Michael Jackson - Dangerous Demos

Back in June, shortly after Michael's passing, I posted these "demos" along with some rough mixes from Nirvana's Nevermind album. The post focused on the supposed story of how Nevermind went to number one because of post-holiday returns to record stores. I thought it was an interesting tale and I figured I would share it with my readers, yet without notification my post disappeared with the Nirvana tracks. I never got around to doing a new post about these Dangerous recordings, but now is as good a time as any, especially after it was brought to my attention that the site got mentioned at the LA Times' blog (thanks Scott!) and I'm sure people visiting the site would like more MJ!

This collection of tracks appears to represent an early version of the Dangerous album. The backing tracks are mostly complete but Michael's vocals are clearly not final takes in all places, so while they're not all finished versions they're definitely far from demos, but I'm not going to change the title as this is what they're generally referred to as. Also, I've seen this listed as having been sourced from a test pressing of the album, although this is rather unlikely with the tracks not being finished. As I understand it, these tracks are sourced from a DAT dating back to the early nineties which would explain the minor amounts of hiss contained herein.


Michael Jackson - Dangerous Demos
NOTE: You must download both parts to get the complete album.
Part One
Part Two
Sorry guys, links expired again. On top of that, they deleted this post without notifying me, AGAIN. I'm gonna leave this one off for the time being, but it may be reposted eventually. Drop me a line if you have any questions. Thanks!

01 Jam
This doesn't seem to be different from the album version.

02 In The Closet
Princess Stephanie is not present on this version of the song, so Michael voices her parts. The lyrics aren't quite finished.

03 Remember The Time
This doesn't seem terribly different from the album version if it is at all.

04 Black Or White
Basically the released version, although the intro is a little different.

05 Who Is It
06 Give In To Me
Both of these tracks are a little longer than the released versions and the lyrics are not quite finished. Slash is not present on Give In To Me.

07 Keep The Faith
08 Gone Too Soon
Both of these tracks seem to be the same as the finished versions.

09 Dangerous
This is a significantly different version of Dangerous. The lyrics are finished but the backing track is completely different. A slightly shorter version of this track was issued in the Ultimate Collection box-set.

10 What About Us
This is an early version of Earth Song.

11 Monkey Business
This was also released in the Ultimate Collection box, although it's debatable whether it's finished or not. It sounds pretty polished but there are moments when I can't make heads or tails as to what Michael is singing about.

12 For All Time
This song has quite a bit of history behind it. Originally recorded for Thriller, it was dropped late in the runnings but revived for potential use on Dangerous. The 1982 version was released on the 25th Anniversary edition of Thriller, although this version remains unreleased. Both versions are pretty similar to each other.

13 If You Don't Love Me
14 Serious Effect
Both of these tracks were left off Dangerous for obvious reasons. If You Don't Love Me doesn't fit with the mood of the album at all, as it's a lite dance/pop song. Serious Effect, on the other hand, is a pretty decent stab at a modernized James Brown groove. It boasts a rather unexpected guest appearance by LL Cool J which is pretty awesome! We may never hear the Run-DMC collaboration meant for Bad (I don't believe it got past the demo stage on Run-DMC's part.) but this is still pretty great. LL when he still had clout!