Skywriter

the take

It's no secret that The Jackson 5 were growing tired of not being able to write their own music at Motown Records around this time. That, and the clear frustration shown on the "Skywriter" album cover. And while this sound of pop soul sounded a bit dated by both late-1960's standards and Jackson 5's standards, it's still a good effort. Trash circumstances aside, the group still put their all into this album, and you can still hear some ideas for what their future albums would sound like (ex. "The Boogie Man" with the funk sound). The two things that bring this album down for me (aside from being a bit dated by the time it was released) are: (1) the title track and (2) the group covering the song "Touch". First, the title track. Part of me wanted to like this song more, as I kind of did back in the day, but I just can't get into it anymore. Can't really explain it, other than the fact that it's not as appealing as it once slightly was. As for "Touch", I'm a bit concerned that Motown Records let The Jackson 5 cover a song about pleasing a woman, especially with Michael singing lead vocals when he was in his teenage years. I don't know, that never really did sit right with me. Could it be the group's worse album on Motown? Maybe, but it's not terrible by any means, and it's still passable to me, though.