The year was 1984. Michael Jackson was the man of the moment. His year-old album “Thriller” was well on it’s way to selling 26,000,000 units and amassing 8 Grammys & 7 American Music Awards. He had already changed the face of popular music. The man deserved to sit back for a while and rest on his laurels.

However, his brothers, most of whom were in a financial pinch, wanted to take this opportunity to exploit Michael for their benefit. Reluctantly, in the fall of 1983, Michael reluctantly agreed to rejoin his brothers for a new album and tour. While there was no way he could make his contribution to the tour minimal, he made sure to limit his participation on the accompanying album, “Victory”. The album is a mixed bag. The other brothers (Marlon, Jackie, Tito, Randy & the returning Jermaine were clearly not as talented as their brother. And while Mike’s moments on this album shine the most, even his contributions were half-a s sed.

A cursory look at even the album cover screams out “80’s”. In a sci-fi painting, the Jacksons are depicted standing on a road in the middle of nowhere, in all their glittered and jheri-curled glory. Most of the songs have a high-tech sound to them too, mainly created on synthesizers, which were the dominant instruments of the day.

From the opening track, “Torture”, it’s very clear whose world this is. Jermaine sings the first verse (his only lead vocal on the album), and it’s pleasant. Then Mike comes in to start the second verse and it’s like someone turned all the lights in the room on. The two brothers have an obvious chemistry, but Michael stomps all over his brother on this song.

His other two contributions to this album are very unrepresentative of the great music Michael was making at the time. His duet with Mick Jagger (“State of Shock”) was obviously concocted for publicity purposes. Mick wasn’t even the first choice to appear as Mike’s duet partner. Originally, the part was supposed to go to Freddie Mercury, who was dismissed after Mike worried what impact Freddie’s (at the time, alleged) homosexuality would have on the record’s success (to that I say, then why did he pick a guy who was rumored to have had an affair with David Bowie?). The song is basically the two screaming over a drum machine, which degenerates into Mick mumbling “look at me” at the song’s satisfying end. MJ’s other contribution, ‘Be Not Always”, is even worse. A clear precursor to the Disney-ish ballads Michael would end up stinking up his later albums with, the song ends with Michael in tears, a la “She’s Out of My Life”. This contrived ballad does not have the same effect.

Mike’s best moments come as a second or background vocalists. Jackie’s “Wait” was co-written with members of Toto, and it has a bouncy feel reminiscent of the Pointer Sisters’ “Neutron Dance”. Mike shows up to ad-lib 2/3 of the way into the song and ends up electrifying it.

The only brother whose contributions equaled Michael’s was Randy. The youngest Jackson brother was legitimately talented, co-composing some of “Off the Wall” and releasing his own excellent solo album in 1989. His two contributions are the synth ballad “One More Chance” (which again features a fine contribution by Mike on backgrounds) and “The Hurt”, which is another electro-dance track with features randy singing in an almost-annoying falsetto.

Any album would pale in comparison to “Thriller”, and “Victory” had the bad luck to be unjustly compared to that masterpiece. Lost in Michaelmania were the facts that this was a pretty decent, if unremarkable album, and it also went on to sell nearly three million copies, making it the best selling album of the brothers’ career. While not exactly a “Victory”, this album has enough good moments to not make it a total wash.


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