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The Jacksons Live!

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The Jacksons Live!
Live album by
ReleasedNovember 11, 1981
Recorded
Length66:33
Label
ProducerThe Jacksons
The Jacksons chronology
Triumph
(1980)
The Jacksons Live!
(1981)
18 Greatest Hits
(1983)
Singles from The Jacksons Live!
  1. "Things I Do for You"
    Released: November 1981 (UK)[1]
  2. "Off the Wall"
    Released: 1981 (Japan)
  3. "Workin' Day and Night"
    Released: February 1982 (US)[2]

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.[3]

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

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Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[4]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[5]
Uncut[6]

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."[4]

Track listing

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The Jacksons Live! track listing
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Opening/Can You Feel It"Michael Jackson, Jackie Jackson6:04
2."Things I Do for You"Michael Jackson, Jackie Jackson, Randy Jackson, Tito Jackson3:38
3."Off the Wall"Rod Temperton4:00
4."Ben"Walter Scharf, Don Black3:52
5."Heartbreak Hotel"Michael Jackson4:40
6."She's Out of My Life"Tom Bahler4:48
7."Movie and Rap, Including Excerpts of: I Want You Back/Never Can Say Goodbye/Got to Be There"Berry Gordy, Freddie Perren, Alphonzo Mizell, Deke Richards, Clifton Davis, Elliot Willensky3:04
8."Medley: I Want You Back/ABC/The Love You Save"Berry Gordy, Freddie Perren, Alphonzo Mizell, Deke Richards2:55
9."I'll Be There"Berry Gordy, Bob West, Willie Hutch, Hal Davis3:12
10."Rock with You"Rod Temperton3:59
11."Lovely One"Michael Jackson, Randy Jackson6:28
12."Workin' Day and Night"Michael Jackson6:53
13."Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough"Michael Jackson4:22
14."Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)"Michael Jackson, Randy Jackson8:34

Personnel

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The Jacksons

Additional musicians

  • David Williams – guitar
  • Bill Wolfer[7] – keyboards
  • Mike McKinney – bass
  • Jonathan Moffett – drums
  • East Coast Horns: Alan "Funt" Prater, Broderick "Mac" McMorris, Cloris Grimes, Wesley Phillips – horns

Technical

Charts

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Chart performance for The Jacksons Live!
Chart (1981–1982) Peak
position
Australian Albums (Kent Music Report)[8] 2
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[9] 43
US Billboard Top LPs & Tape[10] 30
US Billboard Top Black Albums[11] 10

Certifications

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Certifications for The Jacksons Live!
Region Certification Certified units/sales
United States (RIAA)[12] Gold 500,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References

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  1. ^ "Jacksons singles".
  2. ^ "Jacksons singles".
  3. ^ Chery, Carl: XXL: Michael Jackson Special Collector's Edition, page 100. American Press.
  4. ^ a b Eder, Bruce (November 1981). "The Jacksons Live: All Music Review". AllMusic. Retrieved July 10, 2015.
  5. ^ Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian, eds. (November 2, 2004). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide. Fireside. p. 410. ISBN 978-0743201698.
  6. ^ Stubbs, David (October 1997). "Freak beats". Uncut. No. 5. p. 92.
  7. ^ "Bill Wolfer | Credits | AllMusic". AllMusic.
  8. ^ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992: 23 years of hit singles & albums from the top 100 charts. St Ives, N.S.W, Australia: Australian Chart Book. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  9. ^ "Dutchcharts.nl – The Jacksons – Live" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved May 9, 2023.
  10. ^ "The Jacksons Chart History: Billboard 200". Billboard. Retrieved November 11, 2019.
  11. ^ "The Jacksons Chart History: Top R&B Albums". Billboard. Retrieved November 11, 2019.
  12. ^ "American album certifications – The Jacksons – The Jacksons Live". Recording Industry Association of America.
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