The Ultimate Collection

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艺人: Michael Jackson
语种: 英语
厂牌: MJJ Productions
发行时间: 2004年11月16日
专辑类别: 精选集

专辑介绍

The market's been flooded with Michael Jackson product in the last year -- I don't even have any idea what that &The One& DVD was all about. I'll let the general public make up its own theories as to why.

Its bizarre timing aside, this boxed set was long overdue. It's been 10 years since HIStory came out (pretty amazing fact, isn't it?), and while Jackson's output since then has only consisted of one inferior album, HIStory itself was scanty to the point of being ridiculous anyway.

The music is a fascinating study in pop stardom. Jackson's music was so dominant in its own time that it now sounds somewhat dated. There's a reason why The Eagles's Greatest Hits record surpassed Thriller's sales in the U.S.: We are so familiar with Jackson's music that we now rarely shell out the bucks to buy it. That, however, is not to be counted as a negative towards the music itself. It doesn't pretend to be ambitious high art; it's immaculate, immensely enjoyable, catchy and commercial pop/R&B/dance music. And with the exception of the songs from the weak Invincible album (the first Jackson record not to score a number-one single), you're still guaranteed to pack a dance floor whenever you put these songs on. This boxed set does right to the Jackson catalogue by including his Motown years, and while those have been covered amply in the many Jackson 5/Jacksons collections over the years, to have a &comprehensive& Michael Jackson boxed set without this material would have been sacrilegious.

That leaves the fifth disc, the DVD of a live concert in Bucharest. The concert disc is flawed -- I like neither the shooting nor the editing, and it contains far too many audience shots. If I never have to see a Michael Jackson fan cry or faint on camera again, it would be too soon. But the concert disc is an incredibly fascinating case study in the midst of that Ashlee Simpson lip-sync scandal. I've never been to a Jackson concert, so I was very surprised to find that he does sing live -- just not all the time. The fact is, as early as the Motown anniversary special that had made Jackson into a legend, Jackson always gave a better show when he doesn't have to sing. However, it's even more illuminating when Jackson does attempt to sing live. On &Beat It& and &I Just Can't Stop Loving You&, Jackson is clearly out of breath and offkey...and remarkably human, letting us poke through that artificial, perfectionist showman exterior to see a fallible artist doing his best. I always wished Jackson would allow more of this side of himself to show -- to humanize his music and persona, and let the flaws be. On this DVD, which was filmed during the Dangerous tour, you get a chance to see Michael Jackson's more ragged edges, and that is simply invaluable. And to see the grossly underrated Siedah Garrett (she wrote &Man in the Mirror&, after all, and matched Jackson note-for-note on &I Just Can't Stop Loving You&) and ultra-talented, platinum-haired guitar goddess Jennifer Batten brings a flood of memories...Batten's laser-lit guitar solo in &Beat It& is so over the top, it's perfect, even though the shaky editing ate into its effect.

If you're a Jackson fan, you probably would have bought this already and will like it. If not, however, this is still a good chance to snap up a large number of Jackson classics in one go. The concert DVD is also great if you've never seen a Jackson &live& performance,though Jackson stage shows have been captured far better in previous video clips like &Dirty Diana& and, even more so, &Come Together&. And given the low price tag on this five-disc box, from a value-for-money front, this boxed set really can't be topped.

The Ultimate Collection

专辑介绍

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