It peaked at #91 on the Soul Charts in late 78. It has yet to appear on any Jacksons compilations. It's on a few obscure soul sets.

It has a strong melody, great lyrics, good singing.

This is a good song, I play it all the time.

Man........I don't like a single element about that track.

LittleBLUECorvette said:

It has yet to appear on any Jacksons compilations.

Maybe because it wasn't a big hit and it's not a group song.

MickyDolenz said:

LittleBLUECorvette said:

That's a good reason for it to make a compilation. A track from Jackies Motown LP always shows up on a release from time to time and it's even more rare than this Randy cut.

Motown makes compilations from anything, but Epic doesn't. The Jacksons didn't have a compilation at all until 2008, unless you count the Japanese remix album.

MickyDolenz said:

LittleBLUECorvette said:

That's a good reason for it to make a compilation. A track from Jackies Motown LP always shows up on a release from time to time and it's even more rare than this Randy cut.

Motown makes compilations from anything, but Epic doesn't. The Jacksons didn't have a compilation at all until 2008, unless you count the Japanese remix album.

True, but it could have been a bonus track for the Destiny remaster from 2008 or the various Best of comps that have hit the market in the past 10 years or so.

Sounds very much like Leo Sayer music from that time

I like this version better:

JoeBala said:

lol different lyrics, just same title.

JoeBala said:

It starts off good, but his voice is not convincing and sems flat and strained over half of the notes. It takes more than nice production to make a song become great. On the plus side he was only 16/17 at the time.

Poor Randy. He never had a chance to reach his potential as a solo artist. He first album was shelved. His second album had no chance since he was on the same label as his baby sister and 1989 was the release of her Magnum Opus: Rhythm Nation 1814.

HAPPYPERSON said:

LittleBLUECorvette said:

HAPPYPERSON said:

Poor Randy. He never had a chance to reach his potential as a solo artist. He first album was shelved. His second album had no chance since he was on the same label as his baby sister and 1989 was the release of her Magnum Opus: Rhythm Nation 1814.

It also came out the same year as 2300 Jackson Street as well as his big bros Jermaine and Jackie.

And lets not forget that the singles from BAD like Leave me alone and Smooth Criminal were still selling and Michael was still touring with BAD.

.

1989 was definitely the year you could have been overwhelmed with anything Jackson related.

He's just not a very good singer.Michael and Jermaine are the only two males in that family who had great voices.

Q: How was this not a HUGE hit?

A: Because it was by Randy Jackson

[Edited 10/3/14 18:38pm]

And didn't Marlon also put an album out at some time, which tanked?

SoulAlive said:

He's just not a very good singer.Michael and Jermaine are the only two males in that family who had great voices.

No, Marlon is not a very good singer. Randy is alright, not bad but not great. Plus he was only 16 when this was recorded. His voice got stronger in the 80s.

Adorecream said:

And didn't Marlon also put an album out at some time, which tanked?

Marlon album came out around the time of Michael's Bad.

Marlon's charted good on the R&B charts (top 20 I believe), and but barley made the pop 200 charts. Jermaine's charted well on both charts, Jackie's only on the R&B charts. Marlon did have a #2 charting single though.

Randy's didn't scrap any charts though his was better than Jackie and Marlons. Jackie is actually on record saying it was better than sister Janet's Rhythm Nation.

Not really feeling that track by Randy. IMO, this one is his best & could have been a good Jackson's group track for like the 2300 Jackson Street album.

LATE 80s JACKSONS RELEASES

86

Febuary 4 Janet Control

Febuary 13 Jermaine Precious Moments

March 9 Rebbie Reaction

La Toya Imagination

87

August 31 Michael Bad

July Marlon Baby Tonight

88

July 12 Rebbie R U Tuff Enuff

La Toya La Toya

89

May 28 Jacksons 2300 Jackson Street

August 22 Jermaine Don't Take It Personel

September 9 Jackie Be The One

September 19 Janet Rhythm Nation

October 4 Randy & the Gypsies

LittleBLUECorvette said:

It peaked at #91 on the Soul Charts in late 78. It has yet to appear on any Jacksons compilations. It's on a few obscure soul sets.

It has a strong melody, great lyrics, good singing.

This is a good song, I play it all the time.

I can hear Smokey Robinson singin' this! Very nice! How it wasn't a Quiet Storm classic is beyond me tho. I agree. It should have been a HUGE hit.

I suppose every one was doing this boogie type ballad shit to death in the late 70s. You can not mask bad singing and a weak melody with some disco flourishes here and there. It sounds like mutton dressed up as lamb. Blame Joe, thanks to him Epic had to take the squawkings of his lesser brothers as well as Michael. The only other siblings with vocal talent were either too young (janet) or at Motown (Jermaine).

ChickenMcNuggets said:

I like it, but then, I'm all for ballads with "disco flourishes". Why has there never been a Jacksons 'hits plus rarities' box set along the lines of Michael's Ultimate Collection or the Chic one from a few years back? This track would be great for it.

I agree, Time Life or someone can put it together.

-

There's a few labels but most of them are now one or under another umbrella.

-

Motown (J5/young Mike/young Jermaine/young Jackie)

CBS/Epic (Jacksons/Mike/Rebbie/LaToya/3T)

Arista (Jermaine)

Polydor (La Toya/Jackie)

A&M (Janet/Randy)

RCA (La Toya)

Virgin (Janet)

Capitol (Marlon)

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Motown, Arista, A&M, Capitol, Polydor and Virgin are all under Universal.

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CBS/Epic, RCA are all under Sony.

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So it's all Universal/Sony now and they've worked together countless times on Michael Jackson and/or Jacksons/J5 compilations.

[Edited 10/10/14 14:59pm]