Maybe Tomorrow - JACKSON 5***

Maybe Tomorrow/She's Good/Never Can Say Goodbye/The Wal/Petals/16 Candles/(We've Got) Blue Skies/My Little Baby/Its Great To Be Here/Honey Chile/I Will Find A Way

Motown’s heavily promoted new act the Jackson Five continued to release albums at a prodigious rate, Maybe Tomorrow being the fourth in just over a year. Includes the US No. 2 hit single Never Can Say Goodbye. (US:11)

“The title track is a moody ballad and is nicely sung between Michael and Jermaine. You get the impression that the Jackson 5 were still a high priority act at this time with Motown, and the songwriting was still good quality.”

“Overall the album feels that Motown was dreading the day when Michael would lose his pure childish voice and it would drop into the unknown. Fear of this meant that in the early recording years of the Jackson 5's career, they were extremely prolific. There's enough on this album to make it interesting, but considering this was in the charts around the same time as other classic albums, then it's really not all that good.”

“The song Maybe Tomorrow shows a level of chord experience I hadn't heard with most adult groups. Michael's perfect pitch doesn't miss a note as he effortlessly goes from verse to bridge to chorus. This album shows some maturing by the group in song choices and performance. My Little Baby is one of the most exciting performances from the young Michael.”

“On their fourth studio album Maybe Tomorrow, there is a large musical growth in the band. The title track is a gorgeous song that has a beautiful orchestral backing. Never Can Say Goodbye was another hit and it is still one of Michael's best vocal efforts. I Will Find A Way is a great closer and Jermaine supplies one of his best vocal efforts.”

“The Jackson 5 possessed some of the best soul singers to ever grace a record or stage. As a whole the Motown sound was a very complex machine. It played mostly on empathy and allowed the listener to receive key emotions through the bridge of the song. This was unheard of before Motown and the Jackson 5 used the system well.”

“This finds the Jackson brothers branching out into some new directions. Even though the bubblegum soul is still very much in evidence there are more than a few surprising changes in the sound here.”