The Jacksons - Triumph

Classic

This CD was purchased as a gift. It has classic songs that you don't hear in rotation even on the oldies station. Heartbreak Hotel and Can You Feel It are two favorites. October 30, 2008

Foreshadowing of what was to come

This was the transition album for the Jacksons from the kid stuff to the more powerful music Michael and his brothers would make later.
"Lovely One" and others are nice, but "This Place Hotel" (Heartbreak Hotel) is ahead of its time, and easily would have been another hit on Thriller or Victory. I wish Michael would tweak this one with a "new school" artist like he did with Thriller.
You can see Michael already priming the pump for Thriller and songs like "Beat It", "Thriller", and "Billie Jean" with this song.
Say what you will about Michael, his music still is powerful. I still have students who love it.
A must have.
June 13, 2008

My heart danced to 'Triumph' and my feet followed.

This is one of my 'all-time' favorite Jacksons projects.

Being an ex-Michael Jackson impersonator,...this one stayed on my turntable (remember those), as I rehearsed for hours nightly.

Simply put, this CD is funky!
It was released during an era when it was all about 'the dance'.
From the classic message filled groove of 'Can You Feel It' to the haunting storytelling vibe of 'Heartbreak Hotel'. This one moves you.
Other tracks that will definitely give U "happy feet" are 'Lovely One',
'Your Ways '( a song in which Michael delivers a superb falsetto vocal range ), and 'Walk Right Now'.

Also noteworthy is the melodic and somewhat sad ballad 'Time Waits For No One'.

Whether U you are dance music fan or just introducing your children to some good old-school rhythms,..U won't be disappointed with 'Triumph'.
:-)

Peace

S h a d o w August 11, 2007

Can you feel it? Definitely

These days, I've been rediscovering the music of one of my all-time favorite groups, the Jackson 5/The Jacksons. I remember loving these guys SOOOO much and doing the craziest things to try to meet them - ever see that old footage of fans going nuts over them back in the day? Well, that might as well had been me and my girlfriends. I actually chased a limousine down a Manhattan street with a bunch of other screaming, hysterical girls after one of their concerts in 1981, because the guys were leaving the show in it! My kids laugh whenever I tell them that story, but it is a testament just as to HOW big these guys were back then! Michael had OFF THE WALL out the previous year with all those huge hits, and all the publicity from DESTINY was dying down when this album came out.

TRIUMPH, from 1980, is an incredibly solid offering from the Jacksons - the second of their albums where they had full creative control. Taking the best elements from DESTINY and combining them with the best from Michael's OFF THE WALL, this was the result! Yielding four hit singles, TRIUMPH was appropriately named as such because of a near-fatal car accident that youngest brother Randy had, and the degree of his injuries were so extreme that doctors were saying that he would never walk again. Well, as we see, through Randy's determination, he beat those odds and that entire harrowing experience turned out to be an inspirational theme for the group's next album.

Every song on here is tight, no filler at all. Two of the nine tunes are ballads - all the others are driving dance cuts. From beginning to end, it's guaranteed to have you hooked from the pulsating opening song, "Can You Feel It", with Michael and Randy on lead - a little preachy, but it's catchy and makes you want to sing along - to Jackie's "Wondering Who". Jackie is an underrated vocalist and songwriter, so no one should have slept on him! (He co-wrote many of the songs on this.) "Lovely One", the follow-up to the enormously successful "Shake Your Body (Down To The Ground)" was the JAM when I was in high school, and you heard it EVERYWHERE. There is an explosive energy that the brothers are giving off here, and Michael's vocals are ON FIRE! "Your Ways", a haunting but funky tune also written by Jackie, has Mike using his even higher falsetto a lot. "Everybody" sounds like "Get On The Floor" from Michael's OFF THE WALL, but it's good (written by Tito and Michael).

"Heartbreak Hotel", entitled "This Place Hotel" on the CD issue (never knew why the title was altered - you wouldn't confuse it with that Elvis song, not anymore than you would with the Whitney Houston song of the same name) and written by Michael, is definitely a highlight. "Time Waits For No One" is one of the two ballads here and it is gorgeous - think of the gossamer beauty of "She's Out Of My Life" where the subject of taking the one you love for granted comes into play. "Walk Right Now", the tale of a persistent ex-girlfriend, is hot and a definite booty-shaker. "Give It Up", the other ballad here, is an easy, swaying pop groove featuring Michael and Marlon trading off leads and ends with a drumline-like beat. The afore-mentioned "Wondering Who" is disco-funk, an uptempo tune that should have been a single as well. Very addictive!

TRIUMPH was truly a family affair - this is how good it was for the Jacksons as an act, before the phenomenon called THRILLER came along. All of the brothers had their input on this project, and it's obvious that they had a ball in the studio recording it. The energy that Mike puts down seriously rivals any of the stuff he would do on his own. You'll have a ball listening to it, too. This is perfection...the best Jacksons album, hands down. March 21, 2007

Best Jacksons album...........

Mike continues to dominate. The rest of the Jackson brothers backup Mike successfully. Their songwriting is excellent as well.

Top Joints:
Can You Feel It (Classic)
Lovely One
Your Ways
Everybody (Should have been a single)
Heartbreak Hotel (Classic)
Time Waits For No One
Walk Right Now
February 8, 2007

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