"Michael Jackson & The Jackson Five: The Motown Years" was the first reasonably priced cd I ever bought. Thriller was the first cassette tape I ever brought to school to show my friends, quickly followed by 'Destiny' by The Jacksons. When I was nine, I danced with my father to "Blame it on the boogie". When I was eleven, I knew the lyrics and dance routine to "Smooth Criminal" by heart (still do, actually). When he was on trial in 2005, I wrote a 12-page op-ed/biography for a fashion magazine, culminating in watching the verdict in a London hotel room, getting drunk on mini-bar wodka while outside in the streets of Albion, every single bar and club started playing MJ's greatest hits for the rest of the night. Needless to say, I have a special bond with the gloved one, so I was thrilled to hear the latest news about Michael and Kanye West...
February 2008 will mark the release of the new "Thriller". Celebrating its 25th birthday, the classic (104 million copies sold worldwide) will be re-released with additional remixes by Akon, Kanye West and Will.i.am. plus rare and unreleased material from the time period. I've posted the full tracklisting below, along with a U2b fan post of "carousel", one of the previously unreleased songs to appear on the album. My guess is Billie Jean 2008 with Kanye West will be the single. I'm very much dreading the will.i.am version of P.Y.T, which is possibly my favourite song of all time.
Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’”
“Baby Be Mine”
“The Girl Is Mine”
“Thriller”
“Beat It”
“Billie Jean”
“Human Nature”
“P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)”
“The Lady in My Life”
“Carousel”
“Someone in the Dark”
“Billie Jean” (demo)
“The Girl Is Mine 2008? with will.i.am
“P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing) 2008? with Michael Jackson and will.i.am
“Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’ 2008? with Michael Jackson, Akon and will.i.am
“Billie Jean 2008? with Kanye West
“For All Time”
Carousel:
[youtube eyg-oZeUUAg nolink]
And here's an extra little treat: the original video for "The secret Garden", another soulful smash written by the same team that did P.Y.T. (Quincy Jones & James Ingram), performed by El DeBarge, Al B.Sure & Barry White.
[youtube xjLjMSut_JU nolink]
