Welcome to Ear 2 Da Sky! Each week, I will be going over topics within music culture and reviewing albums and EPs across genres, eras and artists that are submitted by readers and listeners of my radio show every Monday at 11 p.m. on WHUS 91.7 FM! For this week’s submission, I decided to give Michael Jackson’s “Forever, Michael” a listen.
This 10-song, 33-minute-long album was released in January of 1975. It was Jackson’s fourth solo studio album, following his 1973 “Music and Me,” in which you can hear a noticeable change between the two. Not only in style and songwriting, but in his voice. Jackson was 16 at the time of recording and releasing “Forever, Michael,” going from his higher pitched soprano to his famous tenor voice. This project was also four years before his hit solo album “Off the Wall” which received unworldly amounts of critical acclaim, ultimately boosting him to lasting prominence.
Track one, “We’re Almost There,” opens with a scaling crescendo before strings take over, then lets Michael loose onto the track. It feels as though he is not only talking to the listener but to himself, as he’s drawing attention to those that didn’t get the chance to make it to where the listener is in life. It’s a type of music that makes you want to get out of bed and get stuff done. This is easily my favorite song off the album, as with Brian Holland’s production, Jackson starts off the album super strong. My personal favorite part about this song is towards the end, as production cuts the background vocals, bass, strings and brass, leaving just the percussion, keyboard and guitar. As the song comes to an end it slowly crescendos, adding back everything into the mix. This is something I thoroughly enjoy about older — more specifically — Motown produced songs, it really sounds like a full orchestra and gospel choir had sat down in the studio.
“Take Me Back” is track two off of the album which again follows through with that Motown sound. As I listened through the album over and over, I noticed the strings, background vocals and percussion work together extremely well, creating a sort of angelic gospel sound. Throughout this song, a teenaged Jackson sings about what he’s always sung about through his career: loss and longing for love. Similarly, to track one, “Take Me Back” follows a classic movie plot diagram: Jackson sings a lyrical exposition while Holland poses the auditory idea of the instrumental. Then a rising action follows as the whole band and Jackson’s emotion in his singing come together for the climax of the song. This leads to the falling action of the instrumental solos with the chorus and the resolution of the song as it slowly fades out and into the next. This is sort of a common occurrence for most Motown produced songs, as it stays true to their “Keep It Simple Stupid” (or KISS for short) philosophy; although in no way is the technical aspect of their production simple at all.
“Forever, Michael” is a sort of poetic title to the album, as this was a major turning point for his career, not only in his voice, but as this was his last album before becoming “The King of Pop” that almost every person on earth knows today. I think that the classic Motown sound heard all over this album served as a great sendoff for him into his ultimate stardom, later working with Epic Records and Quincy Jones on his classic “Off the Wall.” Although Jackson’s voice is all over this project, in no way can you discount the production quality of “Forever, Michael.” Holland, Sam Brown, Hal Davis, Fonce Mizell and Freddie Perren all stand as unsung heroes, as this is truly a beautifully produced album from top to bottom.
Rating: 4.5/5
If you want to submit something to my radio show, ask for advice, hear your music on the radio and possibly even see an album or EPs you submitted get reviewed in the paper, submit it here: https://bit.ly/ear2dasky