The Jackson 5 - Diana Ross Presents The Jackson 5 (1969)

"Nobody" by The Jackson 5

Bobby Shad had only one original composition for his Bad Men to perform. The rest were arrangements of some of the more eclectic hits of the sixties. "I Want You Back" was the highlight of Bobby Shad's 65-piece rock orchestra album just as it was the highlight four years earlier on Diana Ross Presents The Jackson 5, the 1969 debut album by The Jackson 5 released on Motown Records.

Berry Gordy knew he had a sure hit if he could get The Jackson 5 off on the right foot. A dynamite 11 year old lead singer amidst a family of talented young boys might not have the longest shelf life in the music business, and their 1969 sessions consisting of backwards-facing soul covers wouldn't cut the lacquer for popular audiences—no matter how many string arrangements adorned their harmonies. Motown's West Coast studio crew The Corporation took over the recording of the boy band's debut and gave the 5 what would become their first single and a No. 1, at that.

"I Want You Back" lays down a great funk arrangement, groundwork for a star-making performance from a young Michael Jackson pushed to the edge of his vocal powers to spectacular results . But it proves hard to match as Michael does his best to elevate the rest of the album's cover songs. His maximal effort occasionally turns to strain in handling dubious material choices and dealing with inconsistent production quality. When other Jacksons get their shot at leading, the songs pale even more. But the talent is evident and exciting even if it is inexperienced and tilted too far onto the youngest Jackson's shoulders.

Here is the discography surrounding The Jackson 5's debut album:

Big Boy (1968 single)

I Want You Back (1969 single)

Diana Ross Presents The Jackson 5

We Don't Have to Be Over 21 (To Fall in Love) (1970 single)

"I Want You Back" by The Jackson 5

"Who's Loving You" by The Jackson 5

Pass the Headphones!!

Bobby Shad and The Bad Men - A 65-Piece Workshop (1973)

"I Want You Back" by Bobby Shad and The Bad Men

Before they were Skip & Flip, Clyde Battin and Gary Paxton played as The Pledges and then Gary and Clyde. It was when they were signed to Bob Shad's Brent Records that they got the moniker that stuck. Bob Shad was a producer and small label boss who worked across genres. He organized A 65-Piece Workshop, a Big Band Rock album as Bobby Shad and The Bad Men and released it in 1973 on his own Mainstream Records label.

Great song choices constitute an album of luxuriant covers played as big as the 65 orchestra pieces portend. Shad's comfort with an array of genres (jazz, blues, rock and roll, orchestral) and the arrangements by Ron Frangipane work together to keep the songs fresh and playful, if not nimble, as they are engorged with brass and strings, interludes and slick solos by some outstanding session players. The bass, about as heavy as the rest of the band put together (despite the brass's best efforts,) sets the album in contemporary funk and prevents the various sections from floating the album's conceit too far away from its rock and roll roots.

Here is Bobby Shad and The Bad Men's discography:

Bobby Shad and The Bad Men

"Pinball Wizard by Bobby Shad and The Bad Men

"Up on Cripple Creek" by Bobby Shad and The Bad Men

Pass the Headphones!!

Skip & Flip - It Was I: The Very Best of Skip & Flip (1961)

"Fancy Nancy" by Skip & Flip

The major labels all passed on Bobby Pickett's novelty single, so it took the young production phenom Gary S. Paxton to shepherd it along and release it on his own label, Garpax Records. Paxton previously performed under the moniker Flip with his college pal Clyde Battin, aka Skip. Skip & Flip were a short-lived duo with a handful of hit singles during their run. These recordings are collected in It Was I - The Very Best of Skip & Flip, the contents of which were all released between 1959 and 1961.

Lo-fi and rudimentary rock 'n roll make up the body of Skip & Flip's output. Full of "Na Na Nas" and "Whoa-ohs," their songs, subsequent to their debut "It Was I," echo previous radio hits across rock song forms (ballad, dance craze, story song,...) with only "Fancy Nancy" having any verve. The rest lack inspiration and fail to push them out of the shadows of less tame Rock & Roll duos.

Note: Another compilation means another year listing that represents when the material was first released, and not when the actual compilation album came out.  That would be 1998.

Here is the discography for Skip & Flip:

Betty Jean (1958 single as The Pledges)

Why Not Confess (1958 single as Gary and Clyde)

One Hundred Baby (1959 single as Chuck and Chuckles)

It Was I (1959 single)

Fancy Nancy (1959 single)

Cherry Pie (1960 single)

Green Door (1960 single)

Hully Gully Cha Cha Cha (1960 single)

Searching for Linda (1960 single by Skip)

Tami's Dance (1960 single by Clyde Gary & His Orchestra)

Betty Jean (1961 single)

In the Soup (1961 single by Skip & The Hustlers)

Twister (1961 single by Clyde Battin)

Strange as It Seems (1961 single by Leonard Brothers with The Pledges)

It Was I: The Very Best of Skip & Flip

Over the Mountain (1962 single)

"It Was I" by Skip & Flip

"Lunch Hour" by Skip & Flip

Pass the Headphones!!