Michael Jackson: 1958–2009

When I heard the news, I was in the S&V sound room listening to (wait for it) "Shine On You Crazy Diamond." True! Specifically, when my mother called (a true rocker, she), I had just heard "Shine . . . Part VII," which ends with these lines:

Come on you boy child,
You winner and loser,
Come on you miner for truth and delusion, and shine!

After getting the news . . . what else could I do but press Play again? In came "Part VIII," where the funk meets the Floyd. It was almost as if the Ghost of Pop had entered the listening room and melded with the music.

Then, of course, came the concluding "Part IX" — which, according to David Gilmour, is "a slow 4/4 funeral march . . . the parting musical eulogy to Syd."

You can't make this stuff up.

(Why was I listening to "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" anyway? Well, an acquaintance had given me a DVD-Audio burn of the old quadraphonic mix of Wish You Were Here, now in 4.1. But that's a story for another time.)

Back to Michael Jackson . . .

"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