Maps of Music
Got to Be There (1972)
Where the lyrics of Got to Be There take you, and where it was really made.
Got to Be There was released four weeks after a Jackson 5 greatest-hits album, yet it was certified Gold only in 2013, more than forty years after its original release.
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Overview
- Debut solo studio album by American singer Michael Jackson
- Released by Motown on 24 January 1972
- Came out four weeks after the Jackson 5's Greatest Hits (1971)
- Title track released 7 October 1971 as Jackson's debut solo single
- Certified Gold by the RIAA on 2 August 2013 for sales over 500,000 copies
- Remastered and reissued in 2009 in the three-disc compilation Hello World: The Motown Solo Collection
Background
- Arranged by The Corporation, Eddy Manson, James Anthony Carmichael, Gene Page, and Dave Blumberg
- Berry Gordy served as executive producer
- Jim Britt credited for photography
- Remakes of Bill Withers' Ain't No Sunshine, Carole King's You've Got a Friend, and The Supremes' Love Is Here and Now You're Gone
- Song tempos range from 74 beats per minute on Ain't No Sunshine to 170 on Rockin' Robin
- Album followed the Jackson 5's popularity at Motown, with Jackson given a solo romantic-ballad direction
Sources: en.wikipedia.org · es.wikipedia.org · fr.wikipedia.org
Tracklist
| 1 | Ain’t No Sunshine | 4:13 |
| 2 | I Wanna Be Where You Are | 3:03 |
| 3 | Girl Don’t Take Your Love From Me | 3:51 |
| 4 | In Our Small Way | 3:41 |
| 5 | Got to Be There | 3:25 |
| 6 | Rockin’ Robin | 2:35 |
| 7 | Wings of My Love | 3:25 |
| 8 | Maria (You Were the Only One) | 3:43 |
| 9 | Love Is Here and Now You’re Gone | 2:54 |
| 10 | You’ve Got a Friend | 4:53 |
Sources: musicbrainz.org
Artist
Career
- Born August 29, 1958 in Gary, Indiana; eighth of ten children in the Jackson family.
- Debuted at age six as lead singer of the Jackson 5; the group signed with Motown in 1968 and had early number-one hits such as "I Want You Back".
- Moved to Epic Records in 1975 as the Jacksons, and began a solo career with Off the Wall (1979).
- Thriller (1982) became the best-selling album of all time, with an estimated 70 million copies sold.
- Bad (1987) was the first album to produce five US Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles.
- Known as the "King of Pop"; credited with transforming music videos and popularizing the moonwalk.
- Died June 25, 2009 from a propofol overdose; a posthumous catalog continued to sell strongly.
Philanthropy
- Founded the Heal the World Foundation in 1992.
- Estimated to have donated over $500 million to charities over his life.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
Reception
At release
- Rolling Stone (1972): described the album as slick, artful, and as good as the regular The Jackson 5 product, praising Jackson's voice and professionalism
Reappraisal
- AllMusic: Rob Theakston rated the album 2.5 out of 5 stars, calling it wildly erratic as a cohesive work while saying the covers showed Jackson's versatility
- Entertainment Weekly: Leah Greenblatt gave the album a B+ grade
Records
- US Billboard 200 peak: number 14
- Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums peak: number 3
- Sold over 750,000 copies in the first three weeks after release
- Reached one million copies sold in the US by the end of 1972
- Sold more than 1.5 million copies worldwide
- RIAA Gold certification on 2 August 2013
Sources: en.wikipedia.org · es.wikipedia.org
Trivia
- In the United Kingdom, the album's third single was Jackson's version of Ain't No Sunshine, which reached number 8 on the UK Singles Chart.
- This was the first solo album Michael Jackson recorded at Motown without leaving his original group, The Jackson 5.
- Berry Gordy, who ran Motown, served as the album's executive producer and gave Jackson covers of songs by Bill Withers, Carole King, and the Holland-Dozier-Holland trio.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org · fr.wikipedia.org