Still "The Jacksons" stabilized their career. Also though only his closest confidants could have known it, Michael must have been awakening to a new belief in his ability. All he lacked was context. That came with the next album, "Destiny", the real watershed in the story.
Too many cooks were spoiling the brothers. Like so many black singers, they seemed fated to be producers; property traded around the fashionable names without ever finding their own identity. For "Destiny", Epic took a bold and ultimately lucrative gamble. They let the Jacksons produce themselves.
With few writing credits and no independent production experience, their prior track record hardly warranted the risk. Yet the decision both rejuvenated the group and unlocked Michael's chains. "Destiny" may be patchy but its hits pointed the road forward.
Of course, "Shake Your Body (Down to The Ground)" was the landmark, the first of Michael's monster riffs, introduced by a galloping dance phrase and powered by a bassline that found the highest common denominator between funk and disco. It also revealed his new command as a singer. Michael Jackson's vocal dancing had begun as he lifted off with all those spontaneous cries and chirps/
Otherwise they were still playing safe and having trouble with the ballads, though both "Push Me Away" and the title track betrayed some soul-searching on his part. The only really notable track was the other major single "Blame It On The Boogie". As also its video with its dazzling dance routine. A crucial breakthrough, it signalled to a wider public that Michael Jackson just might be marked out as somebody special. His image as the crown prince of the disco was focussing.
Both the album's successes and failures must have cleared his head. On neither of his solo albums has he over extended his songwriting. Now he prefers to let other invent the melodic ballads while he concentrates on perfecting his killer-thriller riffs. After "destiny". only one element remained to complete the equation: the selection of Quincy Jones as a producer.
Strangely, Epic were initially reluctant to let their budding boy-wonder work with Jones. Though the veteran producer had a reputable commercial track record with A&M's Johnson Brothers, he hadn't followed the disco pack. But Jackson fought his corner and the company acquiesced in his choice.
Quincy Jones can only be described as versatile. Spending his career flitting between jazz and the mainstream, he started as a big band trumpeter who could easily work with Dizzy Gillespie and produce early R'n'B groups like the Treniers. Later he write Hollywood soundtracks and formed his own studio big-band. As the sixties shaded in to the seventies, Hones began flirting with electricity and funk, a road that let him to the Johnsons. His whole career testifies to the flexibility of the black popular tradition.
One aspect of the partnership may be significant. It's a trait of Jackson's to seek out older masters of their trade. Certainly his choice of Jones chimes with a man whose friends include Spielberg, Diana Ross, Jane Fonda and Katherine Hepburn.
The tracks on both "Off The Wall" and "Thriller" have been both released on so many singles and played so regularly that they've become public property. Unlike his formative period at Motown, Jackson managed to satisfy all sections of his audience without offending any.
Even the ballads can sooth those who prefer a more sugar-free diet. "The Girl Is Mine", his duet with Macca, escapes through its jaunty charm while "She's Out Of My Life" was blessed with an unusually vulnerable, even tear-stained performance.
But those concessions to staider tastes merit only a footnote in any history. Jackson's command of the dance-floor is his unique contribution. Nobody has consistently brought such drama to the disco.
In the most recent albums, two changes are immediately apparent. For openers, Jackson's become his own backing vocal group. Secondly he allows himself to be consistently challenged by the musicians around him. Previously any instrumental personality seemed to be discouraged and/or mixed down. Now Jackson glorified in countering and outstripping the rhythms and licks his players threw at him. Listening to "Off the Wall" and "Thriller" it's impossible to decide whether Jackson was a late developer or somebody who had been held back by bad advice. Like a newborn babe in the swimming pool, his natural element is the dance.
Page 5/6 <prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 next>
Bill Graham 
