Michael Jackson: The Ultimate Collection

iTunes Review

This Ultimate Collection includes almost 60 tracks, spans several decades, and does a remarkable job of documenting MJ’s unparalleled contributions to modern music. Of course, you get the hits — including some of the precocious child star’s Motown classics, the solo artist’s disco-funk jams, and the gloved-wonder’s monster smashes. But what make this collection especially intriguing are all of the demos, rarities, previously unreleased tracks, and alternate versions. The stripped-down, in-the-pocket demo of the Jacksons’ late-‘70s “Shake a Body” is astounding; the “We Are the World (Demo)” finds MJ singing all of the parts; and this take on “P.Y.T.” has completely different lyrics and instrumentation than the version that appears on Thriller. In addition to a previously unreleased, anti-Iraq war song (“We’ve Had Enough”) and hard-to-find versions of boogie-woogie (“You Can’t Win”) and reflective (“On the Line”), Ultimate Collection also boasts the single versions of dance-floor heaters: “Rock With You,” “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough,” “Dancing Machine,” “Off the Wall,” and “Beat It.”