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Post by Deleted on Oct 7, 2017 11:03:15 GMT
So, because of Scream, it got me thinking about all the other compilations that are available to us. I listened to HIStory Begins earlier this week (which is by far my favourite, and I almost consider it an album in it's own right) but I wanted to give them all a go again because it's been so long.
The digital age has made compilation albums largely redundant in my opinion, because even before Spotify, we were able to make our own compilations easy on iTunes, Windows Media Player and such. I've gone back to buying CD's now instead of buying digital because I like the idea of a whole piece of work, so I said I'd jump back into the Comps, starting with the ones that were released while MJ was alive.
This is a pretty good collection from the "obvious" point of view. Its chronological so it all makes sense. The only thing it doesn't do, is highlight his evolution as a songwriter, but that wasn't the point here.
Lots and lots of short edits unfortunately. Sometimes they are nice for a change but for example, I never liked the single and radio edits of You Are Not Alone or especially Earth Song. The Thriller short mix from the original single is nice to have though.
Break Of Dawn. Seriously? Say Say Say was completely shafted for this tune. It always hit me as a very poor man's Liberian Girl. No place for it on this album. At least You Rock My World COULD gave been #1 on a Vinezualan dance chart for all I know.
Human Nature, as high as I rank it, was not a number one either. Nice to have here. Isn't Ben on the US version instead of this? One Day In Your Life SHOULD have been here, it has more of a right than Human Nature.
One More Chance... Ah Michael... This would have been better left for The Ultimate Collection and we really could have taken any of the other Invincible leftovers instead. One More Chance will always remind me of the allegations that followed, but definitely would not be enough to put me off the song. I like the song, it's catchy - not his best, and doesnt stand up well beside all the other songs.
In all, I really enjoyed it today. It was my last long run before the Amsterdam Marathon and actually found myself really enjoying the sequencing today. Just a shame that Black or White was the only number one he managed to get from Dangerous, but even Heal The World got to #2 which was higher than Break of Dawn!
Nice sense of nostalgia to go with this collection too. I remember the excitement around it and I'm glad that Ive refused to let the other shit tarnish what I think of the release.
Break of Dawn..... lads....
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TonyR
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Post by TonyR on Oct 7, 2017 14:45:16 GMT
Number Ones is the worst, the last couple of tracks are virtually unlistenable and in now way reflect the best of this man.
Surely the best is the UK version of The Essential. Apart from the shitty edit of Who Is It and the single version of Earth Song, its nearly perfect. Yes, ideally it would have Jam and GITM but you can't fit everything on.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 7, 2017 16:33:13 GMT
Number Ones is the worst, the last couple of tracks are virtually unlistenable and in now way reflect the best of this man. Surely the best is the UK version of The Essential. Apart from the shitty edit of Who Is It and the single version of Earth Song, its nearly perfect. Yes, ideally it would have Jam and GITM but you can't fit everything on. The lack of Blood on the Dance Floor kills me. It absolutely kills me. I'm going to tackle that next. I remember it has a faster/higher key Another Part of Me too. I hate the short version of Earth Song. The lyrics dont even rhyme in the angry bit!
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Post by Deleted on Oct 7, 2017 22:38:01 GMT
Break of Dawn is awesome. It is so good that it deserves to be stolen by Prince.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 8, 2017 6:31:04 GMT
Break of Dawn is awesome. It is so good that it deserves to be stolen by Prince. However good it is, a Number One it aint! You Cant Get Outta The Rain has as much right to be there!
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Post by jaywonder on Oct 8, 2017 10:53:09 GMT
I like that it's become the compilation of choice and used as an introduction for many to MJ.... but the tracklist could've been better
1. Donโt Stop Til You Get Enough 2. Rock With You 3. Billie Jean 4. Beat It 5. Say Say Say 6. Thriller 7. Bad 8. I Just Canโt Stop Loving You 9. The Way You Make Me Feel 10. Man In The Mirror 11. Dirty Diana 12. Black or White 13. Remember The Time (#1 on the US R&B and US Dance chart) 14. In The Closet (#1 on the US R&B and US Dance chart) 15. You Are Not Alone 16. Earth Song 17. Blood On The Dancefloor 18. You Rock My World 19. Ben 20. One Day In Your Life
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TonyR
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Post by TonyR on Oct 8, 2017 11:51:51 GMT
Number Ones is the worst, the last couple of tracks are virtually unlistenable and in now way reflect the best of this man. Surely the best is the UK version of The Essential. Apart from the shitty edit of Who Is It and the single version of Earth Song, its nearly perfect. Yes, ideally it would have Jam and GITM but you can't fit everything on. The lack of Blood on the Dance Floor kills me. It absolutely kills me. I'm going to tackle that next. I remember it has a faster/higher key Another Part of Me too. I hate the short version of Earth Song. The lyrics dont even rhyme in the angry bit! Ha! Yes agree that is annoying and I love you for also noticing. You have earned that 4% respect back you lost yesterday. Well done. However, I can forgive the Earth Song edit as to be honest I can't see how else that could have done it unless they removed the bridge. Also, at least it's not lazy, some work had gone into it. Unlike Who Is It where they just removed the intro and then faded out after four minutes thereby losing the best bit and whole essence of the song.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 8, 2017 11:53:43 GMT
The lack of Blood on the Dance Floor kills me. It absolutely kills me. I'm going to tackle that next. I remember it has a faster/higher key Another Part of Me too. I hate the short version of Earth Song. The lyrics dont even rhyme in the angry bit! Ha! Yes agree that is annoying and I love you for also noticing. You have earned that 4% respect back you lost yesterday. Well done. However, I can forgive the Earth Song edit as to be honest I can't see how else that could have done it unless they removed the bridge. Also, at least it's not lazy, some work had gone into it. Unlike Who Is It where they just removed the intro and then faded out after four minutes thereby losing the best bit and whole essence of the song. I haven't listened in years, but cant you hear the last notes of the intro thats been cut just before the first bass note of the song? Laziness
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TonyR
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Post by TonyR on Oct 8, 2017 11:59:14 GMT
Ha! Yes agree that is annoying and I love you for also noticing. You have earned that 4% respect back you lost yesterday. Well done. However, I can forgive the Earth Song edit as to be honest I can't see how else that could have done it unless they removed the bridge. Also, at least it's not lazy, some work had gone into it. Unlike Who Is It where they just removed the intro and then faded out after four minutes thereby losing the best bit and whole essence of the song. I haven't listened in years, but cant you hear the last notes of the intro thats been cut just before the first bass note of the song? Laziness Yes you get one more chorus then it gets snatched away. Whilst we're talking edits, I listened to WYBT at the gym today (not a typical gym song, I grant you). This is the only MJ song where I actually choose the edit (by the edit I mean the five minute version, not the one that fades out the poem). The only annoying thing is it edits out the very last refrain 'lift me up, hold me up, lift me up sometimes, up sometimes'. It's almost unnoticeable to be honest, but for the sake of a few seconds it could have been kept in.
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Post by aazzaabb on Oct 8, 2017 18:57:09 GMT
You guys don't like King Of Pop and Matty doesn't believe a hits collection should be more than 1 disc. I mean I get that, there's no room for filler that way but the 3 disc deluxes versions from the UK and French Fan Edition are my all time favourites of all time. I'll have to post the tracklisting -but maybe KOP will be discussed in its own thread.
I liked Number Ones, it came out while I was in Australia and within the same year The Ultimate Collection and Moonwalker on DVD. Happy days. Also got the Number One's DVD and also The One which I loved but was annoyed it was so short.
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Post by HIStoric on Oct 9, 2017 7:16:30 GMT
The digital age has made compilation albums largely redundant in my opinion, because even before Spotify, we were able to make our own compilations easy on iTunes, Windows Media Player and such. I disagree. There's always a use for Greatest Hits even still in the digital age as it still remains a great way to introduce new fans to a legacy artist. That'll never really change. Just because we can make our own playlists doesn't make it redundant either. Yeah you can make your own compilations and while I have for some artists, for many I don't care. I just want to play their most popular songs rather than spend 5 minutes creating it first. Themed compilations can still be a solid way to quickly shuffle a series of themed songs by a certain artist. Like let's say I want to just shuffle some Frank Sinatra Christmas music on the speakers on Christmas Day. Yeah, I suppose I could make up my own Frank Sinatra Christmas playlist, but that's assuming I know all of the Sinatra Christmas songs off by heart. While I don't want to be overrun with themed compilations, it's much easier to just go play a recent Frank Sinatra Christmas compilation, hit play and forget about it. Sure, I could just play an already-made public playlist by the streaming service or another user, but it doesn't make compilation albums less redundant either as these would have different track listings. Sometimes I'd rather have a Greatest Hits sorted under Album rather than Playlist too. Put simple, it's really just two slightly different ways of doing the same thing, coming down to whatever the user prefers. Certainly doesn't make it redundant.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 9, 2017 7:57:15 GMT
Saw what you were talking about today, when I bought Scream and noticed Break of Dawn (On Number Ones, not Scream) was on it, I agree great song, but it was not a Number One hit anywhere I don't think.
I have the DVD, but not the CD as I have enough greatest hits collections already and like most fans, the original albums. And yes I know buying Scream is not helping emphasis my point there.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 9, 2017 8:17:30 GMT
The digital age has made compilation albums largely redundant in my opinion, because even before Spotify, we were able to make our own compilations easy on iTunes, Windows Media Player and such. I disagree. There's always a use for Greatest Hits even still in the digital age as it still remains a great way to introduce new fans to a legacy artist. That'll never really change. Just because we can make our own playlists doesn't make it redundant either. Yeah you can make your own compilations and while I have for some artists, for many I don't care. I just want to play their most popular songs rather than spend 5 minutes creating it first. Themed compilations can still be a solid way to quickly shuffle a series of themed songs by a certain artist. Like let's say I want to just shuffle some Frank Sinatra Christmas music on the speakers on Christmas Day. Yeah, I suppose I could make up my own Frank Sinatra Christmas playlist, but that's assuming I know all of the Sinatra Christmas songs off by heart. While I don't want to be overrun with themed compilations, it's much easier to just go play a recent Frank Sinatra Christmas compilation, hit play and forget about it. Sure, I could just play an already-made public playlist by the streaming service or another user, but it doesn't make compilation albums less redundant either as these would have different track listings. Sometimes I'd rather have a Greatest Hits sorted under Album rather than Playlist too. Put simple, it's really just two slightly different ways of doing the same thing, coming down to whatever the user prefers. Certainly doesn't make it redundant. That's fair enough, I agree. Although I suppose I was thinking about how there have been very very few compilations by any artist that I've liked in the digital age. Queen released Queen Forever, which seemed to be mostly ballads and it did not work for me one iota (also the fact that William Orbit put a very substandard noisy Queen & MJ song on it). Queen also released 3 Deep Cuts CD's a few years ago, and I think I've listened to them once each. David Bowie's Nothing Has Changed is the best one. A complete reverse chronological view of his career (up to that pint) with 1 new song, some previously unreleased mixes of songs. I'm firmly in the camp that I'd like a physical copy of a greatest hits. I must admit I have come around to Scream a lot, the but Dangerous / Unbreakable sequence loses steam for me because they are both so long.
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Post by HIStoric on Oct 9, 2017 10:19:23 GMT
That's fair enough, I agree. Although I suppose I was thinking about how there have been very very few compilations by any artist that I've liked in the digital age. Queen released Queen Forever, which seemed to be mostly ballads and it did not work for me one iota (also the fact that William Orbit put a very substandard noisy Queen & MJ song on it). Queen also released 3 Deep Cuts CD's a few years ago, and I think I've listened to them once each. David Bowie's Nothing Has Changed is the best one. A complete reverse chronological view of his career (up to that pint) with 1 new song, some previously unreleased mixes of songs. I'm firmly in the camp that I'd like a physical copy of a greatest hits. I must admit I have come around to Scream a lot, the but Dangerous / Unbreakable sequence loses steam for me because they are both so long. I liked Nothing Has Changed too, but I got the 2-disc version on iTunes. I think the reverse idea, while original, would urk me a bit too much ![:P](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/tongue.png) I can't say I know of many compilations that aren't Christmas, Career-Spanning or Greatest Hits themed, let alone released in the digital age. Probably the only compilations released in the past 5 years I play a reasonable amount is Nothing Has Changed (which has my primary Bowie content), The Beatles 2015 reissue of 1, as that features fantastic new mixes, Pure McCartney too as I wanted many of Paul's songs remastered in a lovely book-set, and there was that Ultimate Sinatra one with like 100 tracks that I love too, I just shuffle it and get something new all the time. It's cool. I bought Pure McCartney physically, NHC I bought digitally as it was sold out everywhere when I bought it days after Bowie's passing. The Beatles and Frank Sinatra compilation I just have on Apple Music. I don't really buy music anymore.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Oct 9, 2017 15:04:02 GMT
That's fair enough, I agree. Although I suppose I was thinking about how there have been very very few compilations by any artist that I've liked in the digital age. Queen released Queen Forever, which seemed to be mostly ballads and it did not work for me one iota (also the fact that William Orbit put a very substandard noisy Queen & MJ song on it). Queen also released 3 Deep Cuts CD's a few years ago, and I think I've listened to them once each. David Bowie's Nothing Has Changed is the best one. A complete reverse chronological view of his career (up to that pint) with 1 new song, some previously unreleased mixes of songs. I'm firmly in the camp that I'd like a physical copy of a greatest hits. I must admit I have come around to Scream a lot, the but Dangerous / Unbreakable sequence loses steam for me because they are both so long. I liked Nothing Has Changed too, but I got the 2-disc version on iTunes. I think the reverse idea, while original, would urk me a bit too much ![:P](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/tongue.png) I can't say I know of many compilations that aren't Christmas, Career-Spanning or Greatest Hits themed, let alone released in the digital age. Probably the only compilations released in the past 5 years I play a reasonable amount is Nothing Has Changed (which has my primary Bowie content), The Beatles 2015 reissue of 1, as that features fantastic new mixes, Pure McCartney too as I wanted many of Paul's songs remastered in a lovely book-set, and there was that Ultimate Sinatra one with like 100 tracks that I love too, I just shuffle it and get something new all the time. It's cool. I bought Pure McCartney physically, NHC I bought digitally as it was sold out everywhere when I bought it days after Bowie's passing. The Beatles and Frank Sinatra compilation I just have on Apple Music. I don't really buy music anymore. Thank you for reminding me about Pure McCartney. This is probably my favourite compilation in many years. And I must buy it soon. Cant believe I forgot it earlier. It really showcased how many amazing songs he had post Let It Be
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