I thought the same thing. 40th is a weird anniversary to pull out all the stops. What’s the plan even gonna be for 50 other than 4K videos?
Very weird, I agree. I find the whole situation unsatisfying in a sense. There was a 25th anniversary of Thriller, which was quite huge, then one for Bad, which was not as huge in sales, but still a great effort.
But then it gets peculiar. A reissue of Off The Wall in 2016? Why? For the 37th anniversary of Off The Wall? Why not celebrate Dangerous, in order to keep the 25th anniversary celebrations going?
Why not properly celebrate HIStory’s 25th in 2020? In the end, Michael’s catalogue will have had two 25th anniversaries, a 37th anniversary and a 40th anniversary. What’s next? Dangerous 34?
And now, of course, a 40th anniversary of Thriller, an anniversary not often celebrated in the music industry. 25 years and 50 years are quite common, but 40? Not so much. And of course, Thriller, again. At this point, 8 years after Xscape, a new posthumous studio album would have been great and not that hard to realize. I get that the unreleased material in the vault is limited, but an album every 8 years is not an impossibility, at least not until the vault is empty.
I don’t mean to complain because I am quite happy with the fact that the Estate is finally doing something again, but I do find their way of thinking and their strategies weird, to say the least. Nevertheless, I am very excited for this reissue and I can only hope for more exciting releases in the near future!