Can You Feel It?

Before the monkeys and llamas, before the oxygen chamber and burnt hair, before the sad decline into absurdity and utmost controversy, Michael Jackson was a member of a band. An exceptionally successful band. And just as it is always worth listening to his best solo work (which ranks among the greatest soul and pop music ever made), it is also worth revisiting the music he made with his famous siblings, both as the Jackson 5 on Motown, and especially as The Jacksons after the Motown split in 1975 (Motown kept the Jackson 5 name for themselves).

Such is the strength of their output, as both the last great act to roll from the Motown production lines, and following their assumption of artistic and musical control following their move to Epic (under CBS), that it is difficult to pick out any one track for particular praise. I have always been very fond of their version of Bill Withers' "Ain't No Sunshine" with it's incredibly funky breakdown, and of course there are numerous accepted classics to also choose from including "ABC", "I'll Be There" "I Want You Back" (who doesn't thrill to the piano run intro to this tune no matter how familiar!?). But the period from 1975 into the mid-80s is arguably worthy of more attention than it gets from music fans.

We all know about the story of Michael Jackson's solo emergence into the self-styled King of Pop from "Off The Wall" through "Thriller" from this period, but the work of the collective is equally stunning. 1980's "Triumph" is simply huge, especially if you have ever seen footage from the tour of the same name, and 1984's follow-up, "Victory" is just awesome. All worthy of much more attention than is given here. But the prompt to this nostalgic trip, comes from an earlier time, just after the split from Motown, and the 1977 single "Show You The Way To Go".

At this time the group were still finding their creative feet, and so were placed under the production guidance of legendary Philly sound exponents Gamble & Huff for debut album on CBS imprint Philadelphia International, 1976's "The Jacksons". And this tune is a fine example of the increasing vocal and harmonic confidence of lead singer Michael. If you haven't heard it for a while it is well worth digging out. Not the strongest song in the world lyrically, but the emergence of a singer who would come to define the decade after it's release.

Massive.