Skywriter / Get It Together
Skywriter(1973) is the most rote of the 10 Jackson 5 albums on Motown. Even a growling clavinet on several tracks can't save the cleanly produced but bland songs, and the overall effect is of a half-price sale at Motown's publishing companies. At best, "The Boogie Man" is a dry run forMichael's "Thriller," and Shirley Partridge would've laughed "World of Sunshine" out of the room. Two soggily "inspirational" singles, "Corner of the Sky" and "Hallelujah Day," are perhaps the lowest points, though.Get It Together, from later in the year, shows far more spark. Aside from introducing "Dancing Machine," it offers a good line in extended workouts like "Mama I Gotta Brand New Thing (Don't Say No)" and a remake of theTemptations' "Hum Along and Dance" that Kurtis Blow'sHistory of Rapcites as an early breakbeat classic. One of this CD's three bonus tracks, a rare version of theHolland-Dozier-Hollandnugget "Love's Gone Bad," would've been the best thing on the originalSkywriter, had it not gone straight into the vault.--Rickey Wright