I have to admit, ever since 1995's double-disc HIStory, a ego and paranoid driven collection with 1 disc being a hit collection and disc 2 being the paranoid/angry side of MJ, I have been waiting for a percise compilation of MJ's Sony/Epic years. Now,the wait is finally over. The Ultimate Collection was released today and for the first time on a Michael Jackson compilation (excluding the 1995 Jackson 5 boxset, Soulsation! and MJ's motown years collection, Anthology), has a MJ compilation have rare and unreleased stuff. Plus, a DVD with an unreleased concert. But, the question is?- is this the ultimate MJ dream collection? Can this really be a must-buy for MJ fans and casual fans alike? And will this be a Chirstmas gift best-seller? Although there are a couple of lacking flaws with the box set, including some of the tracklistings, is this the best compilation offering MJ's Sony/Epic solo career? What do you think of the package overall?
[Edited 11/16/04 19:36pm]

Wish I had it

I wont be gettin it 4 a while. Due 2 Financial issues.

this set makes no sense. A casual fan wouldn't want all that unreleased shit, and a more-than-casual fan already has 85% of the content.

Yeah, casual fans should always stick with Number Ones or at least HIStory. Sometimes, casual fans just want one album by an artist and their best bet would be buying a box set, because it's simply one extensive compilation they will ever need to discover an artist's talent in full detail.

My only complaint is the lack of certain songs.

I think the following should have been included:

Working Day & Night
I Can't Help It
Human Nature
In The Closet
Will You Be There
Scream
Earth Song
They Don't Care About Us
Morphine
Break Of Dawn
Whatever Happens

Other than that, it's fine.

Cloudbuster said:[quote]My only complaint is the lack of certain songs.

I think the following should have been included:

Working Day & Night
I Can't Help It
Human Nature
In The Closet
Will You Be There
Scream
Earth Song
They Don't Care About Us
Morphine
Break Of Dawn
Whatever Happens

I agree 100% with u, this box set should've had them and Whatever Happens is a jam from that Invincible CD with Carlos Santana playing the guitar. I have all of the 5 special editions of his legendary albums from 1979-1991 Sony released back in 2001. I really advise people to get those first and then check this out because it's really for hardcores who buy that hard to find MJ stuff.
[Edited 11/17/04 11:15am]

silverchild said:

This is NOT for the casual fan.Number Ones satisfies the casual fan.

The boxset is for the sirius music fans, a collectors' item

the unreleased stuff looks interesting, and is a nice inclusion (the only reason to buy it, really). but from the tracklist, for me, it looks like it'll be joining Sound + Vision and To Be Continued as nice collector's items that don't really live up to the possibilities.

i didn't bother with number ones due to the fact that i had all the content

i might get this

Is it out in the UK? if it is i'll be buying it asap.

It's got the song from Captian EO...which amazed me...that's not all I need, but it is one of the reasons I will get this.

im getting it for the new tracks and the fuckin dvd.

who doesn't want a dvd with MJ performing? it's insanity if you dont.
MJ is the best performer of our time and influenced other top artists like Janet, Madonna and the other teen stars of today.
without him many of the entertainers wouldnt exist.

If MJ touched hundreds of children, it doesn't effect my view of his talent.
So fuck you all and buy it.

jayaredee said:

Prince is the best performer of our time-if he touches himself or not doesn't affect my view of his talent. I did buy the MJ set-mostly for the DVD.

I was tempted to get it but Meijer didn't even have in stock, which tells me that Sony really doesn't think of this as a high priority. The Bon Jovi set seems to be getting a bigger push...and that is not even a "Best Of" box set...it's "outakes, unreleased, demos, etc."! It looks good, but is missing quite a few hits.

I'm going to wait until they release the DVD as a stand-alone item. Because they will. They know that most fans are not willing to dish out the cash for 4 discs of material they (mostly) have 1500x over, so they put the DVD on there. But in a few years, they'll start releasing his live tours.

I don't think it will sell well unless the radio starts playing some of the songs that are must-haves and can only be gotten by buying this set. OR, if they sell the thing for $9.99 or less.

VoicesCarry said:

I agree.

jayaredee said:

I don't want it either. It's a copy of his Bucharest show from the Dangerous tour. Half (or more) of the show is lipsynched, the songs he doesn't lipsynch sound pretty bad, and the choreography is overblown (Smooth Criminal and Thriller are just the epitome of ridicliousness).

By this point, MJ really had lost the plot, or at least as far as stage performance was concerned.

Anyway, I've read other places that Sony is planning on releasing the show on a seperate DVD; possibly at the same time the box shows up on shelves.

jayaredee said:

There are some rumours circulating that a separete live DVD will be released. not clear which tour or when though.

So if your buying it just for the DVD wait a little more, to hear if it true or not.

LightOfArt said:

But why wouldn't you want four discs of MJ love?

SUPPORT MJ AND HIS LOVE

and by the way the songs that were mimed are:
Jam(until the rap part)
Heal The World(live adlibs)
Man In The Mirror(live adlibs)
Thriller(was live util the man put on the mask)


Completely Live Songs:
Startin Somethin
Human Nature
Smooth Criminal
I Just Can't Stop Loving You
She Is Out Of My Life
J5 Medley
Billie Jean
Will You Be There
Black Or White

Dangerous Tour is great, most exciting in my opinion.

jayaredee said:

I'm buying it for sure, it's not released in UK yet

LightOfArt said:

You live in the UK?
Oh dear, well you can probably import it. Though i have no clue when they're releasing it in the UK.

jayaredee said:

no, but I have a region 2 DVD player so I'll order it from amazon.co.uk. They're cheaper online.

22 Novemer

Cloudbuster said:

That's basically anutha disc, but again, fans have all those songs too, and casual fans?

Who gives a shit about casual fans?

With any compilations, they will never b perfect, they shoulda had this, why did they put that? etc.

I'll definately b getting it 4 the unreleased jams and the live DVD - we might never see anutha one of those from MJ and SONY.

Imagine, LIVE DVDs of...

The Jacksons 1981 Triumph Tour
The Jacksons 1984 VICTORY TOUR
MJ - 1987/1988 - BAD TOUR
etc...

that's what I'd like 2 see!
[Edited 11/19/04 18:10pm]

RONNYRON said:

Well, yeah. But there's only 11 tracks on the Thriller era disc!!! They could've filled it out with the Bad material. Is that We Are The World demo about half an hour long or something?

Cloudbuster said:

Those 4 definately! They were all TOP TEN U.S. HITS!

Wonder if MJ actually had a say in it tho'?, or if it was purely up 2 SONY.

LightOfArt said:

Close, but you're a little off.

The lip synched songs in this concert are:

Jam
Smooth Criminal (until the very last line "You been hit by, you been struck by a smooth criminal")
Will You Be There
Black Or White
Thriller (This was ALL lip synched)
Heal The World (live ad-libs at end of song)
Man In The Mirror (live ad-libs)

The rest was completely live.

To me Mike was at his best on the Triumph tour and on the Bad tour. The Victory tour was great by any other standards and Mike gave his all, but he really didn't want to be there.

By the Dangerous tour he was still a great performer, but he started to lip synch too much. My theory on why he started doing that is for voice preservation. That's why his voice still sounds as good as ever today.