Through puberty, rhinoplasty and ignominy, the sole constant in Michael Jackson’s life has been his brilliant music. “The Ultimate Collection,” his annual attempt to resuscitate his career by reminding us of his pretabloid days, is his most comprehensive collection yet. The four-disc collection (plus a DVD) includes his days with the Jackson 5 through his material from his nadir, “Invincible.” There are some cool oddities here, including a fairly complete and competent demo of “We Are the World” and demo of “PYT” that, like MJ himself, bares virtually no similarities to the “Thriller” version. But, once again, Jacko omits the Macca collaboration “Say Say Say” from this set. Wasn’t that a No. 1 hit?
Take away: Still rocks our world
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Edited by Cara DiPasquale (cdipasquale@tribune.com) and Kris Karnopp (kkarnopp@tribune.com)
