The Ultimate Collection (Michael Jackson Album)

''The Ultimate Collection'' is a box set by American singer and recording artist Michael Jackson. It was released on November 16, 2004, by Epic Records and consists of four audio CDs and one DVD. The album sold 57,000 copies in 2004 alone, and on May 16, 2013, it was certified Platinum as a multi-disk package by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for physical shipments of 200,000 copies in the United States. The DVD marked the first physical release of '' Live in Bucharest: The Dangerous Tour'', initially an HBO concert special in 1992, which was later released as an individual title on July 25, 2005. The set also features a 60-page booklet that contains photos and text by the American music critic Nelson George summarizing the artist's career.

Album information

Much of the music is drawn from the height of Jackson's career, particularly from the principal seven albums: ''Off the Wall'', '' Thriller'', ''Bad'', ''Dangerous'', '' HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I'', '' Blood on the Dance Floor: HIStory in the Mix'' and ''Invincible''. Notable tracks on the box set include the first release of the demos of songs such as "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)", "Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)", "Cheater" and the original demo of "We Are the World" featuring Jackson as a soloist. The set also contains 8 unreleased songs, including "In the Back", "Beautiful Girl", "The Way You Love Me" and "We've Had Enough".

The song "The Way You Love Me" was remixed for the posthumous album ''Michael'' with the title " (I Like) The Way You Love Me", and was released as a single on July 8, 2011.

The previously unreleased content from this box set was later included in an iTunes-only collection similarly titled ''The Ultimate Fan Extras Collection'' in 2013.

Rarities

''The Ultimate Collection'' box set also contains songs previously out of print:
* " Enjoy Yourself" is 15 seconds longer than the original album version.
* The full version of " You Can't Win" was originally only available on its 12-inch single.
* "Sunset Driver" was originally set to be on ''Off the Wall''.
* "Someone in the Dark" was first released as a two-part song on the '' E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial'' double LP audiobook, and later included in a shorter version in the 2001 "Special Edition" of '' Thriller''.
* Both the early version of "Dangerous" and "Monkey Business" were previously available only on the rare 2001 "Special Edition" acetate of the ''Dangerous'' album.
* "Someone Put Your Hand Out" was originally released as a Pepsi-supported cassette single in Europe to promote the Dangerous World Tour (see below).
* " On the Line" is from the film ''Get on the Bus'' movie released in 1996, And it was part of the ''Ghosts'' boxset released in 1997, but containing an earlier fade out.
* "You Are Not Alone" is 15 seconds longer than the album version, featuring more vocals.
* "We Are Here to Change the World" is a previously unreleased song from the Disney World short film ''Captain EO''.

Fourteen previously unreleased songs and demos are included, such as "Beautiful Girl", "Cheater" and Jackson's solo-demo to "We Are the World".

Track listing

* The Jackson 5/Jacksons perform tracks 1-3, 7, 8, 11-12, 18-19 (Disc 1) and track 8 (Disc 2).

Limited Japanese Edition bonus tracks

* The Jacksons perform track 11 on Disc 1.
* The addition of "Another Part of Me" pushes the order of tracks down by one (i.e. "Someone Put Your Hand Out" starts off Disc 4).

Sampler CD

* The Jackson 5 perform track 1.

"Someone Put Your Hand Out"

" Someone Put Your Hand Out" (on disc three of ''The Ultimate Collection'') is a song originally written by Michael Jackson in 1987 for the ''Bad'' album and re-written in April 1992 with Teddy Riley, having failed to make it on to Jackson's 1991 album ''Dangerous''. It was released May 1992 in Europe as an exclusive Pepsi promotional single, to promote Jackson’s upcoming Dangerous World Tour. 500,000 copies were made available by collecting a winning token from certain Pepsi products. A cassette single of "Someone Put Your Hand Out" was also released as part of an exclusive Pepsi promotional pack in June 1992 throughout Europe. The promotional pack also included a Michael Jackson poster, a promotional sticker, and a press release about Jackson’s upcoming Dangerous World Tour. An instrumental version of the song was played by Michael Jackson's band during some of the concerts of the Dangerous World Tour.

The Bad era demo has been leaked in low quality with alternate lyrics.

Charts

Certifications and sales

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ultimate Collection (Michael Jackson Album), The
2004 compilation albums
Michael Jackson compilation albums
Albums produced by Michael Jackson
Epic Records compilation albums