Michael Jackson's Vision [DVD] [2010]

Many will question Sony's decision to put out another reissue of Michael Jackson's material. After all in the past that have really milked this man's hits! However this is simply not the case here, I happen to applaud sony for giving us a set to cherish.

Michael Jackson's Vision is quite simply the definitive Michael Jackson DVD video collection. Whilst others have fallen short (History gave us just 10 of the king of pop's short films, number ones gave us 15 edited videos), vision gives us the opportunity to watch some of the greatest music videos ever made, 4.5 hours worth, uncut and with fully restored picture and audio. Many videos (she's out of my life, another part of me, etc) have never been commercially released on dvd, or any other format before. There are some issues to cover. Whilst Ghosts is included it is reduced to just the music video (after all, Ghosts is not a short film at 40 mins, disc space has been reserved for more music videos, no doubt it will probably get a seperate release in the future, same as moonwalker did) and at least we don't have the shorter blurred version of smooth criminal seen on number ones' dvd, here we have the excerpt from moonwalker.

The first 2 discs offer a chronological look at the career of a true icon. Starting with don't stop til you get enough and working through the years we get 35 era defining short films, directed by Hollywood directors such as Martin Scorsese, John Landis, Spike Lee, etc and featuring appearances from the likes of Eddie Murphy, Marlon Brando, Naomi Campbell, etc. Most of these are uncut (bad, smooth criminal, remember the time, the way you make me feel, you rock my world, black or white). Disc 3 then gives us extras which include videos of the Jackson's, 3T & Paul McCartney, all of which feature MJ. The other added bonus is that we get the alternate (more controversial) prison version of they don't care about us, and the previously unreleased one more chance bringing the total to 42. Also included is a 60 page book with photo's from video shoots.

Quality wise does it promise the restoration that Sony promised. Well yes and no. Many of the videos have black bars at the side (like old films do on blu-ray). This may not please some but I'd rather have them this way than cropped, stretched, etc. There are a small number that have been cropped though (Remember the time is one). Which is a shame but only a few suffer this. The picture quality is actually not bad. Colours look bolder and brighter than before, not always razor sharp but not too far off the mark. The few that have been cropped (all from disc 2) look a little pixelated but I have seen worse. Disc 3 could have included more material really. Despite this it is still the most definitive collection to date (until the inevitable blu-ray release!!)

It would have been nice to have included a couple of live performances such as the motown 25 performance, but maybe they're saving them for the extras of another release! I don't think this will be the last of Sony's plans for the Michael Jackson dvd collector, hopefully next we'll see the bad & history concerts (and hopefully on blu-ray too) but for now let's enjoy Michael Jackson's Vision.

DISC 1
1 Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough 4:12
2 Rock With You 3:22
3 She's Out of My Life 3:35
4 Billie Jean 4:54
5 Beat It 4:57
6 Thriller 13:42
7 Bad 18:05
8 The Way You Make Me Feel 9:24
9 Man In the Mirror 5:03
10 Dirty Diana 5:05
11 Smooth Criminal 9:27
12 Another Part of Me 4:45
13 Speed Demon 10:08
14 Come Together 5:40
15 Leave Me Alone 4:36
16 Liberian Girl 5:34
Total Disc 1: 112 mins.

DISC 2
1 Black or White 11:01
2 Remember The Time 9:16
3 In the Closet 6:05
4 Jam 7:59
5 Heal The World 7:32
6 Give In To Me 5:29
7 Who Is It 6:34
8 Will You Be There 5:55
9 Gone Too Soon 3:38
10 Scream 4:47
11 Childhood 4:29
12 You Are Not Alone 5:34
13 Earth Song 6:44
14 They Don't Care About Us 7:08
15 Stranger In Moskow 5:33
16 Blood On The Dancefloor 5:27
17 Ghosts 3:58
18 You Rock My World 13:30
19 Cry 4:57
Total Disc 2: 125 mins.

DISC 3 (Extras)
1 Blame It On the Boogie - The Jacksons 3:32
2 Enjoy Yourself - The Jacksons 3:31
3 Can You Feel It - The Jacksons 9:37
4 Say Say Say - Paul McCartney & Michael Jackson 4:57
5 They Don't Care About Us - Prison version 4:52
6 Why? - 3T featuring Michael Jackson 4:33
7 One More Chance - previously unreleased 4:03
Total Disc 3: 35 mins.

Michael's short films all on one collection! It's absolutely fabulous, the quality is great, the menu's etc are great, the book is great and the packaging is Awesome! it has a lovely hologram front to it which really brings it to life.
Michael Jackson - A legend
Has full versions of short films such as bad, thriller etc.

Only possible complaint would be not having the History March video sequence from other dvd's - but technically that's not a music video anyway.

Without a doubt a Wonderful Collection of the best Music videos of all time.
A GREAT BUY!

If you're a dedicated hardcore fan like me then you already have most or all of these videos already with of course the exception of One More Chance.
You may be thinking that you don't want to buy this set for that very reason but I would urge you to get it, it's a beautiful collection which covers Michael's video career pretty much in full.

No the full version of Ghosts isn't in this set, we must wait a little longer for the DVD release it seems and Blood On The Dancefloor is the remixed version not the original and the version here of You Are Not Alone is not the angel version, BUT!

You get the full versions of Bad with the credits at the end, the full version of The Way You Make Me Feel which is very rarely if ever shown on television. The full version of They Don't Care About Us with the wonderful drumming sequence by Olodum at the end plus the previously banned prison version too. Also the full version of Can You Feel It complete with end credits and a really fun performance of Enjoy Yourself with the Jackson brothers looking very dashing indeed in their sparkly white tuxedos. The full version of You Rock My World is in this set too.

Not to mention of course the previously unreleased One More Chance video, the main reason a lot of fans like me will buy this set-it's fantastic, HE'S fantastic and you won't be disappointed.

The set itself is packaged and presented beautifully with a book full of lovely photos of the videos, some of them quite rare it seems. The moving images on the lenticular cover are gorgeous and the menus and title cards on the DVDs themselves are a joy to see, really stunning - the DVD's load fast too - no sitting through reams of info you can't fast forward through, you get straight to the videos really quickly.

For those of you who aren't hardcore fans you will enjoy this set too, it's a pretty comprehensive look his video career and at this price for all of these videos it's a bargain shamone! :)