You know that your career is over when the compilations start flying out. The death knell for Michael Jackson's career sounded when he was arrested on child molestation charges on the same day that the "Number Ones" CD came out last year. What could've been a career renaissance for the most successful musician of the past quarter century seems to have turned into the end of what has been one of the most spectacular flameouts in recent memory. Thusly, the career anthologizing has begun.

Since the Number Ones album, there has been "The Essential Jacksons", which collected the family group's post-Motown hits for the first time ever. There's an extensive 4-CD/1-DVD box set planned for the fall. While we wait for that, Universal music hits us with "The Jacksons Story"-marking the first time that Michael & The Jacksons hits for Motown & Epic Records share one album. While it's not an easy task to pull 35 years of hits onto one album, "The Jacksons Story" doesn't do a bad job, although it does end with 1983's "Billie Jean", at which point The Jacksons' story was wrapping up and Michael's story was just beginning.

The five brothers-Jackie, Jermaine, Marlon, Michael and Tito were Motown's last real successful story. The Gary, Indiana based family had been tooling around for several years on the talent-show circuit before being snatched up by Motown founder Berry Gordy, who saw extreme star potential in 11-year old Michael, who sang like an old soul but still had that "cute kid" appeal despite the fact that he was a better vocal interpreter than most singers twice his age.

Several things have been lost in the sad spectacle that the Jacksons have become. One is the fact that Michael is rightfully one of the best soul singers of all times. For a little kid to wring every ounce of emotion out of songs like "The Love You Save" and "Never Can Say Goodbye" is virtually unprecedented and is certainly unequalled. The second thing is that those early Motown records smoked, man. They were danceable and funky. "I Want You Back" practically leaps out of the speakers with it's funky groove and memorable melody. Michael's singing is equal parts Jackie Wilson smooth, James Brown rough and percussive, and Diana Ross seductive and coy. It's a mixture that just about every R&B singer has followed in the years since. If they're not aping Stevie, they're aping Michael.

Songs like "ABC" and "The Love You Save" are just plain fun. The Motown staff writers had hooks for days, a nimble way with a lyric, and their writing was sensitive to MJ's age while also sensitive to the fact that the child could sing. And there are few ballads more sincere than "I'll Be There" and "Never Can Say Goodbye". The vocal interplay between Michael and Jermaine on "I'll Be There" is amazing, and the brothers' vocal harmony often gets lost in the shuffle when discussing the great things about these songs, but remains a constant plus throughout this album.

Michael's solo career at Motown had a heavy cheese factor to it-as evidenced by the goofy cover of Bobby Day's "Rockin' Robin" and the ultimate cheeseball ballad "Ben", but who else could make a love song to a rat sound so yearning and dramatic? Besides, you can't front on a song like "Got To Be There". With a vocal that's this close to shrill without actually being so, Michael navigates the song's tricky melody and comes up aces. Again, there is no doubt that Michael has always come with the goods vocally.

The hits eventually dried up at Motown, but not before a brief renaissance with "Dancing Machine". Universally recognized as one of the first "disco" songs, this was one of the first examples of the teenage Michael's tendency towards percussive singing. He slides into a lock-step with the song's funky rhythm while the brothers do some mean harmonizing in the background. The result? A song that still sounds fresh thirty years after it's release.

After breaking from Motown in 1975, the brothers dropped Jermaine, added youngest brother Randy, and changed their name to The Jacksons. Jermaine went on to a moderately successful solo career, peaking with 1980's "Let's Get Serious", a slammin' slice of post-disco funk which is all about Stevie Wonder's thumping production (the song is altogether funkier than almost anything Stevie ever recorded on his own). Stevie's production and ad-libs matched with Jermaine's thin but loose vocals turned this song into a huge hit at the same time Michael was bustin' out with "Off The Wall".

But there were several excellent Jacksons albums in the interim. "Enjoy Yourself" picks up where "Dancing Machine" left off, providing a dancey groove for Michael to sink his teeth into, while "Show You The Way To Go" is a pleasant if somewhat anonymous foray into Philly Soul, produced by Gamble & Huff, the virtual inventors of that R&B subgenre.

Things really took off when the Jacksons finally got the creative control they'd long desired and began producing themselves. The edited version of 1979's "Shake Your Body (Down To The Ground)" included here typifies the appeal of disco. Michael's vocal is loose and playful, the groove is virgin-tight, and the result is a song which practically lifts you up out of your seat and forces you to dance. Elsewhere, "This Place Hotel" is one of the first instances where the Michael Jackson "sound" took form. The song itself is like a 4 minute audio mystery. The song sounds claustrophobic, spooky and Michael's vocals are equally discomforting. It was a dry run for songs like "Billie Jean", which is one of only two modern-ear MJ solo tracks included here.

Yeah, the fact that Michael's extensively long run of solo smashes is represented only twice is a bit unsettling, but taken in the context of "The Jacksons"' story as opposed to Michael's own story, I guess it kinda makes sense. Besides, you know there's no way that Sony Music (and Michael himself) was gonna license a big chunk of the music by the man who is still one of their 5 biggest moneymakers to another label.

Besides, what can I say about "Don't Stop Til You Get Enough" and "Billie Jean" that hasn't already been said in one of my many other Jackson reviews? Both songs are the perfect match of excellent singing and innovative production, although "Don't Stop" is as celebratory as "Billie Jean" is paranoid. They're both unforgettable, however.

As The Jacksons appear to be turning into one of those acts that gets overcompiled to death (a common trend among Motown artists), there's less of a need to have albums like these. The J5 already have a double disc anthology on Motown, the Jacksons have their Epic anthology, and MJ has "HIStory". There's nothing on this album that isn't on one of the three aforementioned discs (except for the Jermaine solo cut). "The Jacksons Story" essentially amounts to one-stop shopping for the casual fan, or yet another treat for a completist like me. So while there are no goodies or unreleased tracks or extensive bios or new pictures, the music on "The Jacksons Story" is so strong you almost forget (or rather, don't care) that you're buying these songs for the third or fourth time, and that's about the biggest compliment you can give to a body of music.


"The Jacksons Story"

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Repeat: "Billie Jean", "I Want You Back", "Don't Stop Til You Get Enough", "This Place Hotel", "I'll Be There", "Dancing Machine", "Got To Be There"

Skip: "Rockin' Robin"

Great Music to Play While: Salivating in wait for that upcoming box set!!

Recommended: Yes