A Superstar In The Making

Young Michael Jackson at his best.
After this his first solo album, you knew that he was going to be
a star (a superstar). Some of my favorites are "Girl Don't Take Your Love From Me", "Maria (You Were The Only One)" and "In Our Small Way" made this an album that I had to listen to over and over again. Any true Micheal Jackson fans need this one in their collection.

Got to hear this

Michael Jackson's first solo album, released at the peak of the Jackson Five's popularity, is a mixed bag of covers and originals. Surprisingly, the sound of this album is vastly different than that of the J5, although the brothers appear on a few tracks as background singers. This is very light, gentle fare that perfectly suits Michael's then-13-year-old voice. Unfortunately, Motown's studio backup singers are much older than Michael and the blend is, at times, an odd one. Michael's pure talent and conviction saves a few otherwise dry arrangements ("You've Got a Friend," "Wings of my Love") and simply amazes on the THREE hit singles ("Got to be There," "Rockin' Robin," and "I Wanna be Where You Are"). On four tracks, Michael interjects much too-rehearsed spoken lyrics that ruin otherwise enjoyable songs. Cheeziness aside, this is a decent album which definitely rises above "kiddie" status, despite Michael's age at the time. Check it out, it's worth it. Hopefully Motown will re-release his solo albums in two-for-one packages like they did with the J5 albums and bonus tracks!

You Wanna Be Here!

Michael Jackson's first solo album-pre "Thirller" even.The
hits of course are the immortal tital song,"Rockin' Robin and "I Wanna Be Where You Are",sung by that precocious Jackson 5 headman of yore.The whole shabang starts with the breathtaking "Ain't No Sunshine",a dark,mysterious cover with a rapped intro that stomps all over Bill Withers original!Ditto on the original "Maria (You Were The Only One" and the Diana Rossish "in Our Small Way".A fantastic way to begin a career and
a true question mark as to what the heck happened to this guy in
the next twenty years!This shouldn't be as rare as it it is-it is
at it's very worst a musical historical document worthy of even
the most disriminating ears.