Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Want You Back
2. ABC
3. I'll Be There
4. Got To Be There
5. I Wanna Be Where You Are
6. Ben
7. Dancing Machine- Single Version
8. Enjoy Yourself- The Jacksons
9. Ease On Down The Road
10. You Can't Win
11. Shake Your Body (Down To The Ground)- Single Edit
12. Shake Your Body (Down To The Ground)- Early Demo
13. Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough
14. Rock With You
15. Off The Wall
16. She's Out Of My Life
17. Sunset Driver- Demo
18. Lovely One- The Jacksons
19. This Place Hotel- The Jacksons

Disc 2:

1. Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'
2. The Girl Is Mine- Michael Jackson (With Paul Mccartney)
3. Thriller
4. Beat It
5. Billie Jean
6. P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)- Demo Version
7. Someone In The Dark
8. State Of Shock- The Jacksons
9. Scared Of The Moon
10. We Are The World
11. We Are Here To Change The World

Disc 3:

1. Bad
2. The Way You Make Me Feel
3. Man In The Mirror
4. I Just Can't Stop Loving You- Michael Jackson,Siedah Garrett
5. Dirty Diana
6. Smooth Criminal
7. Cheater
8. Dangerous- Early Version
9. Monkey Business
10. Jam
11. Remember The Time
12. Black Or White
13. Who Is It
14. Someone Put Your Hand Out

Disc 4:

1. You Are Not Alone
2. Stranger In Moscow
3. Childhood (Theme From "Free Willy 2")
4. On The Line
5. Blood On The Dance Floor
6. Fall Again
7. In The Back
8. Unbreakable
9. You Rock My World with intro
10. Butterflies
11. Beautiful Girl
12. The Way You Love Me
13. We've Had Enough

Disc 5:

1. Jam- Live Video
2. Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'- Live Video
3. Human Nature- Live Video
4. Smooth Criminal- Live Video
5. I Just Can't Stop Loving You- Live Video
6. She's Out Of My Life- Live Video
7. I Want You Back- Live Video
8. I'll Be There- Live Video
9. Thriller- Live Video
10. Billie Jean- Live Video
11. Working Day And Night- Live Video
12. Beat It- Live Video
13. Will You Be There- Live Video
14. Black Or White- Live Video
15. Heal The World- Live Video
16. Man In The Mirror- Live Video

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #165 in Music
• Brand: Sony
• Released on: 2004-11-16
• Number of discs: 5
• Format: Box set
• Dimensions: 1.40 pounds

Album Description
This Ultimate Collection by Michael Jackson showcases the king of pop's career from childhood in the Jackson 5, right up to the present day. It includes four CDs of classic tracks, alternate takes and rarities plus a bonus, previously unreleased DVD of a show in Bucharest during the Dangerous world tour.

Customer Reviews

Truly The Ultimate
Yes Michael Jackson has had a few too many 'Greatest Hits' packages, but this one truly is the Ultimate collection of his musical work. Four CDs jam packed with hits and rarities spanning his entire 34 year recording career (J5, The Jacksons and solo), a DVD of his Dangerous concert that aired on HBO (available here for the first time) and an original 60 page book detailing his entire career. There's precious little more you could ask for from a box set.

Now Michael has only released 6 full albums of new material in the past 25 years so chances are that most already have the hits in one form or another so why buy this set? Consider the following list of all the rare and previously unreleased songs in this collection.

Enjoy Yourself - The Jacksons first hit from their first album with Epic

Ease On Down The Road / You Can't Win - both from The Wiz Soundtrack

Shake A Body - previously unreleased demo of what became "Shake Your Body Down To The Ground"

Sunset Driver - previously unreleased demo

P.Y.T. - previously unreleased demo

Someone In The Dark - track from the rarely heard E.T. Storybook

State Of Shock - duet with Mick Jagger (!) from The Jacksons last album Victory

Scared of the Moon - previously unreleased demo

We Are The World - previously unreleased demo

We Are Here To Change The World - from Captain EO (previously unreleased)

Cheater - previously unreleased demo

Dangerous - previously unreleased alternate version

Monkey Business - previously unreleased

Who Is It (IHS Mix) - rare remix

Someone Put Your Hand Out - rare promotional song (first time on CD)

On The Line - from the "Get On The Bus" soundtrack

Fall Again - previously unreleased demo

In The Back - previously unreleased

Beautiful Girl - previously unreleased demo

The Way You Love Me - previously unreleased

We've Had Enough - previously unreleased

That's 14 completely brand new tracks never heard before and 8 that were previously very hard to come by. These 22 tracks alone (a full album of material) make this set worth the purchase for any MJ fan. It's surprising that these demos and completed songs never saw the light of day until now considering the high caliber of the work. If this is any indication of the songs MJ has in the vault, I'd love to hear more - lots more.

No matter if you only have one or two MJ CDs, are a rabid fan or are just interested in finding out what al the fuss is about, this is the set for you. Sony did an amazing job with this set and Michael (a real perfectionist) should be commended for his bravery in releasing demos. I look forward to hearing many more of these previously unheard recordings. Thanks Mike.

Great Collection of Hits and Unreleased Songs!!!
I bought this the day it came out as I counldn't wait to hear the unreleased tracks. I was dying to hear Sunset Driver and the P.Y.T. demo. I was NOT dissapointed at all. Sunset Driver is an excellent song. I think it was meant to be put on Off The Wall but the booklet says it was recorded for Thriller. Anyways, I dont know why the song was never put on an album, maybe Michael was just being too picky. Other notable songs on disc one are "You Can't Win". I was glad to hear they had the long version with "Can't Get Outta The Rain" on it. The "Shake Your Body" demo is very similar to the final cut version. Disc two has the demo of "P.Y.T". I was looking forward to hear. It is mid-tempo, I guess Quincy Jones wanted something faster for the album. I really like this demo a lot. It is very catchy for a demo. As far as the rest of the boxed set, all the hits are there. My only complaints are that "Human Nature" wasn't put on. And as for unreleased tracks, where is "Hot Street"? Put Hot Street and Sunset Driver on the cd and you got two excellent unreleased dance tracks. "Carousel" is also another track from thriller that is very good but was unreleased. Wish that was on there as well. The dvd concert is good but I would rather see a concert from the "Victory Tour" in 1984 or even the "Bad Tour". The unreleased material on disc's 3 and 4 are O-kay. I just feel that MJ's best music was from Off The Wall and the Thriller era so I just wanted to hear as much from that era than anything else. This boxed set is definitely worth the money.

Exceptional collection but a little short on rarities
A good box set with nice packaging and reasonable song choices, but the target audience for this monster of a set is not casual fans. They will buy the greatest hits compilations "HIStory" or "Number 1's" and be content. This box set should have been for the loyal fans who have stuck by Michael -- the ones who already own all the hits and regular albums. For that reason, "The Ultimate Collection" box set is a little short on rarities.

The most obvious omission is the Thriller era b-side "Can't Get Outta The Rain." Also, the set would have been worth the price alone had they included his one-time performance of "You Were There" from the Sammy Davis Jr. Anniversary TV Special. It has never been released anywhere.

The good news is that fans who buy this collection will get a few cool songs and demos from the MJJ vaults. One song in particular, "On The Line" (written by Babyface) and found only as a bonus track on a European CD single, is so good it is surprising it was never issued as a single in the U.S. back in the 90's. It would have been a number one for sure.

For those bemoaning the fact that we have yet another greatest hits package from Michael to contend with, don't blame him. He has absolutely nothing to do with it. This is all Sony Music's fault. It is part of their contract with him. They can compile his music any way they see fit. He has no approval on anything. It is not a cash grab for MJJ to cover mounting legal expenses as some have guessed. It is a last ditch effort by his former record company to make some money on his supposedly fading star. So knowing that, this collection could have been a lot worse (like the mishmash "Number 1's"). But whomever put it together just skimmed the surface of the hits, tossed in a few rare songs and called it a box set. Not a lot of thought went into this "ultimate" collection. It doesn't even include all the blockbuster hits.

Missing are the J5 favorites The Love You Save, Never Can Say Goodbye and a few Jacksons hits are also not included.

The collection is light on true rarities, b-sides, live songs, alternate takes and demos. We all already have the hits (there are so many Jackson hits collections I have actually lost count), this should have been something more special.

The DVD is the 1992 HBO special which every fan already has. This should have been a live compilation. Maybe the 1987 Japan-only concert special or something as rare. Sony really missed an opportunity here. What Michael Jackson needs is a solid live album. Maybe once they are through skimming the top of the MJJ "hits" catalog, Sony executives will give true fans a rarities collection worth buying. I'd be happy to advise them on the song list.

The bottom line is that "The Ultimate Collection" will be a nice addition to any diehard MJJ fan's CD collection, but it will leave them skipping past the songs they already own several times over and "ultimately" leave them wanting more.

But maybe that was Sony's greedy plan all along.