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"Black Echoes" Magazine Interview

Date range assessed by the fact that they were “currently filming a mid season (January) series of over twenty shows” for the variety show, and the 4th episode (end of first season) aired July 7, 1976.

"Black Echoes" magazine, Robin Katz (November 6, 1976)

"London, huh?", said Michael Jackson, now 18 years old and still full of verve. "Let me check that I have the right address for Paul McCartney. Maybe I'll write him a letter. How's Elton John? Where did he record his new album? Is it good? Will you say hello to everyone I know there?"

It's been four years since The Jackson Five first (and finally) graces these shores. During that trip, Randy Jackson turned ten and had to be billed as a special guest in order to perform onstage.

Now Randy's nearly fifteen, Jermaine is on his own, and the group are called The Jacksons. When they burst on the scene out of nowhere with "I Want You Back", The Jackson Five gave respectability to Black bubblegum soul music. Now the matured unit are fully integrated into the mainstream of quality song and dance groups. The youthful innocence has turned into masterful professional style. The high pitched shrieks have been toned down for their first Epic album released here on November 5.

The obvious question is where are The Jacksons now? But more so, where are they in relation to us, the British fans?

For us, time has stood coolly still. The name Jackson Five conjures up the heady teeny days of 1972 when Michael Jackson leapt across a stage in a bright yellow and red. Now it's 1976. Is there still a place in our hearts for the Jackson family? Should there be?

For the most part, the Jackson family's career has been focused on their native America. In the past four years the group have graced numerous television shows culminating with two of their own.

The last one, aired in the States this summer, was well received. The group are currently filming a mid season (January) series of over twenty shows, featuring across the board entertainers from other soul [illegible] through to Sammy Davis Jr.

All the boys but Randy are out of high school. The weekly schedule for pushing out a half hour variety show is grueling, but [illegible] it shows the group to be [illegible] in their Encino, California home.

...Michael, Randy, and musically involved sisters La Toya, 17, and Janet (age 10) round off the team.

The Jacksons' music, fuelled by their initial musical competence, has progressed since the bouncy days of their hit singles. Though chart success has always been minimal in Britain, in America, they successfully moved out of their teen image into a more combustible, rockish-disco image. The best example is last year's "Forever Came Today".

The solo albums of Jackie, Jermaine, and Michael were always more sentimental and soft than the group's last Motown efforts.

...Essentially the Jackson brothers haven't changed too much in four years. Jackie is still quiet. Michael is shy and soft spoken to a whisper but full of curiosity when discussing anything but himself.

...All the Jacksons are involved into the business aspects of their day to day running. As youngsters, they were prepped for their interviews and as young adults they are cooperative but hardly oozing with spontaneity.

But then, when you've had as many crackpots sticking microphones down your throats as they have, you learn to be friendly without pouring out your heart. Michael was the first on the phone. His day was going to be full of photo sessions and interviews. But, the Jacksons don't talk to London everyday and Michael wanted a run down of relevant matters.

How was Paul McCartney? How was Piccadilly Circus? And Carnaby Street? Then we got on The Jacksons' debut album for Epic.

"I love this album because it's more mellow than anything we've done in a long time", said Michael, who has long rated "Bread" as one of his favorite groups.

"We worked with Gamble and Huff and the whole recording was a lot different than the way we worked at Motown. The atmosphere was more relaxed. Motown has some great producers, but they always taught me how to sing every note, how to phrase every line. That was fine in the beginning. But after a few years I knew what I could do. Gamble and Huff gave me the freedom to sing the way I wanted to."

Jackie reconfirmed the air of freedom in Philadelphia. The entire album was cut in a fortnight during the hectic bicentennial week. Between takes, The Jacksons were on hand for Gerald Ford's bicentennial kickoff speech and a never ending parade of fireworks. Had all those years of never leaving Motown's studios had a strange effect on them?

Did they have to learn to relax to cut this album?

"No", said Jackie. "I think all the time we spent in the Motown studios taught us to be really fast. By the time we got to Philly we were flying. For this album we got to include two of our own songs that we wrote home in California, specifically for the album. We tend to sit around and all make a lot of noise, you've got to end up with something. We just keep messin' 'til something comes up".

The Jacksons' lifestyle, like that of any touring group is an isolated one. All three brothers I spoke to agreed that their best friends were the rest of the family. Who else do they spend most of their time with? All three emphasized the fact that they're not kids anymore. Randy says he can cope with the role of being the baby provided people treat him fairly, even if they do insist on talking down to him. Papa Jackson, the founder and guiding light of this musical institution, has been the source of the group's attitudes and philosophies. Asked they felt at all weary after all these years of hard work, Michael recited from the rule book.

"Tired?", he asked. "No, you can't stop moving. If you stop moving, you stop learning, and if you stop learning, you stop producing. If you stop producing, you're dead. If you tire out, you're forgotten. So you don't get tired."

"Tired?", asked Jackie. "We still love entertaining. We're more grown up and outspoken for our hard work, but not tired. What you don't see onstage is that we're branching out in other ways. We're trying to move into all aspects of the entertainment industry. We have our own publishing company, own part of our TV show and are levying ourselves into a position to write and produce other artists."

The signing with Epic also allows The Jacksons to at least try to practice that on fellow C.B.S. artists. And if you think that means material for "Earth, Wind, and Fire", or "Labelle", you don't know Michael Jackson. "I've written a song for Barbra Streisand", said Michael confidently. "I won't tell you what it's about because it might get changed a bit. But I will tell you that it's a ballad. Hopefully, in the next few years, we'll have an opportunity to produce ourselves and other artists". I reminded him of his thirteen year old ambition to own his own record company one day.

"I can still visualize that", he said.

"We're pretty well off financially", said Jackie, picking up on the same subject. "A lot of your future depends on what you do with your money at the time you make it. If you invest it wisely then you can play with it later. But I can't see us going fully behind the scenes for a long time yet."

What happens now if The Jacksons leave behind the freshness of their youth to become just another group? As David Cassidy's perceptive brother Shaun pointed out, a weekly variety series on American television is tantamount to musical suicide. Seeing a favorite performer for free on the telly every week takes away from the artist's mystique on record. Who needs to buy the album when you can watch the group every weekend?

The Jacksons have also moved into the high income supper club bracket. Fine to sing ballads in Las Vegas, but the group didn't leave them behind when they went to play the grittier Madison Square Garden. The N.Y. fans didn't like it one bit. The show was revamped after the first night. So while American fans have watched The Jacksons get slicker and older, the rest of the world has been virtually ignored.

The subject of worldwide image was not an easy question to broach any of the group with. It's no more a question of "When are you coming to England?" It's a case of, "is the rest of the world important to you?" The The Jacksons could have sold out every house had they returned here in 1973. As their pre-teen American fans have matured and grown with them, so would have their British and European followings. Musically, The Jacksons have progressed and are the first group to achieve critical acceptance outside the youthful musical circle they started in. (The American failures include The Monkees, David Cassidy, The Osmonds, Bobby Sherman, and now John Travolta).

But in Britain, out of sight meant out of mind, and The Jacksons' stronghold has decreased severely. It is questionable whether Danny O'Donovan, who brought them over in 1972, would do well bringing them over now. And even if O'Donovan did make overtures, the group have no visible plans to reinstate themselves outside the States. Jackie realistically acknowledged that the group, for all purposes, would have to start from scratch over here. And Michael pointed out that it wouldn't make sense to come over without a hit.

...It's very sad for us over here. Michael Jackson remains an outstanding and unique performer, whose stage grace is sorely missing even with Marvin Gaye's sensuality and Butch Tavares’ velvet smooth dancing. Shy as he is, he's one of the wittiest characters ever to be put near a microphone. The Jacksons' new album is soft sounding, well produced and adequate. But without The Jacksons here, half the bright sparklers and inspiring highlights are sadly absent.

We have no Jacksons TV show, or filmed TV interviews. What makes The Jacksons unique is what we in Britain don't see. We haven't seen them for four years and who knows when we'll see them again. If their album gets tossed by the wayside, is it because British fans feel *they've* been tossed by the wayside?

Michael Jackson said that his boyhood home of Indiana seemed light-years away to him now. The Jacksons will never go back to Indiana. The big question is, will the British fans go back to The Jacksons?

...Jackie Jackson,