273: ABC | JACKSON 5
Lindsay Planer at AllMusic: Not even six months after the Jackson 5 -- Jackie, Jermaine, Marlon, Michael, and Tito -- issued their debut long-player, Diana Ross Presents the Jackson 5 (1969), the vocal quintet returned with ABC (1970), arguably the brothers' most solid effort of the early '70s. The Jacksons' collective (and respective) talents, coupled with exemplary material and the finest behind the scenes crew Motown had to offer, were directly responsible for the enormous success that placed the LP at the crest of the R&B chart and into the Top Five of the pop survey, while the title track and the double-sided hit single "The Love You Save" b/w "I Found That Girl" all went directly to the number one position across the board. Not too shabby for a group whose oldest member was barely in his teens. Granted, the familiar tunes are undeniably the focal point, making it easy to overlook some of the other stellar selections. As was customary, Motown's cache of house composers provide the lion's share of the songs, most notably the Holland-Dozier-Holland-penned "(Come 'Round Here) I'm the One You Need" -- brought to prominence by Smokey Robinson & the Miracles -- and Stevie Wonder's "Never Had a Dream Come True," which Wonder himself had recently included on his own Signed, Sealed & Delivered (1970). There are also a few contemporary nuggets from beyond the boundaries of Detroit, as "La-La (Means I Love You)" is derived from the up-and-coming Philly soul movement and "I'll Bet You" was gleaned from George Clinton's incipient incarnation of Funkadelic. However, the cuts credited to "the Corporation" -- with Bobby Taylor and instrumentalists Deke Richards (guitar), Freddie Perren (keyboard), and Fonce Mizell (keyboards), as well as Motown founder Berry Gordy -- were of primary significance not only on the ABC album, but within the entire Jackson 5 oeuvre.
Wiki: ABC is the second studio album by the Jackson 5 and was issued on May 8, 1970, by Motown Records. It featured the No. 1 singles, "ABC" and "The Love You Save". Also present on the LP are several notable album tracks including a cover of Funkadelic's "I'll Bet You", "I Found That Girl" (the only lead song from brother Jermaine), and "The Young Folks" originally recorded by the Diana Ross-led version of the Supremes.
The album peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard Pop Albums Chart and at No. 1 on the Billboard Black Albums chart. It was named No. 98 on the VH1 All-Time Albums Top 100. It remains one of the Jackson 5's most popular efforts selling over 5.7 million copies worldwide. This number, however, may represent strongly overstated sales figures explained by Motown striving for higher publicity and marketing effects.
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 Diana Ross Presents the Jackson 5. The bonus track was an outtake, "Oh, I've Been Blessed", a song also released on the rare 1979 outtakes album Boogie.
An alternate version of the title track appears on the CD Jackson 5 – I Want You Back! Unreleased Masters released in 2009.