The first thing Michael does is write "Blues Away," an unfairly forgotten song, fated to become one of the least dated-sounding tracks the Jacksons do together. Most of the Jackson siblings are leaving Motown at this moment, for another label, where they've leveraged a bit more creative sway. Never asks him to play a shaker or anything. No doubt he is for long stretches unaware of Michael's presence. Somehow Stevie's blindness becomes moving in this context. There's Michael, self-consciously shy and deferential, flattening himself mothlike against the Motown studio wall. When he's 17, he asks Stevie Wonder to let him spy while Songs in the Key of Life gets made. What's inside its structure that makes it move? Michael wants access to the "anatomy" of the music. The brothers are brought in to sing and add accents. The way Motown deals with the Jackson 5, finished songs are delivered to the group, from songwriting teams in various cities. Michael has always made melodies in his head, little riffs and beats, but that isn't the same. Whereas Tchaikovsky and people like that, they didn't handle slack material. The albums he and his brothers make have a few nice tunes, to sell records, then a lot of consciously second-rate numbers, to satisfy the format. He thinks about things and sometimes talks them over with his friends Marvin Gaye and Diana Ross when they are hanging out.
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