back to browsing

I Want You Back! Unreleased Masters

The Jackson 5
1 disc

1. Medley: I Want You Back/ABC/The Love You Save
2. That's How Love Is
3. Listen I'll Tell You How
4. Man's Temptation
5. Never Can Say Goodbye - (alternate take)
6. Love Comes in Different Flavors
7. ABC - (alternate take)
8. Love Call
9. Buttercup
10. Lucky Day
11. I'll Try You'll Try (Maybe We'll All Get By)
12. Dancing Machine - (alternate take)
Read More...
Additional Info

Manufacturer Part Number (MPN): 13589
Credits

Producer The Corporation; Johnny Bristol; Stevie Wonder; The Corporation; Willie Hutch; Bobby Taylor; Harry Weinger (Compilation)
Engineer
Liner Note Author: Harry Weinger.
Easily the best of the of posthumous Michael Jackson-related collections released in 2009, I Want You Back! Unreleased Masters unearths 12 cuts from the Motown vaults that have somehow managed to not see the light of day despite many repackagings and reissues. To an extent, this is an indeed a collection of odds and ends, items that never saw release because they didn't fit elsewhere or, in the case of backing tracks for live TV performances of "Never Can Say Goodbye" and a medley of "I Want You Back/ABC/The Love You Save," they were never meant to be heard in this fashion. These two cuts have good, safe vocals from Michael, but they're not as bracing as a considerably different vocal arrangement of "ABC" -- an arrangement not nearly as good as what wound up on the release, but it's fascinating to hear the music being worked out. The other alternate here is an extended version of "Dancing Machine" -- enjoyable, but not that different -- but it's eclipsed by the previously unreleased cuts here: the creamy Stevie Wonder original "Buttercup," two terrific pieces of bubblegum-soul from the Corporation ("That's How Love Is," "Love Comes in Different Flavors"), some cinematic soul from Bobby Taylor ("Listen I'll Tell You How"), and bright, snappy funk on Willie Hutch's "Love Call." Compared to the classic Jackson Five singles, these do pale slightly, but taken on their own merits -- and seen in the wake of strained pieces of product like Michael Jackson's The Stripped Mixes -- they're dynamite, proof of how joyous and irresistible the Jackson 5 were at their peak. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine