...A Treat For Those Of You Who Still Have Those Red Leather Jackets...

There are fans, and then there are FANS.

If you've followed my reviews on this site (or have viewed my profile pic), it should be fairly obvious that when it comes to Michael Jackson, I belong firmly in the latter category. While my fan-dom doesn't reach totally kookoo levels (I wasn't one of the folks who traveled out to California for the trial), there's a good chance that if I ever actually met Michael, I would a) cry, b) faint, c) soil myself, or d) all of the above.

With that said, I'm quite obviously one of the folks that "Visionary" is marketed to. While casual fans should be satisfied with the typical one or two-disc greatest hits compilation, "Visionary" is for those of us who want just a little something more: a limited edition set of 20 Dual Discs featuring (on one side), some of MJ's biggest hits (in their original single or 12" covers) on one side, the video for each song on the other. While I have basically every note Michael has sung as an adult, and also own an MJ DVD or three, this set is beautifully compiled in a snazzy box. A snazzy $150.00 box. Yeah, so you probably won't be buying this, eh?

If you're reading this review, I probably don't have to explain who Michael Jackson is-you'd have to have been under a rock for the last forty years to have not heard of him. If you're a youngun and you missed his wave of hits in the Seventies and Eighties, check out artists like Usher and Justin Timberlake, who are the two best selling pop/R&B acts around. These artists (as well as everyone from Chris Brown and Omarion to Britney Spears and Jennifer Lopez) have gained popularity with a sound that's taken liberally from a template that MJ created. With equal parts pop, soul, dance, rock and funk-Michael created a musical stew that enticed millions-for proof of that, look no further than the fact that "Thriller" is still the best selling non-compilation album of all time, a full quarter century after it's release.

OK, enough history. What do you get when you purchase this set? Well, I'm sure you're familiar with the vast majority of these singles. Even though there are a couple of clunkers among them (like the horrific ballad "Heal The World"), many of these songs are perfect pop. If you're on a dance floor and the hypnotic basslines of the disco classic "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough" or the post-disco dance triumph "Billie Jean" come on, your @$s is movin'. Easy-flowing tracks like "Rock With You" and "Remember The Time" prove that Michael could smooth it out with the best of them, while "Beat It" and "Dirty Diana" added a little bit of rock edge to the proceedings. Taken alone, this would be a fairly solid greatest hits compilation, with a few bizarre omissions ("Man In The Mirror", "Say Say Say", "Scream"-which, considering the video was the most expensive to have been made at that point, should have been included-and "Who Is It"), and some songs that aren't here for the simple fact that there weren't videos made for them ("Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'", "Off The Wall", "The Girl is Mine"). Since the singles (in Dual Disc format) were made available individually in the U.K. several months prior to this set's American release, you'll also notice that there are a couple of songs here that never even saw American release, including the haunting "Earth Song" (with a little-seen but amazing video) and the fun, funky "Leave Me Alone".

Of course, Michael also revolutionized the medium of music video. As the first black artist afforded heavy rotation on MTV, he was a pioneer in a political sense, but also in an artistic sense. The zombie-fantasy "Thriller" was the first long-form video of it's kind, while the rough, gang-featured "Beat It" was an early instance of the line choreography that permeates pop videos today. The clip for "Billie Jean" is as mysterious and paranoid as the song itself, and Michael busts some serious moves in this clip. Although the early clips (including the primitive but enjoyable clips for "Don't Stop" and "Rock With You") are the most fun to watch, Mike's mojo faded a lot more slowly than his skin color did. His later videos still found MJ running a clinic on dancing ("Smooth Criminal"), using technological advances (the face-morphing of "Black Or White"), and endless celebrity cameos-whether sensual(Naomi Campbell in "In The Closet"), light hearted (Michael Jordan and Kris Kross in "Jam") or, well...creepy (ex-wife Lisa Marie Presley in the "You Are Not Alone" clip).

The songs and videos are enjoyable in and of themselves, but I even get a kick out of the little things this box set includes. Each single also includes a B-side. On the Eighties cuts, it usually means you get an extended version of the featured song. "Billie Jean"'s intro is extended close to the 2 minute mark on it's 12" version, while "Bad" has a James Brown-esque call and response coda on it's extended version. "Rock With You" is re-made as a mid-Nineties deep house cut, and Moby does all sorts of bizarre techno sh!t to "Beat It". Elsewhere, you get a handful of instrumental versions and strange (but unnecessary) dance remixes. You also get a couple of cuts ("Another Part Of Me" and "Will You Be There") that wouldn't be out of place on a regular MJ hits compilation.

The other thing is that, by looking at the single covers, you can track Michael's drastic changes in physical appearance over a 20-year span. The skin goes from a deep mahogany brown to porcelain white, the face goes from chubby post-adolescent to hollow shell, and the nose...well, you know.

I remember reading a review on another site that took MJ and Sony Music to task for releasing this (and granted, Michael has definitely been overcompiled in recent years). Reading the review ticked me off, because this is obviously meant to appeal to the MJ aficionado as opposed to the casual fan. I don't seem to recall this much harping going on when Elvis and The Beatles (whose first box set retailed at around 200 bucks) released similar items. Bottom line: this is not for casual fans.

It's hard to say whether to recommend this or not. I thoroughly enjoy it, even if it's not much more than a conversation piece. I've seen most of these videos and heard most of these songs so often that I'm surprised they don't run in continuous loop in my head. If you're looking to experience the genius of MJ, well you can get "Off The Wall", "Thriller" and "Number Ones" for $10 or under in a lot of places, and you could also cop either one of the "HIStory" video collections for less than a ten spot. Spending $150 for something like this, unless you're a mega-fan or a complete idiot (and granted, there are a few folks out there who would say those terms are mutually exclusive), is probably not an option.

(but, screw it, I'm gonna recommend it anyway...)

"Visionary: The Video Singles" by Michael Jackson
Released 2006 on MJJ/Epic Records
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars