One Day I'll Marry You
If I Have To Move A Mountain (love Mike's vocals on the verse's)
How Funky Is Your Chicken
All I Do Is Think Of You
If I Don't Love You This Way
Penny Arcade
You've Changed
Life Of The Party
Forever Came Today
You Were Made Especially For Me

I believe these also qualify...

Big Boy
We Don't Have To Be Over 21 To Fall In Love

2-4-6-8

I also like some of the songs Michael did as a kid solo artist at Motown. Most of those songs are criminally underrated!
[Edited 7/17/07 18:50pm]

It's all about

It's Great To Be Here
Hum Along and Dance

silverchild said:

Hell, I like most of them.

They gave him some pretty shit material for the Forever Michael album though. Although as always, there are a couple of gems.

Cinnie said:

I may be a little fella
But my heart is as big as Texas
I can give you more love than a man could give and maybe a little bit extra! - Lil' MJ

Can't Ge Ready for Losing You
You Ain't Giving Me What I Wan (So I'm Gonna Take it All Back)
The Wall
You Were Madoe (Especialy For Me)
My Cherie Amor!

Personally the MOST underrated song in Michael's Motown solo catalog has to be his cover of "Ain't No Sunshine" because he totally flipped it around. Where it had originally been a soft folk song with soulful overtones became a dramatic magnum opus in some degree.

The drums kicked in something funky, then followed by a searing rock guitar and Michael's quiet speaking voice, then suddenly Michael wails oooh... ain't no sunshine when she's gone... and then he just belts it out for the remainder of the song.

When it kicks up a crescendo, he takes it home squarely, I love the crashing of percussion, drums, strings, the background vocalists and Michael all in it like they in church. It truly rules over SOME of the things Michael did in his ADULT solo career. Least in my opinion.

WildStyle said:

I kinda liked most of the material from the Forever, Michael album! The only things I loved from the Forever Michael album was Dear Michael, We're Almost There, Just a Little Bit of You, You Are There, Take Me Back and Cinderella Stay Awhile

there's tons of stuff on music and me that deserves recognition. Esepcially the vocal energy in euphoria

LittleBLUECorvette said:

I really love their version of MY Cherie Armour. I think Jermaine was the lead on it.

Another underatted song is Looking Through The Windows. I thought that song was deep when I was a child and I think it is still deep today.

Their cover of Simon and Garkfunkel's Bridge Over Troubled Water from their 1970 release, Third Album is another underrated yet stunning cover song they have done. The vocals of Michael and Jermaine truly stick out on this one and they have this unique power that brings tears in my eyes everytime I hear it.

Timmy84 said:

I mean, so underrated it does not appear on their 2 disc anthology, and no one else in the thread mentioned it???

Flowerz said:

Yeah that was a hit for them, I think it peaked at #16 on the Billboard Hot 100. Love that joint too. A lot of Jackson 5/Lil' MJ Motown joints were boss to me.

yeah a lot of those remakes helped me discover some other oldies as well. It got me into the supremes for example and sly & the family stone

They recorded so many remakes.....They did some Marvin Gaye covers but they remain unreleased

Thought I'd better add that it's the 1976 version of Moving Violation from their TV show that I really love. It's less overproduced than the official version and Michael sounds better. btw, the real story with the J5 is how criminally underrated their albums are. U2 and Nirvana have never recorded an album that can touch TTA, ABC, LTTW, etc. They are some of the best albums ever made imo, but because they weren't self written, weren't making any big statement, and were fronted by kids, they will never get their due.

P.S. Can I get some love for Corner Of The Sky up in here? I know I can't be alone in loving that.

midnightmover said:

I still think Looking Through The Windows, Dancing Machine, and Moving Violation are the best albums they recorded during their eight-year tenure at Motown. Moving Violation still gets the most edge from me because it's such a mature and tight album. I've also thought remaining J5 albums were filled with both hit singles and filler tracks.
[Edited 7/18/07 13:28pm]

midnightmover said:

My absolute favourite along with the cover of 'Come Round Here (I'm The One You Need'! It was even stuck on a 2000 re-release of the Pippin OCR soundtrack along with Michael's solo recording of 'Morning Glow'.

Just Because I Love You is another underrated jam! Jermaine's vocals are on point and Michael suits the song well too.

silverchild said:

That track is OK, it sounds Osmond-esque.

Has anyone mentioned "Nobody" that song is the business, It was supposed to be their second single of their debut LP.

What is Touch (from the Skywriter album) all about? It irks me because it has Mike and Jermaine talking about satisfying a woman in their bed. Wow!

silverchild said:

It a Surpremes remake so who knows? They were tryin to mature around that time.

Maybe it was too mature, for Mike at least, Jermaine was already knockin' down Hazel and countless J5 groupies.
[Edited 7/18/07 13:34pm]

I WANT TO BE WHERE YOU ARE

CAN YOU FEEL IT

LOVELY ONE

To me, these are some of the most underrated JACKSON 5 songs.

bboy87 said:

I heard their version of "Chained" from their debut. And they funked it up when they did their version of Marvin's "Ain't That Peculiar" on their Japan live album.
[Edited 7/18/07 14:27pm]

Timmy84 said:

Ain't That Peculiar is also on Jermaine 73 solo "Come into My Life"


The Marvin unreleased remake include:

- Ain't No Moutain High Enough
- Can I Get A Witness
- How Sweet It Is to Be Loved By You
- I Heard It Through the Grapevine
- Purple Snowflakes

What about A song called I hear symphony ? I think its brillaint...Underrated,,,,,

AlexdeParis said:

Definately, "It's Great To Be Here". Also "We've Got Blue Skies" and "Petals".