For me, listening to any music created before 1985 feels like an expedition through time in search of hidden musical treasures; I really didn't start paying serious attention to the music industry until the summer of 1989 - the summer between my 6th and 7th grades.

So did I find any sonic gems on this album? You better believe it. I was already familiar with "Got To Be There"; it's one of my favorite Michael Jackson slow songs of all time. For those who haven't heard it, I would just describe it as an innocent and passionate declaration of love.

We continue with urgently pleading "I Wanna Be Where You Are", a song I'd heard sampled in 1991 by rapper MC Lyte in her song "Georgie Porgie"; this song is great. "Rockin Robin" is a fun remake - you can almost picture a cartoon video in your head while you listen; the song is colorful and playful.

"People Make The World Go Round" was another surprise for me. I like it, but the reason it surprised me was because in 1996, the group Westside Connection used this song as the basis for their hit, "Gangstas Make The World Go Round"...at any rate, I felt educated when I heard the original, which is wonderful. I always appreciate learning something new (or old, depending on your perspective, of course).

"With A Child's Heart", and "Happy" are both great ballads firmly rooted in the pop tradition; benign, tender and sugary. "Ben", on the other hand is young MJ's eerily beautiful masterpiece. From what I understand, the song was used for a horror movie called "Willard"; the movie was about a boy and his homicidal pet rat...

The next two tracks don't really fit Michael Jackson's voice in my opinion; they were produced with a philly-soul sound that was more rugged than Michael's signature pop/R&B. Eventually, we make our way to track #10, the ultra-somber "One Day In Your Life" - my favorite song on the album. Here are some of the lyrics:

One Day In Your Life

You'll Remember The Love You Found Here

You'll Remember Me Somehow

Though You Don't Need Me Now,

I Will Stay In Your Heart

And When Things Fall Apart,

You'll Remember One Day...

I think this song is very sad and moving. I admit that it may strike some as ridiculously corny, but it worked for me. The sound and feeling behind this song bring to mind the melancholy that fueled Gloria Estefan's 1987 ballad "Anything For You"...

We close this collection with a ballad called "Music and Me" that ends the album perfectly. On this CD you're getting both versions of Michael - the child, and the adolescent. It's a great buy...

Thanks for reading

C.H.R.

I have all of Michael's CD (including the horrific Blood on the dancefloor, and so-so History album) startinng from Off the Wall but nothing before that. I have heard several tracks of his solo releases from Motown, but have never been certain what to buy. Frankly, I decided on this purchase because I like the cover . I am however pleasantly surprised by the good song materials and wonderful production here. The sound quality is good too. I have only heard of Ben and One Day in Your Life prior to buying this, and think Michael sings so well in them. The rest of the album has equally wonderful songs - Happy (Love Song from Lady Sings The Blues), Music and Me, Got To Be There, I Wanna be Where You Are (Melissa Manchester sang this too). Michael sang with so much more conviction then than now. The voice was real, the feelings were real, and he looked real. He didn't write or produce any of the songs here, and yet they are all wonderful. (Don't get me wrong, I think he is terribly talented and has written some really good songs). Today, I think he tries too hard to do everything himself, tries too hard to please everyone and tries too hard to play catch up.

The new producers he worked with are probably good with what they do but they are just not suitable for him. Did you hear Blood from the Dancefloor? Could you hear Michael sing? Were they songs? Here producers like Hal Davis (Dionne Warwick's 60s song writer/producer with Burt Bacharach and Diana Ross' sometime song writer/producer in 70s), Berry Gordy etc, doesn't over -produce to impress whatever - they produce for the songs and for Michael.

Perhaps he should use his talent fully by choosing the right producers more suitable for him. After Quincy Jones, he got nowhere. If you had listened to Jones' Q' Joint and Back on the Block which won Grammy's Album of the Year, you will know that Michael should have stuck with him.

My dislikes of this album are the opening two numbers where Michael is "highly-pitched and screaming away". I think he sang well, but the pitch is probably too high for my liking (minus one star). After the first two tracks, he mellowed into beautiful serenade. Buy this CD and indulge in real, beautiful songs and singing before the invasion of all things artificial and weird.

Like an earlier reviewer said, the "Millennium" edition of this c.d., as well as others are total rip-offs. If you really want a good collection of Michael's solo recordings from when he started back in 1971, buy the Michael Jackson "Anthology" collection - it's much better than this millennium spoof, and offers way more tracks than this few.

It seems like the Millenium brand exists to rip off consumers and trivialize the legacy of major recording artists. First of all, how can you justify putting out an 11-track cd of songs which are usually 3 minutes long or less? Even more so when the artist in question was a legend even BEFORE he went solo? Surely Michael Jackson deserves at least 24 tracks. Millenium has done similar hatchet jobs on the Spinners, the Four Tops and Sublime. If ever a company's product was ALL about the money, this is it! Put these turkeys out of business--don't buy this compilation!

....I like a good tune as well as anyone. And like many folks I was so glad to see MJ perform as a kid, I wanted to be like him. Hell, a lot of us wanted to be HIM. I, for one, had grown out of that, long, long ago....I've become fixated on my own wife and kids. I can be sentimental about them.

But, the issue at hand is what I feel about this MJ CD.

Michael's Motown cuts here are just "alright". Nothing good, nothing bad. "Got to Be There" and "Ben" in particular are good tunes. But until someone makes an all encompassing anthology which includes MJ's solo Motown and Epic years, this will probably only whet your MJ jones. It ain't--noways, nohows--the best thing smokin' though. Unless you take the view that when certain artists sneeze, it should be considered a masterpiece. I say, "Let the buyer beware" on this one...