If Michael Jackson mania has faded in the 13 months since his death, get ready for it to begin again. Plans are in place for a new album from the Jackson vaults – a collection of unreleased songs, due in November.
According to Rolling Stone, the compilation will include 10 previously unreleased tracks, chosen from more than 100 songs that Jackson's former manager, Frank DiLeo, claims are in the archives. It's not clear whether the compilation will feature B-sides and out-takes, or if fans will be expected to pay for alternate versions of old hits. The first posthumous Michael Jackson album, last year's This Is It, interspersed his greatest hits with alternate mixes, a spoken-word track, and an unreleased song, co-written with Paul Anka.
DiLeo confirmed comments made by Tommy Mottola, former head of Sony Music, who said that Jackson had "over-recorded" for each of his albums by making 10 to 20 extra tracks, any of which "could have been as big a hit as the ones that came out". Jackson's estate has signed a $250m, seven-year deal to release this music through Sony Music, and DiLeo insists there's a little of everything, from Thriller out-takes to new tracks recorded with Will.I.Am and Akon. "There are a couple of songs we recorded for the Bad album that we had to cut that are just sensational," he said.
Last week, producer Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins, who worked on Jackson's final studio album, confirmed that he was working on a posthumous Jackson collection. "It's definitely going to come," he told VladTV, "but it takes time. You got to do a lot of the red tape." It is unclear if this is the same compilation due in November.
