Search - Michael Jackson :: Visionary: The Video Singles

Awesome Box, Clever Idea... but, AGAIN, no "Scream."

Boss Fan | Take a Right at the Light, Keep Going Straight Unt | 11/24/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Am I the only one who has noticed that every hits package or box set from Jacko always excludes "Scream?" Not that it is my all time favorite MJ track, but it was a big single and a duet with Janet so it makes sense from a marketing standpoint to include it in these types of collections; especially this box since the whole reason it even exists is to cull all of Jackson's singles with their original packaging and video. This set is called, "The Video Singles." Was "Scream" not both? So what gives? There must be some issue between Michael and Janet's record companies or Michael and Janet themselves. Or perhaps not a royalty dispute, per say, but just a way of saving money, not having to pay any at all, by simply deleting the track from these kind of collections. Whatever the reason, I don't miss the song a ton, but its constant exclusion is suspicious and, in the interest of having these things being truly complete, it is a bit of a rip off to have a box that boasts it has collected all of Jackson's singles AND videos in one box, and have an unexplained exclusion of a big hit, and popular video, such as "Scream." There are others missing here too ("Who Is It?," "Give In to Me," "You Rock My World," "Cry," etc - actually, MJ is touted as having 40 "hit singles," they may not all have coresponding videos, but there are plenty that do not represented here), but "Scream" is ALWAYS MIA on MJ compilations.



Anyway, on to the item itself; not that it needs much of a review: either you want all of Jackson's singles, with packaging replicated in their original form, their original b-side mixes and their corresponding videos; or you don't. Personally, I think it is a very clever idea and a cool thing for die hard fans. It's also a gorgeous set. BUT it is pricey! Yes, its 20 discs, and they are all dualdiscs, and there is a lot of artwork and packaging so it wouldn't be cheap; but is it worth it? That depends. Jackson's video are mostly all available on DVD collections and there are plenty of singles collections out there (The best, and the one that has all of these tunes on it, is "The Essential..." from last year which is jam packed with nearly every hit (even the lesser ones you may have forgot about) on a tight, but robust, great-looking 2-Disc package; the worst is "Number Ones," with its shabby edits and a song selection that omits so many hits you wonder what the point was of even releasing the thing in the first place. "History" is good if you only want the ultimate, biggest hits; but with MJ that is a broad category - a one disc hits set really doesn't do justice to any artist or group that has as many hits as Jacko - and, again, none of them include "Scream."). So for the songs and videos by themselves, there are cheaper alternatives than this box. But THE ULTRA HUGE fans will cherish having the original artwork of all these singles (I remember having a lot of these on .45 records back in the day when I was probably 5 years old - great to see some of the pictures on those jackets again) and the spiffy, show-offy box to display them in. The quality here, visually on the videos at least, also rivals past releases.



I don't think Sony expects anyone other than true fans to pick this up anyway. Especially at that price! But even if it were half that price, this is the kind of thing that is produced solely for a completist collector of the particular artist. If that's you, you need this set.

"

Great idea, so-so packaging

Tom | Toronto | 02/05/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The idea of compiling Michael Jackson's singles/videos is an excellent one, but this compilation is a mixed bag.



Firstly, each disc comes with the single version of the song plus a remix of the single (or B-side) and the video itself. Sounds good, but why not include all remixes available for each song? Especially since fans will be shelling out quite a bit of money for either the full box set or the individual singles (which are not cheap).



For example, both "Black & White" and "Remember the Time" had a number of mixes, but on their respective singles, you only get a radio remix for B&W and a so-so mix for RTT, when there were so many mixes to choose from. It would also have been nice to include some bonus MJ megamixes that were released on the "You are Not Alone" and "Earth Song" singles years ago.



Also puzzling is that some videos come in long form ("Thriller",

"Black & White") but others are truncated ("Bad", "Smooth Criminal"). It's especially puzzling that "Bad" and "Smooth Criminal" would be shortened since they are considered two of MJ's finest videos.



Still, as an MJ fan, this is a treat. I love the original artwork, and the sound quality is top-notch. But I predict this will be of interest to hardcore MJ fans only."

Get It Right

Jason A. Clark | York PA | 03/13/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"It's nice that they did this for Michael Jackson but to have a video box set with videos and singles and not include all his videos and singles, to include "Speed Demon", "Scream", "Human Nature", "The Girl Is Mine", "Just Another Part Of Me", "Will You Be There" just to name a few is underminingg the price alone. Then there's no booklet to go with it, just a box and some sleeves. The Dual-disc idea was pretty smart but to have on the audio CD side only two-three editions of the single is a waste of a whole CD. why not include dance mixes and more remixes and the video edits of the singles?"