Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. I Want You Back
2. ABC - The Jackson 5
3. The Love You Save – The Jackson 5
4. Got To Be There
5. Rockin’ Robin
6. Ben
7. Blame It On The Boogie - The Jacksons
8. Shake Your Body (Down To The Ground)
9. Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough
10. Off The Wall
11. Rock With You
12. She’s Out Of My Life
13. Can You Feel It
14. The Girl Is Mine (Michael Jackson & Paul McCartney)
15. Billie Jean
16. Beat It
17. Wanna Be Startin’ Something
18. Human Nature
19. P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)
20. I Just Can't Stop Loving You (Michael Jackson And Siedah Garrett)
21. Thriller

Disc 2:

1. Bad
2. The Way You Make Me Feel
3. Man In The Mirror
4. Dirty Diana
5. Another Part Of Me
6. Smooth Criminal
7. Leave Me Alone
8. Black Or White
9. Remember The Time
10. In The Closet (Duet By Michael Jackson And Mystery Girl)
11. Who Is It
12. Heal The World
13. Will You Be There
14. You Are Not Alone
15. Earth Song
16. They Don’t Care About Us
17. You Rock My World

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #151 in Music
• Released on: 2005-07-18
• Number of discs: 2
• Dimensions: .25 pounds

CD Description
This two CD set updates previous Michael Jackson 'best of' collections and spans Jackson's career from his early work with his brothers in the Jackson Five through to his solo work. Featuring various UK number ones including 'Earth Song', 'You Are Not Alone', and 'Billie Jean', the album also includes a whole host of UK top forty hits.

Customer Reviews

Really ultimate.
Why there had to be another Michael Jackson Best of-album with a similar tracklist as "History", "Greatest Hits", "Number Ones" and "The Ultimate Collection" remains an open question. But in contrast to the Box Set this album is a lot less expensive. So if you like "The Jackson 5", "The Jacksons" and Michael as a solo artist this is the ideal collection of songs.
The first CD starts off peppy with "I want you back", "ABC" and "The love you save" which are without a doubt the three best songs of the "Jackson 5" and will surely put you in a good mood.
"Got to be there" and "Ben" are two timeless ballads which show young Michael's enormous volume. After that the album is taken to another level by a row of sensational dancefloor tracks like "Shake Your Body" and Michael's first ultimate worldwide hit "Don't stop 'til you get enough", which will truly get every party going. Nevertheless the album even manages to beat this with the never-to-be-beaten baseline of "Billie Jean" and the immensely powerful "Beat It".
The second CD presents seven hits from "Bad" including the fantastic "Man in the Mirror" and the catchy "Smooth Criminal".
This is followed by Michael's biggest hit of the 90s "Black or White" and further great songs from the "Dangerous"-album. Among them classics like the tremendously groovy "Who is it" and the bombast-ballade "Will you be there".
Fortunately the album also includes the two undoubtedly best songs from the "History"-album. The irresistible, furious finale of "Earth Song" is probably the most emotional and most rousing piece of music ever put on CD. Not without reason did the song remain on top of the charts for 7 weeks. The original percussive and guitar-driven "They don't care about us" is no less fabulous.
To sum it up, on this album every great song is followed by another smash and it thereby shows an immense variety of music. The two CDs undenieably demonstrate that most of Jackson's songs are surely timeless. Therefore "The Essential Michael Jackson" is the ultimate album for everyone who likes good music. There is no better.

A Career Retrospective
From the stirring opening of I Want You Back this collection will hook you, this is the only collection of Michael Jackson's entire career and demonstrates with great clarity why he was the self styled "King of Pop" before the media circus and the Prince of Perversion.

The urgency of the opening three Jackson 5 songs is astonishing, and the delivery and phrasing of an eight year old boy prodigious. I'm not so keen on the treble of ballads that pass the time until the disco fuelled Jacksons hits, which are again peerless pop. The solo career from Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough right through to Smooth Criminal are more polished peerless pop from when he ruled the world.

The collection does drop from this rarified air but even the later songs are better than you might remember.

The only genuine full career retrospective of a formerly great artist. Magical you will know every song and nearly every word.

The most comprehensive Michael Jackson collection!
Released in 2005, this is most certainly the collection that covers Michaels entire career. Starting with the Jackson 5's "I Want You Back" on Disc 1, moving through his early solo career with the beautiful "Ben" and the quirky "Rockin Robin" we then move onto his teenage years with the Jacksons "Shake Your Body" and "Blame It On The Boogie". We are then brought on his solo career again with the 4 mega-hits from his Off The Wall album. Back to the Jacksons again for the big hit "Can You Feel It". No less than 6 tracks from the biggest selling album of all time "Thriller" come next, before we finish off Disc 1 with the lovely "I Just Cant Stop Loving You" and of course "Thriller" itself. Disc 2 kicks in with "Bad" and we have another 7 tracks from the album too, including the wonderful "Dirty Diana" and "The Way You Make Me Feel", before we move onto 6 tracks from the "Dangerous" album including my favourites, the guitar driven "Black Or White", the gorgeous ballad "Heal The World" and the beautiful "Will You Be There". To finish off this outstanding collection we have the ballad "You Are Not Alone", "Earth Song", the drum driven anthem "They Don't Care About Us" and to finish with, from his final album "Invincible" we have "You Rock My World". You cannot get more comprehensive than this collection, so if you are looking for an album that covers Michaels entire career (and not just the obvvious tracks) then you cannot go wrong with this. The only question I ask is why "One Day In Your Life" was missed off. A small gripe though and a track you can find elsewhere. Remember Michael with this wonderful album!