Jackson's 'This Is It' album leaves questions unanswered
Photo credit: Getty Images | Michael Jackson, center, rehearses for his planned shows in London at the Staples Center on June 23, 2009 in Los Angeles, Calif.
Trailer: Michael Jackson This is It
Michael Jackson funeral and memorial
Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson's "This Is It (The Music That Inspired the Movie)" hit stores Monday. But for fans looking for the soundtrack to the movie, which opens in late-night showings Tuesday, this isn't it.
The album is, more or less, another greatest-hits package for Jackson, whose popularity and song sales have skyrocketed since his death in June. While it does carry the songs in the order they will appear in the movie, which documents Jackson's preparations for his comeback tour, the live versions aren't here.
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Instead, the 20-track album, which includes two versions of the previously unreleased ballad "This Is It," offers the familiar recorded versions of Jackson smashes - "Beat It," "Billie Jean," "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'," "Human Nature" and "Thriller." It adds remastered versions of other hits, including "They Don't Care About Us" and "The Way You Make Me Feel."
The second disc - which features previously unreleased demos of "She's Out of My Life," "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' " and "Beat It," as well as Jackson reading his poem "Planet Earth" - is more of an add-on, though it does come closest to providing a live, less-produced look at Jackson's process, especially the acoustic version of "She's Out of My Life."
In fact, the biggest attraction for Jackson fans may actually be the photos that accompany the album, shot by Lindenhurst's Kevin Mazur, famed concert photographer and co-founder of WireImage, at a rehearsal the day before Jackson died.
The photos, like the trailers for the movie, show Jackson - looking healthy and in control of dancers and musicians - at work creating something new. One poignant photo captures Jackson in the middle of a dance move, his feet barely touching the stage, a broad smile on his face.
For many fans of a man who apparently died searching for enough peace to allow him to sleep through the night, the main draw of the "This Is It" project is to see how near he was to finding the redemption he so thoroughly craved. That photo shows that Jackson may have been closer than anyone outside his inner circle knew.
Whether "This Is It," the documentary, will answer those questions remains to be seen. The album, as pleasant as it is to listen to, still leaves them unanswered.
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