One can summarise the fifty-year career of the Jackson family solely through their TV appearances: The Ed Sullivan Show, Motown 25, the Super Bowl; I know they’ve run through your mind already. If the Jackson 5’s records sounded careful to appeal, then it was their prime-time performances that cemented their image as the most wholesome… Continue reading 18. Jackson 5 – Medley: Sing A Simple Song/Can You Remember (Live at the Hollywood Palace)

For the b-side of ‘ABC’, it was this song, rather than something off their debut album ‘Diana Ross Presents The Jackson 5’, that was chosen. It’s a choice that’s mildly interesting at first – only 2/12 songs from Diana appeared on any side of a single, so it was still ripe for mining – but… Continue reading 17. Jackson 5 – The Young Folks

After a bit of a quiet start, the career of the Jackson 5 had exploded with their signing to Motown and the release of their first single ‘I Want You Back‘, which had reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100 and become a global smash. Motown, never slow to capitalise on a big hit, issued their first… Continue reading 16. Jackson 5 – ABC

Although the last track, the optimistic Stand!, would have probably made a better ending to the Jackson 5’s debut album, Diana Ross Presents The Jackson 5, this song is probably more fitting, having become one of The Temptations’ most beloved album tracks. It starts off gently, with trumpets (now the norm on these Bobby Taylor-produced… Continue reading 15. Jackson 5 – Born To Love You

With a shining optimism that bursts through the walls of its funky psychedelia, Sly & The Family Stone’s original cracked the Billboard Top 40 and became one of their most well-known tracks. That message of bright hope must have seemed like a natural fit to producer Bobby Taylor, who cut this track with the young… Continue reading 14. Jackson 5 – Stand!

On the last track reviewed on this blog, ‘Chained‘, Michael’s strained and uneven vocal finally gave way in the dying seconds to a desperate Jermaine, who puts on a show-stopping vocal performance to balance out the mediocre wailing of the rest of the song. I wrote on that review that Jermaine should have taken the… Continue reading 13. Jackson 5 – (I Know) I’m Losing You

The Jacksons’ paths didn’t cross with Marvin Gaye very often, but this is one of the rare exceptions. Let’s start with Marvin’s side of the story. For whatever reason, when producer Norman Whitfield played Marvin Gaye’s ‘I Heard It Through The Grapevine’ to Motown boss Berry Gordy Jr., he was quite unimpressed with the final result, leaving it on the… Continue reading 12. Jackson 5 – Chained

Although ‘Who’s Lovin’ You’ was originally made by Smokey Robinson’s group, The Miracles, The Jackson 5’s passionate reading of this song quickly made this a fan favourite, one of the Jackson 5’s most popular songs to this day. It first appeared as the b-side to another Jackson 5 classic, the #1 hit I Want You Back,… Continue reading 11. Jackson 5 – Who’s Lovin’ You (Album Version)

Jermaine Jackson’s role in his family’s story (not to mention the Motown story) is an interesting one indeed. His ego never fully recovered from the day when he was stepped aside as the lead singer and replaced with little brother Michael, but he nonetheless grew to become the ‘fan favourite’ out of thousands of screaming… Continue reading 10. Jackson 5 – My Cherie Amour

Well, well, well. Nine reviews in and the Jackson 5 have already come around full circle from their Steeltown beginnings. The original version of this song had backed the Jackson 5’s first ever single, Big Boy, back in 1968. A year later, this became the only Steeltown song the Jackson 5 ever re-recorded at Motown, tucked away at… Continue reading 9. Jackson 5 – You’ve Changed (Motown Version)