The King of Pop celebrates 25 years of the biggest album in history. The masterpiece, Thriller, is set for re-reissue this coming February with a host of special features and surprises.
The 8-time Grammy Award winning album includes a bonus disc of the Thriller videos and Jackson's legendary unveiling of the moonwalk on "Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever."
Highlights of the record are the inclusion of songs "Carousel," "Someone in the Dark," and "For All Time" which are not found on the original pressing.
Bigger yet is the enlistment of superstars Jackson hand-picked to remix four of the album's iconic singles. Kanye West, will.i.am, and Akon contribute production on reworkings of the classics "Billie Jean," "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'," "The Girl is Mine," and "P.Y.T." There is no info on whether Michael Jackson re-recorded vocals for any of the songs, but I wouldn't discount it. I expect the guest artists to have vocals as well.
There is a lot of potential here and I'm actually interested to see how the remixes will sound. MJ is known for either going all out, or doing nothing in terms of promotion. With the recent press release, it seems that Michael's camp really wants the world to remember why they fell in love with the King of Pop. After the child-molestation charges of 2003 (he was found innocent of), Jackson disappeared into obscurity, selling his famous Neverland Ranch and moving residence to Dubai. This was the best thing he could have done; out of the public eye for a few years, he's ready to drop this re-issue and his new album later next year, perhaps. I'll definitely be picking both up.
- Record of the Year: "Beat It"
- Album of the Year: Thriller
- Producer of the Year: Michael Jackson & Quincy Jones
- Best R&B Song: "Billie Jean"
- Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male: Michael Jackson for Thriller
- Best R&B Vocal Performance, Male: Michael Jackson for "Billie Jean"
- Best Rock Vocal Performance, Male: Michael Jackson for "Beat It"
- Best Engineered Recording: Bruce Swedien for Thriller
