"Thriller" in surround. NOT!
Here we don't go again: According to a report on Billboard.com, Epic/Legacy will release a 25th-anniversary edition of Michael Jackson's Thriller on February 12. (Actually, last year was the 25th birthday of this 1982 album, although it did make its mark in 1983. But I digress . . .)
It will include a remix of "Billie Jean" by Kanye West, remixes of "The Girl Is Mine" and "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)" by will.i.am, and a remix of "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' " by will.i.am and Akon.
It will not include a surround-sound remix of the entire album by anyone! I've said it once (see my post below on Pink Floyd, U2, and Radiohead), and I'll say it again: missed opportunity!
Not only that — this is actually the second missed opportunity for Thriller. The album appeared on SACD way back in 1999, but that was a stereo-only, non-hybrid disc.
Other goodies on the 25th edition: the "Billie Jean" demo, the rare tracks "Carousel" and "Someone in the Dark," the unreleased track "For All Time," and a bonus DVD with the "Billie Jean," "Beat It," and "Thriller" videos plus the Motown 25 TV performance of "Billie Jean." But no multichannel goodie? That's just bad.
And the surround-sound NOTwatch continues . . . —Ken Richardson
The lack of a surround mix for "Thriller" doesn't frustrate (and dumbfound) me quite as much as Radiohead's failure to explore the magical world of multichannel music. Still, it would've been nice and I'd have bought copy. But I don't have any desire to buy remasters/remixes of "Thriller" that don't include a 5.1 mix.
Maybe, if we're lucky, we might someday get a video collection of Michael Jackson's music (complete with high-resolution 5.1 audio) on either Blu-Ray or HD-DVD.
--Kazaam
Posted by: Kazaam | December 07, 2007 at 09:22 PM
If we're lucky, indeed! The track record with this material hasn't been great. We got a DVD collection 4 years ago: "Number Ones." Alas, it was stereo-only. And last year, we got that huge boxed set called "Visionary: The Video Singles," with each one on DualDisc. Alas, that was stereo-only, too! The old two-volume "HIStory" DVDs are in Dolby Digital 5.1, but the mixes are AWFUL. —KR
Posted by: | December 10, 2007 at 01:39 PM
Not that I'm meaning to spread rumors, but... There is a thread at the QuadraphonicQuad chat forums that links to a 2001 article regarding Michael Jackson and potential SACD releases. It seems to state that tracks from "Off The Wall" through "HIStory" were remixed, but were rejected by Jackson. If true, I wonder if there is any chance these were 5.1 surround mixes? http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,30233,00.html
Posted by: Kazaam | December 17, 2007 at 07:12 PM
That's the story alright. Sony had wanted to feature Michael Jackson's catalog in 5.1 Super Audio CD (SACD) Surround Sound. But the record label never received the artist signoff on the Surround Sound mixes according to the Fox News Story. Even after 50 remixes on some songs!
Pretty amazing - Sony apparently spends over a Million Dollars and the Surround Sound mixes never see the light of day.
With stories like this, you wonder how any Surround Sound mixes of classic pop music get to market.
Posted by: Brian Moura | December 29, 2007 at 04:47 AM
A 5.1 mix for Thriller was done but it was never released.Lets hope that MJ's works would be released in on Blu-ray with a 5.1 PCM soundtrack.Remember Blu-ray has a Audio only spec and someday we might see audio only Blu-ray releases.
Posted by: Fredrick | February 10, 2008 at 05:08 PM