Dangerous [ENHANCED] [EXTRA TRACKS] [ORIGINAL RECORDING REISSUED] [ORIGINAL RECORDING REMASTERED] [SPECIAL EDITION]

Michael Jackson was still going for pop hits with 1991's Dangerous, but he also front-loaded the album with six straight Teddy Riley-assisted cuts. This half-hour swoop of tense, aggressive, often angular funk was Jackson's most interesting music since Thriller, and still sounds, well, invincible on this remastered edition. After that, the record's uneven, but there's nothing embarrassing about it, either. "Gone Too Soon," a non-Jackson composition about teen AIDS casualty Ryan White, is a quiet statement (particularly played next to the choir-laden "Heal the World," "Keep the Faith," and "Will You Be There") showing that the star doesn't always have to get showy. The sprightly "Black or White" is explicitly pro-interracial romance, an angle its video didn't go near, and the urgent "Give In to Me" is almost scary. Scary good, that is. --Rickey Wright

Thriller [SPECIAL EDITION] [EXTRA TRACKS] [ORIGINAL RECORDING REMASTERED]

Where Off the Wall was pretty much straight good times, Thriller introduced dread into Michael Jackson's solo work. By 1995's HIStory, this element curdled into overwhelming self-regard and out-of-touchness, but here it's bracing. While Thriller offers its share of cute ("The Girl Is Mine," a duet with Paul McCartney that was the album's first single; "P.Y.T."), the most memorable cuts remain "Billie Jean," "Beat It," and "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'," all of which meld musical imagination and worried-mind lyrics.

There's also the title track, which takes a cue from Parliament's concept pieces in employing Vincent Price to warn that nonfunky forces will "terrorize y'all's neighborhood." Thriller, of course, continues to battle with the Eagles' first greatest-hits package for the title of biggest-selling U.S. long-player ever. Bonus material on this edition includes "Someone in the Dark," from Jackson's E.T. children's album, and a Quincy Jones interview in which the producer cites "My Sharona" as the inspiration for "Beat It"--and, even better, the real-life Billie Jean's claim that Michael was "the father of one of her twins." --Rickey Wright

Off the Wall [EXTRA TRACKS] [ORIGINAL RECORDING REISSUED] [ORIGINAL RECORDING REMASTERED] [SPECIAL EDITION]

Amazon.com essential recording
Given the pace of Michael Jackson's post-Thriller release schedule, it's striking that Off the Wall appeared between two albums with his brothers, Destiny (1978) and Triumph (1980), on which the twentysomething phenomenon was also fully engaged. Aided by richly detailed but not overdone production, Off the Wall redefined how much Michael might do.

Tracks like "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough," "Rock with You," the title cut (all Top 10 singles), and "Burn this Disco Out" not only consolidated his dance-floor power, but showed just how soulful and varied his vocals could get on uptempo material. Artistic role models like James Brown and Jackie Wilson echo through the mixes, but these were Jackson's leaps forward. The addition of pure pop confection--Paul McCartney's "Girlfriend," Stevie Wonder's "I Can't Help It"--further fleshed out the star's young-adult persona and helped make Off the Wall among the most fondly remembered of all his solo work. This special edition features two magic home demos and entertaining, insightful interviews of producer Quincy Jones and "Rock with You" composer Rod Temperton. --Rickey Wright

Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King

Produced by Rob Cavallo (Green Day, My Chemical Romance), Big Whiskey has been hailed by Rolling Stone as the group’s "heaviest album yet, both musically and emotionally," which went on to note: "Throughout, Carter Beauford beats out elaborate, propulsive groves; bassist Stefan Lessard lays down Flea-style funk bass lines; violinist Boyd Tinsley plays cresting, intense runs; and Matthews mirrors Moore’s saxophone lines with scatlike singing." Billboard, in a cover story on Dave Matthews Band, praised Big Whiskey as "its best album yet… Highlights include the funk-rock rave-up 'Shake Me Like a Monkey,' the stirring ballad 'Lying in the Hands of God,' the swampy rocker 'Alligator Pie (Cockadile),' radio-friendly fare like 'Why I Am,' which features playful horns over a solid rock riff and a hooky chorus, and 'Funny the Way It Is,' which parlays a subtle intro into a soaring, syncopated anthem."

21st Century Breakdown

2009 release, the Punk trio's long-awaited eighth studio album,. The album is the best-selling trio's first studio album since 2004's two-time Grammy Award-winning Punk Rock opera American Idiot, which debuted at #1 on the Billboard chart, spawned five hit singles, and went on to sell more than 12 million copies worldwide. 21st Century Breakdown is divided into three acts: "Heroes and Cons," "Charlatans and Saints," and "Horseshoes and Handgrenades," and follows a young couple, Christian and Gloria, through the mess and promise of the century so far. Songs include "Know Your Enemy", "21 Guns", "East Jesus Nowhere", "Before the Lobotomy", and "Restless Heart Syndrome."

Quiet Nights

Diana Krall's 12th album Quiet Nights is an intimate recording of ballads and bossa novas from the team that brought you her best-selling GRAMMY Award-winning CD The Look of Love. Accompanied by her quartet and orchestra, Diana turns her sensual vocals and consummate piano skills to "The Boy from Ipanema", "Walk on By"and other classic tunes. Quiet Nights is initially available as a limited edition CD including 2 bonus tracks - her stunning rendition of the Bee Gee's "How Can You Mend A Broken Heart" and the standard "Every Time We Say Goodbye". Also available on LP pressed on 180 Gram Vinyl.

The Crow New Songs for the 5-String Banjo (Amazon.com Exclusive)

The Crow: New Songs for the 5-String Banjo is the first full-length bluegrass album from actor/comedian/musician Steve Martin. After playing on the Grammy Award winning Foggy Mountain Breakdown with Earl Scruggs, Martin began writing a string of new banjo songs, some with lyrics and some as instrumentals. An album forty-five years in the making, The Crow features special appearances by Dolly Parton, Vince Gill, Mary Black, Tim O'Brien, Earl Scruggs, Pete Wernick and Tony Trischka. Recorded in Dublin, Hollywood, Nashville and New Jersey and produced by John McEuen, of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, the album consists of fifteen original tracks written by Martin.

I have loved the banjo my whole life," says Martin. "The songs on this record represent the influence of a dozen players and a thousand tunes, and I thank them all. But it's the banjo itself I thank most for generating nostalgia for experiences I never had, joy I was yet to experience, and melancholy that was yet to come."