Whilst his life and death may have been clouded in controversy, there is no denying that Michael Jackson was one of the great musical artistes of the 20th Century. Recent times and troubles may have lessened his output lately, but his legacy is a great body of work that has entertained millions and inspired many of today’s acts. Indeed, with his habit of spending millions of dollars on music videos, Michael Jackson led the way when it came to using MTV as an advertising tool.

Naturally, with a film there is an accompanying soundtrack. Unfortunately, the 2 CD version of “This Is It” is not a soundtrack, but is subtitled “The Music That Inspired the Movie”. This makes a huge difference and actually makes the whole album a hugely disappointing experience. The songs themselves are as great as you would expect from Michael Jackson, but the presentation is a triumph of marketing and doesn’t really add to Jackson’s legacy in any meaningful way, nor does it provide a true companion to the film version.

Next up is “Jam”, which has never been one of my favourite Michael Jackson numbers. It’s got a more modern sound than the 70s funk influence that many of his songs do. This has more of a hard beat to it and there’s a clear rap influence here, making this more of a dance track than a funk or disco number. It could be this influence that made me enjoy it less than much of Jackson’s music, as I was always a fan of disco, but not much of a rap fan. Again, here, the length and the lack of variation, apart from the rap break in the middle, does make it a little repetitive over a 5 and a half minute track.

Looking down the track list, “Human Nature” was the one song I couldn’t immediately place, although on listening to it, it’s certainly a track worthy of this collection. This is the first time that the tempo slows down a little and it’s a lovely little pop ballad, which Jackson’s gentle, soulful voice works beautifully with. There’s a vocal part on the chorus I recall hearing remixed as part of a track not so long ago, so as well as being a lovely ballad, it shows Jackson’s influence on other artists.

But it’s back to the funky sound I also love for “The Way You Make Me Feel”. It’s got a slightly slower tempo than some of the earlier tracks, although not quite slow enough to be a ballad. It’s a pop track with a lovely funky backbeat and once again showcases Jackson’s vocals at their best.

Following this brief disco moment is a beautiful pop ballad. “I Just Can’t Stop Loving You” is the way a pop ballad should sound. Jackson’s soulful vocal only makes it sound even more romantic and the expansion of sound from the verse into the chorus is beautifully done. There’s a nice contrast between Jackson’s quieter vocal and Siedah Garrett’s slightly more powerful voice later on that makes this the definitive pop ballad.

“Man in the Mirror” is another song I’ve always loved and it’s again the perfect pop ballad. Musically, it’s perhaps not one of his best, being a little bland, but the vocals and lyrics really come to the fore and make this a great track. There’s a slight roughness to the vocal in the verses, but the chorus smoothes this out and the contrast is again evident and the almost gospel style backing vocals late on only add to the beauty of the track.

The first disc of two ends with the two versions of “This Is It”, one orchestral version and one album version. I’ve never really seen the point of putting two versions of the same song next to each other on an album and can’t help but think that maybe it would have been better to have started and finished the disc with the same song. That said, I suppose that with so many mp3 players capable of shuffling songs meaning that albums aren’t always listened to in order any more, it matters less than it once did.

If the first disc is Michael Jackson’s best from the studio, the second disc is a brief moment of curiosities. Given that the film version of “This Is It” is taken from rehearsal footage, for the first time on the album a few of the songs here provide an almost “rehearsal” feel, although from the recording studio rather than the stage.

The same is true of “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’ (demo)” which is a slightly stripped down version of the album version but is largely virtually indistinguishable from the version on the first disc, so high are the production values. It’s still a great funk-pop song, but it would have been nice to have had some variation between discs. The song is good enough to have merited inclusion on the album, but this version isn’t different enough from the original to have earned a place on this disc.

The other track that helps give this disc a point is the poem “Planet Earth”. It’s a spoken word track, just being a poem, but it’s got a haunting quality, helped by the echo on the track that sends a slight shiver down my mind. It’s a little simplistic and some of the rhymes seem a little immature, but the heart behind the delivery of those words make it seem greater than it is and hearing this with a cinema’s sound system behind it would be quite an experience, I feel. The attitude behind the poem would make this the perfect companion to “Earth Song”, as the feeling behind both matches up well.

It’s certainly very well presented, with a little hardback book containing the discs and a number of pictures which I presume would be stills taken from the film version, which acts a little like a concert programme as well as an inlay card. However, my issue with this is that none of the pictures have captions, so it’s impossible to place them as part of the show without having seen the film.

The other issue is with the pricing, as another Michael Jackson “best of” style album priced at £11.98 from Amazon, or £9.49 at the Amazon Marketplace is far too much, even allowing for the one new song. It’s interesting that such a new album should already be available for 99 pence on eBay, which suggests many who have purchased it are already thinking twice. This is one only for the most dedicated of Michael Jackson fans and those who don’t have any of his music already. However, even then, every song on this album, with the exception of “This Is It”, is already on the “Essential Michael Jackson” album, which is priced at the same £11.98 on Amazon and contains 38 tracks, showing what can be done with a double CD album with a little more thought.