Artist:     Michael Jackson

Album:     Scream

Label:     Epic/Legacy

Release Date:     09.29.2017

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Technically, the King of Pop may not be making new music, but release of his blockbuster recordings will find their way to fans old and new for the foreseeable future.

Scream (or SCREAM) puts together a fittingly unlucky 13 of Jackson’s “most danceable tracks,” but it’s more of a themed compilation: “Thriller,” Blood on the Dance Floor,” “Torture,” “Ghosts” and, of course “Scream,” etc., etc. Get the picture? Probably some marketing guy’s clever idea, but who cares? The music is incredible, irresistible. If you own every song on the album, rest assured this will still ring new: the songs are all mashups, all new experiences, all heavy on dance beats. One track, “Somebody’s Watching Me,” is by Rockwell, with Jackson providing the hook, also tweaked.

The liner notes, printed on one large heavy sheet, unfold to a Thriller poster on the flip side; a little inset card allows buyers to Shazam a graphic and, using a camera phone, bring the poster alive in augmented reality (AR). A bonus track reprises five songs in a mashup, now titled “Blood on the Dance Floor X Dangerous,” by renowned remixer The White Panda.

As icing on the pumpkin, the album will be available October 27^th (the Friday before Halloween) on glow-in-the-dark vinyl, with a different poster. So who are you going as, this Halloween? There’s only one Michael Jackson.

—Suzy Nelson