Michael Jackson’s This Is It

You may look at the track listing for the soundtrack to the Michael Jackson documentary Michael Jackson's This Is It and see it as another repackaging of his greatest hits. In a way, it is—it features many of his hits, but after all, those are what he would have been performing had he been able to go on tour. But the album also contains a few gems that are a must for die-hard Jackson fans, including previously unreleased demo versions of classics such as "She's out of My Life," "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'," and "Beat It," a spoken-word poem entitled "Planet Earth," and the recently disputed title song "This Is It." After watching the many amazing moments captured on film during the rehearsals for the tour, you have to wonder why the actual audio from the movie wasn't included. But then you have to remember—the scenes shot were, in fact, rehearsals, and Jackson was trying to conserve his voice. The effort wasn't entirely there. And while one may argue whether some of MJ's minimal efforts are better than no MJ at all, those moments on film are still magical and justly add to the legacy and mystique of the King of Pop.