Singles #13: Michael Jackson - Blood On The Dance Floor (1997)

Blood On The Dance Floor was the first single from Michael Jackson's 1997 album Blood On The Dance Floor: HIStory In The Mix, which contained five new songs and eight remixes of tracks from 1995's HIStory album. If the song sounds a bit dated for 1997, it is because it originated during the Dangerous sessions in 1991 but was ultimately not included in the album. It is moulded in the same New Jack Swing style of the other Teddy Riley produced tracks, but less catchy. Personally, I'm not a huge fan of the song. It would become MJ's last UK number 1 single.

There were quite a few versions of the single released. I shall start with the most precious one in my collection: the Deluxe Vinyl Set. I managed to snag this during a 2015 trip to Tokyo for only about S$20 and I was over the moon when I found it at Disk Union in Shinjuku. It is supposed to come with a limited edition poster but it is missing. Not surprising, I'm sure the previous owner would have plastered it on his/her bedroom wall already.

It is a 2LP set, with seven tracks of Blood On The Dance Floor and one remix of Dangerous. The first vinyl, Record 1, comes in an orange sleeve and label, while the second vinyl, Record 2, comes in a yellow sleeve and label. It's very pretty.

Here is the tracklist:

Record 1
Side One
1. Blood On The Dance Floor [4:13]
2. Dangerous (Roger's Dangerous Edit) [4:41]

Side Two
1. Blood On The Dance Floor (Refugee Camp Mix) [5:26]
2. Blood On The Dance Floor (Refugee Camp Edit) [3:20]

Record 2
Side Three
1. Blood On The Dance Floor (Fire Island Vocal Mix) [8:56]
2. Blood On The Dance Floor (Fire Island Radio Edit) [3:50]

Side Four
1. Blood On The Dance Floor (TMS's Switchblade Mix) [8:37]
2. Blood On The Dance Floor (TMS's Switchblade Edit) [3:21]

Next up, the two special edition CD singles. The first one is the Limited Edition Minimax CD, which comes in a very special red, clear disc. It contains three tracks of Blood On The Dance Floor and one remix of Dangerous. Here's the tracklist:

1. Blood On The Dance Floor [4:13]
2. Blood On The Dance Floor (TM's Switchblade Edit) [3:21]
3. Blood On The Dance Floor (Fire Island Radio Edit) [3:50]
4. Dangerous (Roger's Dangerous Club Mix) [6:54]

Limited edition minimax CD

The second one is the Special Minimax Edition, which comes in an identical red, clear disc. However, the tracklist is different and it only contains four tracks of Blood On The Dance Floor.

1. Blood On The Dance Floor [4:13]
2. Blood On The Dance Floor (TM's Switchblade Edit) [3:21]
3. Blood On The Dance Floor (Refugee Camp Edit) [3:20]
4. Blood On The Dance Floor (Fire Island Radio Edit) [3:50]

Special minimax edition

Next, we have the US version, which comes in a thick jewelcase and the white barcode sticker on the top spine. It contains five tracks of Blood On The Dance Floor and one remix of Dangerous.

1. Blood On The Dance Floor [4:13]
2. Blood On The Dance Floor (TM's Switchblade Edit) [4:10]
3. Blood On The Dance Floor (Refugee Camp Edit) [3:20]
4. Blood On The Dance Floor (Fire Island Radio Edit) [3:50]
5. Blood On The Dance Floor (TM's Switchblade Mix) [10:00]
6. Dangerous (Roger's Dangerous Club Mix) [6:54]

US version

The next one is the slim jewelcase version, and I have two versions with different tracklists. The first one is made in Austria and it contains three tracks of Blood On The Dance Floor and one remix of Dangerous.

1. Blood On The Dance Floor [4:13]
2. Blood On The Dance Floor (Fire Island Vocal Mix) [8:56]
3. Blood On The Dance Floor (TM's Switchblade Mix) [8:37]
4. Dangerous (Roger's Dangerous Club Mix) [6:54]

The second one contains five tracks of Blood On The Dance Floor and its country of origin is unspecified.

1. Blood On The Dance Floor [4:13]
2. Blood On The Dance Floor (TM's Switchblade Mix) [8:38]
3. Blood On The Dance Floor (Refugee Camp Mix) [5:26]
4. Blood On The Dance Floor (Fire Island Vocal Mix) [8:55]
5. Blood On The Dance Floor (Fire Island Dub) [8:55]

The last one I have is the cardboard sleeve version, manufactured in Australia. It has the exact tracklist as the US version.

1. Blood On The Dance Floor [4:13]
2. Blood On The Dance Floor (TM's Switchblade Edit) [4:10]
3. Blood On The Dance Floor (Refugee Camp Edit) [3:20]
4. Blood On The Dance Floor (Fire Island Radio Edit) [3:50]
5. Blood On The Dance Floor (TM's Switchblade Mix) [10:00]
6. Dangerous (Roger's Dangerous Club Mix) [6:54]

Singles #12: Michael Jackson - Someone Put Your Hand Out (1992)

The song Someone Put Your Hand Out was released in 1992 to promote Michael Jackson's upcoming Dangerous World Tour, which was sponsored by Pepsi. According to Wikipedia, in Europe, there was a contest for fans to collect a winning token from Pepsi products in order to redeem the cassette single. It was also released as a 3-inch CD single in Japan, and it is super rare. I recently managed to acquire a copy at a very hefty price tag, but it's worth it! 

The tracklist is the same for both the cassette and CD single versions:

1. Someone Put Your Hand Out (5:25)

2. Dangerous Medley (6:15) - Highlights from the Dangerous album:

a) Black Or White

b) Can't Let Her Get Away

c) Dangerous 

d) Who Is It

e) Remember The Time

f) Give In To Me

g) Heal The World

Here are pics of the Japan 3-inch CD single:

And here are pictures of the Europe cassette single:

Rarities #50: Michael Jackson - Bad Longbox (1987)

Michael Jackson's landmark album Bad celebrates its 25th anniversary this year, and like the Thriller25 album re-release a few years ago, it receives the same treatment with the Bad25 project. This time, it's even bigger and badder than before, and I'm glad the MJ Estate has gotten it right. It will be released worldwide on 18th September 2012.

You can view the whole suite of Bad25 products and pre-order your copy/copies here. I have already pre-ordered the Deluxe Collector's Edition, I Just Can't Stop Loving You 7" vinyl and Bad 25th Anniversary Picture vinyl!

If anything, Thriller25 was just a normal reissue of the Thriller album, with a few remixes by contemporary artists like Akon, Will.i.am and Kanye West, and a DVD of the music videos thrown in, nothing particularly exciting. But for Bad25, they have pulled out all the stops. And they have to, because this is the first reissue of an MJ album since his death. He is no longer around to promote it, so it has to be good, especially after the tepid response to the first posthumous release, the Michael album, and the Cirque du Soleil tie-up, the Immortal album.

The Deluxe Edition of Bad25 features 3 CDs, 2 collectible books and 1 DVD. The highlight is undoubtedly the DVD, which contains the legendary 16th July 1988 Bad Wembley concert in its entirety. This is the only official release of a full concert from the record-breaking Bad tour, and it is sourced from MJ's personal VHS copy of the show, which has since been restored and the audio quality enhanced. It is apparently the only known copy of the show to exist in the whole planet.

I have an unofficial DVD of the Bad concert that was recorded in Tokyo, but as the Tokyo concert happened during the very first leg of the tour, the setlist consisted of only a few songs from the Bad album, which had yet to be released at the time. By the time the Bad tour rolled into London, it was the full scale show with many of the new songs being performed. Among the 72,000 audience were Prince Charles and Princess Diana.

The first CD is the remastered Bad album. No big deal, because the album was already remastered in 2001, together with Off The Wall, Thriller and Dangerous, to coincide with the release of Invincible.

The second CD contains previously unreleased material - demo versions of songs that made the Bad album as well as those that didn't, and remixes from internationally renowned DJs and producers. In the 2001 re-release, we already got Streetwalker, Fly Away and Todo Mi Amor Eres Tu, the Spanish version of I Just Can't Stop Loving You. The demos included in Bad25 have not been announced yet, so far only one song has been revealed - Don't Be Messin' Around. It's a funky song and it's quite nice, but honestly, not good enough to be included on the final Bad album. Likewise, no word yet on who will be contributing the remixes this time, but some rumoured names include Skrillex and David Guetta.

The third CD contains the audio of the Wembley concert, the first ever official live MJ concert CD to be released. Likewise, I have an unofficial live CD album of the Tokyo concert, as well as a bootleg one of the Dangerous tour. I think it would have been a great idea to have released the This Is It concert as a live CD too, because the musical arrangements were updated a great deal for that concert, and I thought MJ sounded great live too. Pity.

Anyway, it's shaping up to be a great reissue, and I'm honestly excited about it. Over the years, my appreciation of the Bad album has grown and I think despite its enormous success, it's been severely under-rated and not given enough credit, unlike Off The Wall and Thriller. In my opinion, Man In The Mirror, The Way You Make Me Feel, Smooth Criminal and Dirty Diana are among the Top 10 best MJ songs of all time.

To celebrate Bad25, here is the longbox of the original 1987 Bad album, still sealed. Like the Dangerous longbox, I didn't own it but it's a gift from a friend who thought I'd really appreciate this and gave it to me. Thanks so much, this is a real treasure.

Rarities #44: Michael Jackson - Dangerous Longbox CD Album (1991)

I got this Dangerous longbox album from a friend of mine who was clearing his house recently, and I love it! Longboxes used to be common in the 80s and early 90s but they got phased out in 1993 as they took up too much space and were deemed environmentally-unfriendly due to excessive material usage. I never got into buying CDs before 1993, so this is one of the few longboxes I possess, making it an extremely rare addition to my collection.

Rarities #42: Michael Jackson Limited Edition iPad (2010)

This limited edition, individually-numbered Michael Jackson iPad is one super Rarity for sure - only 150 sets produced in the world! I won it after taking part in a digital download contest. Mind you, the contest mechanic was: download the Michael album as many times as possible, and the top downloader wins. So I spent a few hundred of dollars downloading the album and gifting it to my friends, so technically, this iPad isn't free. But it is still worth it. :)

This iPad model is the lowest range in the iPad family - 16GB, Wi-fi only, no 3G. So it's a very basic model. But it's definitely one for keeps more than anything. It came pre-loaded with the Michael album in the iPod (not like I need it!), and also the Michael wallpaper.

Definitely one of my most treasured MJ memorabilia! And no, it's not for sale at any price. :) Enjoy the pics...