Essential Compilation - Disc 2

Essential Compilation is a Michael Jackson Greatest Hits album compiled by C.Syde65. It is not an official Michael Jackson album and thus can not be bought.

This 2-disc greatest hits album includes many of Michael Jackson's greatest hits with Epic Records, though it also includes a couple of songs from Michael Jackson's early years with Motown Records.

Most of these songs are considered to be hits, though a few of them were included as part of this compilation simply because they were on my personal Michael Jackson favourites list.

While most of these songs were recorded by Michael Jackson as a solo artist, occasionally featuring another artist such as Paul McCartney, a couple of songs with The Jackson 5/The Jacksons also found their way onto this compilation.

The album includes a total of 22 tracks that were recorded between 1970 - January 1997. Here is the track listing for the second of the two discs. The track listing for the first disc can be found here. This tracklist was originally compiled on the 7th January 2018, though it would originally have had only 15 tracks on one disc.

On the 26th January 2019, I intended to add 3 additional tracks. But since those 3 additional tracks combined with the 15 tracks that were already included exceeded 80 minutes, I was forced to make it into a 2-disc compilation, and add an extra 4 tracks to fill up some of the space on both discs.

The first two songs on the second disc are in recording and release order. But the songs after that are mostly in reverse order of the year they were recorded. The second disc contains a song from the album Blood on the Dance Floor: HIStory in the Mix, and a song from the album HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I.

The second disc contains various songs from the album Off the Wall, a couple of songs from the album Destiny, a song from the album Got to Be There, and a song from the album Jackson 5 Christmas Album. "Dangerous" was originally going to be the first track of the second disc.

But I decided to move "Dangerous" to the first disc and add "Come Together" to the second disc as the opening track. I did this because I wanted all the songs from Dangerous to be on the same disc. I deliberately left the two Motown songs until last on this compilation. Because they were both recorded before 1974, and I find Michael Jackson's work before 1974 to be a radical departure from the style that he adopted in 1974 onward.

I'm not the most familiar with Michael's work with Motown, and I prefer listening to his work after his voice broke. That's why there's only a couple of pre-1974 songs on this compilation. But it felt darned right to include "Ain't No Sunshine" and "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" on the compilation.

In addition to saving the two Motown tracks for the end of the compilation, I decided to have all the featured songs on this compilation that Michael Jackson recorded in the 80's and 90's appear first, and then feature the ones recorded in the 70's. I felt that doing so would help the Epic tracks blend in with the Motown tracks. Because the songs from the 70's with Epic were more likely to blend in with the songs with Motown than the songs with Epic that were recorded in the 80's onward.

Come Together

 * Artist: Michael Jackson
 * Released: 20th June 1995
 * Recorded: 1988
 * Duration: 0:04:03
 * Genre: Pop Rock
 * Label: Epic Records, MJJ Productions
 * Author: John Lennon, with Paul McCartney
 * Producer: Bill Bottrell, Michael Jackson

Blood on the Dance Floor

 * Artist: Michael Jackson
 * Released: 21st March 1997
 * Recorded: March 1991 - January 1997
 * Duration: 0:04:11
 * Genre: Funk Music, New Jack Swing
 * Label: Epic Records
 * Author: Michael Jackson, Teddy Riley
 * Producer: Michael Jackson, Teddy Riley

Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough

 * Artist: Michael Jackson
 * Released: 28th July 1979
 * Recorded: December 1978 - June 1979, Allen Zentz Recording Studios, Westlake Recording Studios, and Cherokee Studios, Los Angeles, California
 * Duration: 0:06:06
 * Genre: Disco Music
 * Label: Columbia Records, Epic Records
 * Author: Michael Jackson
 * Producer: Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones

Rock with You

 * Artist: Michael Jackson
 * Released: 10th August 1979
 * Recorded: December 1978 - June 1979, Allen Zentz Recording Studios, Westlake Recording Studios, and Cherokee Studios, Los Angeles, California
 * Duration: 0:03:40
 * Genre: Disco Music
 * Label: Columbia Records, Epic Records
 * Author: Rod Temperton
 * Producer: Quincy Jones

Get on the Floor

 * Artist: Michael Jackson
 * Released: 10th August 1979
 * Recorded: April - June 1979, Allen Zentz Recording Studios, Westlake Recording Studios, and Cherokee Studios, Los Angeles, California
 * Duration: 0:04:39
 * Genre: Disco Music, Funk Music
 * Label: Columbia Records, Epic Records
 * Author: Michael Jackson, Louis Johnson
 * Producer: Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones

Off the Wall

 * Artist: Michael Jackson
 * Released: 10th August 1979
 * Recorded: December 1978 - April 1979, Allen Zentz Recording Studios, Westlake Recording Studios, and Cherokee Studios, Los Angeles, California
 * Duration: 0:04:06
 * Genre: Disco Music, Funk Music
 * Label: Columbia Records, Epic Records
 * Author: Rod Temperton
 * Producer: Quincy Jones

Girlfriend

 * Artist: Michael Jackson
 * Released: 10th August 1979
 * Recorded: June 1979, Allen Zentz Recording Studios, Westlake Recording Studios, and Cherokee Studios, Los Angeles, California
 * Duration: 0:03:05
 * Genre: Pop Music, Rhythm and Blues Music
 * Label: Columbia Records, Epic Records
 * Author: Paul McCartney
 * Producer: Quincy Jones

Blame It on the Boogie

 * Artist: The Jacksons
 * Released: 23rd August 1978
 * Recorded: 1978
 * Duration: 0:03:33
 * Genre: Disco Music
 * Label: Columbia Records, Epic Records
 * Author: David Jackson, Mick Jackson, Elmar Krohn
 * Producer: The Jacksons

Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)

 * Artist: The Jacksons
 * Released: 17th December 1978
 * Recorded: August 1978, Los Angeles, California
 * Duration: 0:08:00
 * Genre: Disco Music, Funk Music
 * Label: Epic Records
 * Author: Michael Jackson, Randy Jackson
 * Producer: The Jacksons

Ain't No Sunshine

 * Artist: Michael Jackson
 * Released: 24th January 1972
 * Recorded: July - November 1971, Hitsville West, Los Angeles, California
 * Duration: 0:04:10
 * Genre: Psychedelic Soul
 * Label: Motown Records
 * Author: Bill Withers
 * Producer: Hal Davis

I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus

 * Artist: The Jackson 5
 * Released: 15th October 1970
 * Recorded: 1970
 * Duration: 0:03:11
 * Genre: Christmas Music, Rhythm and Blues Music
 * Label: Motown Records
 * Author: Tommie Connor
 * Producer: The Corporation