Above: Akon wants to get something started, but he's got some carburetor problems.
Epic/Legacy on Tuesday released the 25th anniversary edition of "the world's biggest-selling album of all time." Version 2 of "Thriller" is a 16-song CD with seven bonus tracks and a DVD with videos/film shorts and the entire "Motown 25: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow" special -- the scene of Michael Jackson's moonwalk landing.
The original album is still a prize. Its nine songs come and go in 44 minutes and there's not much filler ("Baby Be Mine" sounds dated; and "The Girl Is Mine" is hard to take seriously). The rest lives up to its gaudy reputation.
The bonus material is uninspired: brand-new remixes of the five best-known songs and "For All Time," a listless ballad that was left off he original. The remixes (Will.i.am., Fergie, Kanye West and Akon) are pretty useless or forgettable. None packs the pop and punch of the original. Akon's "Startin' Something" walks with a limp; West turns "Billie Jean" into a dark, depressing mess.
In 2008, "Thriller" is as old as Motown was in 1983, the year "Thriller was released. Music changed a lot from 1968-83. The world around it is profoundly different, but it feels like music hasn't changed half as much since.
| Timothy Finn, The Star
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