Diana Ross Presents the Jackson 5/ABC

Artist: The Jackson 5
Label: Motown
Category: Music

Average customer rating:

Format: Original recording remastered
Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 1

UPC: 044001438028
EAN: 0044001438028
ASIN: B00005N8V6

Release Date: 2001-08-14

Diana Ross Presents the Jackson 5/ABC

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Classic R&B

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Motown

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General

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Compilations

Tracks:

Zip A Dee Doo Dah
Nobody
I Want You Back
Can You Remember
Standing In The Shadows Of Love
You've Changed
My Cherie Amour
Who's Lovin' You
Chained
(I Know) I'm Losing You
Stand!
Born To Love You
The Love You Save
One More Chance
ABC
2-4-6-8
(Come 'Round Here) I'm The One You Need
Don't Know Why I Love You
Never Had A Dream Come True
True Love Can Be Beautiful
La La (Means I Love You)
I'll Bet You
I Found That Girl
The Young Folks
Oh, I've Been Bless'd

Similar Items:

Third Album/Maybe Tomorrow
Lookin' Through the Windows/Goin' Back to Indiana
Dancing Machine/Moving Violation
Got to Be There
Goin' Places

Amazon.com

Gary, Indiana, brothers the Jackson 5 scored pop and R&B No. 1's with their first four singles for Motown, three of which are collected here. The mythical claim that Diana Ross discovered the Jacksons might have helped gain attention, but their talent clearly spoke for itself. A quartet of writer-producers, including company head Berry Gordy, devised a sound that melded the new funk with smooth soul. "I Want You Back," "ABC," and "The Love You Save" were influenced by Sly and the Family Stone while proving their own new, terrific thing. Both kids and adults embraced it: that 11-year-old Michael was a precocious talent amid a strong group dynamic made the 5 undeniable.

After the quickly assembled debut LP carrying the Ross credit, their identity as an album act was solidified by 1970's <I>ABC</I>, which found them thoroughly convincing on everything from school-days riffs like the title tune to a cover of Funkadelic's "I'll Bet You." The idea of a group "growing" from disc to disc may be clichéd, but this CD shows it was both literally and figuratively true in the Jackson 5's case. The rare outtake "Oh, I've Been Bless'd" is included as a bonus track. <I>--Rickey Wright</I>

Customer Reviews:

No superlative good enough for this found in my thesaurus.......2006-03-16

Below you will find a lengthy analysis of the opening song on this record "I want you back." If a single song can generate this kind of response, imagine the musical content of the entire 21 song record.

This song obliterates me. All the performances are incredible, including, to quote a friend, Michael's astounding, dumbfounding lead vocal.

The bass part sounds to me as if it came straight from the composer and arranger, but in any matter it's stuffed full with inventive ideas and super fonky! Given the calculated nature of this recording I would expect the arranger to have worked out the bass part note for note. The recording is a careful tapestry of many sounds that blend together to give the overall effect. The intro is a good example. The melody played by the bass is wonderful, but that melody is doubled by other instruments plus other things are woven around that melody, all indicating that the arranger wrote it all out note for note, the bass player serving to faithfully play the arrangement.

(Un)fortunately, any excellence in other portions of this song is obscured by Michael's unbelievable vocal. So much stuff, so much soul, so much range and flexibility. This vocal is way in the unbelievable range for any artist. But to come from a brand new 11 year old is, as my friend put it so well, "dumbfounding." (If this selection does not feature sound clips, look at other Jackson 5 records here on Amazon to hear the mentioned snippets.)
*He sounds a little hoarse and that increases the authority.
*The way he uses subtle, rhythmic vibrato on the word "me" in the phrase "won't you please let me back in your heart." (Hear this on the Amazon snippet.)
*The pause and surprise attack on the word "back" in the same phrase. (Hear this on the Amazon snippet.)
*The screaming with 100% authority.
*The drifting out of tune on the words "now, baby, yeah" in the phrase "Yes I do now, Oh oh baby, yeah yeah yeah yeah, Nah Nah no no." (Is there a technical term for this "drifting out of tune" vocal technique?) (Hear this on the Amazon snippet.)
*The authority and inventiveness and soul of the scatting on that same phrase and other scats in the song, including the various fun "Huh"s.
*The natural way he does the call and response sections with his brothers.
*The perfect timing all over the place, including jumping on some of the responses a little early.
*The exciting vocal build on the phrase "All I want, all I need, all I want, all I need!" with the fantastic atonal exclamation on the second "all I want."
And on and on. You could almost analyze every single note the guy sings. The fact that this guy could do this at 11 years old shows beyond any question that singing at this level requires talent given to you directly by God. You can't get it and you can't learn it. God either gave it to you or He didn't. My guess is that some genius worked out most of this stuff and recorded a track for Michael to sing along with during the session. I mean God given talent or not, Michael could not have come up with that stuff on his own, atonal, drifting out of tune, etc. But to even sing along and get these results....incredible. Plus, who was that singing genius that came up with all that stuff?

Other great parts of the song are the pervasive background vocals, the excellent call and response, the subtle, almost inaudible use of strings and background vocalizing, and the various guitar parts that weave an interesting tapestry.

One thing that I think is ground breaking but at the same time takes away from this arrangement is the calculated, restrained drum part. The drum part sounds completely canned, written out and played note for note. It's not exuberant; instead it's carefully restrained. To my ears it sounds too mellow for this joyous, raucous romp. But it's groundbreaking because this style of drumming became prevalent later and today in the 2000s you rarely hear any drum pyrotechnics in favor of a steady drum beat that does not break the flow of the song.

I wonder if all the vocals on this recording are Jacksons? I assume they are and that shows the talent of this family and the quality of this product.

Excellence and analysis of each individual part aside, the real value of this song, besides Michael's vocal which you simply can not retire to the background, is the overall sound. Each part is carefully calculated and blended to create a unique, exuberant, joyful, new, and instantly recognizable sound that's unlike anything that had been heard before. Though each part is worthy of study, perhaps the best way to listen to this song is with a 6 inch speaker through an AM radio in your car. And isn't that the way it was meant to be?

Larry Brown

A Triumphant Debut for one of THE BEST groups in music history!!.......2005-10-19

I'm only 22 years old and i am a big fan of the Jacksons history. When I bought this album,it showed me exactly what was to come out of this group years later down the road. The first song Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Da is the perfect 2 start off a debut album. The next 3 tracks,"Nobody","Can You Remember?",and their classic single "I Want You Back" (which in my opinion would be the only J5 song 2 sound good without any drums playing in the background). A standout track on the first album is "Born To Love You" where Michael and Marlon do their own vocal-trade off. Considering I like 2 sing all of Marlon Jacksons' parts on their songs. The follow-up album was also pretty good,but the lack of hit material after the song "2-4-6-8" is why this review is only 4 stars,but HEY!! it's still a good CD 2 own in your collection.

Exuberant Music.......2004-12-17

The J5 debut and sophomore discs on Motown are collected here and, interestingly enough, the two albums sound remarkably different. The first, "Diana Ross Presents the Jackson 5" is rooted in the older Motown sound, produced largely by Bobby Taylor and including several covers (in fact, nearly all the songs were covers). For the most part, these covers are made very unique, but aren't really exciting or fresh. The exception to this rule is their smoking, bluesy soul on "Who's Loving You." This was the b-side to the only single on the album, the #1 smash "I Want You Back," regarded by many critics as perhaps the most perfect pop song ever released. Aside from these two tracks, the album shifts between decent pleasantries and ho-hum covers. If released in 1966, this album would have been much better suited than it was in 1969. When the first shouts of "The Love You Save" come through the speakers, it's clear that the "ABC" half of this disc is going to be very different. At times spunky, gorgeous, and precocious, "ABC" is one kiddie album that shouldn't be overlooked. In one recent poll of critics and musicians alike, it ranked among the top 100 albums. Containing two more #1 hits, this was a successful record and the basis for what woule become the Jackson 5's signature sound for years, until songs like "Get It Together" and "Dancing Machine" helped propel them towards the funk/dance arena.

CLASSIC CHILDHOOD FAVORITE...STILL SOUNDS FRESH (ABC that is.......2004-03-19

I am 40 years old and still listening to this album. I still can't get over how absolutley fabulous these songs are. 2-4-6-8 has a hook that I can't get out of my head. Don't Know Why I Love You is classic J-5. Michael wails on this one, nice cover of a Stevie Wonder song. Of course..ABC and The Love You Save are the instant classics on this album..but howabout "I'll Bet You" and "The Young Folks"..The Young Folks is a cover of a Supremes song, but the J5's version demolishes it. My all time fave though is "One More Chance".. I think I have played this song over a thousand times. What a great ballad. Nice melody and vocal performance. This would have gotten 5 stars, bought I still am not fond of "True Love Can Be Beautiful" and "Never HAd a Dream Come True". Their next great lp was "Maybe Tomorrow".

Strong debuts of the J-5.......2002-08-03

Not counting the Steeltown records, these albums were the debuts of the J/5. Couldn't have started on a better note! Much has been said about the original tunes, but the J/5 were brilliant at covering tunes and making them their own. These versions of "Can You Remember," "Stand," "Born to Love You," "Standing in the Shadows of Love," "Oh How Happy," "La la Means I love You," "Come Round Here," "Who's Lovin' You," etc. usually outclass the original versions. This two-cd set lives up to the cliche' ALL KILLER NO FILLER!

Music:

Music

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