Jackson 5 - Ultimate Collection

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Music reviews of Ultimate Collection

Music Review: No superlative good enough for this found in my thesaurus.
Rating: 5 Stars

Regarding "I want you back:" This song obliterates me. All the performances are incredible, including, to quote a friend, Michael's astounding, dumbfounding lead vocal.

As for the excellence that is on this bass part for "I want you back," it sounds to me as if it came straight from the composer and arranger. Given the calculated nature of this recording I would expect the arranger to have worked out the bass part note for note. The recording is a careful tapestry of many sounds that blend together to give the overall effect. The intro is a good example. The melody played by the bass is wonderful, but that melody is doubled by other instruments plus other things are woven around that melody, all indicating that the arranger wrote it all out note for note, the bass player serving to faithfully play the arrangement.

(Un)fortunately, any excellence in other portions of this song is obscured by Michael's unbelievable vocal. So much stuff, so much soul, so much range and flexibility. This vocal is way in the unbelievable range for any artist. But to come from a brand new 11 year old is, as my friend put it so well, "dumbfounding."
*He sounds a little hoarse and that increases the authority.
*The way he uses subtle, rhythmic vibrato on the word "me" in the phrase "won't you please let me back in your heart." (Hear this on the Amazon snippet.)
*The pause and surprise attack on the word "back" in the same phrase. (Hear this on the Amazon snippet.)
*The screaming with 100% authority.
*The drifting out of tune on the words "now, baby, yeah" in the phrase "Yes I do now, Oh oh baby, yeah yeah yeah yeah, Nah Nah no no." (Is there a technical term for this "drifting out of tune" vocal technique?) (Hear this on the Amazon snippet.)
*The authority and inventiveness and soul of the scatting on that same phrase and other scats in the song, including the various fun "Huh"s.
*The natural way he does the call and response sections with his brothers.
*The perfect timing all over the place, including jumping on some of the responses a little early.
*The exciting vocal build on the phrase "All I want, all I need, all I want, all I need!" with the fantastic atonal exclamation on the second "all I want."
And on and on. You could almost analyze every single note the guy sings. The fact that this guy could do this at 11 years old shows beyond any question that singing at this level requires talent given to you directly by God. You can't get it and you can't learn it. God either gave it to you or He didn't. My guess is that some genius worked out most of this stuff and recorded a track for Michael to sing along with during the session. I mean God given talent or not, Michael could not have come up with that stuff on his own, atonal, drifting out of tune, etc. But to even sing along and get these results....incredible. Plus, who was that singing genius that came up with all that stuff?

Other great parts of the song are the pervasive background vocals, the excellent call and response, the subtle, almost inaudible use of strings and background vocalizing, and the various guitar parts that weave an interesting tapestry.

One thing that I think is ground breaking but at the same time takes away from this arrangement is the calculated, restrained drum part. The drum part sounds completely canned, written out and played note for note. It's not exuberant; instead it's carefully restrained. To my ears it sounds too mellow for this joyous, raucous romp. But it's groundbreaking because this style of drumming became prevalent later and today in the 2000s you rarely hear any drum pyrotechnics in favor of a steady drum beat that does not break the flow of the song.

I wonder if all the vocals on this recording are Jacksons? I assume they are and that shows the talent of this family and the quality of this product.

Excellence and analysis of each individual part aside, the real value of this song, besides Michael's vocal which you simply can not retire to the background, is the overall sound. Each part is carefully calculated and blended to create a unique, exuberant, joyful, new, and instantly recognizable sound that's unlike anything that had been heard before. Though each part is worthy of study, perhaps the best way to listen to this song is with a 6 inch speaker through an AM radio in your car. And isn't that the way it was meant to be?

Larry Brown

Description of Ultimate Collection

Blues CDs

• Music > Styles
• Pop
• Rock