The Jacksons Live!

{{Use mdy dates |date=February 2024}}

{{Infobox album

| name = The Jacksons Live!

| type = live

| artist = the Jacksons

| cover = Jacksons-live.jpg

| alt =

| released = November 11, 1981

| recorded =

| venue =

| genre =

| length = 66:33

| label = {{hlist|Epic|CBS}}

| producer = The Jacksons

| prev_title = Triumph

| prev_year = 1980

| next_title = Victory

| next_year = 1984

| misc = {{Singles

| name = The Jacksons Live!

| type = live

| single1 = Things I Do for You

| single1date = November 1981 (UK){{cite web|url=https://dutchcharts.nl/showitem.asp?interpret=The+Jacksons&titel=Things+I+Do+For+You+%28Live%29&cat=s|title=Jacksons singles}}

| single2 = Off the Wall

| single2date = 1981 (Japan)

| single3 = Workin' Day and Night

| single3date = February 1982 (US){{cite web|url=https://dutchcharts.nl/showitem.asp?interpret=The+Jacksons&titel=Things+I+Do+For+You+%28Live%29&cat=s|title=Jacksons singles}}

}}

}}

The Jacksons Live! (also known as simply Live) is a live album by the Jacksons. It was released on November 11, 1981, by Epic Records. The album was recorded during the band's North American concert tour in fall 1981, known as the Triumph Tour. The live double album was culled from recordings made on the tour's stops in Buffalo, Providence, Atlanta, and New York City. The live album would go on to sell over two million copies worldwide.Chery, Carl: XXL: Michael Jackson Special Collector's Edition, page 100. American Press.

The 1981 live show setlist featured songs from the group's 1980 album Triumph, two songs from Destiny (1978), a medley of their Motown hits, and five songs from lead singer Michael's 1979 solo album Off the Wall.

The Triumph Tour would be the group's last tour together for three years, while Michael recorded and released the phenomenally successful Thriller (1982) album and its singles in 1982 and 1983. The group would reunite for their final tour (sans an injured Jackie Jackson, who only participated in the second and final last leg of the tour after recovering from a knee injury)—Victory Tour—in 1984. In 1988, Rolling Stone magazine described the Triumph Tour as one of the best 25 tours between 1967 and 1987.

Reception

{{Music ratings

|rev1 = AllMusic

|rev1score = {{Rating|3.5|5}}

|rev2 = The Rolling Stone Album Guide

|rev2score = {{Rating|3.5|5}}{{cite book| title=The New Rolling Stone Album Guide| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t9eocwUfoSoC&q=rolling+stone+jackson+5+album+guide&pg=PA410| editor1-first=Nathan| editor1-last=Brackett| editor2-first=Christian| editor2-last=Hoard| publisher=Fireside| date=November 2, 2004| page=410|url-access=subscription | isbn=978-0743201698}}

| rev3 = Uncut

| rev3Score = {{Rating|3|5}}{{Cite magazine |last=Stubbs |first=David |author-link=David Stubbs |date=October 1997 |title=Freak beats |magazine=Uncut |page=92 |issue=5}}

}}

Bruce Eder, of AllMusic, wrote that the album "is a reminder of how great an act they [the Jacksons] were, and captures what was just about the end of Michael Jackson's work with the family group, all of it very much on a high-note. The album is worth tracking down as an artifact of a simpler, more unabashedly joyous time in music, as well as the family's history."{{cite web| title=The Jacksons Live: All Music Review| url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/the-jacksons-live-mw0000190457| last=Eder| first=Bruce| website=AllMusic| date=November 1981| accessdate=2015-07-10}}

Track listing

{{Track listing

| headline = The Jacksons Live! track listing

| title1 = Opening/Can You Feel It

| writer1 = Michael Jackson, Jackie Jackson

| length1 = 6:04

| title2 = Things I Do for You

| writer2 = Michael Jackson, Jackie Jackson, Randy Jackson, Tito Jackson

| length2 = 3:38

| title3 = Off the Wall

| writer3 = Rod Temperton

| length3 = 4:00

| title4 = Ben

| writer4 = Walter Scharf, Don Black

| length4 = 3:52

| title5 = Heartbreak Hotel

| writer5 = Michael Jackson

| length5 = 4:40

| title6 = She's Out of My Life

| writer6 = Tom Bahler

| length6 = 4:48

| title7 = Movie and Rap, Including Excerpts of: I Want You Back/Never Can Say Goodbye/Got to Be There

| writer7 = Berry Gordy, Freddie Perren, Alphonzo Mizell, Deke Richards, Clifton Davis, Elliot Willensky

| length7 = 3:04

| title8 = Medley: I Want You Back/ABC/The Love You Save

| writer8 = Berry Gordy, Freddie Perren, Alphonzo Mizell, Deke Richards

| length8 = 2:55

| title9 = I'll Be There

| writer9 = Berry Gordy, Bob West, Willie Hutch, Hal Davis

| length9 = 3:12

| title10 = Rock with You

| writer10 = Rod Temperton

| length10 = 3:59

| title11 = Lovely One

| writer11 = Michael Jackson, Randy Jackson

| length11 = 6:28

| title12 = Workin' Day and Night

| writer12 = Michael Jackson

| length12 = 6:53

| title13 = Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough

| writer13 = Michael Jackson

| length13 = 4:22

| title14 = Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)

| writer14 = Michael Jackson, Randy Jackson

| length14 = 8:34

}}

Personnel

The Jacksons

Additional musicians

  • David Williams – guitar
  • Bill Wolfer{{cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/bill-wolfer-mn0000080681/credits |title = Bill Wolfer {{!}} Credits {{!}} AllMusic|website = AllMusic}} – keyboards
  • Mike McKinney – bass
  • Jonathan Moffett – drums
  • East Coast Horns: Alan "Funt" Prater, Broderick "Mac" McMorris, Cloris Grimes, Wesley Phillips – horns

Technical

Charts

class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"

|+Chart performance for The Jacksons Live!

!Chart (1981–1982)

!Peak
position

scope="row"|Australian Albums (Kent Music Report){{cite Kent}}

|2

{{album chart|Netherlands|43|artist=The Jacksons|album=Live|rowheader=true|access-date=May 9, 2023}}
scope="row"|US Billboard Top LPs & Tape{{cite magazine|url=https://www.billboard.com/artist/the-jacksons/chart-history/tlp/|title=The Jacksons Chart History: Billboard 200|magazine=Billboard|accessdate=2019-11-11}}

|30

scope="row"|US Billboard Top Black Albums{{cite magazine|url=https://www.billboard.com/artist/the-jacksons/chart-history/blp/|title=The Jacksons Chart History: Top R&B Albums|magazine=Billboard|accessdate=2019-11-11}}

|10

Certifications

{{Certification Table Top|caption=Certifications for The Jacksons Live!}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=United States|type=album|title=The Jacksons Live|artist=The Jacksons|award=Gold|relyear=1981}}

{{Certification Table Bottom|nosales=true}}

References

{{Reflist}}