Skywriter: An interesting, but not so good album

The Jackson 5 were one of the most succesful musical acts of the 1970s, having well-known songs such as "I Want You Back" and "ABC", later, to increase the sales, Motown launched Michael Jackson's solo career, releasing his first solo single "Got to Be There" in late 1971.

Michael later got his first #1 solo single with "Ben", the song was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1973, losing to "The Morning After" by Maureen McGovern from " The Poseidon Adventure", Jackson performed the song at the ceremony. The song won a Golden Globe Award for Best Song.

Despite that success, the Jackson 5's own records were starting to decline, Michael was frustraded with the direction he and his brothers were going in; and they also began writing their own material, but Motown prevented them from recording their own compositions. 

On March 29, 1973; their eight studio album "Skywriter" was released. The brothers' frustation is noted on the front cover, where they're looking at the camera around an early-1900s-era aeroplane.

The album was their least successful because of only one top 20 single, a cover of "Corner of the Sky" from the musical "Pippin", and lack of promotion because the brothers were on tour. The album sold 2.8 million copies worldwide.

At this point Michael's vocal were showing signs of maturity, as were Jermaine's; notably, Michael's voiced is heard breaking in "Hallelujah Day" and in other songs such as "Uppermost" the maturity on his voice is very noticeable. The album contains a cover of The Supremes' "Touch", one of the most controversial songs Michael Jackson sang in his career. It is about satisfying someone in bed.

The album contains a total of 10 songs, 3 of which are covers; the aforementioned "Touch" and "Corner of the Sky" and a rendition of The Four Tops's "I Can't Quit Your Love", it also contains the last song written by The Corporation; the quarter that wrote many of their songs, including their 4 #1 singles, "You Made Me What I Am". This was the final album to contain the bubblegum pop sound for which the brothers were known.

The track listing is this:

1. Skywriter (Mel Larson, Jerry Marcellino) 3.08

2. Hallelujah Day (Freddie Perren, Christine Yarian) 2.46

3. The Boogie Man (Deke Richards) 2.56

4. Touch (The Supremes Cover) (Pam Sawyer, Frank Wilson) 3.00

5. Corner of the Sky (from the Musical Pippin) (Stephen Schwartz) 3.33

6. I Can't Quit Your Love (The Four Tops Cover) (Leonard Caston, Kathy Wakefield) 3.12

7. Uppermost (Clifton Davis) 2.26

8. World of Sunshine (Mel Larson, Jerry Marcellino) 2.45

9. Ooh, I'd Love to Be with You (Fonce Mizell, Larry Mizell) 2.49

10. You Made Me What I Am (The Corporation: Berry Gordy, Alphonso Mizell, Freddie Perren, Deke Richards) 2.50

In my personal opinion:

I can see why the album wasn't so successful, the same genre and most songs being about love; however, this album is also different in a good way. The tune is a bit dark, unlike other albums. Michael's voice...can sound a bit annoying at times; let me remind you, he was going through vocal changes, but overall it's not terrible, but it could've been better. The brothers don't put a lot of emotion and once you read what was going on between them, you will understand the reason. Michael's voice really shows signs of not being interested most of the time. 

As for the songs, I feel they're good, but if Motown had focused a bit on promoting the album, then it could've been among their best material. "Corner of the Sky" was performed in late 1972 on television, "Hallelujah Day" has also been performed and "Skywriter" appeared on "Top of the Pops" in September 1973, the brothers themselves appeared on the show. 

This is what I think of the songs, I apologise if they don't seem so convincing to you, this is done just for entertainment purposes, try to understand that, or at least recognise that fact.

Skywriter: A good opener to the album, and the only song on the album that finishes properly (without fading out), it is a songs about getting the attention to someone you love. It has good instrumentation and good rhythm. Definitely one of the highlights of the album. 5/5

Hallelujah Day: Those who are religious will surely enjoy this little jam, it's one of the tracks from the album that must be checked out, it has really good rhythm and instrumentation, whoever played the piano deserves some credit. Good song to listen while you're on your way to the church. 4/5

The Boogie Man: A scary beat that, will perhaps be enjoyable if you like scary things or if you're not afraid of anything, not one of my personal favourites and not one I'm crazy about, but in all, it's alright. 3/5

Touch (cover): It has good arrangement and the backing vocals are a stand-out, one of the album's slower jams, it's weird to think that a 14-year old, who was the lead singer of the band sang this track. This is one of the tracks in which you can imagine the situation that's going on in the song. 4/5

Corner of the Sky (cover): Perhaps the best of all the tracks, this is a track where many people, if they listen to it and/or read the lyrics, will undoubtedly be able to relate to the song's meaning. Special credit to the musicians, who made really good effort when recording the track. 5/5

I Can't Quit Your Love (cover): A track that could be the main theme of a film, it is another one where you can imagine the situation as you listen to the song; it has really good instrumentation; a not-so-good thing is the fact that not a lot energy came from the brothers, and it is shown in this tracks, but nonetheless, it is fairly enjoyable. 3/5

Uppermost: This track has grown on me recently, it can't be considered one of the greatest tracks, but it has such a different feeling, it's yet another one where you can imagine the situation, what perhaps spoils the song, is Michael's vocals not totally sounding like a person really is feeling in a situation like that of the song. The strings heard are really good and the tune is one that causes mystery. 4/5

World of Sunshine: Another one of the highlights, this is one case of the brothers singing in unison, the instrumentation is a bit odd but fits in with the theme of enjoying your time. It is one that people should listen to while they are on a road trip. 4/5

Ooh, I'd Love to be With You: Also a slow track, a little similar to "Touch" in instrumentation, this one also has the potential of being the song of a film. 4/5

You Made Me What I Am: A good closer, good to be in a film, fairly similar to the "I Can't Quit Your Love" cover, one highlight of the entire album is the brothers singing "Testify, testify, come on, testify" to the rhythm of the percussion, which is really good. 4/5

Thoroughly speaking, I don't have much to complain about the album, I have nothing against it really, but when you listen to it, you know it's not an excellent album. The worst part of it is arguably the vocals, particularly those from Michael. If you read more information on him and his brothers, you will understand their personal perspective. Despite what you may think, I do recommend checking this album out, but not without recognising the fact that, it will not be great to you.

Total: 4/5

Recommended tracks:

Skywriter, Hallelujah Day, Corner of the Sky, Uppermost and World of Sunshine.