I just picked this up the other day. I love pretty much all of it. It's very indepth and comprehensive, I thought. And definitely highlights his amazing career.

Highlights for me...

Pre Off the wall stuff. I don't have any of this material, so It's nice they included some of it here. Funny, Last night I was watching some Carol Burnett and it was the eps with the Jackson 5 and they performed ABC...It was really cool to see that. MJ could really dance back then.

We are here to Change the world from Capt EO. THE hightlight on the set for me. I wish it was a bit longer though like the movie version.

Most of the Thriller - Dangerous singles. Many of these songs I forgot about esp the post thriller material. Forgot gems like Jam and Dirty Diana. Very cool to hear the demo of We are the World.

I haven't gotten into the 4th disk that much, so I can't really comment. I am looking forward to hearing this material...though I am a bit skeptical.

Then there is the DVD of the Dangerous tour. I am a little iffy on this. It was one of his last concerts (I think this was an HBO special or something). I dunno, the filming is kinda wierd. Way too many shots of people screaming and passing out. It really deters from enjoying MJ on stage. But there isn't a lot going on stage either. He just dances and pop locks. Not too terribly interesting. But being a fan of P and seeing his live perfomances, I am spoiled.

All in all a good package and you DO get your moneys worth.

superspaceboy said:

~~

Isn't the PYT demo a gem????


I love it so much!

It's a great set. I got it for Christmas when it was released. Highlight for me was the demo of PYT. I love that almost as much as the album cut.

I was just pleased to get We Are Here To Change The World and the proper 12" version of You Can't Win on it. I have NO idea why that rubbish remix of Who Is It was stuck on instead of the original.

Some of the *new* demos were a bit crap too. I love In The Back, but I'd have preferred CD quality versions of Hot Street/Trouble/Carousel over the swful Beautiful Girl, or those songs that were scrapped from the planned double disc of the Dangerous Special Edition.

Ellie said:

Oh i agree totally about Who Is It.

superspaceboy said:

There is some great stuff on the 4th disc.

beautiful girl and we've had enough are particularly cool, aside from the usual suspects like stranger in moscow and blood on the dancefloor

I don't understand other MJ fans' love for Beautiful Girl. It's perhaps the worst thing I've ever heard.

Ellie said:

I was hoping for "in the closet" to be on there. As well as Leave Me alone and Scream.

They Don't Care About Us too, and a drop of Ghosts, Morphine, some Jackson 5 tracks apart from the obvious half dozen hits. You can't really fit them all on though. I think they should have just left the Jackson 5 alone to make room for more solo material because they have their own compilations and box sets already.

Ellie said:

Or dropped the Free Willie song or the ET one.

superspaceboy said:

The discs aren't full are they?

GangstaFam said:

Disc 2 is only 11 songs. It was pretty much just Thriller and a few extras. I don't think each disck was full. But they seemed to be Era centered.

Disc one J5/Off the wall (um where is working day and night?)
Disc 2 - Thriller Era (Includes State of SHock and Capt EO)
Disc 3 - Bad and Dangerous - (Missing tracks too)
Disc 4 - The rest (HIStory, Blood and Invincible)

Never heard the boxset. Though I did like the demo for "The Girl Is Mine" as heard on the 1993 deposition in Mexico.

My favs


We are here to change the world
Fall again
We've had enough
Dangerous (demo)


Though i do like all of his stuff regardless, those are my favs.

thesexofit said:

I love Cheater!!! It's...FAB!!!!

I love the box set. I dig We Are Here To Change The World, even though I already had the set, I didn't like it until I saw Michael dance to it in Captain Eo...

I also like:

All the songs on Disc One except Ease On Down The Road.
Cheater
Monkey Business (i ff past the monkeys)
Who Is It remix
Someone Put Your Hand
On The Line
In The Back
Fall Again
We've Had Enough

I know i say this every time this sorta topic pops up, but where were "for all time" and "serious effect"?

"for all time" seemed slightly unfinished (jacko mumbles the middle 8), but thats part of its charm (same with "fall again")



And "serious effect" was funky.

NightLight said:

I don't like In The Back...The vocal mix is too low in my opinion

Ellie said:

really?

well i wouldn't call myself a fan, but I think it's a very pretty song with very unusual & interesting key changes throughout (which is really what I like about it).

Best MJ comp on the market.

you've got to hear some of the unreleased/rare/new stuff on disc 4 like Fall Again, The Way You Love Me and most definately Beaitufl Girl, it's an absolute gem.

Cloudbuster said:

I agree. This compilation is GREAT!!!!Some of My favorite songs are the unleased ones such as:

Sunset Driver-Funky as hell
Someone Put Your Hand Out
The Way That You Love Me
Beautiful Girl
Fall Again
We've Had Enough
PYT(This unreleased version could be released TODAY and become a hit. It is fabulous.

Of course I love Butterflies, You Rock My World,etc. I wished they had included Break of Dawn,Heaven Can Wait and Whatever Happens.
This collection just shows what a diverse talent this man is and it only touches the surface.

It's still too short but. I would've prefered a 8 disc set...

Disc 1 - J5 and little Michael (1969 - 1975)
Disc 2 - Jacksons & Off The Wall (1976 - 1980)
Disc 3 - Thriller + Victory + We Are The World (1982-1985)
Disc 4 - Captian EO + Bad (1986-1988)
Disc 5 - Dangerous (1991-1993)
Disc 6 - HIStory + BOTDF (1995-1997)
Disc 7 - Invincible + new songs (1999-2004)
Disc 8 - DVD (Live in Bucarest 1992)

The reason it should've been like this is because there is so much unreleased material (expecially from Bad and Dangerous sessions) that should've been included in the collection. Spacing it out over 8 discs (7 audio discs) gives more space to included the biggest hits and the most precious rare gems.
[Edited 6/7/06 5:21am]

Did someone in this thread (and she knows who she is) diss "Beautiful Girl - one of my favorite MJ songs in recent times? Ellie, please see me in my office.

As for The Ultimate Collection? I'd have to say that out of all the discs in that set, Disc 4 was my baby. I wore that sucka out when I first got it.

From what I remember, here are the standouts...

"In The Back" - Better than sex. That bassline and shuffle is just out of this world. Only in MJ Land could a track this good go unreleased.

"Fall Again" - The latin tinged Walter A./Robin Thicke collabo that suited MJ perfectly. Even in it's demo form, the track sounds like a gem. Love the part towards the end where MJ's voice gets all weird and he ends it by saying "Nice song."

"On The Line" - MJ & Babyface could have kept this crap to themselves. Gospel choir or not, the song just sounds lifeless.

"Stranger In Moscow" - Utter beauty. So nice to see it's received nothing but praise from MJ and non MJ fans alike as years goes by. If only it wasn't the 5th(!) single from HIStory. Epic/Sony/MJ really slept on that song for too long. I can only imagine how well it would have done had it been the third single (not that I mind "Earth Song" being released since it was a gigantic worldwide hit that did massive business for the HIStory album itself.)

"You Rock My World/Butterflies" - The two urban laced Top 10 singles from the Invincible album which got the project off to a solid start. It's a damn shame they weren't followed up with the equally stellar "Whatever Happens" but such is life. And for all the dopes who think Invincible was a flop consider this: #1 on the Billboard 200 and Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Album Chart (for four weeks), scanned over 2.1 million in the USA alone, yielded two Top 10 singles (one of which went to the #1 on Urban/Urban AC), and sold about 7-8 million worldwide with only one real video released (unheard of by MJ standards).

"Beautiful Girl" – The low monotone vocal MJ uses is perhaps the most interesting thing about this song. Of course, he doesn't do anything to rival to Barry White (as if), but he does show amazing range and gives his voice some great exercise taking it really low and then showcasing that beautiful falsetto on the chorus. I think he's really proud of this one (even though it technically is just a demo.) Perhaps the fact that is hasn't been tinkered with and polished so much gives it more of authentic feel. Still surprised he let this one out of the bag and didn’t save it for his next studio LP.

“The Way You Love Me” – Yes, the production is really outdated and I have a hard time believing MJ produced this piece in 2004, however, once you get over that fact, what you’re left with is a beautiful midtempo where MJ pays a musical tribute to all the famous R&B male stylists of the 60’s including Smokey Robinson and The Miracles, The Temptations, The Four Tops, etc. The background vocals on this track are killer. I love how he keeps raising the high notes until you start wondering just how high he’ll go!

“We Have Enough” – Drama. “Earth Song” redux in many ways but still with it’s own personality. I always love these songs where MJ’s vocals are packed with urgency and emotion.

Notable exclusions on Disc 4:

"Scream" (#5 USA Pop, #3 USA R&B, #3 UK)

"Earth Song" (#1 UK 6 weeks)

“They Don’t Care About Us” (#30 USA Pop, #10 USA R&B, #4 UK)
[Edited 6/7/06 8:38am]

BTW superspaceboy, where did you buy The Ultimate Collection and how much did you spend? Curious to see what's it going for right now.

I remember Best Buy had an awesome sale where it was selling for $29.99 when it first came out.

Amit, I'd tell you to shove Beautiful Girl up your ass, but I think you'd enjoy it!

How many times can you release the same basic material? Geez.....

amit1234 said:

ebay for about 23.00

DarlingDiana said:

That's like getting all of his albums. WHat would be the point? I understand a collection needs to be thorough, but it doesn't and shouldn't include EVERYTHING. Besides I think all that would be too much for a semi-casual fan. the 5 discs is almost a bit much.

For me, the real missed songs would be

Working Day and Night
Scream
Leave Me alone
In the Closet
Another Part of Me

amit1234 said:

Yeah, it's a great groove, but why the hell didn't he finish the lyrics?

And why wasn't it listed as a demo?