Michael Jackson Album: “Thriller [25th Anniversary Edition Bonus Track]”

The 25th Anniversary edition of Thriller is an awesome release and a must have for serious fans and new inductees. This deluxe casebook edition also includes a fold out collectable book with bonus pictures, background information, album art and the original liner jacket with all the lyrics. There's also more basic editions going for about $12 that don't include the casebook.

No matter how you slice it, this 25th Anniversary edition belongs in your collection.

There are many reasons to buy this album, even if you already own it. First of all, this album came out at the height of vinyl and cassette tapes, so there are a lot of people who don't own the album on CD. Granted many people bought the previous re-releases on CD, but if you haven't now's your chance.

Younger music fans who love will.i.am

, Kanye West

, Fergie

and Akon

will be attracted by the remade versions, even if hard-core Michael Jackson fans don't like them as much.

Old school fans will be seduced by the awesome holographic CD dust jacket, sharper re-mastered original tracks and included bonus DVD videos. It was 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 now 25 years later. Every single song is a hit, and Michael moves through genres including pop, rock and R&B with ease, nailing each one.

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 -

Record labels have an army of executives that realize the marketing potential of putting some top stars together to add remakes to this re-release. 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 really 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 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. Let me tell you, 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.

Still, there are many other B-side tracks and unreleased songs that could have also been included. I can only guess they are saving those up for a forthcoming box set to further extract cash from die hard fans.

It's amazing to think this album won 8 Grammys, and it probably wasn't close in any category.

+ Album of the Year

+ Record of the Year ("Beat It")

+ Best Male Pop Vocal Performance ("Thriller")

+ Best Male Rock Vocal Performance ("Beat It")

+ Best Male R&B Vocal Performance ("Billie Jean")

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

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

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

And there must not have been awards for best music video back then because "Thriller," "Billie Jean," and "Beat It" would have all been nominated.

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.

Enjoy!!!

I woke up from a nap and there were three text messages on my phone. Nobody ever texts me, so I knew it must have been big news. I thought there was a fire or something. Turned out, Michael Jackson is dead. I was startled, to say the least, because MJ never seemed like the kind of person that could, you know, die. To be honest, he never really registered in my consciousness as being a person; Michael Jackson was the androgynous sexual panic of "Billie Jean," the breathless seduction of "P.Y.T.," the thrilling kitsch of "Thriller," the chattering afro-popisms of "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'." The idea that he had a human body, one that needed food and air and sleep, never really clicked in my mind. But then again, I guess that's to be expected. I mean, how can a mere human being really be thought to be capable of creating something as monstrous, as mechanical, as all-encompassing, and as awesome as Thriller? This kid wasn't the king of pop; he was the whole damn kingdom. And we, the audience, are not his loyal subjects; we're just reading the travel brochures.

The point is, Thriller is one of the greatest moments in the history of pure pop. Which is to say, it's plastic, mass-produced, jugular-grabbingly commercial, and completely unconcerned with originality, artistic merit, or honesty. And goshdarnit, I wouldn't have it any other way! With songs and performances as irresistible and ecstatic as the ones found here, artfulness will only get in the way. Because when you have a song as swooping, as ethereal, as hypnotic, and as unashamedly romantic as "Baby Be Mine," there's really no need to question its validity. Just let those labyrinthine keyboards and yearning vocals carry you away to a shiny place. And when "Beat It" comes roaring out of the gates, it does so with such force and brutal eloquence that you completely forget how absurd it is for Michael Jackson to take on the role of a street-smart hoodlum. As a vision of ghetto reality, it's a nonsensical failure; but the important thing to remember is that, on a purely visceral level, it SOUNDS more convincing and more immediate than its more authentic counterparts.

And then there's "Billie Jean," whose lyrics are either shockingly amoral or completely uneventful, but which still manages to be one of the most magical, irresistible, and emotionally charged moments in the history of music. And if we found ourselves getting annoyed by the idea of having to root for a child-abandoning father, then we can just remind ourselves that it's only a pop album. An stunning pop album, to be precise.

most reviews on this board missed out one important item. the musicianship on this CD under QJ is tremendous. any jazz fan will easily recognise some of the names on the credit list. Jerry Hay on trumpet (this cat has long experience leading big bands and you can hear jerry from Chuck Mangione all the way to Dave Grusin's big band), Greg Phillanganes, another superb expert on synthesizer, Larry Williams on sax. Williams, in his own right is a fantastic tenor sax guy and you hear him very often on the GRP jazz label and then you have George Duke, man alive, here is a master of jazz who migrated through four generations from main stream jazz to fusion (rock) jazz and then collaborated a few funky jazz CD with bassist Stanley Clark.. then you have Paulinho da Costa, the famed Brazilian/American percussionist providing the beat, subtle but substantial. you can hear Paulinho from Dave Grusin to George Benson... in fact, Paulinho played with Jazz greats like Dizzy Gillespie, Oscar Petersen...... with all these great cats. finally, what am i talking here, Quincy Jones HIMSELF was/is a jazz artist. those follow jazz will remember his days playing trumpet in the 60s and even 70s. QJ himself later was heavily involved with Duke Ellington and Count Basie in arranging the music. it is not surprising that he brought in the "musicians' musicians" to add some serious musicianship to this endeavor.

i regret that no reviewer has paid any attention on this fantastic line up of musicians behind this CD.

The 25th Anniversary edition of Thriller is a must own CD. Some new versions should introduce younger R&B fans to the man who started it all.

There are many reasons to buy this album, even if you already own it. First of all, this album came out at the height of vinyl, so there are a lot of people who don't own the album on CD. Younger music fans who love will.i.am

, Kanye West

, Fergie

and Akon

will be attracted by the remade versions, even if hard-core Michael Jackson fans don't like them as much. Old school fans will be seduced by the awesome holographic CD dust jacket, sharper re-mastered original tracks and included bonus DVD videos. No matter how you slice it, this 25th Anniversary edition belongs in your collection.

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 now 25 years later. Every single song is a number one hit, and Michael moves through genres including pop, rock and R&B with ease, nailing each one. See my awards summary at the bottom for more on this.

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 -

Record labels have an army of very intelligent number crunchers that clearly realized the marketing potential of putting some top stars together to add remakes to this anniversary edition. 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 really 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 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. Let me tell you, it takes quite a performer to pull off a rhinestone shirt, rhinestone socks, sparkly jacket, high-waters and one white glove!

There's also a nice liner jacket with all the original lyrics and cool album art. Even more is included with the fold-out casebook version of this release.

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.

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)

And there must not have been awards for best music video back then because "Thriller," "Billie Jean," and "Beat It" would have all been nominated.

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.

Enjoy!!!

Although I typically stay in the field of heavy metal, I am a child of the 1980's which spells out that Michael Jackson was a huge influence on my musical taste. The original Thriller album is a classic which deserves 5 stars, hands down. This review is not meant for those songs, but for the additional material for the 25th Anniversary Edition.

Is it possible to ruin Michael Jackon's work? Is it possible to turn something that is perfect into complete and utter garbage? Well, if you add will.i.am, Fergie, Akon and Kanye West to the mix you can. These talentless hacks have done something that was initially thought to be impossible in turning the core Thriller material into laughable throw-aways.

Starting with the girl is mine, the song took Paul McCartney's part out completely. How absurd! Replacing Paul McCartney with will.i.am is a recipe for disaster and had no chance to do anything but crash and burn. Similarly you find the terrible "remix" of PYT with, yet again, will.i.am trashing it with his ridiculous original rap placed in the middle.

Akon and Fergie then appear on Wanna Be Startin Something and Beat It, respectively. The instrumentation on Wanna Be Startin Something has been changed with a completely different tempo and takes away the majority of magic that makes the song what it is. The re-hashed version of Beat It is a one-two punch of Fergie and Michael sharing lines that makes you wish for an actual punch rather than listen any further. The combo is simply sad. Also the guitar part of the song has been completely removed, except for the solo which feels completely out of place now.

The only good part of this disc is the addition of For All Time. The song is a slightly different version of Human Nature. The other good part is having the Billie Jean, Beat It and Thriller music videos on DVD.

In the end, the "remixes" can be thrown away and you can be happy that you have the previously unreleased song and the music videos. The so called talent that has been inspired by Michael Jackson and brought in put a modern spin on the hit songs are so bad that they have actually ruined some of the world's best music.