Michael Jackson - This Is It: The Music That Inspired The Movie

THIS IS IT: The Music That Inspired The Movie
Michael Jackson
Sony

***

With this two-disc release only debuting at no.2 on the ARIA charts, it would seem the posthumous hysteria over the King of Pop is finally starting to die down. Can't blame fans, either: apart from two versions of the mawkish, previously unreleased title track, disc one is basically another greatest hits package, with 14 classics arranged sequentially as they appear in the film. And disc two, where the real interest lies, is all of four tracks, wherein a vocal harmony demo of Beat It and pleasant acoustic variant of She's Out of My Life offer only the briefest of insights into the man's creative process. So, until the MJ vaults are reopened, you do the sums: pay full price for a few demos, or wait until it arrives in your Santa sock.

Key track: The Beat It demo is the carrot, but Billie Jean remains timeless.

Daniel Lewis