THE JACKSONS – "Show You The Way To Go"

this hasn’t hung around in popular memory like the earlier Jackson 5 Motown singles but in its way it’s one of the most momentous singles of the seventies. It’s the second (and last?) Gamble & Huff production to hit the UK top spot. Despite its high reputation, Philly Soul never bothered the charts all that much – with the O’Jays regular in the top 20 but rarely in the top 10. And this is clearly a step on from their earlier outing with The Three Degrees. All the usual Philly motifs (or clichés about them) – lushness, expansiveness, expensiveness – or done with after the opening 30 seconds. After that, the orchestration is subdued, less sheeny, holding back to give the singer his space.

Because it’s Michael Jackson who leaps into our attention here. And it’s a major transformation from the cheerily precocious singalong of Rockin’ Robin et al. This single delivers him up pretty well fully-formed in the vocal incarnation who will dominate the next decade. We hear that swiftly deployed range of vocal textures – falsetto, raw soul, balladeer, punctuated by the gasps and grunts that are bewitchingly both effete and raw.

The production offers MJ a moderate funk in the softest feather-bedding. He perhaps doesn’t have the supreme vocal control we’ll be admiring later. He hits a couple if false notes and the falsetto’s strained in places. He also runs out of improvisational ideas a minute or so before the fadeout. It’s probably best seen as a sign if things to come more than a fully satisfying achievement in itself.

Do I like the song? Not very much. It’s a trite sentiment, unfolded rather repetitively. The lyrics are so frictionless they’re actually hard to pay sustained attention to. Your ear is always diverted by something else. Fortunately there is much else there.

Anyone ever heard Dannii Minogue’s version of this? Unspeakable.

I think this is a rather lovely record, and even if you have to have room for higher marks for him, I’d have gone a little higher than you.

Waldo, you should have stuck with your Laotian subaquatics, you anticipated Late Junction by thirty years!

Not that I recognise that sort of thing as rubbish. It’s the staple of my late nights.

Not a million miles from that sort of thing: I was twice enthralled in the first half of the 70s by performances by Stomu Yamash’ta (there’s an apostrophe in there somewhere but I’m blowed if I can remember exactly where it goes.) My fiftieth birthday treat was to be taken to a day at the Proms (lunchtime and evening) including Evelyn Glennie’s performance of Tan Dun’s Water Concerto. I was similarly enthralled. I kind of imagine it falling flat on the radio; you really did have to be that. Percussion is performance art as much as anything.

Seven years after the number one smash they should have had, the Jackson family finally made it to the top in Britain, having defected from Motown to Philly in frustration (the only high profile Motown-to-Philly defection unless you count the Motown/Detroit Spinners, who in any case went to Atlantic); in the eyes of Berry Gordy they had committed the unpardonable crimes of (a) growing up; and (b) wanting to have more say in the music they made. Gordy was not keen on the prospect of having to deal with half-a-dozen more Little Stevie Wonders when they came of age; after 1974’s “Dancing Machine” they became a low priority act for Motown – lower by the day – so all of them, bar Jermaine who had married into the Gordy family and stayed/was kept behind, fled into the welcoming arms of Gamble and Huff.

This period of the Jacksons’ career has tended to attract the least attention from observers, who see it as a relatively bland patch coming between their explosive early Motown work and their unassailably classic run of hits on Epic which really began in earnest with “Blame It On The Boogie” in 1978. And on “Show You The Way To Go,” a single which only made #28 in the States, they do sound relatively subdued. Philly Int. seemed to have developed a sudden taste for message sounds around the mid-‘70s; see also Harold Melvin and the Bluenotes’ “Wake Up Everybody,” the Philly All Stars’ “Let’s Clean Up The Ghetto” and Billy Paul’s startling reclamation of McCartney’s “Let ‘Em In” (not to mention MFSB’s “Love Is The Message”). The lyrics might have sounded clichéd if sung by anyone else – “Come together and think like one,” “We can help each other to overcome” etc. (overcome what?) – but the arrangement and groove here are so silky and liquid you can almost believe what they’re singing.

The record’s inevitable main interest is to provide us with an example of 17-year-old Michael clearly in a state of transition. There’s still that vulnerability from the days of “Ben” but already he is inserting those between-stanzas whoops, lubricating himself up. With his triumphant ululatory motif at the fadeout – so seamless it nearly sounds sampled – he’s obviously limbering up for the cataclysm to come in ’79.

Seems like I’m on my own here, I’ve always loved it… the smoothness of its Philly shimmer certainly doesn’t bug me at all- structurally and sonically it’s very close to Deniece Williams’ Free – and the fact it was an out of the blue hit for a largely forgotten group (Dancing Machine never charting in the UK, their last top tenner was four years earlier) meant this sounded fresh and surprising at the time. Not knowing what was round the corner we weren’t to know it was a transition period.

The lead vocal pleads, quietly sobs, and finally soars with that bizarre coda (not sure if that isn’t some technical trickery!). I think it’s one of Michael’s most affecting performances – compare it to the staginess of She’s Out Of My Life just along the way – with the ticks yet to become cliches.

In the wake of their escape from Detroit, curling up in the soft, soft featherbed of Gamble/Huff, the whole group sound liberated, relieved, and relaxed. Which, as I exit middle-youth, sounds like just where I want to be.

To me, this was a real surprise #1. Yes it was more “Philly” and polished, but was it as good as the previous single “Enjoy Yourself”, which struggled to #42 a couple of months earlier? I don’t think so – EY was , as the title suggests a joyous little ditty, with a nod to the previous year’s mini ’40s revival, and some great MJ ad-libs and squeaks.

SYTWTG to me was fine, but unremarkable, a pleasant enough number with an obviously well-polished performance to go with it. I think it was a stepping stone towards MJ’s second career, probably all part of the master plan.

The Jacksons were rather starved of decent material; there was nothing else on their “Jacksons” album to follow this up with – the mediocre “Dreamer” failing to hit the top twenty. Much the same happened with their next album “Going Places”, with only the title track being of a suitable standard and even that failing to dent the 20.

It was the album after that, “Destiny” which revealed the cunning plan of promoting Michael and demoting the rest down to his backing band. That album, with the two big hits “Blame It On The Boogie” and “Shake Your Body” was a proof of concept for the record company; their idea of pushing Michael was a goer, and the rest is history.

The Jacksons became an irrelevance; they tried to rein in Michael on the “Triumph” album and show they were still a group, but really nobody was interested in them any more. The singles sold because of Michael’s involvement, and that was the story for the rest of their careers – if they involved Michael (or if Michael agreed to be involved) they got hits – if not, they bombed.

They were never going to be able to compete with Michael’s solo career, but I always thought they were never realy given a chance (or decent material) by the record company – they got their golden egg, and didn’t need the goose that laid it any more!

It will be interesting to see if the proposed family tour actually comes off in the next couple of years. I understand they have decamped to Devon or somewhere similar to regroup and plan their next move. Somehow I don’t think world domination will be on the menu this time!

Ha! Well, I wasn’t saying it was staged, just stagey. The Cryin’ Shames’ Please Stay has an exquisitely choked vocal because Joe Meek screamed at and hit the singer until he was in tears. Now, that’s a producer who knows how to get the best out of a recording session.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRIgpdNZEvA

If Michael couldn’t get through She’s Out Of My Life without sobbing that puts it closer to the level of Norman Wisdom’s Don’t Laugh At Me. Quincy should have told him to be more professional and grow up – could’ve saved a lot of aggro in the future.

#5 Operatically-built moose would probably write better than anyone at the Observer these days.

I don’t know this song at all, not a big hit over here and totally overshadowed by the upcoming avalanche of another family of brothers…

fourier, loyola, de sade, lee “scratch” perry <— someone shd write an essay on S&M lunacy as the best possible in-studio psychodrama dynamic: viz spector/meek pistol-brandishing and manipulative tantrums as the only possible vector to emotional truth!!

(from years ago i recall that — while recordin ‘heroes’? — eno’s OBLIQUE STRATEGIES required bowie and everyone else present a. to eat a v.v.v.hot curry and immediately after b. to PUT STICKING PLASTER OVER THEIR MOUTHS while laying down all of the next session’s tracks)

Strange studio situations that sway the sound of a record. These are self-inclicted…

Neil Young and Crazy Horse in totally pissed, wake mode on Tonight’s The Night. Very good (even if Danny Baker thinks it’s the most over-rated album ever made).

Julian Cope singing Tiny Children in total darkness? It beats Julian Cope singing World Shut Your Mouth naked on top of a stepladder. Both seem to prove something, but I’m not sure what.

RE She’s Out Of My Life, maybe Quincy Jones told Michael his brothers had all killed themselves because he was going to reduce them to bit-players with his splendid new album.

As for him turning into Eugene Wilde, at least it would’ve made for a slightly more seductive listen than Dirty Diana. Least sexy song ever recorded?

Philly-type sounds can go either way for me – they can be smooth yet soar and carry you along with them, or they can be a bit ho-hum. This one, I’m afraid, is on the “ho-hum” side of the ledger. Doesn’t do much for me, and if Michael is running out of improvisational ideas a minute before the fadeout as Dan R suggests, it’s an admission that they’re padding out the song already and not very well.

We’re no doubt going to have cross words about Michael Jackson in due course. For the moment I’ll just say that “She’s Out Of My Life” is one of the very few songs of his that I’m convinced by, and the aforementioned vocal tics drive me up, not off, the wall.

As others have said, it’s a pity the Jackson Five’s effervescent pop wasn’t rewarded with an early-70s number one – right up until “Skywriter”, which should have been a lot bigger, they were producing winners. Didn’t they have a cartoon version of the family’s adventures at one point, a kind of sub-Hanna-Barbera production with the J5 “heart” logo prominent? It was forever turning up on pre-Swap Shop Saturday morning TV, alongside the cartoons of the Harlem Globetrotters and even the Beatles. (Do they still do cartoon versions of bands these days? The continuing wacky adventures of the Arctic Monkeys, that kind of thing…)

re. #18: Seeing as how this is ’77 it would be remiss of me not to mention Spector brandishing his unsexy pistol at Leonard Cohen throughout recording of Death Of A Ladies’ Man which nobody (including LC) likes except me.

God help me I still remember the intro of the Osmonds cartoon

Alan, Wayne, Merrill, Jay, Donny… aaaaaaannnnnnnd Jimmy!

But for some reason I remember nothing about the J5 one though they were a favourite band of mine.

Re:#22 “Looking Through The Windows”>>>>>”Skywriter”

(that means “is miles better than” right? I’m not up on all this internet shorthand)

Wow yes, I hadn’t given that one a thought for the best part of 30 years, and the moment I saw the title I could replay the verse and chorus in an instant. Another good ‘un.

Here’s a question to chew over; how many other incidences are there of full bands coming on TOTP to perform what are ostensibly solo singles by their frontperson?

The Jacksons – “Rockin’ Robin”
The Faces – “Maggie May”

Others?

Bunny.

Apologies to SB.

On further reflection, Wings probably had ceased to exist by the time “Coming Up” was released as a single. Although they performed it on their tour in December 1979, I seem to recall they only ever performed again at the Kampuchea benefit gig. So it is highly unlikely, even if Paul was in the studio, that Wings would have been with him (although Linda may have been)

I think he was away from Tokyo by then. The Japanese Tour was meant to be straight after the UK tour, but got cancelled because of Paul’s “little trouble”. As I said earlier I’m pretty sure they didn’t play again after that. The bootleg of the second night at the Apollo in December 1979 was called “Last Flight”, which I think referred to it being Wings’ last bona-fide gig.

…will my whole life depend?

TOTP Watch: We only ever got the video of ‘Coming Up’. Here are details of Michael Jackson’s only 2 studio appearances (both programmes survive);

Michael Jackson performed ‘Rockin’ Robin’ on the TOTP transmitted on December the 28th 1972. Also in the studio that week were; Gary Glitter, Lieutenant Pigeon, Slade, Chuck Berry (with Rolf Harris!) and Pan’s People (interpreting ‘Without You’). Hosts were Tony Blackburn & Noel Edmunds.

The Jacksons performed ‘Destiny’ on the TOTP transmitted on February the 8th 1979. Hmm, they don’t show that one so often… Also in the studio that week were; Mick Jackson (!), Elvis Costello & The Attractions, The Shadows, Dr Feelgood, Darts, Judas Priest and Legs & Co (interpreting ‘Chiquitita’). The host was David Jensen. Sounds like an interesting mix backstage that week.

Here tis

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtniGD7ZUHc

On his Bad tour (which I saw at Wembley in ’88) MJ was performing the song as “Heartbreak Hotel” so I don’t think there was any legal issue involved; it may simply be that the Jacksons didn’t want people to confuse their “Heartbreak Hotel” with Presley’s.

Anyway this provides an excellent opportunity to reprint a choice excerpt from Danny Baker’s infamous 1981 NME piece on the family. We join him and them at a press conference…

It was pretty bleak until this one poor wretched Japanese looking bloke committed the cardinal sin of any press conference — he tried to crack a joke. Oh, but he did. Y’see there’s a track on their new LP called “Heartbreak Hotel” and this bloke — who had little command of English anyway — thought he had cooked up a real zinger.

The dumb questions resumed but I couldn’t take my eyes from the broken Japanese. Ruined, he never heard another word all afternoon. Today, I suspect he sits in a bathchair in some far off sanatorium, grey haired and twitching, mumbling to anyone who will listen: ‘The words. Playing with words you see…is funny…’

Thanks, Marcello – the press conference wouldn’t have been nearly as good if they had originally called it “This Place Hotel”.

I’ll buy the “avoiding confusion” explanation, but why “This Place Hotel”? Why not some other title which actually makes sense? Did they ask Yoshi to pick a new title?

I think we should be told!

My apologies, Waldo. But it was more than thirty years ago, and I can’t be expected to recall the precise details of thirty-year-old television programmes, can I? 😉