after the Pepsi fire.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 30 January 2019 14:28 (five years ago) link
https://spinditty.com/artists-bands/The-Changing-Face-of-Michael-Jackson
― Trϵϵship, Wednesday, 30 January 2019 14:29 (five years ago) link
He had some work on his nose it seems before 85 but nothing that fundamentally changed his appearance. Around 87 he starts to look like a different person.
― Trϵϵship, Wednesday, 30 January 2019 14:30 (five years ago) link
nose job plus losing the afro was a pretty big shift
― illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Wednesday, 30 January 2019 14:31 (five years ago) link
Losing the afro is a change of hairstyle. Everyone does that. If you look at his face he is obviously still the guy on the cover of off the wall. By the late 80s the whole gestalt is different
― Trϵϵship, Wednesday, 30 January 2019 14:33 (five years ago) link
By 93 there is like no trace of him left. That’s when plastic surgery gets eerie
― Trϵϵship, Wednesday, 30 January 2019 14:34 (five years ago) link
the point is that people were shocked at the time. the differences seem minimal in hindsight, obviously, jesus.
― Acting Crazy (Instrumental) (jed_), Wednesday, 30 January 2019 14:35 (five years ago) link
I remember seeing the Bad album cover and being like wuuuut is going on here
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Wednesday, 30 January 2019 14:36 (five years ago) link
He tried to throw people off the scent by dressing in military couture, but for some reason that only attracted *more* attention.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 30 January 2019 14:39 (five years ago) link
the transformation work between his first solo record and his second (Off The Wall was his fifth solo LP! though the previous two weren’t hits, he’d had a #1 single off the second, top tens off the first, and Motown cranked out a best-of just months after the second, padded with Jackson 5 material.)
― sans lep (sic), Wednesday, 30 January 2019 14:43 (five years ago) link
Jermaine this morning on U.K. tv;
https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/news/jermaine-jackson-leaving-neverland-michael-children-allegations-good-morning-britain-a8753851.html
― piscesx, Wednesday, 30 January 2019 14:43 (five years ago) link
xxp I remember a good thread somewhere about the Jacksons' use of fascist imagery, cannot find it anywhere though
― mfktz (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Wednesday, 30 January 2019 14:46 (five years ago) link
treesh i lived through it! his look on thriller caused waves! it's true that at that point it wasn't seen as pathological
― illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Wednesday, 30 January 2019 14:47 (five years ago) link
But he doesn't look that different on the Thriller jacket! His hair, yes, but that's about it!
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 30 January 2019 14:53 (five years ago) link
*throws hands in air**segues into thriller dance*
― illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Wednesday, 30 January 2019 15:01 (five years ago) link
yea I remember hearing that he'd heard something about Rolling Stone not featuring a lot of black artists b/c they sold less magazines, and concluded he couldn't be the biggest in the world as a black man. makes a lot of sense, especially considering his "100 million" sales goal for Bad which is pretty lol in retrospect
― frogbs, Wednesday, 30 January 2019 15:07 (five years ago) link
His hair, yes, but that's about it!If you don’t count his nose and his chin, sure.
― sans lep (sic), Wednesday, 30 January 2019 15:08 (five years ago) link
and his cheeks
― Acting Crazy (Instrumental) (jed_), Wednesday, 30 January 2019 15:14 (five years ago) link
jfc the pics from '85-'95. I forgot about that weird ass chin implant
can't wait to see one of these on Elon Musk in about 10 years
― frogbs, Wednesday, 30 January 2019 15:14 (five years ago) link
"dating grimes was elon musk's thriller" would be a good display name
― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Wednesday, 30 January 2019 15:24 (five years ago) link
iirc the weirdest thing about his look circa thriller was that wrist thing
http://www.feelnumb.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/michael-jackson-bone-protruding-thriller-album-fold-out.jpg
― mookieproof, Wednesday, 30 January 2019 15:26 (five years ago) link
what the fuck
― valet doberman (Jon not Jon), Wednesday, 30 January 2019 15:36 (five years ago) link
i’ve never noticed that beforewhat is it?
― Squeaky Fromage (VegemiteGrrl), Wednesday, 30 January 2019 15:36 (five years ago) link
i can't explain the wrist, but it's from the inside foldout image on the thriller lp
― mookieproof, Wednesday, 30 January 2019 15:38 (five years ago) link
lol first I thought you were talking about the tiger.
Anyway, those are his web shooters iirc.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 30 January 2019 15:55 (five years ago) link
There's the matter of makeup, lighting, photography, etc., but if you look at his face on the cover of Thriller (the album) and Thriller (the song), yeah, he's starting to look different. But I still think it's not radical until a few years later.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 30 January 2019 15:56 (five years ago) link
Just looks like he has a firm grip on the tiger trying to keep it in place.
― peace, man, Wednesday, 30 January 2019 16:00 (five years ago) link
specially devised tubes for sucking out the baby tiger's life essence iirc
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 30 January 2019 16:21 (five years ago) link
this historical debate over his shifting looks is a little odd - his look for Thriller was definitely shocking at the time, there were playground jokes about his nosejob/skin lightening among my world of young ppl. What came after is beside the point, ppl had no idea how weird he was going to get.
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 30 January 2019 16:23 (five years ago) link
yea I mean as someone whose first memory of Michael Jackson was the "Black or White" video it was really stunning to see what he *used* to look like
― frogbs, Wednesday, 30 January 2019 16:25 (five years ago) link
My band is finally finishing our magnum opus of New Orleans brass band versions of MJ songs, which we've been slowly working on for like...7 years. Cool timing. :/
― change display name (Jordan), Wednesday, 30 January 2019 16:32 (five years ago) link
yikes bad timing
― frogbs, Wednesday, 30 January 2019 16:35 (five years ago) link
jordan :(
let's not forget mj's amazing dancing skillshe put them to some pretty weird use over the years but his natural skill was undeniable i remember the abundant crotch-grabbing being scandalous at the time
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Wednesday, 30 January 2019 17:29 (five years ago) link