The Ultimate Collection (Michael Jackson album)

The Ultimate Collection is a limited edition box set of Michael Jackson's music, consisting of four audio CDs and one DVD. Selling over a million copies, the DVD marked the first appearance of Live in Bucharest: The Dangerous Tour, which was later released as an individual title in 2005.


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 a Body", "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", all written by Jackson.
The song "The Way You Love Me" was completed for the posthumous album Michael as "(I Like) The Way You Love Me".


Rarities

The Ultimate Collection box set also contains songs previously out of print:

• The full version of "You Can't Win" was only available on the 12-inch single.
• "Someone in the Dark" was first released as a two-part song on the limited edition E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial double LP, and re-issued on 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" is a Pepsi-supported cassette single released in Europe to promote the Dangerous World Tour.
• "On the Line" 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.

The Ultimate Collection Sampler CD

1. I Want You Back - 2:58
2. Rock With You - 3:39
3. She's Out Of My Life - 3:38
4. Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' - 6:03
5. Billie Jean - 4:53
6. Scared Of The Moon (Demo) - 4:41
7. Bad - 4:07
8. Man In The Mirror - 5:20
9. Cheater (Demo) - 5:09
10. You Are Not Alone - 6:03
11. Beautiful Girl (Demo) - 4:03
12. We've Had Enough - 5:45