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 family in show business. That ideal has lasted forever in the popular imagination, so strong that not even the revelation of Joe Jackson’s iron fist could break it.
On October 18, 1969, over a week after ‘I Want You Back‘ hit stores, and a couple months before their landmark Ed Sullivan debut, the Jackson 5 made their first appearance on national television as part of the variety show Hollywood Palace, performing a covers medley and their brand new single. Uniquely, the Hollywood Palace had a new celebrity host every week. The host this time? Miss Diana Ross.
Few in the music industry understood the power of television as effectively as Motown, and perhaps nobody was more symbolic of that realisation than Diana Ross. As the lead singer of the Supremes, the act that conquered America with 12 (twelve!) #1 singles, she quickly became a mainstay of daytime television and the face of Motown’s revolutionary efforts to break the racial barriers of 1960s primetime television. A year earlier, the Supremes and the Temptations co-starred in the television special TCB (“Taking Care of Business”), the first black entertainers to solely host and hold a primetime show. TCB exceeded every expectation; not only did it become the highest-rated special of 1968, the soundtrack also rocketed to #1 on the Billboard 200, the Temptations’ only album to do so. It is impossible to overstate the importance of this milestone achievement, and it remains a landmark in television representation.
For Ross’ follow-up special, Motown spared no expense: the Supremes, Stevie Wonder, and Sammy Davis Jr. are just some of the names which made up the programme. Like TCB, a Motown at the Hollywood Palace soundtrack was hastily compiled, including performances by some artists that didn’t even appear on the special (ie. Gladys Knight & the Pips). (In the words of Corporation member Deke Richards, who was tasked with the album: “Motown wanted this LP to be a quickie to capitalize on the show. They wanted it ‘yesterday’.”) Both Jackson 5 items were included, even though ‘I Want You Back’ was entirely lipsynced on the show.
Diana Ross’ Hollywood Palace special is best remembered as a calling card, not just for Ross’ imminent solo career, but for her new proteges, as ‘discovered’ by her in Gary, Indiana: the Jackson 5. This was not the Jackson 5’s first TV performance; weeks earlier they gave a rousing rendition of the Isley Brothers ‘It’s Your Thing’ for the regionally televised ‘Miss Black America’ pageant. I don’t know if it’s the difference in production values, or because the online copy of ‘It’s Your Thing’ looks like it was recorded on a potato, but it honestly feels like several years passed between that and what we see at the Hollywood Palace. The Jackson 5’s development during this breakout period can best be measured in lightyears.
Oh yeah, of course! The song! I thought you’d never ask.
As mentioned earlier, both of these songs are covers that I assume were floating in their live repertoire by that point: Sly & the Family Stone’s ‘Sing A Simple Song‘ and the Delfonics’ ‘Can You Remember‘. (The Jackson 5’s own studio version, of course, wouldn’t be released for another two months.) The ‘Sing a Simple Song’ portion, while energetic enough as an intro, is aptly-named, and it barely lasts twenty seconds. For a brief, glorious moment, however, Tito pushes out this bluesy guitar riff that threatens to derail the whole studio into the raw and murky circuit underworld that the Jacksons had spent their career escaping from. Sadly, it doesn’t last. Before it can even start, ‘Sing A Simple Song’ becomes ‘Can You Remember’.
Not that that’s a complaint. ‘Can You Remember’ is definitely the better song and performance of the two, and it’s where the Jacksons really show off the talents which led them to a national TV audience in the first place. Nothing is terribly different to their album version, but that only means we get to witness little Michael at his most tender and delicate. It is astonishing to see how effortlessly he performs, even from the first outing. Check how gracefully he spins and pops back into beat following their instrumental break, and it becomes obvious that he just couldn’t have avoided stardom. The other Jacksons also turn in some fine moments; special mention goes to Tito’s shimmering guitar work in the break and Jackie’s skyscraping falsetto finish. It all looks and sounds amazingly polished. Unfortunately, this is the only recorded performance we have of either of these songs. But, not only would they quickly have their own ballads to sing, I also find it hard to believe they could significantly top this one.
(Confusingly, different versions of this medley have been released on Motown at the Hollywood Palace soundtracks over the years. The original release of the soundtrack replaces the live performance with a re-recorded studio version of the medley. However, a 1976 Australian reissue appears to use the actual television performance instead. I have watched the TV footage in reviewing this song, so I have been using the “wrong” version while writing this entire post. They’re not that different anyway. But I digress.)
Between this and ‘I Want You Back’, which Michael introduced with “it’s gonna sell everywhere!”, it seems destined that the Jackson 5 would become a watershed, not only for Motown but the entire music industry. Their influence on virtually every boy band or family group (not to mention pop music) in the decades since only attests to that. And this is only from their first performance. Much bigger and better things were to come, and some were much closer on the horizon than others.
8/10
REMIX CORNER
Alternate Version – Deke Richards mentions a studio recording of the ‘Can You Remember’ medley during the production of Hollywood Palace, although it remains unclear whether it was recorded as a rehearsal track or later as a substitute for the soundtrack. Though the re-recording was indeed used for the soundtrack, it was this slightly alternate mix that appeared on the Jackson 5’s 2000 Anthology, and it became the version I grew up with. This omits the slightly corny spoken intro from Ms. Ross and goes straight to the music, offering a more refined take than the live performance. Unfortunately, Jackie’s standout last note is completely absent, but aside from that, there isn’t much I haven’t already said.
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