Victory (The Jacksons album)

Recording

After a successful reunion on the Motown 25 television special in 1983, Jermaine Jackson decided to return to the group, having left Motown after nine years as a full-fledged soloist. His brothers had left Motown for Epic in 1975, but despite the reunion, the brothers rarely worked together on the album; it was mainly composed of solo songs the brothers had each worked on during that time. Each brother had a solo song on the album: Michael on "Be Not Always", Randy on "One More Chance" (not to be confused with their 1970 song of the same name from their ABC album) and "The Hurt", Tito on "We Can Change the World", Jackie on "Wait" and Marlon on "Body". Jermaine only sings co-lead vocals with Michael on "Torture". He also performs ad-libs on "Wait" and is additionally named as a background vocalist on "One More Chance" and "The Hurt". "Torture" was originally planned to be a duet between Michael and Jackie (the song's writer), but when Jermaine officially re-joined the group, he took over the parts intended for Jackie (who can still be heard during the song's chorus and ad-libs).

The album only had two videos—for the songs "Torture" and "Body"—and neither Jermaine nor Michael appeared in either one. A wax dummy of Michael from Madame Tussauds acted as a stand in for the "Torture" video.

Michael recorded "State of Shock", a duet originally recorded with Queen lead vocalist Freddie Mercury. The duo were unable to finish the track, so Michael ended up recording a second version of the track with Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger.

Artwork

Tensions reportedly grew between the brothers during the recording sessions and as a result, minimal publicity photography was done. The official album cover art at the request and demand of the label, instead features a very detailed illustrated painting of the band. The album cover art was commissioned from famed science fiction and fantasy book cover illustrator, Michael Whelan.

The cover art features the Jacksons brothers, in a cartoon adventure theme. The Jackson brothers from left on the cover art are; Marlon, Jackie, Randy (On the first release of the record there was a white dove on Randy's shoulder. On later issues the bird was removed.), Michael, Jermaine, and Tito.

Singles

The song "State of Shock" peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100. The second single, "Torture", reached No. 17, and "Body", the third single, became a moderate hit peaking at No. 47. The album peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard 200 in the week of August 4, 1984. The fourth single, "Wait", was released in 1985 in the US, the UK, Canada and Brazil only – it is not known to have charted anywhere, and was possibly withdrawn. The single version of "Wait" is a remix which features a slap bassline in place of the original synth bass, as well as additional lead synth.

Critical reception

AllMusic stated, "Victory has the distinctions of being the only Jacksons album to feature all six brothers and the last Jacksons album to feature Michael Jackson… In retrospect, Victory is a competent album of slick contemporary R&B, occasionally goosed toward greatness by the appearance of one of pop music's most identifiable voices. Which is the same thing you can say about nearly the entire Jackson 5/Jacksons catalog".

Track listing

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Personnel

The Jacksons

• Randy Jackson – lead vocals (track 3, 7), background vocals (tracks 1–3, 6–8), keyboards & synthesizers (tracks 1, 3, 7), percussion (track 1), drum programming (track 3), arrangements (track 3, 7)
• Jackie Jackson – lead vocals (track 1, 2), background vocals (tracks 1–3, 5–8), vocal ad libs and horn arrangements (track 1), arrangements (tracks 1, 2)
• Michael Jackson – lead vocals (tracks 1, 4, 5), background vocals (all tracks), Linn LM-1 programming & handclaps (track 5), arrangements (tracks 4, 5, 7)
• Marlon Jackson – lead vocals (track 8), keyboards, synthesizers, Linn LM-1 programming, and arrangements (track 8), background vocals (tracks 1–3, 5–8)
• Tito Jackson – lead vocals (track 6), guitars, keyboards, synthesizers, drum programming, synthesizer programming, and arrangements (track 6), background vocals (tracks 1–3, 6–8)
• Jermaine Jackson – lead vocals (track 1), background vocals (tracks 1–3, 7)

Additional musicians

• John Barnes – Fairlight CMI (tracks 1, 3, 6, 8), additional synthesizers & arrangements (track 8)
• Michael Boddicker – keyboards, synthesizers, synth horns, and synth programming (track 1)
• Lenny Castro – percussion (tracks 2, 6)
• Paulinho da Costa – percussion (tracks 3, 5)
• Nathan East – bass (track 6)
• David Ervin – additional synth programming (track 1), additional synthesizer (track 8)
• Mick Jagger – lead vocals (track 5)
• Louis Johnson – bass (track 6)
• Gayle Levant – harp (track 4)
• Steve Lukather – guitar (track 2)
• Jonathan Moffett – Simmons drums (track 8)
• Johnny Ray Nelson – background vocals (track 5)
• David Paich – keyboards, synthesizer and arrangements (tracks 2, 7)
• Jeff Porcaro – drums (tracks 1, 2)
• Steve Porcaro – keyboards and synthesizer (tracks 2, 7), arrangements (track 7)
• Greg Poree – acoustic guitar (track 4)
• Robin Renee Ross – viola (track 4)
• Jack Wargo – guitar solo (track 1)
• David Williams – guitar (tracks 5, 6, 8), bass (track 5)
• Greg Wright – guitar solo (track 8)

Additional arrangements and artwork

• Murray Adler – concertmaster (track 4)
• Jerry Hey – trumpet and horn arrangements (track 1), string arrangements (track 4)
• Derek Nakamoto – additional synth programming (track 6)
• Painting by Michael Whelan
• Photography by Mathew Rolston

Production

• Produced by: Jackie Jackson (track 1), David Paich, Steve Porcaro and Jackie Jackson (track 2), Randy Jackson (track 3), Michael Jackson (tracks 4, 5), Tito Jackson (track 6), the Jacksons, David Paich and Steve Porcaro (track 7), Marlon Jackson (track 8)
• Engineers: Brent Averil (track 5), Bill Bottrell (tracks 1, 3, 6–8), Tito Jackson (track 6), Tom Knox (tracks 2, 7), Bruce Swedien (tracks 4, 5)
• Assistant engineers: Niko Bolas (track 2), Ollie Cotton (track 5), Paul Erickson (tracks 1, 3, 6–8), Bino Espinoza (tracks 1, 3, 6–8), Matt Forger (track 5), Stuart Furusho (track 2), Mitch Gibson (tracks 1, 3, 6, 8), Mike Hatcher (track 4), Shep Longsdale (tracks 2, 7), Brian Malouf (track 7), Terry Stewart (track 2), John Van Nest (track 4)
• Additional recordings technicians: Allen Sides, Ann Calnan, Brent Averill, Brian Malouf, Jermany Smith, Michael Schulman, Robin Laine
• Mixing: Niko Bolas (track 2), Bill Bottrell (tracks 1, 3, 6–8), Greg Ladanyi (track 2), Bruce Swedien (tracks 4, 5)

Charts

This became the Jacksons' only studio album to top a national chart, and their only top 10 album in the UK.

Certifications

Remastered version

A remastered version was released in July 2009 in Japan only, with cardboard sleeve (mini LP) packaging. It was part of a six-album Jacksons cardboard sleeve (mini LP) reissue series, featuring the albums The Jacksons (1976), Goin' Places (1977), Destiny (1978), Triumph (1980) and The Jacksons Live! (1981).

References

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