THRILLER媒体评论集

dalehsiang

我真是彻底意气用事的人 有些评论不是一开头就是最后一句让我赏白眼 写的有理但想贴上来都难><

dalehsiang

Michael Jackson Thriller: 25th Anniversary Edition [Epic; 2008] Rating: 7.2 Thriller is the biggest-selling album of all time; it says so on the cover of this reissue package. What it doesn't say is that, on a worldwide scale, it outpaces the Eagles, Pink Floyd, and Celine Dion by more than just a marginal million or so: At 100 million+ copies sold, it's estimated to have sold more than twice its nearest rival. And so people try to concoct explanations. The album was focus-grouped for broader appeal-- but then why haven't focus groups worked so well since? Jackson made the racial crossover breakthrough on MTV-- but once that door was opened, why didn't the sales crossover work for others? Jackson's stunning dancing and videos exploded pop's visual formatting-- but the Thriller album, until DVD-era reissues like this one, wasn't a visual experience. When Thriller opens, those 100 million sales feel just. "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" is pure confused, shocked teenage rush. So there's another theory: Thriller is the best-selling record ever because it's the best record ever. That one holds up for six minutes and two seconds, during which Jackson and Quincy Jones mix the tension of rock'n'roll with the rapture of disco and hit perfection. But then you get "Baby Be Mine"-- one of the original tracks that wasn't a single-- and the momentum fades: On the heels of "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'", it should maintain the temperature; instead, it goes nowhere, starts nothing. Thriller is inconsistent in style, which gives it something to appeal to everyone, but it's oddly tough to listen to even the great bits sequentially-- its peaks are from different mountain ranges. "Thriller"'s joke-shop horror segues well into Eddie Van Halen's headbanging guitar on "Beat It". But to follow that into the paranoid celebrity funk of "Billie Jean", the meltingly tender "Human Nature", and the smooth R&B of "P.Y.T."? These are all brilliant singles, though; Thriller's greatness lies in its great songs not in it "working like an album." For this edition Jackson's called in some current big guns to provide remixes, and sadly they do provide the consistency the originals gloriously lack. Will.i.am sets the tone: He takes Macca off "The Girl Is Mine" but decides it can't work without someone sounding like an idiot and steps manfully in himself. There's a general reluctance to use what these guest stars are good at: will.I.am is a consistently slick, inventive pop producer but nobody wants to hear him rap, whereas on Kanye West's "Billie Jean" a guest verse might have added dynamics to the mix's clumsy claustrophobia. Fergie's gift as a pop star is the way her crassness shifts into oddness-- so on "Beat It" her nervous reverence is a waste of time. Only Akon comes off well, flipping the meaning of "startin' somethin'" and turning the song into a joyful seducer's groove, and here it's Jackson's own mush-mouthed new vocal that spoils things. The remixes aren't a missed opportunity-- they're an imaginative way to wring bonus material from sessions overseen by a notorious perfectionist. It could be a lot worse. The last time Thriller got reissued it included "Someone in the Dark", a horror from the E.T. soundtrack showcasing Jackson's most saccharine side. We're spared that, and the token MJ rarity here is "For All Time", recorded during the Thriller sessions (and then later rejected for Dangerous). A glistening, slightly overdressed piano ballad, it might have made a nicely sappy album closer-- if we didn't already have the subtler, understated, and underrated "The Lady in My Life", possibly Jackson's most soulful solo performance on the record. The DVD footage, with all the videos you'd expect, is much better. Watching the famous Motown 25th Anniversary performance of "Billie Jean" in particular I'm struck by how angular Jackson's dancing is, how tense: Knees and elbows spiking out, body freezing into indecipherable alphabets. And then how beautiful, the way he simply flows out of each position, the release that made his music so joyful given kinetic form. The biggest-selling album of all time, then, and you should probably take the "of all time" literally. His highest-clout guest stars here have shifted around one-twentieth the copies Thriller has, and in a dwindling industry it's hard to imagine anything similar happening again. Fluke it maybe was, but as a unification move it worked-- the last time, maybe, one person could incarnate almost all of pop, all the corny and all the awesome in one mind. We live now in the world of the "long tail"-- Thriller was the big head. -Tom Ewing, February 15, 2008 http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/48645-thriller-25th-anniversary-edition

dalehsiang

Michael Jackson: 'Thriller (25th Anniversary Edition) 'Released on Tuesday, February 12 2008 By Alex Fletcher, Entertainment Reporter Not many albums - if any - can lay claim to the accolades earned by Michael Jackson's Thriller. A hundred million copies sold and counting, eight Grammys, 80 consecutive weeks in the Billboard 200, a guest appearance by one of the Beatles and six top ten singles aren't the sort of stats you band around willy-nilly. Now 25-years-old, every great pop record since owes some sort of debt to its innovative genius. Moulding together the soul and funk of classic Motown with the brash excesses of '80s production, it set the bar for pop albums at such a ludicrously high level, not even Jackson himself managed to match it. It's frightening to imagine how, if Thriller were released today, Jackson would deal with the media circus that surrounds our biggest popstars. If 24-hour news had existed in 1983, he'd probably have been given his own channel. Yet, despite all the court cases and wacky face modifications that have sullied his reputation, once upon a time Jacko was much more than a tabloid staple. This 25th anniversary release of Thriller, his seminal album, should dispel that myth once and for all. Because, before the pet monkeys, theme parks and baby-dangling, there were tunes and every single one of them was ruddy brilliant. From the jittering, rat-a-tat funk of 'Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' to the blissful soul of 'Lady In My Life' to the sexually-charged crunch of 'Billie Jean', Thriller never slips below the level of genius. It achieves that rare feat of rendering the skip button useless, recalling an era before iPod shuffles and MySpace, a time when artists needed to make great albums rather than one decent tune to earn recognition. Elements of all today's great pop artists can be traced back to this record; Timberlake, Kanye, Spears and pretty much everyone else that matters can find the roots of their success here. The blend of crunching rock and hip-swivelling disco on 'Beat It', the tender R&B caress of 'Human Nature', the sheer bombast of the title track: each one has been copied, re-hashed and plagiarised a million times, but never have they sounded as energised or as wonderful as they do here. While it would be pleasurable to spend the rest of this review enthusing further about the original LP, this version, alas, features new tunes. Perhaps testing the waters for new material, Jacko has roped in the big guns to play karaoke with his hits. The results are a mixed-bag to say the least. Will.i.am takes a butcher's cleaver to the innocent charm of 'The Girl Is Mine', installing his own brand of crass, over-produced Black Eyed Peas faux-funk, while Fergie's attempts to play rock chick on 'Beat It' are laughable. Worse still is Akon's nasal warbling on a super-speed reggae version of 'Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'. However, if the extra tracks prove anything, it's that the original LP hasn't lost any of its lustre over the past quarter of a decade: the hotch-potch updates actually sound more old-fashioned than the originals. Only Kanye West comes out of the sorry affair unsullied, with his cinematic, big-beat re-model of 'Billie Jean' retaining the original's haunting menace. If Jackson is eyeing up a comeback, he'd best advised to keep West on speed dial. In an age when Snow Patrol, James Blunt and Coldplay are considered global stars, it's hard to remember what it was like when our musical heroes were as fascinating and magical as Michael Jackson. Hopefully this CD will serve as a timely reminder. http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/music/a89473/michael-jackson-thriller-25th-anniversary-edition.html [ 本帖最后由 dalehsiang 于 2008-2-17 07:11 编辑 ]

MkGenie

People magazine Michael Jackson: Thriller 25th Anniversary Edition 4 outof 4 stars. (the highest) By Chuck Arnold R&B/Pop You don't have to go any further than the top 10 of this week's pop charts to appreciate the monumental impact of Thriller. On her dance hit "Don't Stop the Music", current pop It Girl Rihanna, wasn't even born when Michael Jackson moonwalked his way to history, rips the "ma ma se, ma ma sa, ma macoo sa" refrain from "Wanna Be Startin' Something'". It's a shrewd move, but all it makes me think how much fresher -and fierecer- the source sounds, even today. On the 25th anniversary reissue, "Beat It" still rocks, "Billie Jean" still burns, and the title tune, with its so-wacko-it's-genius Vincent Price rap, still thrills. The new remixes by will.i.am and Kanye West make the mistake of messing with the iconic material. But Senegal-born singer Akon enriches the African flavor of "Wanna Be Startin'Somethin'," turning it into a funky world-beat jam. A little section in the article says - First details on.... Michael's next album: Jackson is reportedly brining in some big guns - Kanye West, will.i.am, Akon, T-Pain, and Ne-Yo - forhis first studio disc since 2001's Invincible, tentatively due later this year. Celebs Thriller moments: Ludacris (rapper) - "I used to try and moonwalk, but it really never worked out for me. Him being the star that he is motivated me to be who I am." Natasha Bedingfield (singer) - "It's insanely still one of the best [albums] ever. I love everything about it - all the musical hooks and the conviction." Jamie Foxx (actor/singer) "The 'Thriller' video just trumped everything. I was trying to find a girl like [Ola Ray] with the same jheri curl." Pete Wentz (member of Fall out Boy) - "Fall Out Boy covered 'Beat It' on a live DVD we're putting out. Thriller probably influenced anyone big now." Ryan Reynolds (actor) - "That's the first album I ever bought. I had the pleather version of the red leather jacket. I wore it every day until I grew out of it."

MkGenie

The world's best-selling album gets its second reissue in seven years, complete with the usual trimmings of remastering and remixing, but sadly the latter portion is like a virtual handbook on contemporary remix clichés. Most personnel involved here are too enamored of the source material—and why wouldn't they be?—to do anything terribly dramatic to it. But it's unclear why listeners would rather hear the vocals of guests like Akon, Fergie and Will.i.am rather than Jackson's. Still, there's something dryly hypnotic about Kanye West's slight beat-tweaking of "Billie Jean," and it's nice to have the "Thriller" videos and Jackson's famed moonwalk from the "Motown 25" special on the bonus DVD. Bottom line though: We'd be much more interested in new music from Jackson than yet another iteration of an all-time classic. —Jeff Vrabel http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/content_display/reviews/albums/e3i09f751dd163aa41129db0d5d4a06e2bc

MkGenie

9 reasons why Michael Jackson masterpiece remains a 'Thriller' Ann Powers - LOS ANGELES TIMES There are two ways to listen to Michael Jackson's "Thriller," 25 years after its release. Scandal addicts will find trace evidence of the obsessions that would sink the greatest pop star of his generation into Hollywood Babylon: the repressed, explosive sexuality in his breathy vocals; the racial ambivalence he would encode on his body, evident in genre-busting songs such as "Beat It"; the innocence fetish that made ballads such as "Human Nature" sparkle but led the singer into a shadowy life among paid-off children in his own Neverland. The dirty stuff is all there. But so is wonder, pure and complex, and some willful forgetting can bring you back to it. Put aside Jacko, the tragic example. Return to Michael, the musical prodigy who filtered a host of cross-cultural and intergenerational influences through his own weird radar to create music as surprising as it was definitive. Enjoy that Michael, at play in the fields of new technology with producer Quincy Jones and the best team of studio pros since Brian Wilson roped in the Wrecking Crew. At 24, that Michael embodied the vertiginous power of being young -- his love songs were all longing and playful innuendo, his angry songs half bluster and half nightmare. That Michael believed that pop songs could have the effect that classic tales have on kids, coloring their dreams and staying forever in their memories. "Thriller" was the first Neverland he built -- the one he'll never lose in bankruptcy court. The just-issued 25th anniversary of "Thriller" includes remixes by will.i.am and Kanye West and guest appearances from Fergie and Akon. But the classic content is what still resonates, even if younger listeners need to be lured in by names they associate with the Hot 100. Here, nine Los Angeles Times staff writers and contributors offer their views of the album's original tracks. • "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' ": Hot as Jackson was after the quantum leap that 1979's "Off the Wall" brought his solo career, few expected him to match, much less dramatically surpass, those heights so quickly. But "Thriller's" leadoff track immediately established the new album as another giant step forward. It connected to "Off the Wall" with an irresistible Afro-Caribbean funk, dance-floor pulse and peppery horn accents akin to "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough," then rocketed to new heights with even more sinewy bass and guitar lines propelling his impossibly nimble vocals. If "Off the Wall" demonstrated that Jackson was a kid no more, "Somethin' " signaled the full maturity of his musical acumen. All the more impressive for a song built on just two chords. (Randy Lewis) • "Baby Be Mine": Imagine if this weren't the better of the two non-singles from a monster album but a one-shot single by an unknown artist. The sweet midtempo glide of "Baby Be Mine" probably would have bubbled into the R&B Top 20 and gotten lots of roller-skate play, been included on recent mix CDs by cutting-edge European DJs and been remade as a slow jam at least three times. We would have wondered at the bionic singer, the effervescent synth arrangements, the popping groove. In short, it would sound like the hidden classic it remains, even in plain sight. (Michaelangelo Matos) • "The Girl Is Mine": Treacly, insipid, weak, embarrassing -- that's how detractors describe Jackson's gentle sparring match with his then-favorite Beatle, Paul McCartney. Borne forward on a beat light as hair mousse and synth flourishes supplied by the guys from Toto, it's a long way from the paranoid funk of "Billie Jean." But its spun-sugar vocal line is like the G-rated version of "Unchained Melody," and the cornball lyrics (I know, "doggone") invoke a show-tune Arcadia that both MJ and Macca fought to preserve as pop got ever filthier. The lift Jackson gives the word "endlessly" midsong can still make a listener feel like she's swimming in a sea of Love's Baby Soft. (Ann Powers) • "Thriller": If ever a video killed the radio star, "Thriller" was it. The song was adequately groovy -- funked-out beat, lyrics seemingly lifted from some little kid's "scary storybook" -- but the video was legendary: Costing $800,000, the 14-minute mini-film was the most expensive video of its time. Back then it was over the top; to today's viewer, jaded by bloated-budget videos, it still looks epic -- and deliciously campier than ever. That dialogue ("I'm not like other guys")! That Vincent Price rap interlude! And, most of all, those choreographed zombies, dancing in a style that -- thanks to Usher, Ne-Yo and Chris Brown -- still gets its close-up on MTV. (Baz Dreisinger) • "Beat It": A secret not closely guarded: The uncredited guitarist who whipped out the fluttering, squealing solo on this ode to macho cowardice was Eddie Van Halen, whose extracurriculars ranked among the provocations for singer David Lee Roth's 1985 departure from the megalithic rock band Van Halen. The aerodynamic metal flight pumped crossover fuel that would boost the success of "Thriller" -- a gimmick Jackson would flog later with spots from Slash and Carlos Santana. Without the Van Halen precedent, there might have been no collaboration of Run-DMC and Aerosmith on the 1986 rap/rock version of "Walk This Way." (Greg Burk) • "Billie Jean": Twenty-five years later, "Thriller's" central chamber has lost none of its fevered mystery. This is where the album's material plane gives way to a haunted interior, excavated by that remorseless bass line and shaped by a taut interplay of instruments -- the arrangement is ingenious, so lean and spare that it's hard to accept that there are three synthesizers at work. Jackson finds a new voice here, a victim's voice that shudders in the shadows of this remarkable sonic space, lashing at his own naivete and at the false accusers who were just starting to gather at his door. (Richard Cromelin) • "Human Nature": Jackson is a sensual vampire flying over the city looking for juicy necks to bite. A template for new jack swing and hip-hop soul ballads, "Human Nature" is comparatively slower and more intimate than "Thriller's" other songs. "If this town is just an apple, let me take a bite," quivers Jackson's voice over a cascading synthesizer and percolating bass line. Though written by John Bettis and Steve Porcaro of Toto, the lyrics resonate with Jackson's yearning to break free from his tower of celebrity and mingle with young people in a "city that winks its sleepless eye." (Serena Kim) • "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)": It's all about the chipmunk. The production has a compelling charm already; It's not as forceful as "Beat It" or as slick as "Human Nature," but those squiggly synths and chewy bass lines do their work well. But besides the robo-accented "P.Y.T." hook, what seals the deal is that helium-pitched voice after the bridge. Honestly, to this day, I still can't decipher what line is blurted out, but just the chipmunk effect has been enough to imprint the song in my head. Given that Kanye West looped the same passage for his Grammy-winning "Good Life" only confirms I'm not alone in my infatuation. (Oliver Wang) • "The Lady in My Life": And the '80s pop big bang ends with a ... whimper? So it might have seemed at the time, this Rod Temperton-penned and arranged trifle closed "Thriller" on an unconvincingly romantic note -- even pre-scandal. Yet today, "Lady" shines for its classic simplicity and nuanced craft, a verse melody straight from vintage Burt Bacharach (the muted trumpet early on leaves no doubt) topped with a chorus that's almost a Stevie Wonder homage. And Jackson's delivery is refreshingly unaffected -- not until shortly before the final fade does he even let out an ooo! No, not a whimper. A sigh. (Steve Hochman) http://www.heraldextra.com/content/view/255482/136/

MkGenie

Michael Jackson's Nigh-Unstoppable Thriller Gets the 25th-Anniversary Treatment by Miles Marshall Lewis February 5th, 2008 12:00 AM http://www.villagevoice.com/music/0807,lewis,79102,22.html Reimagining Michael Jackson's Thriller—the World's Best-Selling Album of All Time—takes boatloads of selective memory loss and revisionist visualization, but let's go for it. Try to forget about the plastic surgery that ills you more than any ghoul could ever dare try; dismiss the homoeroticism of MJ naming both his sons Prince (echoing his only true competition for African- American superstardom in the '80s); disregard the dangling image of his eight-month-old baby boy hanging from a balcony; disallow as evidence his various, uh, legal challenges. Discount the past 25 years of million-dollar music videos while you're at it. We goin' back, way back, back when the Moonwalk was new and nothing came between Brooke Shields and her Calvins. Imagine Eddie Murphy still funny, MTV in its second year, and nobody knowing Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia were related. What the 24-year-old former child star from Gary, Indiana, wrought upon the world that last week of November 1982 forever restructured pop culture in ways only Marilyn Monroe, Marlon Brando, or the Beatles could relate to. Like Songs in the Key of Life for its generation, Thriller was flawless (if it had filler, it's since become impossible to notice), effortlessly all things to all people . . . all 104 million who eventually bought it. Michael was magic, in a way almost impossible to explain to tweeners weened on Justin Timberlake and Chris Brown. How to describe magic? Bereft of YouTube, TiVos, or even VCRs, a nation of junior-high students went to school the day after Motown 25: Yesterday, Today and Forever aired with visions of MJ lip-synch-ing "Billie Jean" still imprinted on their eyeballs, mimicking moves with photographic reflexes like Monica Dawson on Heroes. Decades before Jay-Z, MJ could spit a verse or a chorus on a song—Rockwell's "Somebody's Watching Me" or the Jacksons' "State of Shock"—and chart a hit single. Thriller was so monstrously huge it was a f**kin' toy: You could buy picture-disc vinyl LPs at Toys "R" Us, aisles down from the Transformers and Rubik's Cubes. Before its 80 weeks in the Billboard Top 10 and the eight Grammys and the first time Carlos DeJesus introduced the 14-minute "Thriller" video on New York Hot Tracks, Thriller was known for, y'know, the music. "Mama-ko, mama-sa, mama-ma-ko-sa" was African saxophonist Manu Dibango's original chant on "Soul Makossa"—a scat of makossa, a Duala word meaning "I dance"—and MJ both bastardized and immortalized it forever four minutes into "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'." (The mantra's so tribally indelible it's now driving Rihanna's techno-pop hit "Don't Stop the Music.") But the sentiment was in the right place: Off the Wall might be a stronger dance album than Thriller, but "Somethin' " still gets asses shakin' 25 years later. For Sony's Thriller 25 anniversary release, will.i.am, Kanye West, Fergie, and Akon breathe some postmillennial energy into five of the album's old mixes that we know and love, packaged with the unreleased 1982-era "For All Time," plus a DVD of the Motown 25 excerpt and "Thriller," "Beat It," and "Billie Jean" videos. Funny how five years ago, Britney Spears would've been the obvious pop-hottie shoo-in to dip "Beat It" into the fountain of youth for a project like this; now, Fergie gets the call. Even more ironic is how, at this point in his career, MJ stands to gain more from these associations than do the guests involved. Well, she doesn't f**k up "Beat It 2008" at all, though she's pretty interchangeable—any Pussycat Doll or Danity Kane–er would do. Will's remix has his synthy signature coursing throughout a duet between Fergie and the 24-year-old Michael Jackson; he also makes "The Girl Is Mine 2008" Hot 97–ready with an Eric B–reminiscent beat and retro swaths of keyboard, with new vocals from MJ. Akon's dub, "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' 2008," starts with plaintive piano before bustin' out with a modern r&b shuffle that passes as a decent modernization; this time, the Duala intonation deteriorates even further (something like "I'ma-say, mama-sa, ma-mama comme ça"). "PYT 2008" clinches will.i.am's bid to produce the eventual MJ comeback attempt, the best of all his Thriller 25 work: Mike's alleged penchant for young things will never cross your mind. Kanye's stab at "Billie Jean 2008" is the least remarkable here, alas, though like Fergie, he can't be said to have f**ked it up. The unearthed "For All Time" follows the mid-tempo "Human Nature" model and could very well become a mellow hit today, even in its old age. As for Thriller itself, how does it hold up after a quarter-century? "Billie Jean" is still a slick production (peace to Quincy Jones) with bite, a kick-in-the-teeth snare drum hammering over a killer bassline prefiguring hip-hop's beatbox innovations; hard to believe this album only spawned three videos, but of the triumvirate, "Billie Jean" needed the least help getting over. As a tune, "Thriller" is horror-movie schlock that's completely forgiven thanks to Playboy Playmate Ola Ray and the zombie dance routine that quite literally launched hundreds of tightly choreographed pop-tart careers. "The Girl Is Mine" is schmaltz, but I'll take it over "Say Say Say," the other if-MJ-was-Lennon McCartney duet. And then there's "Beat It," with the most hyperkinetic guitar solo on a Michael Jackson record ever (peace to Eddie Van Halen), despite the many, many subsequent attempts ("Dirty Diana," "Black or White," etc.). Thriller remains the nine-song standard that every aspiring prince of pop still pines over way into the 21st century: hands down, the consummate crossover album. OK, now open your eyes and face the present. Michael Jackson, Prince, and Madonna all turn 50 this year. (Whoa.) MJ is a single father of three, if you wanna put it that way, and his cosmetic issues show no signs of ever letting up. Bad and Dangerous had their moments—certainly more than Blood on the Dance Floor or Invincible—but Michael's last completely enjoyable album is still Thriller, the far-gone beginning of the end. Back then, who'da thunk Madonna would be making the best records of the three 25 years later?

dalehsiang

Michael Jackson - 25th Anniversary of Thriller Average User Rating: 4 Total Ratings: 5 Review by Nathan S. It’s my honest intention to write this review without resorting to easy jokes about Michael Jackson, like when I called him “an albino pedophile” in the Rhymefest review. Not only are those jokes too easy, they tarnish the musical legacy of the man who is indisputably the greatest pop artist in history. For those of us who grew up in the 80’s watching Michael moonwalk his way across the hearts and minds of America, it’s a little sad to think that people of a younger generation will know Michael not as the Prince of Pop, but as the Duke of Completely F***king Crazy. It’s almost impossible to explain the influence and power Michael wielded during the 80’s, but the 25 anniversary re-release of his epic album Thriller is a good place to start. How big was this album? To date Thriller has sold 102 million copies, won seven Grammys, and seven of the nine songs on the album went number one. Just in case you missed that, allow me to slow it down: seven…of the nine songs on the album…went number one. It sold…102 million…copies. No one else will ever, ever, have that kind of success again. No one will ever light themselves on fire during a Pepsi commercial either, but that’s what makes Michael so special, his ability to achieve the impossible – like becoming whiter than Ryan Seacrest. You know what? Screw it. It’s clearly impossible for me to write this review with any amount of seriousness. So forget it, I’m about to have more fun than Michael at a Boy Scout Jamboree. In today’s “who’s hot now” culture it’s easy to think that old music equals bad music, but the truth is that Thriller’s roster of hits have a timelessness that will never fade; unlike the modern chart-toppers like Yung Berg, who will be working at Burger King with Mims and the Shop Boyz by this summer. Billie Jean, Beat It, The Girl Is Mine, Thriller, and my personal favorite Pretty Young Thing (which is more of a guarantee to get the ladies on the dance floor than Low), seamlessly combine Quincy Jones impeccable production design and MJ’s surprisingly strong falsetto into perfect pop capsules. Thriller is the definitive blueprint for pop success that’s still copied today, just ask Trey Songz. As if owning the greatest selling album of all time wasn’t enough, five of the album’s songs have been remixed by four of contemporary music’s brightest stars; or should I say three of contemporary music’s brightest stars and Fergie. Even though I have trouble seeing Fergie as anything but the living symbol The Black Eyed Peas decision to sell out, I’ve enjoyed my fair share of Fergalicous. Or at least I was starting to give her some respect until I was forced to listen to Beat It 2008, a track featuring The Duchess screeching her way through a cheap version of the song that showed MJ’s tough side. By contrast the Fergster’s running mate will.i.am fares much better on his two contributions: he injects The Girl Is Mine with his spacey blend of electronic synths and subtle rhythms (despite the regrettable decision to replace MJ’s crooning with his own forgettable rap), and his up-tempo remix of Pretty Young Thing may be the only remix that could be a radio hit today. will.i.am’s ear for catchy hook’s aside, Akon took the untouchable hook of Wanna Be Startin Somethin’ and turns it into a slow ballad with some world music percussion. Akon’s the only artist who had the creative vision to substantially change the original, and while it was better the first time around, at least it’s interesting. Unfortunately the same can’t be said for Kanye’s attempt at Bille Jean; apart from adding a string melody and some extra bass, the song’s essentially untouched. Bille Jean’s storyline of groupie turned blackmailer is the perfect subject for a Kanye verse, but apparently he was so busy rehearsing his Grammy-award speech he couldn’t be bothered. The point is that Thriller‘s not remotely worth your hard earned cash solely for the largely anemic remixes, but that doesn’t mean it’s not worth buying - if for no other reason than to remember a time when Michael was tearing up the stage instead of Macaulay Culkin’s ass. Stay tuned to find out if the FCC fines me for that last joke, it was worth it. DJBooth.net Rating: 3.5 Spins - Above Average Nathan S.'s Picks Pretty Young Thing Bille Jean Ready for Radio Wanna Be Startin Somethin The Girl Is Mine Mixtape Ready Thriller Human Nature http://www.djbooth.net/index/albums/review/michael-jackson-25th-anniversary-of-thriller/ [ 本帖最后由 dalehsiang 于 2008-2-19 15:03 编辑 ]

dalehsiang

Review: Michael Jackson, 'Thriller: 25th Anniversary Edition' BY L. KENT WOLGAMOTT / GZO Tuesday, Feb 12, 2008 - 11:42:13 am CST A quarter century ago, Michael Jackson was the true King of Pop. He had galvanized the pop music world with his moonwalking, spinning, white-glove thrusting performance of "Billie Jean" on a televised concert paying tribute to Motown Records. MTV exploded as a cultural force thanks to three brilliant Jackson videos: "Billie Jean" with its lighted sidewalks; "Beat It," where gangs threw down with dance moves not Uzi's and the 13-minute mini-movie for the song "Thriller" that remains the best movie ever made. At the center of all of this was an astounding album. It, too, was called "Thriller." It's being reissued this week in a 25th anniversary package, providing the perfect excuse for music writers of a certain age to hop in Mr. Peabody's Wayback machine and revisit 1982-83. Jackson was coming off 1979's stunning "Off the Wall" when he went back into the studio with Quincy Jones to record what became "Thriller." Moving a step or two away from the disco that dominated the previous recording, Jackson and Jones crafted a record that was perfect for its time, an irresistible fusion of dance, pop and production. Enlisting Eddie Van Halen's guitar to tear up "Billie Jean" and dueting with Paul McCartney on "The Girl Is Mine" in a pop summit meeting of sorts, Jackson cooed, cried and shouted, his voice sliding and jumping around the propulsive tracks. A few years ago, I asked Jones if he knew during the recording process that "Thriller" was something special. His answer was, essentially, yes, they knew they were onto something good., but no one could have guessed what happened once the record was released. To say "Thriller" caught the cultural zeitgeist is an understatement. Consider these numbers: "Thriller" has sold 104 million copies worldwide -- the biggest selling record ever. In the U.S., it has sold 27 million, putting it two million behind The Eagles "Greatest Hits." (It's not likely that the reissue of "Thriller" will sell enough for it to reclaim its rightful place atop the charts, but there's always hope). It spent 37 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart and a mindboggling 80 straight weeks in the Top 10, making it the only album to be the top seller in two consecutive years. Seven of its nine songs were top 10 hits, with "Billie Jean" and "Beat It" hitting number one. The other two songs, "Baby Be Mine" and "The Lady in My Life" weren't released as singles or they'd have likely made a complete sweep for the record. "Thriller" was nominated for 12 Grammys in 1984 and took home a record setting eight. There's no way to quantify this. But "Thriller" also made MTV, which, for the best part of two decades was a dominant force in music and pop culture. Initially largely shut out by the network along with other black artists, Jackson made sure that his videos would get played for "Thriller" and they look just as good today as they did a quarter century ago, when we'd gather for parties to watch their premiere. The 25th anniversary "Thriller" package contains a DVD with the "short films" aka videos and the Motown performance, perfect additions to the original record. And there's a previously unreleased song from the "Thriller" sessions on the CD, a swelling ballad titled "For All Time" that stands up with the rest of the songs, but must have been left off because of slow romance didn't fit the tone of the remainder of the "Thriller." There is, however, a serious misstep in the new package - four "Thriller" originals remixed featuring will.i.am ("This Girl is Mine" and "P.Y.T."; Akon ("Wanna Be Startin' Something"), Fergie ("Beat It") and Kanye West ("Billie Jean"). While they might intrigue some of those under 30, who can't remember "Thriller" the first time around, the remixes add absolutely nothing to the originals - they're not different enough to be interesting and none come close to the exuberance of the Jackson/Jones versions. That makes the end of the new record a giant drag for those of us who love the original. But in iPod world, the remixes can always be deleted. Or CD players can be programmed to skip the new tracks. I've listened to the original disc, minus the bonus tracks, a half dozen times over the last week and watched the videos three or four times each. The record definitely sounds like the '80s with his bass-heavy, crunching production. But the songs still have freshness and snap and its hard not to hear their influence on dance and r&b artists of the last two decades. Those listens also confirm an easy to make observation just based on the numbers: There's never been a record like "Thriller" and, with the end of the album in sight, there never will be again. Reach L. Kent Wolgamott at 473-7244 or kwolgamott@journalstar.com. http://www.journalstar.com/articles/2008/02/14/living/gz/music/doc47b1c76553654627430046.txt

dalehsiang

Michael Jackson "Thriller (25th Anniversary Edition)" 4.5 stars Twenty-five years after its release, Michael Jackson's "Thriller" is still the best-selling record of all time. Its huge sales are not a fluke. Even if Justin Timberlake and co. have advanced Jackson's game miles beyond what it was in 1982, "Thriller" is still a fantastic pop record. Its tunes are charmingly old-school. This is most evident on the goofy duet with Paul McCartney, "The Girl Is Mine." The years have also been kind to classics like "Billie Jean" and "Thriller." This reissue comes with five remixes by Akon, Fergie and Kanye West that are not as bad as their critical reception suggests. Besides Akon's innovative take on "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'," none of them are particularly good. But they are far from unlistenable, and the LP as a whole is the main attraction. For those looking for one of the most important albums in music history, "Thriller" is an essential purchase. Kids weaned on boy bands and "Sexyback" will gain a bit of knowledge, and longtime devotees will be reminded of a time when Wacko Jacko was still the King of Pop. - Anthony Benigno Issue date: 2/15/08 Section: Music www.nyunews.com/media/storage/paper869/news/2008/02/15/Music/Album.Reviews.Michael.Jackson.The.Mountain.Goats.The.Raveonettes.Kylie.Minogu-3212671.shtml?refsource=collegeheadlines [ 本帖最后由 dalehsiang 于 2008-2-19 15:46 编辑 ]

MkGenie

Jackson Moonwalks For Himself By: Samantha Gannon Posted: 2/18/08 Michael Jackson who? That was the one flaw in this year's 50th annual Grammy Awards. The 2008 music celebration was about commemorating the legends, the performers, and the rising stars of the new generation. Tina Turner, Aretha Franklin, Luciano Pavarotti, John Fogerty and Little Richard all graced the stage. Cirque du Soleil also wowed audiences with their captivating rendition of "A Day in the Life" to honor the Beatles. Coincidently, this year also marks the 25th anniversary of Michael Jackson's Thriller, the biggest selling album of all time. Not once did the Academy recognize Jackson's incredible feat or his superior achievements as an artist. There had been rumors circulating for weeks that Jackson was going to perform on Grammy night with artists such as Akon, Fergie, and qill.i.am who all appear on the re-release of Thriller. Fans were left disappointed. According to Usatoday.com, Thriller sold and astounding 27 million-plus albums in the United States, and included seven top-10 singles. Jackson also garnered 8 Grammys and 12 nominations in 1984. No one in the music industry had ever reached the matched his success as a solo artist. He had a unique sound and a creative flair that elevated him into a class by himself. Jackson transcended and defined the realm of pop music, shaping the molds of some of today's biggest artists. In recent years, Jackson has been scrutinized by the media for his bizarre behavior and impulsive lifestyle. You say the word "Jackson," and people shout "freak." What happened? What went wrong? How could one of the most talented individuals in music throw his career away? We'll never really know. However, his personal life does not alter the Michael Jackson everyone once knew and adored. His music is a testament to that. The 14-minute music video for "Thriller" made everyone's heads turn, and raised the bar high for music videos thereafter. The sleek sequin glove was his trademark. His smooth moves, specifically the moonwalk, signified his sex appeal to girls throughout the world. And Jackson's high-pitched but polished voice made him the international phenomenon that he represents to this very day. We still crank up the volume whenever we hear his hits on the radio, and rock out to his signature beats on the dance floor. Disappointed that Jackson wasn't recognized at the 2008 Grammys? Yes. Does he need a speech to salute his magnitude of influence on music? Absolutely not. The King of Pop will always be the "master of his domain." Contact Samantha Gannon at Samantha.Gannon@UConn.edu. © Copyright 2008 The Daily Campus http://www.dailycampus.com/home/ ... rinterFriendly&uSto ry_id=befed52e-edeb-4480-9ea6-edf0d8fc5428

dalehsiang

Michael Jackson - Thriller 25 From Bill Lamb, Your Guide to Top 40 / Pop. A Deluxe Re-Release of the Bestselling Album of All Time Guide Rating - In honor of the 25th anniversary of the original release of Thriller, the biggest selling album of all time, a new expanded edition version is in stores featuring reworked versions of some of the classic songs by contemporary artists. The true star here is the original album. It is a welcome reminder that Thriller remains a foundation block of any serious pop music collection. Ignore most of the additions and revel in an enduring classic. Still One of the Top Albums of All Time Back when Thriller originally hit stores in 1982, only the treacly "The Girl Is Mine" ballad with Paul McCartney had been heard. The rest of the album was new to the lucky fans who purchased it early. The album kicked off with the still arresting funk of "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'...and by the time it ended with the silky strains of "The Lady In My Life" listeners knew they had heard something special. Some of the most enduring beats of all time had been laid down on "Billie Jean," a groundbreaking r&b/rock hybrid on "Beat It" blew the mind of more than a few listeners, and "Human Nature" set down a blueprint for what would become known as adult r&b. The true reward of this re-release is that this music has lost little of its magic for those who discover it today. Messy Reworked Versions of Classics After listening to the pristine original album, it's not a surprise that attempts to re-interpret some of the keys songs for contemporary audiences may seem like a bit of a letdown. They are also unnecessary. Unfortunately a few even approach unlistenable. The sonically flattened version of "Beat It" featuring Fergie is particularly embarrassing. Kanye West's lifeless take on "Billie Jean" sounds like he entered the studio fully intimidated by the genius of the original. Fortunately, the slower, mellower, sexier mix of "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" featuring a gorgeous vocal performance from Akon is worth hearing. Top Tracks from 'Thriller'

• Beat It
• Billie Jean
• Human Nature
• Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' 2008 with Akon

Listen With New Ears If you've never listened to the entire album that is Thriller, now is the time. There is no excuse to wait. If it is already a valued part of your pop history, listen again. Such classics as "Billie Jean," "Beat It," and "Human Nature" have never sounded better. Released February 2008 by Sony. http://top40.about.com/od/albums/fr/mjacksonthril25.htm [ 本帖最后由 dalehsiang 于 2008-2-22 07:09 编辑 ]

xiaobaihe833

谢谢 。 谢谢 。

MkGenie

Michael Jackson resurrects 'The World's Biggest Selling Album of All Time' with Thriller 25 By Niki D'Andrea Published: March 6, 2008 http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/2 ... e-with-thriller-25/ Pepsi fires, plastic surgery disasters, and child molestation accusations aside, Michael Jackson is a genius. Some people may laugh at that statement, but those folks probably aren't included among the more than 104 million people who bought copies of Jacko's 1983 record, Thriller, which remains the best-selling album of all time, worldwide. And they probably fail to see the fact that Jackson influenced a whole slew of contemporary hit makers, from Lil' Jon to Justin Timberlake. To mark the 25th anniversary of his opus, Jackson's released Thriller 25 (Epic), which includes the original album in its entirety, plus two previously unreleased tracks from the Thriller sessions and five remixes featuring the likes of will.i.am, Fergie, Akon, and Kanye West. The King of Pop also proves yet again that he's the master of slick packaging, with a massive, full-color booklet of lyrics and pre-plasticized Jacko photos included alongside a DVD featuring three videos ("Billie Jean," "Beat It," and "Thriller") and Jackson's performance at the Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, and Forever TV special in 1983. The latter performance is legendary for being the first time Jackson performed his "moonwalk" dance. There's not much that hasn't been said about Thriller already, but listeners who haven't heard the album in a while will be struck at how fresh it still sounds. The opening track, "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'," suddenly sounds like the sonic springboard for Justin Timberlake's entire FutureSex/LoveSounds album, and hearing Jackson's trademark interjections of "Hee hee" and "Hoo!" brings to mind Lil' Jon's whole "Yeah!" and "What?!" crunk shtick. Thriller was also one of the first albums to include a star-studded guest list, with contributions from Paul McCartney ("The Girl Is Mine"), Vincent Price ("Thriller"), sisters Janet and LaToya ("P.Y.T."), Quincy Jones (producer), and Eddie Van Halen (the guitar solo on "Beat It"). The unreleased tracks from Thriller include an outtake of Price's voice-over session (wherein Price actually asks, "Can you dig it?") and "For All Time," a low-key pop ballad that probably got bumped from Thriller's final track listing for the similarly smooth song "Human Nature." And the remixes? Well, here's where things get really interesting. The two tracks featuring will.i.am — "The Girl Is Mine" and "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)" — are both pretty bland, revved-up with synthesizers and drum programming and layered over with will.i.am's vocal samples. Ultimately, it sounds as if Jackson and will.i.am never shared a studio throughout the process of putting the remixes together. By contrast, the remix of "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" with Akon contains a completely new arrangement, opening with piano and vocal harmonies before sweeping into a bumping techno-soul number that takes even more advantage of the unlikely earworm "Ma ma sa, ma ma se, ma ma coo sa" than the original. The remix of "Billie Jean" with Kanye West is disappointing, mainly because West's presence is felt more as a producer than a performer; the song's all booming club beats and chop-shop sampling, with West interjecting two whole phrases throughout the entire 41/2-minute tune. The most standout remix here, by far, is, "Beat It" featuring Fergie. will.i.am redeems himself by contributing some stellar, sharp snare drums to the track, but it's Fergie and Jacko's visceral vocal swapping that breathes new life into the song — that, and an instrumental switcheroo that sees the original guitar riff reborn as a funky bass line. Michael Jackson's worked hard to create an unparalleled body of art his entire life. And while he's built a reputation as "Wacko Jacko" with seemingly no effort, listening to a masterpiece like Thriller — and falling in love with it all over again — serves as a potent reminder of why, when all is said and done, Michael Jackson will still be hailed as one of the great musical geniuses of our time.

dalehsiang

這篇用字蠻確實的耶 而且也有做功課 怎麼我都找的都不是這型的:ku 不過我好像還沒看到有人提P.Y.T.(Pretty Young Thing)2008 是用demo混的