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The Jacksons – Can You Feel It

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I’ve already talked about how much I love Michael Jackson’s Off the Wall.
It’s my favorite Michael album.
But when we tell Michael’s story, we have a habit of going from Off the Wall straight to Thriller.

Hold up.
We skipped something. 😂
Sitting right between those two albums is my favorite The Jacksons album.
Triumph. 💿🔥

And man, I LOVE this album.💜

I was 11 years old in 1980, and I was already drifting toward music in a way that would eventually become a huge part of who I am.
I remember my cousins and uncles playing music around me.
My family loved music too.
Maybe not quite to the ridiculous degree that I eventually would, but music was always around.🎶
And by 11, I knew what I liked.

I’d grown up listening to The Jackson 5 and The Jacksons, but Triumph caught me at that age when I was starting to develop my OWN relationship with music.

And baby, they started this album with Can You Feel It.
LAWD. 🙌🏾
What an opening.
Written by Jackie Jackson and Michael Jackson, with Michael and Randy Jackson sharing lead vocals, Can You Feel It sounds enormous.
Strings.
Bass.
Synthesizers.
Guitars.
Choirs.
Everybody showed up. 😂🎶

And that emotion coming from Michael?
I fell in love with that song.

But then we get to This Place Hotel, originally known as Heartbreak Hotel.
Oh. My. God.
THIS is Michael Jackson at his freaking best. 🎤🔥
Written entirely by Michael, it’s dark, theatrical, paranoid and cinematic.
That bassline sounds like trouble before Michael even finishes telling you what the trouble is.
To me, This Place Hotel is a masterclass.

And listening now, knowing Thriller was still two years away, you can hear Michael developing that darker style of musical storytelling that would become such a major part of his work.

Then there’s Walk Right Now.
MY JAM.
Written by Michael Jackson, Jackie Jackson and Randy Jackson, this thing MOVES.
And y’all already know me.
Once I discovered the extended versions and remixes, including that John Luongo Disco Mix, my young DJ brain was officially activated. 😂🎧

But that’s what makes Triumph so damn good.
It doesn’t stop at my three favorites.
Lovely One.
Your Ways.
Everybody.
Time Waits for No One.
Give It Up.
Wondering Who.
There really isn’t a song here that makes me want to reach for Skip.

The brothers produced Triumph themselves, with Greg Phillinganes as associate producer.
Michael wrote or co-wrote six of its nine songs, but this wasn’t simply Michael with his brothers standing behind him.
Jackie, Tito, Marlon and Randy were contributing vocals, writing, arranging and musicianship throughout the album.
And that matters.
Because when you listen to Triumph from beginning to end, you hear the FAMILY.
You also hear a 22-year-old Michael Jackson in one hell of a creative run.
Off the Wall in 1979.
Triumph in 1980.
Thriller in 1982.
He was becoming the King Of Pop.

I always talk about that hungry period when an artist is trying to prove something.
Michael had already proved plenty.
But he still sounded HUNGRY.

Off the Wall is my favorite Michael Jackson album.
Triumph is my favorite Jacksons album.

And hearing Walk Right Now again the other day reminded me that it was time to give this album its flowers.🌼🌸

Don’t treat Triumph like the little stop between Off the Wall and Thriller.
It’s not.
Start with Can You Feel It.
And let the whole damn album ride.

Press play. ▶️

DJZ7

P.S. And because y’all already know I can’t leave well enough alone when there’s an extended mix involved… 😂🎧

I added four mixes/remixes to the end of the official album playlist:
Can You Feel It (SWG Extended Mix)
Walk Right Now (12″ Version – John Luongo Disco Mix)
Can You Feel It (Jacksons X MLK Remix)
Lovely One (Groovefunkel Remix)

So after you finish Triumph the way The Jacksons originally gave it to us, keep listening.
Consider those last four, my little DJZ7 Bonus Round. 🔥🎶

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