Michael Jackson's "Number Ones" - remastered?
 

Was thinking of getting the new "Thriller" release...but is Number Ones remastered? If so, wouldn't getting it be the better 'bang for your buck'?

Actually, I think this is the best bang for the buck ($13.97 at Amazon)

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...NL._AA240_.jpg

I Want You Back (The Jackson 5)
ABC (The Jackson 5)
The Love You Save (The Jackson 5)
Got to Be There
Rockin' Robin
Ben
Enjoy Yourself (The Jacksons)
Blame It on The Boogie (The Jacksons)
Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground) (The Jacksons)
Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough
Rock with You
Off the Wall
She's Out of My Life
Can You Feel It (The Jacksons)
The Girl Is Mine (With Paul McCartney)
Billie Jean
Beat It
Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'
Human Nature
P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)
Thriller
Bad
I Just Can't Stop Loving You
Leave Me Alone
The Way You Make Me Feel
Man in the Mirror
Dirty Diana
Another Part of Me
Smooth Criminal
Black or White
Heal the World
Remember the Time
In the Closet
Who Is It
Will You Be There
Dangerous
You Are Not Alone
You Rock My World

Michaels Greatest hits were remastered in 1995 for the HIStory cd, disc one.
All his alblums were remastered in 2001 to coincide with Invincible. As far as I know these are the only remasteres of OTW-Dangerous era remasters. Any thing after that was probably just ported over. Except I may be wrong, but number ones does contain radio edits of some of the tracks.

I agree. This is a great CD.

CD 1 (20 tracks, 79 min.) covers the period up to and including the "Thriller" album
Tracks 1-5 Jackson 5
Track 6 solo Michael when he was still in Jackson 5
Tracks 7-9 The Jacksons 1 from "The Jacksons" and 2 from "Triumph" albums
Tracks 10-13 "Off The Wall"
Tracks 14-20 "Thriller" 7 of the 9 "Thriller" album tracks (the other 2 were "Baby Be Mine" & "The Lady in My Life")

CD2 (17 tracks, 78 min.) covers the "Bad" and "Dangerous" period with 2 others.
Tracks 1-8 "Bad"
Tracks 9-15 "Dangerous"
Track 16 "HIStory: Past, Present, & Future Book 1"
Track 17 "Invinicle"

In the end, this "essential" compilation is better than any other compilation available (HIStory Vol. 1; Number Ones, etc.) as it covers both the Jackson 5/Jacksons era and his solo output. Shoulda been a 3 disc set with his solo output on 2 discs and his Jacksons stuff on the 3rd disc.

A few notable omissions are The Jacksons "Can You Feel It" and "State of Shock" with Mick Jagger, "Scream" with sister Janet from HIStory, and "Say Say Say" with Paul McCartney which is on his CDs. If I didn't have his remastered CDs from 2001 and History from 2005 I'd get this for sure.

The Wikipedia entry for the CD (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ess...ichael_Jackson) has 21 tracks for disc one, with track 14 being 'Can You Feel It'. Also of interest, there appears to be a slight difference in tracklistings between the US and international versions. In addition to a slight difference in the order of the tracks, the international version drops 'Enjoy Yourself' and 'Dangerous' and replaces them with 'Earth Song' and 'They Don't Care About Us'.

I agree the set is close to being the perfect compilation of his overall work. I would have like a few more Jackson 5 songs myself (I'll Be There is a notable omission), and perhaps I think there is probably a perfect middle ground somewhere between 'The Essential Michael Jackson' and his comprehensive 4 CD 'Michael Jackson: The Ultimate Collection' (which is heavy on outtakes and rarities, and perhaps too comprehensive to work as a pure hits collection) .

So to get his remastered music, HIstory is the best bet?

All I want is a remastered compilation of his hits - remastered is the key.

Be careful what you wish for when it comes to remasters. In recent years, the recording industry has been mastering albums at increasing levels of loudness with compressed dynamic range. Read about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loudness_war

The practice has affected not just new albums, but also remasters. The HIStory CD may sound better in this case, given that it was probably produced before things got out of hand.

Having owned every last thing put out by Michael, I mean everything, I can tell you that while the "Essential Michael Jackson" is not complete, it is certainly the way go. The "Number Ones" disc, is fine, my main problem being that they are radio edits of the songs. So epics, like Thriller, are not in full. The songs that made it on to the HIStory album were remastered in 1995. Then whatever was not on HIStory was remastered for the re-releases back in 2001. So all of the songs at this point have been remastered. The "Essential Michael Jackson" features all of the remastered versions. In my opinion, one of the other major problems with Number Ones is that it sounds loud, but not full. So I would get the Essential, then maybe download the following songs to add to it:

-I'll Be There
-I Wanna Be Where You Are
-Dancing Machine
-Jam
-Give In To Me
-Scream (duet with Janet)
-Earth Song
-They Dont Care About Us
-Butterflies

That should pretty much cover it all.

I'd get Essential Michael Jackson for sure. (Vol. 1-Greatest Hits History) is good but it only has 15 old hits, plus 15 new (if you get the 2 Disc HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I) which isn't that bad.

Slightly off topic, but would you happen to know if the video mix of the song "Thriller" is available anywhere? I always thought it was interesting how they put all the verses together.

It's funny you ask. I was just a toddler when Thriller first came out, so I had no clue that it was a different version on the album. I remember seeing the video and memorizing the video, that when I listened to the album, I didn't expect the chorus to come until much later. I was expecting verse to verse to verse. Alas, it isn't available anywhere.

Well it is on the history vol one dvd. Alot of fans have ripped that version. But as far as being on an offical cd, nope, not that I know of.

Personally as a greatest hits compilation, I find History too limited in scope. Even if you don't want the earlier Motown/Jackson material, it's missing enough key songs to be a disappointment.