Michael Jackson's "Thriller" to get 25th anniversary treatment
Michael Jackson 's 1982 album "Thriller," by most accounts the world's best-selling record of all time, will get an expansive re-release in February for the set's 25th anniversary.
The dual CD/DVD "Thriller--25th Anniversary Edition" will include the original album in full, plus eight bonus tracks featuring remixes and unreleased cuts, the original music videos from the album, as well as Jackson's landmark "moonwalk" performance on the 1983 "Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever" television special.
Bonus material on the CD portion of the set includes a Kanye West remix of "Billie Jean"; a new 2008 version of "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" with Akon and Will.I.Am; and Will.I.Am remixes of "The Girl Is Mine" and "P.Y.T." The set also includes "For All Time," an unreleased track from the original "Thriller" recording sessions, mixed and remastered by Jackson.
The set will hit stores in the US Feb. 12, kicking off the first phase of a "multi-faceted global marketing campaign featuring high-profile television, radio and online events around the world" celebrating the album's anniversary, according to a press release.
Originally released Nov. 30, 1982, the Quincy Jones-produced "Thriller" spent 80 weeks in the Top 10 of Billboard's Top 200 albums chart, and has sold more than 27 million copies in the US alone. The Guinness Book of World Records named "Thriller" the best-selling album of all time in 1985, a distinction it continues to hold. (The Recording Industry Association of America currently recognizes the Eagles' "Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975" as the best-selling album in US history with 29 million copies shipped, 2 million more than "Thriller.")
A little more than a year after the "Thriller"'s release, Jackson held a record-setting 12 Grammy nominations, eventually taking home eight trophies, a record that still stands for most wins by one performer in a single year.
Jackson, who has kept a relatively low profile in recent months, seems likely to participate in an upcoming Jackson 5 reunion, with the band setting up concert dates "sometime in 2008," according to Jermaine Jackson.
"Michael will be involved," MJ's brother recently told the British BBC 6 radio station. "We feel we have to do it one more time. We owe that to the fans and to the public."
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