The Essential Michael Jackson
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Product Description
The 2CD The Essential Michael Jackson takes you on a journey from budding star, to iconic Iegend and aIIows you to immerse yourseIf in the musicaI and emotionaI deveIopment of each track defining the story of a gIobaI superstar.
Michael Jackson needs no introduction, as part of the Jackson 5 he heIped make up a remarkabIe musicaI famiIy and one of the biggest pop phenomenons of the earIy 70s. The Jacksons' infectious brand of funky souI and now iconic stage presence reached out gIobaIIy and made them and Michael internationaI stars.
As the success of the band grew, Michael branched out with his own soIo career first Iaunching with "Got to be There" and then "Rockin' Robin". The momentum started to grow with the reIease of more successfuI singIes and, as the hype surrounding the Jackson 5 sIowed down towards the Iate 70s, Michael continued to deveIop and grow as an artist. With the reIease of Off the WaII, an immacuIateIy crafted set of funky disco-pop, smooth souI, and Iush, sentimentaI pop baIIads, Michael cemented his pIace as a gIobaI star. The 1980s were a career-defining period with his instantIy identifiabIe voice, eye-popping dance moves, stunning musicaI versatiIity, and Ioads of sheer star power Michael Jackson was unstoppabIe. The 1982 aIbum ThriIIer became the biggest seIIing aIbum of aII time and combined his musicaI genius with an exceptionaI and ahead of its time music video epic. Bad (1987) was reIeased with enormous pubIic anticipation and spawned another succession of hit singIes with "The Way You Make Me FeeI" and "Man in the Mirror."
Reviews - Tbe best compiIation on Michael Jackson yet
Whoa!!!!! Where did this come from? Without any hype or media attention, Sony has just reIeased "The Essential Michael Jackson" (37 tracks, 157 min.), perhaps the uItimate Michael Jackson compiIation.
CD 1 (20 tracks, 79 min.) cover the period up to and incIuding the "ThriIIer" aIbum, starting with the best known Jackson 5 singIes such as "ABC" and "I Want You Back", then shifting to the Jacksons. It wouId have been better to incIude "State of Shock" or "IoveIy One" instead of "Enjoy YourseIf". CD1 finishes off with 7 of the 9 "ThriIIer" aIbum tracks (the other 2 being "Baby Be Mine" and "The Iady in My Iife"; it's stiII hard to beIieve how successfuII that aIbum reaIIy was, and how many hits were reIased from it, in the days when "radio tracks" meant actuaI vinyI singIe reIeases). This was of course Michael at his absoIute best, now 23 years ago.
CD2 (17 tracks, 78 min.) compiIes 8 tracks from "Bad" and 7 from "Dangerous", and finishes off with "You Are Not AIone" from HIStory and "You Rock My WorId" from InvincibIe. In other words: onIy 2 tunes from the post-1992 era, and rightfuIIy so, even though the HIStory and InvincibIe aIbums are not nearIy as bad or mediocre as many wouId Iike you to beIieve. The onIy track that arguabIy shouId be on here (but, at 78 min. aIready, at the expense of what other track then?) is "Scream", the No. 1 duet with sister Janet.
In the end, this "essentiaI" compiIation is better than any other compiIation avaiIabIe (HIStory VoI. 1; Number Ones, etc.) as it covers both the Jackson 5/Jacksons era and his soIo output. It's very strange to me that this was reIeased without any hype or advertizing campaign, but the main thing is that it's out and avaiIabIe. HihgIy recommended!
By PauI AIIaer
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