Well, after slamming the Grammys earlier this week for honoring the olds, I guess there's no excuse for me bumping my new Thriller 25 album like its 1983. I'm always a sucker for a remix (the Best Buy edition features 6) and it's never a bad idea to have a physical copy of the best-selling album of all time. It's impossible to grasp that 7 of the 9 tracks on Thriller were top 10 hits, having been released rapid-fire between November '82 ("The Girl Is Mine") through January '84 ("Thriller"). Plus, having the CD puts the lyrics to "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" at your fingertips... "You're a buffet/You're a vegetable"... he might win Grammys but he won't win Yo Mama!

The remix segment of the album is worthwhile. I think one will.i.am production would have been suffice, but the Pea successfully breathed new life into "The Girl Is Mine" and totally revamped "PYT". "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' 2008" features Akon and is okay, further carrying this one-note-pony's career-by-collaboration. I might like "Beat It 2008" better with a sidekick other than Fergie. Obviously, the do-over I was looking forward to the most was Kanye's mix of "Billie Jean", and he delivered his signature (pre-euro-synth) sound without compromising the original flow and feel of the song. The album closes with a so-so unreleased track and a quality house mix of the title track - "For no mere mortal can resist the evil of the Thriller." (Into maniacal laugh, in deep echo.)

Labels: music