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The evolution that began in 1976, of the classic Motown teen hitmaking group the Jackson 5 into the independent grown-ups known forever after on Epic Records as the Jacksons – was a transition that did not happen overnight. But there is universal agreement that by the time they released their third album for their new label, 1978's Destiny (with the worldwide hits "Blame It On The Boogie" and "Shake Your Body"), followed by 1980's Triumph, the first RIAA platinum album of their career – both LPs self-produced for the first time, and (mainly) self-penned – the transition was complete.
"Three decades after its initial release," writes Ernest Hardy of Destiny, "it's still fresher - more potent, more substantive within its sturdy R&B/pop structure - than most of what you hear playing on the radio or streaming on the net today." In honor of its 30th anniversary, DESTINY, including two bonus tracks of rare 12-inch disco mixes previously unavailable on CD, and TRIUMPH, with three bonus tracks of rare 12-inch mixes also previously unavailable on CD, will both arrive at both physical and digital outlets on January 27, 2009, through Epic/Legacy, a division of SONY BMG MUSIC ENTER TAIN MENT.
DESTINY and TRIUMPH represent the first expanded editions ever issued by Legacy on the Jacksons, from their catalog of seven original studio and live albums on Epic between 1976 (The Jacksons) and 1989 (2300 Jackson Street). They follow the February 2008 release of the two-disc CD+DVD 25th anniversary expanded edition of Michael Jackson's THRILLER, which has sold over 2 million copies worldwide so far this year. Michael, celebrating his 50th birthday on August 29th, and the Jacksons will be among the focal points of Universal/Motown's 50th anniversary campaign this fall.
Both DESTINY and TRIUMPH have been newly remastered in the U.S. for the first time in more than a decade, by three-time Grammy Award-winning engineer Mark Wilder. In addition, these expanded editions gain historic importance with new liner notes essays by Ernest Hardy, an award-winning music and film critic and author published in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Village Voice, Rolling Stone, and else where. Hardy last worked for Legacy when he penned extensive notes for Love, Luther (Epic/J Records/Legacy), last year's four-CD box set tribute to Luther Vandross; and has also written notes for albums by Chet Baker, Johnny 'Guitar' Watson, and Chuck D's anthology of hip-hop protest songs, Louder Than A Bomb.
Opening his discussion of TRIUMPH, Hardy focuses on the landmark video for "Can You Feel It," the album's opening track (but its third single), and the song that actually follows it, "Lovely One" (the album's first and highest/longest-charting single). "That juxtaposition puts the overall album on ground similar to that mined by everyone from Marvin Gaye to Prince," he writes. "It's terrain on which the secular and the profane, spiritual love and carnal lust, all coil around and glide through one another, even though Michael's grinning come-ons stay firmly on the chaste side of seduction. It's a way of saying that the divides that have been put up between matters of the flesh and the spirit are false, a smokescreen."
More than a decade before, in late-1969, the newly-minted Jackson 5 – 11-year old Michael, 12-year old Marlon, 15-year old Jermaine, 16-year old Tito, and 18-year old Jackie – ignited a string of hits at Motown with their historic first four consecutive 1 R&B and 1 pop hits. They became a core group at the label, staying inside the Top 10 for nearly five years. But as they grew older – into their teens for Michael and Marlon, and out of their teens for the others – they grew restless with the Motown song writers and assembly-line production, and began a campaign to change.
In 1976, they finally realized a long-term goal to part company with Motown and join the CBS Records Epic label, though they had to relinquish the name Jackson 5, thus becoming the Jacksons. Michael and Jermaine had both started recording as solo artists; Michael chose to stay with his brothers, while Jermaine remained at Motown, replaced by youngest member Randy.
By the time Epic assigned the Jacksons to Gamble & Huff's Philadelphia Inter national wing, and they released their first new music in late 1976, Randy was 17, Michael was 18, Marlon was 19, Tito was 23, and Jackie was 25. Their self-titled debut album was a classic G&H PIR production, but only included two original compositions by the brothers. Still, the album was certified gold on the strength of two Top 10 R&B singles written by Gamble & Huff. Their second PIR album, 1977's Goin' Places fared less well, though it again included two original Jacksons compositions, and introduced some guitar work by Tito, and Randy on percussion.
All were experienced musicians by this time, and had observed the industry's top producers at work for nearly a decade. The decision to take over full rein of their own production and songwriting (and rev-up their presence as musicians) was an ambitious one – but yielded immediate success with DESTINY, a level of success surpassed two years later by TRIUMPH.
In between, Michael resumed his solo career at Epic with 1979's 7-times platinum block buster Off The Wall (169 weeks on the Billboard chart). After 1981's Jacksons Live double-LP, Michael came back in 1982 with Thriller, making pop history that stands to this day. The Jacksons have reunited on occasion since then – the "Motown 25" NBC-TV special in 1983; their Epic albums Victory in 1984 (and the "Victory World Tour"), and 2300 Jackson Street in 1989; and as part of 1985's "We Are the World" cast. Their Epic years were sampled on Epic/Legacy's 2004 collection, The Essential Jacksons.
"There is the sound of a family's long, hard struggles and sacrifices paying off on terms far more valuable then economic," Hardy sums up. "There's the sound of African American political struggles for equality and justice coming to fruition in the voices of blood-tied native sons, who can spin wise as social commentators and spiritual soothsayers, and then flip it and be the afro'd lothario. It's the sound of assorted American cultural practices, traditions, and musical genres all converging in one spot, in one family. It's the sound of destiny being fulfilled in triumph."
DESTINY: EXPANDED EDITION by The Jacksons (Epic/Legacy 88697 30869 2, originally issued December 1978, as Epic 35552, R&B 3, Pop 11) Selections: 1. Blame It On The Boogie (1st single, R&B 3, Hot 100 54) 2. Push Me Away 3. Things I Do For You 4. Shake Your Body (Down To The Ground) (2nd single, R&B 3, Hot 100 7) 5. Destiny 6. Bless His Soul 7. All Night Dancin' 8. That's What You Get (For Being Polite) Bonus tracks: 9. Blame It On The Boogie (John Luongo Disco Mix) 10. Shake Your Body (Down To The Ground) (John Luongo Disco Mix).
TRIUMPH: EXPANDED EDITION by The Jacksons (Epic/Legacy 88697 33558 2, originally issued October 1980, as Epic 36424, R&B 3, Pop 10) Selections: 1. Can You Feel It (3rd single, R&B 30, Hot 100 77) 2. Lovely One (1st single, R&B 2, Hot 100 12) 3. Your Ways 4. Every body 5. This Place Hotel (aka Heartbreak Hotel) (2nd single, R&B 2, Hot 100 22) 6. Time Waits For No One 7. Walk Right Now (4th single, R&B 50, Hot 100 73) 8. Give It Up 9. Wondering Who Bonus tracks: 10. This Place Hotel (aka Heartbreak Hotel) (Single Version) 11. Walk Right Now (John Luongo Disco Mix) 12. Walk Right Now (John Luongo Instrumental Mix).
from, michaljackson.com myspace
"Three decades after its initial release," writes Ernest Hardy of Destiny, "it's still fresher - more potent, more substantive within its sturdy R&B/pop structure - than most of what you hear playing on the radio or streaming on the net today." In honor of its 30th anniversary, DESTINY, including two bonus tracks of rare 12-inch disco mixes previously unavailable on CD, and TRIUMPH, with three bonus tracks of rare 12-inch mixes also previously unavailable on CD, will both arrive at both physical and digital outlets on January 27, 2009, through Epic/Legacy, a division of SONY BMG MUSIC ENTER TAIN MENT.
DESTINY and TRIUMPH represent the first expanded editions ever issued by Legacy on the Jacksons, from their catalog of seven original studio and live albums on Epic between 1976 (The Jacksons) and 1989 (2300 Jackson Street). They follow the February 2008 release of the two-disc CD+DVD 25th anniversary expanded edition of Michael Jackson's THRILLER, which has sold over 2 million copies worldwide so far this year. Michael, celebrating his 50th birthday on August 29th, and the Jacksons will be among the focal points of Universal/Motown's 50th anniversary campaign this fall.
Both DESTINY and TRIUMPH have been newly remastered in the U.S. for the first time in more than a decade, by three-time Grammy Award-winning engineer Mark Wilder. In addition, these expanded editions gain historic importance with new liner notes essays by Ernest Hardy, an award-winning music and film critic and author published in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Village Voice, Rolling Stone, and else where. Hardy last worked for Legacy when he penned extensive notes for Love, Luther (Epic/J Records/Legacy), last year's four-CD box set tribute to Luther Vandross; and has also written notes for albums by Chet Baker, Johnny 'Guitar' Watson, and Chuck D's anthology of hip-hop protest songs, Louder Than A Bomb.
Opening his discussion of TRIUMPH, Hardy focuses on the landmark video for "Can You Feel It," the album's opening track (but its third single), and the song that actually follows it, "Lovely One" (the album's first and highest/longest-charting single). "That juxtaposition puts the overall album on ground similar to that mined by everyone from Marvin Gaye to Prince," he writes. "It's terrain on which the secular and the profane, spiritual love and carnal lust, all coil around and glide through one another, even though Michael's grinning come-ons stay firmly on the chaste side of seduction. It's a way of saying that the divides that have been put up between matters of the flesh and the spirit are false, a smokescreen."
More than a decade before, in late-1969, the newly-minted Jackson 5 – 11-year old Michael, 12-year old Marlon, 15-year old Jermaine, 16-year old Tito, and 18-year old Jackie – ignited a string of hits at Motown with their historic first four consecutive 1 R&B and 1 pop hits. They became a core group at the label, staying inside the Top 10 for nearly five years. But as they grew older – into their teens for Michael and Marlon, and out of their teens for the others – they grew restless with the Motown song writers and assembly-line production, and began a campaign to change.
In 1976, they finally realized a long-term goal to part company with Motown and join the CBS Records Epic label, though they had to relinquish the name Jackson 5, thus becoming the Jacksons. Michael and Jermaine had both started recording as solo artists; Michael chose to stay with his brothers, while Jermaine remained at Motown, replaced by youngest member Randy.
By the time Epic assigned the Jacksons to Gamble & Huff's Philadelphia Inter national wing, and they released their first new music in late 1976, Randy was 17, Michael was 18, Marlon was 19, Tito was 23, and Jackie was 25. Their self-titled debut album was a classic G&H PIR production, but only included two original compositions by the brothers. Still, the album was certified gold on the strength of two Top 10 R&B singles written by Gamble & Huff. Their second PIR album, 1977's Goin' Places fared less well, though it again included two original Jacksons compositions, and introduced some guitar work by Tito, and Randy on percussion.
All were experienced musicians by this time, and had observed the industry's top producers at work for nearly a decade. The decision to take over full rein of their own production and songwriting (and rev-up their presence as musicians) was an ambitious one – but yielded immediate success with DESTINY, a level of success surpassed two years later by TRIUMPH.
In between, Michael resumed his solo career at Epic with 1979's 7-times platinum block buster Off The Wall (169 weeks on the Billboard chart). After 1981's Jacksons Live double-LP, Michael came back in 1982 with Thriller, making pop history that stands to this day. The Jacksons have reunited on occasion since then – the "Motown 25" NBC-TV special in 1983; their Epic albums Victory in 1984 (and the "Victory World Tour"), and 2300 Jackson Street in 1989; and as part of 1985's "We Are the World" cast. Their Epic years were sampled on Epic/Legacy's 2004 collection, The Essential Jacksons.
"There is the sound of a family's long, hard struggles and sacrifices paying off on terms far more valuable then economic," Hardy sums up. "There's the sound of African American political struggles for equality and justice coming to fruition in the voices of blood-tied native sons, who can spin wise as social commentators and spiritual soothsayers, and then flip it and be the afro'd lothario. It's the sound of assorted American cultural practices, traditions, and musical genres all converging in one spot, in one family. It's the sound of destiny being fulfilled in triumph."
DESTINY: EXPANDED EDITION by The Jacksons (Epic/Legacy 88697 30869 2, originally issued December 1978, as Epic 35552, R&B 3, Pop 11) Selections: 1. Blame It On The Boogie (1st single, R&B 3, Hot 100 54) 2. Push Me Away 3. Things I Do For You 4. Shake Your Body (Down To The Ground) (2nd single, R&B 3, Hot 100 7) 5. Destiny 6. Bless His Soul 7. All Night Dancin' 8. That's What You Get (For Being Polite) Bonus tracks: 9. Blame It On The Boogie (John Luongo Disco Mix) 10. Shake Your Body (Down To The Ground) (John Luongo Disco Mix).
TRIUMPH: EXPANDED EDITION by The Jacksons (Epic/Legacy 88697 33558 2, originally issued October 1980, as Epic 36424, R&B 3, Pop 10) Selections: 1. Can You Feel It (3rd single, R&B 30, Hot 100 77) 2. Lovely One (1st single, R&B 2, Hot 100 12) 3. Your Ways 4. Every body 5. This Place Hotel (aka Heartbreak Hotel) (2nd single, R&B 2, Hot 100 22) 6. Time Waits For No One 7. Walk Right Now (4th single, R&B 50, Hot 100 73) 8. Give It Up 9. Wondering Who Bonus tracks: 10. This Place Hotel (aka Heartbreak Hotel) (Single Version) 11. Walk Right Now (John Luongo Disco Mix) 12. Walk Right Now (John Luongo Instrumental Mix).
from, michaljackson.com myspace
