Music & Me

For other uses, see Music & Me (disambiguation).
Music & Me
Studio album by Michael Jackson
Released April 13, 1973
Recorded April 1972 – January 1973
Genre R&B, soul, pop, rock[1]
Length 32:09
Label Motown
Producer Hal Davis
Michael Jackson chronology
A Collection of Michael Jackson's Oldies
(1972)		 Music & Me
(1973)		 Forever, Michael
(1975)
Singles from Music & Me
  1. "With a Child's Heart"
    Released: May 5, 1973
  2. "Happy"
    Released: July 10, 1973
  3. "Music and Me"
    Released: October 1973
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]
CreemB–[3]

Music & Me is the third studio album by American singer Michael Jackson, released in 1973 on the Motown label, selling two million copies worldwide.[4] The album was reissued in 2009 as part of the 3-disc compilation Hello World: The Motown Solo Collection.

Album information

The album was released during a difficult period for Jackson, who was 14 years old at the time, as he was experiencing vocal changes and facing a changing music landscape. Having been influenced by fellow Motown label mates Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder, Jackson wanted to include his own compositions on the album, but Motown refused to allow this.

Despite featuring a photo of Jackson strumming an acoustic guitar on the album cover, he does not actually play an instrument on the album. Jackson would later express his frustrations about this to his father, Joe Jackson, who would later work to terminate Michael's and his brothers' contract with Motown, and negotiate lucrative contracts for them with Epic Records.

Since Jackson was on a world tour with his brothers as a member of The Jackson 5, promotion on this album was limited. The Stevie Wonder cover, "With a Child's Heart", was released as a single in the United States, where it reached #14 on the Billboard R&B Singles chart and #50 on the Billboard Pop Singles chart. Two additional songs ("Music and Me" and "Morning Glow") were released as singles in the UK, but they failed to chart. Another track, "Too Young", was released as a single in Italy, while the track "Happy" was a single in Australia and "Doggin' Around" was a limited-release single in the Netherlands. Ten years after this album's release, "Happy" was released as a single in the UK to promote Motown's 18 Greatest Hits compilation album.[5] For the compact disc issues of the album, the text on the album was changed and the shade of green was darker.

The album was arranged by Dave Blumberg, Freddie Perren, Gene Page and James Anthony Carmichael.

Follow-up

After this release, it would take Motown two years to release another Jackson solo album, entitled Forever, Michael. A solo album recorded by Jackson soon after Music and Me was shelved following the surprising smash success of the "Dancing Machine" single from the Jackson 5; the album would later be overdubbed and released in 1984 as Farewell My Summer Love, cashing in on the success of the Thriller album. The original mix of the album would be released as part of the Hello World: The Motown Solo Collection in 2009.

Track listing

Side A
No. TitleWriter(s) Length
1. "With a Child's Heart"  Sylvia Moy, Henry Cosby, Vicki Basemore 3:34
2. "Up Again"  Freddie Perren, Christine Yarian 2:47
3. "All the Things You Are"  Oscar Hammerstein II, Jerome Kern 2:55
4. "Happy" (Love Theme from Lady Sings the Blues)Michel Legrand, Smokey Robinson 3:19
5. "Too Young"  Sidney Lippman, Sylvia Dee 3:37
Side B
No. TitleWriter(s) Length
6. "Doggin' Around"  Lena Agree 2:52
7. "Euphoria"  Leon Ware, Jacqueline Hilliard 2:48
8. "Morning Glow"  Stephen Schwartz 3:36
9. "Johnny Raven"  Billy Page 3:31
10. "Music and Me"  Jerry Marcellino, Mel Larson, Don Fenceton, Mike Cannon 2:35

Compilation album

Music & Me is sometimes confused with a Michael Jackson compilation album of the same name that Motown Records released in 1982 in the UK. The compilation contained all the songs from the 1973 album (with the exception of "Doggin' Around"), with a few more from Jackson's other albums. It was not released in the US, but it is available as an import.

Track listing

  1. "Rockin' Robin" (from Got to Be There)
  2. "Johnny Raven"
  3. "Shoo-Be-Doo-Be-Doo-Da-Day" (from Ben)
  4. "Happy"
  5. "Too Young"
  6. "Up Again"
  7. "With a Child's Heart"
  8. "Ain't No Sunshine" (from Got to Be There)
  9. "Euphoria"
  10. "Morning Glow"
  11. "Music and Me"
  12. "All the Things You Are" (Listed as "All the Things You Are, Are Mine")
  13. "Cinderella Stay Awhile" (from Forever, Michael)
  14. "We've Got Forever" (from Forever, Michael)

Charts

Chart (1973) Peak
position
French Albums (SNEP)[6] 108
US Billboard 200[7] 92
US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard)[8] 24

References

  1. ↑ "Music & Me". AllMusic. Retrieved 2009-04-27.
  2. ↑ Allmusic review
  3. ↑ Christgau, Robert (October 1973). "The Christgau Consumer Guide". Creem. Retrieved October 16, 2016.
  4. ↑ Chery, Carl: XXL: Michael Jackson Special Collecters Edition, page 100. American Press.
  5. ↑ Halstead, Craig; Chris Cadman (2003). Michael Jackson: The Solo Years. Authors OnLine. ISBN 0-7552-0091-8.
  6. ↑ "Lescharts.com – Michael Jackson – Music & Me". Hung Medien.
  7. ↑ "Michael Jackson – Chart history" Billboard 200 for Michael Jackson.
  8. ↑ "Michael Jackson – Chart history" Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums for Michael Jackson.
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