Anthology
In retrospect, making 11-year-oldMichael Jacksoninto a sex symbol was maybe not such a good idea, but it made for some  great records with his brothers in the first half of the '70s.Anthologyis the first compilation in ages to treat the Jackson  5 as a band rather than a franchise--meaning no solo records, thoughJermaine's cover ofShep and  the Limelites' "Daddy's Home" gets gerrymandered in via a  live-in-Japan recording--and as an album act rather than just a factory  for turning The Corporation's songs (like "ABC" and "I Want You Back")  into hits. It includes all their big singles, but it also plumbs the  archive for noteworthy B-sides and album tracks, of which there turn  out to be plenty: some ridiculous (a make-way-for-the-new-generation  anthem called "The Young Folks," hollered convincingly by a  prepubescent Michael), some startling (who'd have thought they coveredFunkadelic?), some  both (a bouncy take onJackson Browne's  "Doctor My Eyes"). The second disc is especially juicy, documenting the 1973-74 period when the Jacksons fell into the hands of  producer Hal Davis and turned out some fantastic, long psychedelic-funk  jams, eventually streamlining their new approach into the megahit  "Dancing Machine."--Douglas Wolk