G.I.T.: Get It Together

G.I.T.: Get It Together (a.k.a. Get It Together) was the seventh official studio album by The Jackson 5, released in September 1973 for the Motown label.

During the group's last years with Motown, the label struggled to come up with material for the group. As a result, the Jackson 5 fell into a period from 1973 to 1974 where they scored no Top 10 singles. By this point, most of the Jackson 5's members, and their manager/father Joseph Jackson, were vocally complaining about the group's direction, with Michael Jackson becoming the most vocal. The only member not to complain about Motown's handling of the act was Jermaine Jackson, who would marry Motown head Berry Gordy's daughter Hazel three months after the release of the album. G.I.T.: Get It Together would go on to sell over two million copies worldwide.^[2]

Notability

G.I.T.: Get It Together was the first album to feature Michael Jackson's noticeable growth spurt. Now aged 15 and with a slightly deeper singing voice, the overall sound of the group changed as well. With Michael Jackson now a full-fledged tenor, the young boys who first came on the scene with "I Want You Back" just four years earlier were becoming men. The high notes that only Michael could hit were retired. It was also on this album that Jackson first employed what would later be known as his "vocal hiccup", notably on the song "It's Too Late to Change the Time".^[3] As Motown frowned on any sort of control being relinquished to the group, Jackson semi-retired the hiccup until his solo career at Epic Records began in earnest with Off the Wall.

Get It Together was one of the earliest albums to experiment with a pre-disco sound, released at a time before the genre was mainstream. The album was a breakaway from the group's bubblegum soul sound as they came up with a more funk-oriented album similar to The Temptations' Norman Whitfield-produced albums. Two of Whitfield's Temptations songs—"You Need Love Like I Do (Don't You)" and "Hum Along and Dance"— appeared on Get It Together.

The sequence of songs was also carefully arranged for Get It Together. There was no silence separating one song from the other. Each track flowed together thematically, a technique borrowed from Stevie Wonder's landmark album Music of My Mind, released the year prior.

The title track, "Get It Together", was a modest pop hit for the group reaching #28, while the album-closing "Dancing Machine" became a smash pop hit, reaching #2 on the pop chart and briefly restoring the Jackson 5 back to their former success.

Get It Together was also the first Jackson 5 album to feature all five Jackson brothers sharing lead vocals, giving the album a more group unified aura. Tito, in particular, is prominently featured on "Mama I Gotta Brand New Thing (Don't Say No)" and leads the brothers through "Hum Along and Dance". In addition, the album did not feature production or songwriting from any of the now-disbanded Corporation. Motown head Berry Gordy, a member of the Corporation, was busy expanding his Motown empire into movie ventures, mostly starring Diana Ross.

"Hum Along and Dance"

The group's cover of Whitfield's "Hum Along and Dance", an eight-minute epic and the closer of Side One (when originally issued on vinyl), is regarded as the definitive version of Whitfield's song. The Jackson 5's rendition is stylistically similar to the version recorded by the band Rare Earth, and features nearly the same arrangement with more of an electric funk sound added to the mix. A bewildered Michael Jackson is heard asking, upon hearing the song's chorus, "ain't no words? What you mean?" Tito replies by reiterating Gil Bridges' reasoning: "we ain't have time to write none". Jackie is heard both answering and telling Michael what to do.

The lead vocals are primarily handled by Jackie and Tito, with Jermaine, Michael, and Marlon appearing towards the end. Although the Jackson brothers are heard yelling out "play it, Tito" and "play it, Jermaine", the actual instrumentalists on the track were Los Angeles studio players.

Track listing

Lead vocals are as of noted in superscripts: (a) Michael Jackson, (b) Jermaine Jackson, (c) Jackie Jackson, (d) Tito Jackson, (e) Marlon Jackson

1. "Get It Together" (Hal Davis, Don Fletcher, Berry Gordy, Mel Larson, Jerry Marcellino) ^{a, b} (Recorded May 1973) – 2:48
2. "Don't Say Goodbye Again" (Pam Sawyer, Leon Ware) ^a (Recorded May 1973) – 3:24
3. "Reflections" (originally by Diana Ross & the Supremes) (Lamont Dozier, Edward Holland, Jr., Brian Holland) ^{a, b} (Recorded April - May 1973) – 2:58
4. "Hum Along and Dance" (originally by The Temptations and Rare Earth) (Barrett Strong, Norman Whitfield) ^{a, b, c, d, e} (Recorded May 1973) – 8:37
5. "Mama I Gotta Brand New Thing (Don't Say No)" (Norman Whitfield) ^{a, b, c, d, e} (Recorded June 1973) – 7:11
6. "It's Too Late to Change the Time" (Pam Sawyer, Leon Ware) ^a (Recorded June - July 1973) – 3:57
7. "You Need Love Like I Do (Don't You)" (originally by Gladys Knight & the Pips and The Temptations) (Barrett Strong, Norman Whitfield) ^{a, b} (Recorded June - July 1973) – 3:45
8. "Dancing Machine" (Hal Davis, Don Fletcher, Dean Parks) ^{a, b} (Recorded April - May 1973) – 3:27

Re-release

In 2001, Motown Records remastered all J5 albums in a "Two Classic Albums/One CD" series (much like they did in the late 1980s). This album was paired up with Skywriter. The bonus tracks were the outtakes "Pride and Joy", "Love's Gone Bad" and "Love Is the Thing You Need".

References

External links

• (French) Get It Together overview at www.jackson5abc.com