The longer I think about it, the more I feel that the estate should’ve done
Thriller: Diamond Edition instead of
Thriller 40. Make it a definitive, one-stop shop for everything that’s been released from the
Thriller era thus far. Something like:
- CD1: Original album, remastered from the original analog tapes with world-class equipment.
- CD2: “From the Vault 1981-82.” Outtakes and material recorded in the lead up to Thriller (including music that wasn’t necessarily intended for the album, but came from contemporaneous recording sessions).
- CD3: Demos and alternate takes of songs from the original album (e.g., “Starlight,” the full version of “The Lady in My Life,” the lower key version of “Human Nature”).
- CD4: Single edits, 7” mixes, and various other rarities and extras (including all of the material from previous Thriller reissues, like “Carousel” and “Got the Hots,” and “Someone in the Dark”).
- 4K/Blu-Ray: Thriller documentary, all three of the era’s short films upgraded to 4K, and a newly assembled music video for “The Girl Is Mine” featuring the previously unseen studio footage.
Outfit it like the Paul McCartney Archive Collection projects: a hardcover book with previously unpublished photos, recording session notes, a few essays, lyric sheets, etc., and you’ve got the last
Thriller reissue we’ll ever need (at least until 2032, when they reissue it with
more materials for
Thriller 50). I’d pay a lot for something like this.