Shake It Baby -Shake it Shake it baby!

The J-5's debut recordings (along with drummer "Cousin" Johnny Jackson) were somewhat poorly recorded at Steeltown Records (actually the home of producer Gordon Keith) in the Fall of 1967. Mostly low-budget R&B, but some good stuff shines. The very 1st J/5 record "Big Boy" is here with the "killer bass line" that MJ would later describe in his book "Moonwalk." They try their hand at doo-wop in "I Never Had a Girl." Joe Jackson himself joins his sons on "Jam Session #1," a weak approximation of Jr. Walker's "Cleo's Back." The Motownesque "We Don't Have to Be Over 21 to Fall in Love" is about as awkward as it sounds. The rehearsal tapes that were added to this CD are unspeakable, with one exception-the lively and rocking "Jam Session Pt. 2." (where the title of my review comes from). Also recommended on this CD are "Micheal the Lover" and the entertaining "Let Me Carry Your Schoolbooks." The latter is not as juvenile as it sounds. As a whole, this is mostly for collectors and completists, but worthy of a listen.

Soulful

the Jackson 5 rocked on this disc.Big Boy,You 've changed are two of the Jams.the group was sounding Soulful on this disc.Michael Jackson has always been Bad!this is a Very Important disc.hearing Music from this disc you knew these Guys would Blow Up.

Wonderful - but flawed

In one respect this is a wonderful collection of the Jacksons' pre-Motown work. The studio recorded material - basically the first half of the disc - is presented in the best quality possible, and thankfully NOT overdubbed with new instrumentation as has happened on a number of other discs where this material has been collected. Sadly though the disc is flawed, as the rehearsal taped material on the second half of it DOES suffer from the overdubbing problem. It is actually quite hard to find this material in its original, pristine state - I have come across it on only two or three occasions on budget European releases - and it is sad that this collection falls down here, despite the contrary claim on the rather misleading sleeve note!