Michael Jackson: Ben - 1972

 

Coming only seven months after his debut solo album, this was another age-defying offering from the only just teenage Michael Jackson. He copes with a variety of different songs with consummate ease and displays a remarkable ability to read a song's requisites. 

Ben is incredibly cheesy, of course, but its so nostalgic for those of us who grew up at the time of its release. I was thirteen when it came out. So, I believe, was Michael Jackson. The original vinyl rear cover showed Michael on his bike - that could have been me at the same time. 

Greatest Show On Earth is a very typical early seventies, Burt Bacharach-sounding song (but not one). It has a poppy and pleasant vibe to it. A similar feel can be found on the reflective People Make You World Go Round. This was also a hit for The Stylistics. 

The catchy, singalong We've Got A Good Thing Going was a reggae hit for Sugar Minott in the late seventies. Everybody's Somebody's Fool was a ballad that had been a hit for Connie Francis in 1960. The Temptations’ My Girl is given a warm, bassy, slighty dance-ish makeover. It makes a very familiar song worth listening to in this slightly different format. It is not simply a note-for-note cover. 

What Goes Around Comes Around is an attractive, melodic trademark early seventies Motown mid-pace ballad. In Our Small Way, for some reason, was included both on this album and also on its predecessor, Got To Be There. This sometimes happened on Motown albums. Strange, it was not as if they were short of tracks. 

Stevie Wonder’s Shoo-Be-Doo-Be-Doo-Da-Day has a clavinet-backed funky rhythm to it which again makes this cover version a worthwhile listen. It is still amazing to hear what an effortless soul Jackson had in his voice, at thirteen. Brenda Holloway’s 1965 single and Ben's 'b' side, You Can Cry On My Shoulder is a mightily pleasant and surprisingly upbeat number with a nice, melodic bass line and some sweeping orchestration.. Once more, Jackson “owns” the song, his voice already sounding more mature in delivery, if not yet in its pitch. Changes were afoot all over the place at Motown and Michael Jackson's development into a solo artist was just one of them.

Look, this is certainly no work of genius, no What’s Going On or Talking Book but as an enjoyable half hour spent listening to the precocious talent of a thirteen year-old Jackson it is worth your time.