Thriller25 was a massive disappointment in my opinion. Buying
Thriller for the fourth or fifth time would have gotten me the excellent "For All Time" which was recorded eight years after that album was released, five hit-or-miss remixes, and a DVD of music videos easily accessible online. The Japanese version also included "Got the Hots," which I've never particularly liked.
In retrospect, pretty bad.
Bad25 is IMMENSELY superior and worth the money, though I still consider reissues to be massively irritating by virtue of the fact that I have to buy an album I've bought countless times just to get a few new tunes.
Now whatever release or re-releases in the future will either not have those songs on them therefore being less than what they could have been AND OR have them become rare because the Estate shot their load on some limited edition thing where they will not have the greatest effect in the long run. Sure everything is easily available online right now but who knows in a few years.
The estate is fully capable and clearly willing to release songs that people have already heard. That isn't a concern.
As HIStoric said above, "The Way You Love Me" was released on
Michael despite having first been issued in 2004. "Hold My Hand," which leaked in June 2008, appeared as well, as did the January 2010 leak "Another Day".
Six of the eight tracks on
Xscape were freely available on the Internet long prior to their release.
These tracks have to come out eventually in some medium. Sitting on them for decades will do nothing but lessen their value and run the risk of becoming irrelevant. (In fifty years, people will not be nearly as interested in unheard Michael Jackson music as they are today. There will certainly be a following, but this is essentially the golden age of enthusiasm.)
The estate has been drip feeding us material for years, as it should be. Not counting leaked material, we've only been given FOURTEEN previously unheard songs since 2009. That's a solid number.
