Taraborelli Reviews ‘MICHAEL’

Today, Randy Taraborelli, Michael’s self-proclaimed, longtime friend, told CBS’s ‘Early Show,’ that he was invited by Michael’s Estate, to hear the album before anyone else, and says it is up to Michael’s exacting standards.

Taraborrelli called it, “A great album… it really shows you Michael’s versatility.  I mean, this album shows, you know, his range in Pop, R&B, Hip-Hop, even a little bit of country.”

After playing a snippet of the single ‘Breaking News,’ anchor Harry Smith, asked Taraborrelli to weigh in on the debate over whether the vocals are truly Michael’s.

“Well, you know, the estate did its due diligence in this regard,” Taraborelli said. “I mean, they talked to many people who worked with Michael Jackson over the years; artists, producers, arrangers, recording engineers; and they played the songs for forensic musicologists, two independent musicologists… Well, these guys actually analyze the sound, and they both came back with the same conclusion, that it was undoubtedly Michael Jackson, so I think everybody here did what they were supposed to do. The family had these concerns and they raised them, as well they should have, and the Estate did what it should have done, which was to clear it up.”

He elaborated, in a statement to TheWrap:

“The Estate and Sony, did its due diligence, where the matter of the vocals are concerned, and gave me a chance to review all of the evidence they gathered, to prove it is MJ on ‘Breaking News.’  I also got a statement from Bruce Swedien, who was the recording engineer on ‘Thriller,’ ‘Bad,’ and just about all of Michael’s adult hits. He knows Jackson’s voice like no other recording engineer, and he confirmed for me that the voice is MJ’s.”

Taraborrelli added, “I was in the studio with Michael for much of ‘Thriller’ and ‘Bad’ and, actually, on songs going all the way back to the Motown days, and so I know how he worked. He often laid down demo vocals, or ‘scratch’ vocals, with the intention of going back in later and perfecting them.

The vocal on ‘Breaking News,’ sounds like a rough, unpolished performance to my ears, not the polished and perfected and fully realized MJ., we know and love, but MJ., as an interesting work in progress.”

The album of ten previously unreleased songs, ‘MICHAEL,’ will be released on Tuesday December 14th, in the United States.

Source: thewrap.com & MJWN