| Skywriter | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | March 29, 1973 | |||
| Recorded | 1972–1973 | |||
| Length | 29:25 | |||
| Label | Motown | |||
| Producer | ||||
| the Jackson 5 chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Singles from Skywriter | ||||
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [2] |
| Rolling Stone | (mixed) [3] |
Skywriter is the seventh studio album by The Jackson 5, released by Motown on March 29, 1973. Skywriter has sold a estimated 2.8 million copies worldwide since its release. [4]
Lead singer Michael Jackson continued to develop into a tenor, while Jermaine Jackson's vocal timbre deepened over time. A notable example from the Skywriter album is the track "Touch," originally recorded by The Supremes in 1971, which features both Michael and Jermaine addressing themes of intimate relationships. Given that Michael was only 14 years old at the time, "Touch" emerged as one of the most controversial singles he had performed until the resurgence of his solo career in the late 1970s. [5]
The Jackson Five experienced growing dissatisfaction with their musical direction, expressing their discontent to Motown's producers and songwriters regarding the genre and style of music being offered. The brothers' frustration was compounded by their inability to record their own compositions, despite all five siblings actively writing their own material. This discontent was visibly reflected in the album cover of Skywriter, where the brothers are depicted solemnly posed around an early 20th-century airplane. The album, which was the least successful to date for the group, featured only one Top 20 single and was arranged by James Anthony Carmichael, Jerry Marcellino, Mel Larson, Freddie Perren, Gene Page, Fonce Mizell, and The Corporation. [5]
"The Boogie Man"/Don't Let Your Baby Catch You was prepared for release as a single, but was cancelled. [6]
Side one
Side two
In 2001, Motown Records remastered all Jackson 5 albums in a "Two Classic Albums/One CD" series (much like they did in the late 1980s). This album was paired up with Get It Together . The bonus tracks were the outtakes "Pride and Joy", "Love's Gone Bad" and "Love Is the Thing You Need". Each of these tracks also appear on the compilation album Joyful Jukebox Music/Boogie .
| Chart (1973) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian Albums (Kent Music Report) [7] | 41 |
| Canadian Albums ( RPM ) [8] | 60 |
| US Billboard Top LPs & Tape [9] | 44 |
| US Billboard Top Soul Albums | 15 |
| Singles on Steeltown Records |
|
|---|---|
| Diana Ross Presents The Jackson 5 (1969) | |
| ABC (1970) | |
| Third Album (1970) | |
| Jackson 5 Christmas Album (1970) | |
| Maybe Tomorrow (1971) | |
| Greatest Hits (1971) | |
| Lookin' Through the Windows (1972) | |
| Skywriter (1973) | |
| G.I.T.: Get It Together (1973) | |
| Dancing Machine (1974) | |
| Moving Violation (1975) | |
| The Jacksons (1976) | |
| Destiny (1978) | |
| Triumph (1980) | |
| Victory (1984) | |
| 2300 Jackson Street (1989) | |
| Notable collaborations and album tracks | |
Frederick James Perren was an American songwriter, record producer, arranger, and orchestra conductor. He co-wrote and co-produced songs including "Boogie Fever" by the Sylvers, "I Will Survive" by Gloria Gaynor, and "Shake Your Groove Thing" by Peaches & Herb.
"I Want You Back" is the first national single by the Jackson 5. It was released by Motown in October 1969, and became the first number-one hit for the band on January 31, 1970. It was performed on the band's first television appearances, on October 18, 1969, on Diana Ross's The Hollywood Palace and on their milestone performance on December 14, 1969, on The Ed Sullivan Show. I Want you Back has sold over 6 million copies worldwide.
"The Love You Save" is a song recorded by the Jackson 5 for Motown Records. It was released as a single on May 13, 1970, and held the number-one spot on the soul singles chart in the US for six weeks and the number-one position on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart for two weeks, from June 27 to July 4, 1970 and sold over 2 million copies in the United States. In the UK top 40 chart, it peaked at number 7 in August 1970. The song is the third of the four-in-a-row Jackson 5 number-ones released. Billboard ranked the record as the No. 16 song of 1970, one place behind the Jackson 5's "ABC".
Diana Ross Presents The Jackson 5 is the debut studio album from Gary, Indiana-based soul family band the Jackson 5, released on the Motown label on December 12, 1969. The Jackson 5's lead singer, a preadolescent Michael Jackson and his four older brothers Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, and Marlon, became pop successes within months of this album's release. Diana Ross Presents The Jackson 5's only single, "I Want You Back", became a number-one hit on the US Billboard Hot 100 within weeks of the album's release. The album reached number 5 on the US Pop Albums chart, and spent nine weeks at No. 1 on the US R&B/Black Albums charts. To date, the Jackson 5's debut album has sold estimated 5 million copies worldwide.
"Sugar Daddy" is a hit single by the Motown quintet The Jackson 5 from their first greatest hits album, released in late 1971.
Ben is the second studio album by the American singer Michael Jackson, released by Motown Records on August 4, 1972, while Jackson was still a member of the Jackson 5. It received mixed reviews from contemporary music critics. Ben, however, was more successful on the music charts than Jackson's previous studio album, peaking within the top 10 on the Billboard 200 in the United States. Internationally, the album was less successful, peaking at number 12 in Canada, while charting within the top 200 positions in Australia and France.
Maybe Tomorrow is the fifth studio album by the Jackson 5, released on April 12, 1971 by Motown. Released after the success of the hit ballad "I'll Be There", most of the tracks on the album are ballads, with few dance numbers. The album includes the hit singles "Never Can Say Goodbye" and "Maybe Tomorrow". While not as financially successful as the Jackson 5's first three outings, Maybe Tomorrow contains some of the most often-sampled and covered material in the group's catalogue. The album also spent six weeks at No. 1 on the US Soul Albums chart and has sold 3.5 million copies worldwide.
Lookin' Through the Windows is the sixth studio album by the Jackson 5, released on the Motown label in May 1972. It has sold 3.5 million copies worldwide
G.I.T.: Get It Together is the eighth studio album by the Jackson 5, released on September 12, 1973 for the Motown label. The album featured the minor hit "Get It Together" and the original version of the subsequent major hit "Dancing Machine", which was later re-released in edited form on a tie-in album of the same name. Get It Together has sold an estimated two million copies worldwide since its release.
Dancing Machine is the ninth studio album released by the Motown quintet the Jackson 5, on September 5, 1974. The album's title track was a No. 2 pop hit and a No. 1 R&B hit in the United States. The group released two additional singles from the album: the funky "Whatever You Got, I Want" and the group's last US Top 20 hit for Motown, "I Am Love". To date, the Album "Dancing Machine" has sold approximately 2.6 million copies worldwide.
Moving Violation is the tenth studio album by the Jackson 5 and has sold 1.6 million copies worldwide, it was their final studio album on Motown Records, released on May 15, 1975. Aiming at the developing disco market, the group's funk-based version of Diana Ross & the Supremes' 1968 single "Forever Came Today" was a club hit, while the single's B-side, the R&B ballad "All I Do Is Think of You", became a popular and frequently covered song in its own right.
Soulsation! is a 4-CD box set of music recorded by the Jackson 5 during their tenure at Motown Records from 1969 to 1975, when they left Motown for CBS Records. The box set was released in 1995 to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Jackson 5 becoming the first group to have its first four singles go straight to #1 on the US Billboard charts. Soulsation! included an introduction from the group's youngest sister Janet, liner notes from David Ritz and an essay from the brothers' first producer, Bobby Taylor. The fourth disc features 17 previously unreleased songs, most recorded from mid-1969 to early 1972. The set also includes solo numbers from brothers Michael, Jermaine, and Jackie.
The Mizell Brothers were an American record producing team in the 1970s, consisting of Larry Mizell and Alphonso "Fonce" Mizell. They worked together on a string of jazz fusion, crossover jazz, soul, R&B and disco records.
"Imagination" is a song by Canadian recording artist Tamia, released as the first single from her self-titled debut album (1998). It was written and produced by Jermaine Dupri and his protégé Manuel Seal and features additional vocals by the former. "Imagination" is a mid-tempo R&B song that contains an interpolation from The Jackson 5's 1969 song "I Want You Back", written and produced by Motown's The Corporation team consisting of Berry Gordy, Alphonzo Mizell, Freddie Perren, and Deke Richards.
Looking Back to Yesterday is a compilation album released on February 11, 1986, featuring tracks from American singer Michael Jackson during his tenure at Motown in the late 1960s and early 1970s, both by himself and with The Jackson 5. As part of Motown's Never-Before-Released series, all songs were previously unreleased except for "Love's Gone Bad" and "I Was Made to Love Her"; alternate, longer versions had already been released in 1979 on the Jackson 5 compilation Boogie.
Renaissance is a 1973 album by R&B group The Miracles on Motown Records' Tamla label. It was the first album by the group not to feature original lead singer Smokey Robinson on lead vocals, instead featuring him as executive producer. Robinson was replaced by lead singer Billy Griffin.
Joyful Jukebox Music is a compilation album by American music group the Jackson 5, released by the Motown label on October 26, 1976, after the band had left the label. This is the third compilation released by the group, after Greatest Hits (1971) and Anthology (1976), yet the first to be entirely composed of previously unreleased material, recorded between 1972 and 1975. The compilation was released less than two weeks before the group's debut on their new label Epic Records.
Come into My Life is the second solo album from Jermaine Jackson. Released in 1973, Come Into My Life charted during the summer of 1973, hitting #30 on R&B and #152 on the pop charts.
The Michael Jackson Mix is a compilation album by American singer and recording artist Michael Jackson, released in 1987. Available as a double LP, double cassette and double CD, the album contains 40 songs from Jackson's Motown career – solo and with The Jackson 5 – edited together in four separate megamixes: "Love Mix 1" and "Love Mix 2" on the first LP, cassette and CD, and "Dance Mix 1" and "Dance Mix 2" on the second LP, cassette and CD.
"Skywriter" is a song written by Mel Larson and Jerry Marcellino, recorded and released by The Jackson 5 in 1973 as the title track from their Skywriter album. As a single, it reached No. 25 on the UK Singles Chart and No. 87 on the Australian Singles Chart.
