The

is a must own CD. The presentation of the CD is great, with top-notch production evident throughout. The original tracks still sound amazing. And the new remixed song versions should introduce younger R&B fans to the man who started it all.

There are many reasons to buy this version of the album even if you already own it. This version includes remastered mixes that sound great. This album also came out at the height of vinyl and casettes, so a lot of people may not own the album on CD. Old school fans will be seduced by the awesome holographic CD dust jacket, sharper re-mastered original tracks and included bonus DVD videos.

Younger music fans who love

,

,

and

will be attracted by the remade versions. Hard-core Michael Jackson fans might not like those new versions as much. Still, no matter how you slice it, this 25th Anniversary edition belongs in your collection.

It's clear to anybody who follows R&B that so many artists over the past 10 years have made careers essentially emulating Michael's singing style and dance moves. You can include on that list:

- Justin Timberlake -

- Chris Brown -

- Usher -

- Omarion -

THE TRACKS AND EXTRAS

It's impossible not to hear the songs from this album from time to time, yet it had been a long time since I heard the original album in total, tracks 1-10 on this CD. When you listen to it again, it's impossible not to realize how amazing of a production this truly was, and still is even 25 years later. Every single song is a number one hit, and Michael moves through genres including pop, rock and R&B with ease. See my awards summary at the bottom for more on this.

The remakes can't possibly match Michael's original accomplishment. Yet they are not as bad as many say. I actually like the Akon version of "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin." And Kanye West's "Billie Jean" mix highlights his abilities as a producer.

The included DVD includes the short film music video versions of "Billie Jean," "Beat It" and "Thriller." These videos are historic in their own right, each one a high budget production better than a lot of the movies made in 1982. There's also a nice liner jacket with all the original lyrics and cool album art.

There's also the Motown 25 performance of "Billie Jean." For those that don't remember this performance, it's the one where Michael first does the moonwalk on stage. It takes quite a performer to pull off a rhinestone shirt, rhinestone socks, sparkly jacket, high-waters and one white glove!

It's amazing to note that Michael Jackson actually wrote most of the biggest hits on this album, something today's R&B artists rarely do. Most of the biggest hits from the album are his original works, including "Wanna Be Startin' Something," "The Girl Is Mine," "Beat It," and "Billie Jean." "Baby Be Mine," "Thriller," and "The Lady In My Life" were written and composed by Rod Temperton. "PYT" was the work of the legendary James Ingram and Quincy Jones. And Steve Porcato wrote both "Human Nature" (with John Bettis) and the newly released "For All Time" (with Michael Sherwood), number 16 on this edition.

I really liked this previously unreleased track, and it definitely has a sound akin to Human Nature. I can only speculate that that similarity is what kept it off of the original release.

AWARDS

It's amazing to think this album won 8 Grammys, and I don't even believe it was close in any category.

+ Album of the Year

+ Record of the Year ("Beat It")

+ Best Male Pop Vocals ("Thriller")

+ Best Male Rock Vocals ("Beat It")

+ Best Male R&B Vocals ("Billie Jean")

+ Best R&B Song ("Billie Jean")

+ Producer of the Year (Qunicy Jones and Michael Jackson)

+ Best Engineered Recording, Non-Classical (Bruce Swedien)

If there had been awards for best music video back then, "Thriller," "Billie Jean," and "Beat It" would have all been nominated.

CHOOSING THE BEST EDITION

The basic 25th anniversary edition includes the original album tracks, new remixed tracks, videos and a a liner jacket with all the original lyrics and album art. Even more album art and an extended text is included with the fold-out book version of this release, the

. That version is worth getting for die-hard fans who want the case-book as a collector's item. Luckily I was able to get one of each when they were on sale the week of their release. At regular prices though, the regular edition is probably the way to go for most people.

CONCLUSION

This is a pivotal album that is well done here at an affordable price when you factor in all the cool stuff that's included. While some collectors will want to own both this version and the Deluxe Casebook Edition, I think the regular 25th Anniversary Edition has enough extras to satisfy most fans. The new tracks, previously unreleased original tracks, videos and great album art make this a great purchase for new and old fans alike.

Enjoy!!!

These days Michael Jackson seems to be more of a cartoon character than a recording artist. His exploits get more than attention than his music. Forget that his best friend is a chimpanzee and he lives at a place called Neverland and just listen to the music. The album crosses across all music genres and gives the listener a little bit of everything. There's pop, rock, r & b and dance rhythms; slow, fast and midtempo songs. "Wanna Be Startin' Something" gets the album moving. It's a disco inferno and builds up to a chanting crescendo. The next two songs slow things down after the frenzied opening. One of the two non-singles, "Baby Be Mine" is a nice mid-tempo song and then comes the superstar duet with Paul McCartney "The Girl Is Mine". The song shows off both the artist's vocal talents as they trade verses fighting over a girl's affection. You can almost see the song as a passing of the torch from the Beatles to Jackson as the world's biggest act. The humorous "Thriller" follows and it contains Vincent Price's debut as a "rapper". "Beat It" is the song that pushed the album into the cultural phenomenon that it was. By employing guitar god Eddie Van Halen on the song, Jackson was able to break out of the mold of an R & B artist and reach a vast white audience. Jackson showed he was able to transcend all labels and reach listeners of all colors and musical tastes. The first number one song on the album follows. It was a searing performance of the song, "Billie Jean", on the Motown 25th anniversary special that helped show Jackson's amazing dancing abilities and push album sales into the stratosphere. It was also the first video by a black artist to gain major airplay on the predominately white MTV, setting the stage for other black artists like Prince to start reaching a more diverse audience. "Human Nature" is a pretty ballad and "P.Y.T." is has more of a a hard edge. His sister Janet sings back up on the tune. The album closes with another ballad "The Lady In My Life". This album went on to sell 25 million copies and for a long time was the biggest selling album in history. It almost single handily pulled the recording industry out of it late 70's, early 80's sales funk and made MTV into the marketing machine it is today. It takes a very special album to do that and this is exactly that.

The sound quality of the original CD release of "Thriller" was already pretty great (I remember it being used as a demo disc when I bought my first CD player in 1985), but it's been goosed and buffed up here a bit - mostly in the removal of background hiss, etc. The contents of the original album are well known enough to go without comment. The additions are not much of an attraction, however : 2 previously unreleased session songs and one home demo ("Billie Jean") that are interesting but don't shake the rafters. The rest are interviews (try listening to those twice) and the "missing" second verse of the "Thriller" rap by Vincent Price. Booklet does have some nice new notes, but if you have the original "Thriller" CD there really isn't much here to make this an essential purchase, just a luxury.

This second re-issue of

is a better re-issue than the

. The sound quality is a lot better. But I still find it a tad lacking. It is missing "Can't get Outta The Rain" Which appeared on side 2/B of the 45 release of

and "Got the hots" (Which is appearing on the

). Those 2 tracks should have been added. I wouldn't be surprised if the album has a 30th anniversary edition 5 years later with those 2 songs adeed. Also, The Kanye West Remix of

was a tad disappointing. Kanye gave the song a great new beat but I was hoping to get a rap verse out of him on the track. The Fergie remix to

wasn't too bad either. I have nothing against Fergie but I think that P!nk would have been a better choice for the song. Anyways, Like I said, this is a big improvement from the

for the sound quality. The Interviews on that edition are better bonus features. I think it's well worth getting for the better sound quality. But Even though the sound is better, I find the DVD lacking.

is missing the making of the video. That should have been added.

The re-issued package includes a gold-pressed CD, a new booklet, and alot of bonus material:

1. interviews with co-producer quincy jones.

2. ***DEMO OF BILLIE JEAN***! AMAZING STUFF! you gotta hear it to belive it, there weren't any lyrics yet to the song, so MJ just hums and makes up words along the way! a classic!

3. a demo of Michael with Vincent Price, for the rap part of "Thriller". you can hear an entire new verse from the rap, never before released.

4. brand new song from the thriller era that was originally recorded for the album but was taken out (vinyl's time limitations, i guess). the song's called "Carousel". it very beautiful, although i'm a bit disappointed it wasn't the entire song (only 1:50 minutes).

In short? a must have. needless to say, all the wonderful tracks have been remastered by engineer Bruce Sweiden, under the direction of Michael himself.