Michael Jackson's Ultimate Collection Box Set: Is It Necessary?

When I received word that a Michael Jackson box set was coming out, I was both excited and confused. The excitement was because, well, I'm a huge fan, and anything MJ related that comes out, I go and get. But for everyone else? Is it necessary? It's only been a year since MJ's Number Ones was released, and since then, we've seen The Jacksons Essentials and The Jacksons Story released. MJ fans are used to waiting years for new MJ music and for me, all of this comes rushed in one year. I'm sure some of this is capitalizing on his name being in the media, some of this label related, and probably all not his idea. But the main question seems to be, "Is it necessary?"

For Michael Jackson fans, we have the majority of what's on here. The big deal for us is that this release contains 13 previously unreleased songs (some of which I've heard before, most I have not) and a DVD of a full concert in Bucharest that happened during his Dangerous tour. I may be wrong, but this concert may have originally been shown on HBO.

For the not so huge Michael Jackson fans, the main reason for getting this will be because it could be one of his last releases under his control (or sort of his control). As a box set, it should encapsulate his entire career and should be the end all, be all release. If this is the end, does it do the best job possible of picking out the best of the Michael Jackson catalog? Probably not the best, but it comes pretty close.

For the music part of this box set, it's broken out into 4 discs. The first disc deals with his early fame through his first adult release, Off The Wall. ABC, I Want You Back, and I'll Be There are predictably on the first disc. As are Dancin' Machine and possibly the four most memorable songs from his Off The Wall album in Rock With You, Don't Stop Till You Get Enough, the title track, and She's Out Of My Life. While the first eight tracks are obvious, the next two are not. Ease On Down The Road and You Can't Win are fine ear candy, but are probably on here more because they aren't as easy to find as some of his hits rather than because they are stand out tracks. Possibly the best you can say about those tracks are that they were produced in a time in which MJ worked with Quincy Jones for the first time, on the set of the movie The Wiz. There are only three actual Jackson 5 songs (the entire crew being intact rather than MJ solo songs) and four Jacksons (minus Jermaine with Randy) songs. The stuff that will make rabid fans happy is that included is a demo of Shake Your Body (Down To The Ground) called Shake A Body. MJ blueprints what eventually becomes Shake Your Body here in raw form. Lastly, included with this first disc is Sunset Driver which is an unreleased song from right around his early adult years. It's a pretty good song, and probably a hard omission from one of his early albums.

The one song that needed to be on here for me is Never Can Say Goodbye. It's my favorite Jackson 5 slow jam of all time.

The second disc deals with only things from the Thriller era. The obvious songs on here include Beat It, Billie Jean, and Thriller. I think those are three must haves on any MJ mix. I probably have Billie Jean on no less than five CD's I've bought in my life. A damn fine extra is the inclusion of a completely different version of PYT. It's a slowed down version of the what would become the frenetic song that ended up on the album. PYT was never a favorite of mine, but it was a fun, danceable song and included a chipmunk like chorus that is memorable. But for my money, this is a better song. Two songs that shouldn't have been included are The Girl Is Mine with Paul McCartney and State Of Shock with Mick Jagger. The McCartney song is the most boring song on Thriller and the song with Jagger has zero character and has MJ shelving his awesome vocals to sound like a black version of Mick. Also, I'm not sure why Someone In The Dark which is also known as the ET song was included here as it was included in the rerelease of Thriller. Two gems are Scared Of The Moon which is MJ singing softly and telling a story behind only piano backing and the blueprint to what would eventually become We Are The World. MJ sings the entire song by himself and does it well. He even includes the infamous, "Sha la, sha lingay" chorus that he wanted on the actual song. If this version included Ray Charles at the end, I'd actually prefer this one to what was actually recorded, but there's no Brother Ray, so I guess the previously released version is slightly better.

One oddity is that Human Nature isn't included here. MJ didn't include it on his first greatest hits album, History and it's omitted again here.

Discs three and four are sad in comparison. Not sad because the music is bad. But sad because he or Sony didn't think much of Dangerous, History, or Invincible. All three albums have songs included from them, but here is where we see most of the unreleased music. It's almost as if they are trying to tell us that his first three albums are worthy, but the other three really aren't. And while the first three albums were definitely more popular, as a whole, Dangerous is right there as far as musical accomplishment. It featured a new sound for MJ as he hired Teddy Riley to help take him into the 90's and in my opinion, it worked almost as well as his 80's Quincy Jones sound. I said almost. Why Dangerous gets the short end of the stick I think has more to do with the fact that the 90's were not a good time for MJ in general, and most people think of that album as a time when things started downhill for him.

Disc three is split into half Bad and half Dangerous. However, there is only one unreleased song from the first half. On the second half, there's four songs out of the seven that weren't on Dangerous. Take all the awesome songs on Bad, and they are here including a very fun song from that era called Cheater that was most likely a last minute omission from the album. But to represent Dangerous, only Jam, Remember The Time, and the not so great Black Or White are included. The "extras" include an early version of the title track, and let's just say that while it's interesting, what was released on the album is much better. Or maybe just more finished. Who Is It isn't in it's glorious original form. We get the remix, which takes away all the heart of the song in my opinion. Luckily, two of the songs included are good. Monkey Business starts off very hokey as Bubbles, MJ's chimp screams for the first 20 seconds. But, it's one of those deep, almost weird songs where MJ gets really involved, and damn near angry in. But he sings his rear end off in strong fashion. Someone Put Your Hand Out is also a fine song and if you can stand MJ singing mostly in his falsetto, you can hear a very radio friendly pop tune. This was supposedly released on a tape single during a promotion with Pepsi in the very late 80's.

No In The Closet? They just kept it in the closet?

The last disc is pretty darn interesting. With the exception of Childhood all the originally released songs from History and Invincible are fine. But, because of the fact that Sony or MJ decided that disc four was the perfect disc to add unreleased material, we don't get many of the originally released tunes. That is sort of a double edged sword. Invincible was possibly MJ's best disc ever of slow jams. It was heavy on the heartfelt love songs. However, only Butterflies is showcased from the slow jams. Songs like Break Of Dawn (which was released on last year's Number Ones), Heaven Can Wait, You Are My Life, and Don't Walk Away could've been on here if not for the unreleased material. You Rock My World, which I actually love, and Unbreakable, which is fine, but not a top five song on the CD, are here. As for History, MJ's biggest hit in the last ten years You Are Not Alone represents. The classic underrated Stranger In Moscow is also here. But Childhood which is one of his more personal songs, really kills the momentum. MJ loves these type of songs that show his pain, but as fans, you really don't care. You just want to hear good music. Also included is Blood On The Dance Floor from the mistake release that was of the same name. It's a much better song than anyone gives it credit for being, but sounds very much like other songs he's done in better fashion. In what could be the biggest mistake of the entire CD, the great song that is They Don't Care About Us isn't included. However, they make it up.

Disc 4 includes two songs that might be two of the best songs on this disc. On The Line is an inspirational song that I included as the number 7 on my Michael Jackson Sweet Seventeen review. Fall Again is THE song that makes this set worthwhile. Fall Again is the treasure that's found amidst some of questionable decisions. It's a sweet sounding ballad in which MJ sings about taking the relationship back to the beginning. Just the gem off the extras on this four disc set. Beautiful Girl, The Way You Love Me, and We Had Enough are all above average priorly unreleased MJ tunes with the first being the most different sounding track in MJ's career.

Where is Whatever Happens, possibly the best song on Invincible?

I could probably write another review about the DVD that's included here, but this might already be the longest review of my Epinions career. I'll add a stream of consciousness below.

- Why the concert in Bucharest?
- Why is he wearing what looks like a male leotard?
- Tons and tons of energy.
- He's spacey singing Human Nature even forgetting to sing at times to watch himself dance.
- Does Smooth Criminal ever disappoint?
- Is that really what Seidah Garrett looks like? Maybe that's not her.
- Why is his hand going down her crotch?
- For people who say his voice changed, they are dead wrong. Just listen to him sing She's Out Of My Life here which would've been over 10 years after he recorded it. It's the same. Maybe the style is slightly different, but the vocals are the same.
- Does he always cry after he sings this song?
- Why are these white dudes impersonating Jermaine, Tito, Jackie, and Marlon?
- Who's this dude singing Tito's spot on I'll Be There? Wait, or is that Tito?
- Even though Thriller isn't one of my favorite songs, it is cool watching him dance the same choreography as the video.
- I can see the moonwalk 50 times in a row, have people tell me how easy it really is to do, see a trained monkey do it, and still be amazed when I see MJ do it.
- If you could rank or score rhythm, would MJ have the perfect 1600 score like the smart guys get on the SAT?
- Blue leather pants don't make the man, that's for sure.
- Why does that red leather jacket make me smile?
- Isn't Will You Be There supposed to be a non sexual song? Then why is MJ drawing attention to his pilly packer?
- Ok, that guy couldn't have been Tito because he's also doing the rapping on Black Or White
- Are you really supposed to cry hearing Heal The World?

Good concert, but I've seen better 15 minute spots of him performing at award shows.

Is this CD/DVD set necessary? A slightly resounding yes in my book even though there are a few missteps. Both MJ die hard and non die hard fans alike should enjoy this release.

Great Music to Play While: Trying To Cheat At The Moonwalk Doing It In Your Socks