Undeniably The King of Pop and The King of Boxsets!

Regardless of Michael Jackson's current legal woes, there's no denying his remarkable musical (and dance) talents. The Ultimate Collection contains an awesome 57 songs on four CDs, spanning Michael's career from 1969 to 2004. Along with all the smash hits like I'll Be There, Thriller, Billy Jean, and Smooth Criminal, the CDs also contain a lot of rare and unreleased material for new and old fans alike. In addition to demos and early versions of his popular songs (Dangerous, Pretty Young Thing, and others), there are also never before released songs from the pop megastar spread throughout the CDs. For anyone who doubts that Michael still has musical talent, please do listen to We've Had Enough which was just recorded in 2004. That song is simply remarkable, I feel it is one of the best songs (vocally) that Michael has ever performed, and it sends a touching message to us all. Some of my other personal favorite unreleased tracks included Cheater, Scared Of The Moon, The Way You Love Me, and In The Back! Oh, and there is also a Solo version of the ever-so-popular We Are The World song which is stunning. All-in-all, there are 13 unreleased tracks included in the boxset.

Along with four CDs of pure music, a DVD is also included which includes a COMPLETE concert from the Dangerous era. The concert is so breath-taking and powerful that I could watch it again and again. I never had the experience of seeing a live performance by Michael (yet), but this is as close to one as you can get. Observe how emotionally moved the audience becomes, and watch Mike's dynamite dance moves that have yet to be matched. The concert lasts over 2 hours and includes 16 of Michael's all-time hits live. The DVD is worth the cost of the boxset by itself (in my opinion). Oh, and the quality of both the DVD and CDs are superb!

Thats not all though! You also get a 60-page booklet along with the boxset. It will take me some time to go through it all, as it is jam-packed with facts and pictures spanning from the time Michael was born. The book contains information for each track included with the boxset, a well-written biography of Michael Jackson and the Jacksons, a timeline of Michael's life complete with pictures of most albums and singles he has released. Awards and other bits of trivia are presented below each year. The last few pages contain 30 more pictures of Michael throughout the years. One other little cool feature of the booklet is that there is a small animation in it which features Michael moonwalking and more (as you flip the pages).

If you buy one boxset this year, make it this one. Even the design of the box is higher-quality than any other boxset I have purchased (comes in white and black designs). Nearly every song on the boxset has been a huge hit at one point, and listening to them again brings back some good memories and times. I do hope in my heart (for the family involved and Michael jackson) that he is innocent of the current allegations so he can continue to delight us all with his remarkable compositions. In my eyes, he will always be the true King of Pop!