Product Description

Michael Jackson's monumental collection HISTORY BOOK 1 seeks to make two points. The first disc--chock full of hits spanning Jackson's Epic Records solo career--tries to establishhow the so-called King of Pop earned that nickname in the first place; the second disc, featuring fifteen new, star-studded tracks, makes a case for him holding onto that royal moniker well into the next century. And though many may dismiss both directives as the product of Jackson camp hype, once the music begins it's hard to deny him any title he wishes to bestow upon himself.
All of the songs on HISTORY's first disc have already been ingrained in the minds of the radio-listening, MTV-watching public. From the funky disco of 1979's "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough", through the countless and diverse THRILLER hits ("Billie Jean", "The Girl Is Mine", etc.), to the anthemic peace-in-our-time ballad "Heal The World", Jackson's star-power-fueled singles invested the mainstream with black pop's soulfulness to the point where black pop became the mainstream. And Jackson, subsequently, became pop's king.
On the second disc, Jackson tries to retain a hold over his current empire while moving toward a more street-wise, hip-hop-tinged pop. "Scream", a duet with sister Janet, is prototypical. The beats are cold and stone-hard,and effuse grey noise electric discharges. Yet after multiple listens the song's simple chorus and minimalist melody imbed themselves in the cranium. Same goes for the mildly controversial "They Don't Care About Us", where Jackson near-raps a stream of nonsequiturs, amidst various urban-life samples, over a busy hip-hop beat. In fact, considering hip-hop's deep influence on HISTORY's new tracks, it seems the King has seen the future of his kingdom and has begun to act accordingly.

Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Billie Jean
2. Way You Make Me Feel
3. Black Or White
4. Rock With You
5. She's Out Of My Life
6. Bad
7. I Just Can't Stop Loving You
8. Man In The Mirror
9. Thriller
10. Beat It
11. Girl Is Mine
12. Remember The Time
13. Don't Stop Till You Get Enough
14. Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'
15. Heal The World
16. Scream
17. They Don't Care About Us
18. Stranger In Moscow
19. This Time Around
20. Earth Song
21. DS
22. Money
23. Come Together
24. You Are Not Alone
25. Childhood
26. Tabloid Junkie
27. 2 Bad
28. History
29. Little Susie
30. Smile

Disc 2:

1. Scream
2. They Don't Care About Us
3. Stranger In Moscow
4. This Time Around
5. Earth Song
6. DS
7. Money
8. Come Together
9. You Are Not Alone
10. Childhood
11. Tabloid Junkie
12. 2 Bad
13. History
14. Little Susie
15. Smile

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4718 in Music
• Released on: 1995-06-19
• Number of discs: 2

Amazon.co.uk Review
HIStory's two CDs (one hits, the other new) were Jackson's attempt to connect his glorious past to a dodgy present and--given it's commercial and artistic performance--cast a shadow on his future. Conceived as his formal coronation as the "King of Pop", HIStory's second disc instead presents Jackson as an epauletted, single-gloved Richard III. By turns paranoid, angry, bitter, sentimental, and, in one instance, possibly anti-Semitic, HIStory was less a collection of songs than a case history. A few tracks--mostly those produced by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis--are sleek, modern pop/soul, but too much of HIStory has the overblown vacuousness of a musician who knows his time is past, but is unsure as to how to react to the situation. --Steven Mirkin

From Amazon.com
HIStory's 2 CDs (one hits, the other new) were Jackson's attempt to connect his glorious past to a dodgy present and--given it's commercial and artistic performance--cast a shadow on his future. Conceived as his formal coronation as the "King of Pop," HIStory's second disc instead presents Jackson as an epauletted, single-gloved Richard III. By turns paranoid, angry, bitter, sentimental, and, in one instance, possibly anti-Semitic, HIStory was less a collection of songs than a case history. A few tracks--mostly those produced by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis--are sleek, modern pop/soul, but too much of HIStory has the overblown vacuousness of a musician who knows his time is past, but is unsure as to how to react to the situation. --Steven Mirkin

Customer Reviews

Michael Jackson is angry!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
At the time of recording this album Michael Jackson was a very angry man, the Chandler case had been going on and other people in authority were trying their best to ruin him. This was the biggest selling black artist of all time and he was living in Neverland Ranch in a purely white community, people were jealous and wanted his musical career finished.
This album was Michael's answer to them.
The songs Scream, They don't care about us, Stranger in Moscow, This time around, D.S, Money, Childhood, Tabloid Junkie and 2bad all relate to Michael's life at that time, which is why i've given this album 5 stars, this isn't his best album by a long shot but it is still a fantastic and very personal album and the people who give this a low score should sit back with headphones on and really listen to the lyrics which Michael wrote most of and then come back and correct their reviews.
All in all this is another classic album by Michael Jackson and more auto-biographical than any of his previous work. If, like me, you believe in Michael's innocence then I suggest you buy this album and see for yourself how angry a man can get through lies and gossip being constantly spread about him.
I wouldn't like it, would you?

Four Stars For The Hits, Two Stars For The New Material
The first disc of HIStory is a reasonable collection of Jackson's hits from his first four Epic produced albums, Off The Wall, Thriller, Bad and Dangerous, though some popular songs have been omitted.

Unfortunately, the second disc of new material is a collection of five good songs accompanied by a miriad of forgettable filler. The five good songs are mostly the singles, Scream, They Don't Care About Us, Stranger In Moscow, You Are Not alone and the title track HIStory.

I don't like Earth Song because it's over produced and naieve, portraying Jackson as some kind of a messiah.

Strangely compulsive album
Firstly, I'll only review the new material on HIStory. You all know what CD 1 is about, it goes without saying.

The following words spring to mind when listening to HIStory; bleak, dark, scary, painful, apocalyptic, melancholy, thoughtful, sad, venomous...it really isn't a pretty picture.

Yet despite all this, it's a strangely compulsive album, not least because it's all delivered with such flair; a beat to dance to here, a chorus to sing (or scream) along to here, a soft string arrangement to tug at the heartstrings now and then.

Before HIStory, Michael was criticised for making music that was good, yet soulless and without conviction. Here, HIStory's themes are so close to Michael that he almost has the opposite problem - he really pours his heart into the music, seething with such anger that you fear you CD player could explode. But the music itself does seem to suffer as a result. Whoever listens to HIStory clearly has a liking for MJ; Micheal's audio-unloading of bile onto the listener kind of makes you feel 'hey what did I do wrong?'

Yet that's maybe where the power of HIStory lies. From the sheer fury of Scream and They Don't Care About Us, to the haunting beauty of Stranger in Moscow and Childhood, to the cool sneer of Money and 2 Bad, to the disturbing Little Susie and Smile, and of course Earth Song, Michael will grab you from start to finish, force you to listen to this, and whether you enjoy it or not, your opinion of Michael will have changed.

It must be heard to be understood.