Previous LP: Dancing Machine (B+) Next LP: The Jacksons (B-)
Released: 1975
LP Charts: #6 R&B, #36 pop
So I’ve been generally ignoring a pretty important issue for several Jackson 5 reviews now. These boys were all becoming men. And they were becoming fed up with Motown not letting them have creative control (or at least input) on their music.
The youngest member of the group, Michael, was now 17 years old in 1975. They were having the same complaints and gripes that Stevie Wonder lobbed six or seven years earlier. Except even Wonder was always allowed to (co-)write a few songs on his albums in the 1960s. That minor concession to Wonder was not enough and he eventually demanded (and got) absolute control over his albums in the early 1970s.
The Jacksons were itching to get the same concessions, but Motown wasn’t budging. Sure the Jackson 5 could sing and dance well. And sure Jermaine (bass) and Tito (guitar) could play instruments, but they weren’t self-evident, multi-instrumental geniuses like Stevie.
Thus Moving Violation would be the Jackson 5’s last album with Motown. In 1976 they signed a deal with CBS Records in an effort to gain the control they sought.
Despite once again not having any creative control over their music, Moving Violation was a pretty good Jackson 5 album. For reasons unknown to me, though, Hal Davis was removed from the producer’s chair even though he had delivered the outstanding Dancing Machine (B+) just the year before.
Davis got one measly production credit on this album, while old Motown pro Brian Holland co-wrote and produced five songs, including the entire first side of the LP. The album’s final three tracks were written and produced by Mel Larson and Jerry Marcellino, who had written and arranged songs on Dancing Machine and Get It Together (C+).
The album-opener and only single “Forever Came Today” (#6 R&B, #60 pop, #1 disco) was a HUGE missed opportunity. Along with Lamont Dozier and his brother Eddie Holland, Brian Holland had originally written and produced the song for the Supremes nearly a decade earlier. As you can see, this remake did reasonably well commercially, but artistically it left some goodness on the table.
Specifically, the loud annoying chanting of “ever, forever, ever and ever and ever”. Holy shit is that awful. This song would be a million times better if they simply had removed those anonymous backing vocals and just let the Jackson 5 sing all the lyrics. Michael and Jermaine do a very fine job even with the inteference. And the music itself is incredibly danceable. There’s a reason it hit #1 disco.
But those chants just mar the song. What shoulda been a 7.5 or maybe even an 8 is instead a 6.5 on my ornery rating scale cuz of them chants.
Fortunately, the rest of the album has no such missteps. Sure some songs are better than others, but there isn’t a truly dumb production decision that screws over a track.
Keeping up the spirit of its predecessor LP, Dancing Machine, this is a disco album in the sense that it’s made more for dancing than close listening.
Don’t get me wrong, there are fun little arrangement choices throughout, but you name the tune—“Moving Violation”, “Honey Love”, “Body Language (Do the Love Dance)”— and the purpose is a groove to move. Even the amazingly soulful “(You Were Made) Especially for Me” puts your body into motion not meditation.
The one song on the album designed to completely sedate your body is the ballad “All I Do Is Think Of You”. Ostensibly “Breezy” has the same intent, but its soft opening eventually gives way to a kinetic rhythm and a wonderful rhythm guitar during the breakdown. The Jackson 5 just can’t help but boogie at this point.
The final two songs on this album are the weirdest: “Call of the Wild” and “Time Explosion”. They sound like leftovers from the funk-rockin’ Get It Together album two years earlier. Despite leaning more toward funk-rock than disco, they’re still designed for bodily movement on the dance floor. Which actually still makes them disco. That’s the weird thing about disco music. Sure it had its stereotypical, even formulaic, songs, but the ultimate signifier was music designed to make you move on the dance floor.
ALBUM GRADE: B-
No single song really blows you away, except “(You Were Made) Especially for Me”, but no song disappoints you whatsoever in the slightest, except the chants on “Forever Came Today”, but even those yells can’t keep that song down completely.
Song Scores
Forever Came Today: 6.5/10
Moving Violation: 7/10
(You Were Made) Especially for Me: 8/10
Honey Love: 7.5/10
Body Language (Do the Love Dance): 7/10
All I Do Is Think Of You: 7/10
Breezy: 7/10
Call of the Wild: 7/10
Time Explosion: 6/10
Previous LP: Dancing Machine (B+) Next LP: The Jacksons (B-)
Just come across this on the net.
I'm a Jackson 5/jacksons fan.
I like this album best out of the j5 as its at their most mature before leaving.
My favourite is (you were made) especially for me,breezy and time explosion which is a bit of change.
Don't mind forever came today chants.
Life would be boring if we all liked the same eh.
Thanks for the review