MJ is hot again

There was quite a number of Filipino fans of Michael Jackson who expressed disappointment over the non-inclusion of their favorite ballad One Day in Your Life in the hit collections Number Ones and The Essential Michael Jackson. Those who have closely followed the career of the much lamented pop icon know the reason.

Unlike Ben or Music and Me, One Day in Your Life was not a hit in the US. In fact, Michael himself was surprised to find out that it was a big seller in the Philippines, when he and his brothers came over for the Love Jive concerts in February, 1976. It was not included in their original repertoire but Michael gladly acceded to the requests and performed the song not only in the concert but also on local TV.

Maybe it was just a coincidence but it took Michael’s death to get One Day in Your Life into an MJ hit compilation. This is Michael Jackson & The Jackson 5 — The Motown Years. The three-disc set with 50 cuts is the definitive collection of MJ’s earliest recordings, with his brothers as part of The Jackson 5 from the time when he was 10 years old and later as a solo act. Here is proof that stars are born not made. From the very first line of the bouncy ABC, you can already sense the emergence of somebody of rare brilliance.

Michael Jackson & The Jackson 5 — The Motown Years is a must for all MJ fans. It also contains Never Can Say Goodbye, I’ll Be There, I Want You Back, Dancing Machine, Going Back to Indiana, Skywriter, Mama’s Pearl, La La Means I Love You, Santa Claus is Coming to Town, You’ve Got a Friend, My Girl, One Day in Your Life, Got to be There, Rockin’ Robin, Ben, I Wanna Be Where You Are and Music and Me, among others.

Other musts for fans and collectors are: Off the Wall, which I believe is one of Jackson’s best. Here is the beginning of the phenomenon. No more the cutesy stuff of the Jackson 5 years. With assist from the legendary producer Quincy Jones, Jackson’s innate artistry and surprising technological know-how took funk, disco and soulful ballads to new heights. You can listen to this again and again and still be affected by its contents. With Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough, Off the Wall, She’s Out of My Life and Rock with You.

Thriller is all the promise evinced in Off the Wall, fulfilled with stunning results. Get the 25th anniversary edition which comes with a lot of extras. You will get the original hits like Thriller and Human Nature, but there are also versions of P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing), Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’ and This Girl is Mine with Paul McCartney redone by will.i.am, Beat It as a duet with Fergie and his biggest hit Billie Jean with Kanye West. There are also videos led by the pacesetting Thriller and including that memorable performance of Billie Jean at the Motown 25th anniversary show on television.

I always prefer getting the original albums more so in the case of artists of Jackson’s caliber. There is a definite concept and I like finding the thread of continuity that runs through the music. So you might also want to get copies of Bad, with Man in the Mirror, The Way You Make Me Feel and Another Part of Me; of Dangerous which has Black or White, Heal the World and Remember the Time; and of HIStory with They Don’t Care About Us and You are Not Alone.

Given how much CDs cost today and I am sure you would not want the downloads or pirated copies which do not have the great pictures, a Jackson shopping spree can set your budget back by a lot of pesos. So if you cannot afford to get everything, may I recommend the best hits compilations. You should be fine with the Number Ones which has a new song, One More Chance and The Essential Michael Jackson, a two-CD set which combines his early stuff with the iconic recordings.

Now none of those albums contains the heartbreaking Childhood, the theme from Free Willy 2 or the frenetic Blood on the Dance Floor or that touching ballad inspired by the film E.T., Someone in the Dark. I am sure though that there will be compilations in the future that will include these none number ones which like One Day in Your Life, Jackson endowed with extraordinary beauty.