If hearing Bad-era demos and live material aren't enough of a Michael Jackson fix for you next month, the fine vaultkeepers at Motown have a set for you: 32 previously-unreleased tunes by The Jackson 5 are coming from Hip-O Select.
Come and Get It: Rare Pearls champions Michael, Jermaine, Tito, Jackie and Marlon throughout their seven-year tenure on the Motown label; arguably, the last of the great pure pop groups to be signed by the Detroit label (which, within several years of The Jackson 5's initial success, would move westward to Los Angeles). Though the group's image and style may have been carefully cultivated, there was little mistaking the raw vocal talent within Michael and his brothers, and countless gems have been dug up for fans to pore over, most recently on the 2009 single-disc compilation I Want You Back! Unreleased Masters.
What Come and Get It has that sets it apart from that set isn't just more music, but a dazzling array of songs - some of which will be very familiar to fans of rock music in the late '60s and early '70s - as well as at least one major gem that stands as one of the true J5 holy grails.
What grooves await you after the jump? Just click to find out!
While Motown founder Berry Gordy and his "Corporation" - a songwriting unit consisting of Gordy, Freddie Perren, Deke Richards and Fonce Mizell - were writing hit after hit for The Jackson 5, including "I Want You Back," "ABC," "The Love You Save," "Mama's Pearl" and "Sugar Daddy," the boys were recording dozens more tunes in those golden years at Motown. Some of them were covers of Motown standards (The Supremes' "You Can't Hurry Love," The Temptations' "Since I Lost My Baby"), while others were soulful takes on new rock singles, including "Mama Told Me Not to Come" (written by Randy Newman and performed by Eric Burdon & The Animals and Three Dog Night) and Traffic's "Feelin' Alright" (first heard performed by the group on Hip-O Select's double-disc J5 Live at The Forum set released in 2010).
But there were plenty more original near-hits that never made the cut, including the bouncy "I'm Your Sunny One," the funky "Iddinit" and "If the Shoe Don't Fit," currently streaming on NPR in anticipation of the new set. And then there are alternate versions of familiar tunes; Come and Get It has three: an extended version of "If I Have to Move a Mountain" off the Lookin' Through the Windows album in 1972; an extended version of "That's How Love Is," first heard on I Want You Back!; and, perhaps most famously, the premiere release of "Guess Who's Makin' Whoopee with Your Girlfriend." This groovy cut was rejected for its racy chorus and, with a new vocal on top of the original track, became the No. 2 hit "Mama's Pearl."
Come and Get It: Rare Pearls is expected to ship from Hip-O Select on August 31 and will be available at general retail September 18, and will feature a very special deluxe package with individual sleeves for both discs, an oversize liner notes booklet with essays by Mark Anthony Neal and Deke Richards, and a 7" single of "If the Shoe Don't Fit" b/w "Feelin' Alright" - all in a 7" square box. Only 4,000 of these will be made, view the track list below and place your orders now!
The Jackson 5, Come and Get It: The Rare Pearls (Hip-O Select/Motown/UMe, 2012)
Disc 1
- (We're the) Music Makers
- If the Shoe Don't Fit
- Come and Get It (Love's on the Fire)
- I Got a Sure Thing
- After You Leave Girl
- Mama Told Me Not to Come
- Iddinit
- Since I Lost My Baby
- Keep An Eye
- Movin'
- Feelin' Alright
- You Better Watch Out
- I'm Your Sunny One (He's My Sunny Boy)
- Someone's Standing in My Love Light
Disc 2
- If You Want Heaven
- You Can't Hurry Love
- Keep Off the Grass
- Going My Way
- Makin' Life a Little Easier for You
- Up on the Roof
- If I Can't, Nobody Can
- Our Love
- I Can't Get Enough of You
- Cupid
- Let's Go Back to Day One
- Would Ya Would Ya Baby
- Love Trip
- Label Me Love
- Jumbo Sam
- That's How Love Is (Alternate)
- If I Have to Move a Mountain (Alternate)
- Mama's Pearl (Alternate)
Robert Lett says
ohhhhhhh wow!
eddie blazier says
A live version of "Feelin' Alright" was previously performed by the Jackson 5 on Diana! a 1971 tv special as part of a medley with "I'll Be There" and was available on the album soundtrack .
The Rock Snob says
I received my copy just yesterday, and was surprised by my own excitement. It took me back to the way I felt in 1969/70 when the J5 would release a new album. This collection should really be called "Deke's Stash," as it contains a lot of material Mr. Richards had stored away. It's nice to hear the boys' take on "Keep An Eye" and "He's My Sunny Boy" (both songs originally appearing on Diana Ross & The Supremes' 1968 LP "Love Child"). Still discovering new gems as I type this.
What I would REALLY like Hip-O to concentrate on sometime in the near future is a deluxe treatment of the 1969 debut, "Diana Ross Presents The Jackson 5." A remastered version (already done once) of all the songs cut for those sessions on Disc one, and all the Bobby Taylor sessions on Disc two. The J5 recorded CONSTANTLY, and I prefer when unreleased tracks are appended to the corresponding LP session(s). The two Hip-O compilations we've received so far are a nice snapshot of 1969-1975, but I enjoy these packages more in strict chronological terms.
P.S. Harry Weinger is the gatekeeper of the Motown legacy, and he's doing a fine job!
Zubb says
Great news. I will be picking this up as well.
RoyalScam says
So there is no overlap with the "I Want You Back: The Unreleased Masters" set? Three CDs of unreleased stuff all together? Interesting...
Jman96 says
Nice release. I hope to see another live album similar to Live at the Forum. The shows from 1970-1973 were pure gold.