Michael Jackson - the 45 versions on CD

bad news.. bad news.. bad news.. MIXED ISSUES

you won't believe this.. but Sony Japan have frigging messed up the 'Thriller 25 singles box set'... BIG TIME.. i'm so pissed off right now i want to throw the wretched thing against a wall. i think this was the last chance to get the correct 45 mixes.. if the Japanese can't issue them right then there is no hope.

three singles are correct:

The Girl Is Mine b/w Can't Get Outta The Rain
Billie Jean b/w It's The Falling In Love
P.Y.T. b/w Working Day And Night (1981 Live version)

but 4!!! wrong

Beat It b/w Get On the Floor

Beat It = is the normal album version.. the single faded two or three spilt seconds earlier..

Get On The Floor = is not the correct version.. on the original 45 they used the original 1979 Off The Wall album version not the 1980 remixed updated version with the completely different rhythm guitar added.

Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' b/w Instrumental

Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' = is not the correct verison.. it clocks in at the correct 45 time.. but you can clearly here that stupid monkey-like sound effect on the start of the line "Billie Jean is always talkin'"

the instrumental is fine

Human Nature b/w Baby Be Mine

i really really really hoped they would get this one right.. no such thing... they didn't!

Human Nature = is the album version clocked at the 45 time but with the regular instrumentation on the bridge.

Thriller b/w Things I Do For You (1981 Live version)

Thriller is that stupid 4:37 edit that bizzarely included just one verse of the Vincent Price rap.. out of all the 4 different edits this one was the worst and to my knowledge was never issued as a 45 anywhere!!
it first appeared on the 1992 UK Tour Souvenir CD set.

i'm seriously thinking of sending mine back.. and emailing Sony we AGAIN have incorrect mix issues.

I feel your pain, guys. I honestly don't understand why no one can seem to get the single versions issued on CD . I can't believe the Japanese Thriller 25 box set release couldn't even get it right.

With a CD release like Michael Jackson's Essential geared to appeal more to casual listeners who want nothing but the hits, I agree that most consumers wouldn't notice, much less even care, that the incorrect single mixes were used on that particular release. But in the case of a limited edition collection like this new Japanese box set, which is being marketed with the selling point that painstaking care was used to exactly replicate the seven commercial single releases from Thriller, isn't the primary target audience supposed to be "particular and anal" collectors like us? Let's face it, pretty much the only folks who are going to pay the big bucks for a set like this are hardcore Michael Jackson fans and Top 40/Hot 100 completists. How do the audio engineers figure such a specialized audience isn't going to notice the fact that incorrect single versions were used here?

Japanese audio engineers are known for their careful attention to detail and precision. That leads me to think that if not even they are using the correct single mixes, then those mixes may be lost or destroyed. Either that, or someone has possession of them who for some reason is not interested in letting them see the light of day again on CD.

Edited by Todd Ireland

Here's my opinion of what probably happened:

When "Essential" was done, new 45 edits were created for the songs in question using the album masters. Whoever did this didn't know or didn't care that they were not the correct mixes. I know Michael Palmaccio, who mastered "Essential," did not create these edits -- he told me so himself. (He was kind enough to call me on the phone after I sent him an angry letter after "Essential" was released.)

So now Sony has in its vaults incorrect digital masters mislabeled "single edit," and any new engineer that comes along is going to think those are the real deal.

I would assume that's what happened, but I don't know. But I was glad to have the instrumental for "Wanna Be" and the two live B-sides. They do sound to me like they were taken from tape sources, though of course they're still the typical loud/compressed sound of recent CD releases.

Edited by Brian W.

The same was done for the Eurythmics Ultimate Collection CD. They remastered the albums, and instead of going back and remastering the single versions for a tie-in greatest hits collection, they attempted to recreate edits from the new album remasters. Few of them are 100% correct.

Given that MJ's catalog was also remastered within this decade, I assume the same was done for his Essential set. I believe the Eurythmics disc came out through Sony as well.

Edited by Underground Dub