Bad

MICHAEL JACKSON Bad (2001 UK digitally remastered Special Edition 15-track CD album featuring 4 bonus recordings: Streetwalker Fly Away [both outtakes from the LP sessions] I Just Cant Stop Loving You [Spanish Lyric Version] plus interview with Quincy Jones sealed picture sleeve with updated booklet including new photos)

"We wanted a tough album," producer Quincy Jones recalls in a bonus interview on this special edition of Bad. Though the 1987 blockbuster would appear to be Michael Jackson's most personal statement to date--nine of its 11 cuts were written solely by him--its appeal also rested more on craft than the idiosyncratic art of Thriller and Off the Wall. At the same time, most of Bad has aged well in spite of its digital brittleness and MIDI treatments of gems such as Jimmy Smith's organ solo on the title track. While the third best of his first three Epic solo discs, Bad carries a lot of what people love about Jackson's music. This disc also benefits from two fine outtakes, the exciting, up-tempo "Streetwalker" and the Carpenters homage "Fly Away". Either could easily have extended the record's run of hit singles. --Rickey Wright