The Jacksons: The Very Best of The Jacksons

Elly Roberts reviews

The Very Best of The Jacksons
Distributed by
Sony Music

    Cover

  • Year: 2004
  • Rating: 7/10
  • Cat. No: 5163669

    Track listing:

    Disc 1:

      1. I Want You Back
      2. ABC
      3. The Love You Save
      4. I’ll Be There
      5. Mama’s Pearl
      6. Never Can Say Goodbye
      7. Sugar Daddy
      8. Dancing Machine
      9. Lookin’ Through the Windows
      10. Doctor My Eyes
      11. Ain’t No Sunshine
      12. Got To Be There
      13. Rockin’ Robin
      14. Ben
      15. One Day In Your Life
      16. Farewell My Summer Love

    Disc 2:

      1. Can You Feel It
      2. Blame it on the Boogie
      3. Enjoy Yourself
      4. Show You the Way To Go
      5. Dreamer
      6. Even Though You’re Gone
      7. Goin’ Places
      8. Torture
      9. Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)
      10. Lovely One
      11. This Place Hotel
      12. Walk Right Now
      13. State of Shock
      14. 2300 Jackson Street
      15. Nothing (The Compares 2 U) (Video)
      16. Don’t Stop Til You Get Enough (Live from 1981 US Tour)

Eight years in the making,this comprehensive chronology charts the Jackson family’s prolific hits.A brand new double CD set comprising 32 tracks it covers their progressionfrom ‘ teeny – boppers ‘ into world – wide sellers as a group and individuals.

It brings together for the first time all the Jackson brothers’ greatest hitsin the same collection. Having reportedly sold over 100 million records since1970, as their reign began with I Want You Back (UK No.2) – which opens CD 1,with an 11-year-old Michael Jackson singing his heart out. They wereundoubtedly the first ‘ Boy Band ‘, and it seems almost inconceivable thatMotown would have taken such a risk on teenagers, but it paid off.

Eventually, their radio – friendly catchy hooks and funky beats swept acrossthe globe and rejuvenated Tamla Motown’s repertoire with an un – stoppablesequence of anthemic dance tracks – ABC, Can You Feel It, Shake Your Bodyand Doctor My Eyes, as they paraded their wares in neatly choreographedroutines, along with some outlandish stage costumes. Tender ballads like Ben(apparently about a pet rat), Ain’t No Sunshine and Got To Be Therecomplimented their disco repertoire.


Early songs were penned by luminaries such as Berry Gordy Jnr, Freddie Perrin,Hal Davies, Bill Withers and Don Black. The brothers came into their own lateron, as did Michael himself, but failed to capture the public’s imagination withouthim. You’ll immediately recognise most of them, with most of their work beinga staple diet of wedding parties. Some of these songs are still in demand inselective nightclubs around the nation. They’ve stood the test of time beautifully,which rubber stamps the golden age of Motown and beyond, as they developed theirown identities and voices.

Listening to Michael’s voice 30 years on, it does grate quite a bit. Thankfully,by the end of disc one, it starts to mature. Weakest tracks – Enjoy Yourself, Dreamer, Even Though You’re Gone, Torture and an over-zealouslive Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Evough from 1981.

Doesn’t include Michael’s latter-day hits: Billie Jean, Beat It, Thriller etc.

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