Thriller is thrilling (Thriller - Michael Jackson)

Member Name: Lakerfanster

Product:	Thriller - Michael Jackson
Date:	30/06/09 (67 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great, Great, Great

Disadvantages: Only nine tracks???????

**Introduction**

It's been nearly a week now since Michael Jackson passed away and I have not listened to much other music apart from Michael Jackson as I like many millions am trying to come to terms with the fact that he has gone. There have even been a few suicides around the world. In my third instalment of my posthumous Michael Jackson reviews I have decided to complete the series with my review of the biggest selling album of all time. It's Thriller Of course.

**Thriller**

Thriller was the follow up to the hugely successful Off The Wall and continued the team of Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones and Rod Temperton. The album was again recorded at Westlake studios in Los Angeles, California. Thriller was released on 30th November 1982. The album continued Off The Wall's variety with funk, disco, soul, soft rock, R&B and pop all being explored. The album featured an incredible seven number one singles from nine album tracks.

1.) Wanna Be startin' somethin'

This could be one of the best titles for an opening track ever.. This is a great track to get a disco under-way and the catchy feel of the music is joined by the incredible vocals from Michael Jackson that just flow so brilliantly. An absolutely brilliant opening from this disco stomper.

2.) Baby be mine

This is a funky track which has the same vibe as much of the first part of Off The Wall. Baby Be Mine has a great catchy flow and some great hooks. Although a very fine track it does not have the aura of his very best tracks on this album. Very very good though.

3.) Girl Is Mine

This is a duet with Paul McCartney and follows a much different path than the opening two tracks. This is a brilliant ballad about two men both maintaining that the girl is going out with them and not the other. This is a great concept for a track and works extremely well with McCartney's best vocal performance of his career.

4.) Thriller

Everybody know's this track and it's still a huge track twenty six years on. The title track probably went a long way to ensuring the massive success of this album with the epic music video. This is a great track which is rather different to so much around before and since.

5.) Beat It

This is a classic Rock/R&B crossover featuring the excellent guitar work of Eddie Van Halen. The beat comes in with a dark feel and then the punchy beat comes in followed by that incredible guitar melody. This just shows the versatility and range of Michael Jackson's music. An awesome track which is held as a classic.

6.) Billie Jean

What more can be said about this awesome track that hasn't been said already?. This has one of the most recognisable intros in Music History with that incredible beat and hook. Quincy Jones told Michael it was too long but Jackson's reply was "that's the jelly, that's what makes me want to dance". And what a dancer he was. This is still a huge club track everytime I hear it in a club the dance-floor gets filled. With people failing miserably when they try and do the moonwalk like Michael Jackson did.

7.) Human Nature

This is a really brilliant laid back track which has a great flowing guitar melody and some smooth vocals from Jackson. I really like the blend of the gentle melodies along with Jackson's laid back vocals. This is a great track which benefits from it's smooth laid back feel.

8.) PYT (Pretty Young Thing)

This track starts off a little iffy as though it's not going to be that good but then the funk comes in and the flow gets brilliant, This is another uptempo disco classic which features classic vocals from Michael Jackson and some great hooks and melodies. Brilliantly flowing track.

9.) Lady In My Life

We end the album with a really slow ballad which really showcases the brilliance of Michael Jackson's voice. His vocals are so beautifully done that this really has the impact which he demonstrated so many times over the years. A brilliant end to a historic album. Just brilliant.

**Overall**

This album's sales were staggering even before his death as the biggest selling album of all time with well over 50m copies sold worldwide. They have now become even more so with many people buying the album in the days after his death. Before his death the album was selling an amazing 130,000 copies a year in the United States alone so imagine what the record will be at the end of year with total sales currently over 65m worldwide. Thriller is the biggest selling album of all time and it's not hard to see why.

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