Customer Reviews

Victory

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This was a good album except that it sounded too disjointed. There only seemed a few songs in which all 6 brothers (yes, all 6 are together) participate. As a result, one gets the feeling that some of them (probably Michael and Jermaine) were reluctant participants and the album comes off as a Various Artists album. However, with that being said there are still some awesome tracks here. Torture with lead vocals being shared by Michael and Jermaine is an awesome R&B song and one of my all-time favorites. State of Shock is the song that did the best on the pop charts as Mick Jagger gives a good and funny performance on this one. However, my favorite song besides Torture has become the 2nd track, Wait. Produced by and featuring lead vocals by Jackie, I just love the overall feel to this song. Several members of the band, Toto, play on this song and they do a good job.

All in all, pick this album up if you love R&B or if you like anything done by Michael Jackson. It's not a bad buy.

It was the spring/summer of 1984, and the global hoopla surrounding "Thriller" was finally on its last legs. Not one to disappear from the spotlight completely, Michael Jackson reunites with his brothers for "Victory." Featuring only 8 songs (3 of which have Michael on vocals), the album teases--but never completely satisfies--the listener. The recording doesn't sound like a brotherly project, and you get the impression that Michael thought he did his siblings a favor by showing up in the studio. "Victory," at times, comes across like a rushed job to capitalize on the success of "Thriller," and it shows through the second-rate material. "State of Shock," featuring a duet between Michael and Mick Jagger, is the worst song I've ever heard from the Jacksons. It's a discordant hybird of 80s funk and low-wattage rock that never takes off the ground. "We Can Change the World" is pretty much forgettable, and new adjectives will need to be created to replace "sappy" when describing Michael's ballad "Be Not Always." But there's some really good stuff, here, and most of it doesn't even involve Michael. Randy stands out pretty well in "One More Chance" (which Janet would later cover as a b-side); "Body" is a funky uptempo stomper, and I really loved "Torture," which features lead vocals from Michael and Jermaine (The video features all Jackson brothers sans Michael. Go figure). If for nothing else, "Victory," gives me incredible childhood memories of the 1980s, but on its own merits, it's a mixed bag. It's not a bust, but I'd hesitate to call it a victory.

...the final Jacksons album was 2300 JACKSON STREET (1989), NOT VICTORY. It featured Janet, Rebbie and Jermaine Jackson along with their brothers and was being promoted as a family reunion-type album, but this was not the case. Except for one song, 2300 was recorded without the participation of both Michael and Marlon, who were disenchanted with all the drama surrounding the 1984 Victory Tour. 1984 seemed to be the beginning of the end for them. All these things happened that year:

*Michael's accident with his hair catching on fire during the filming of a Pepsi commercial with his brothers that January;

*The recording of the VICTORY album which even long-time Jackson fans thought was inferior to their earlier works;

*High ticket prices for the promotional tour (courtesy of Don King, who was the promoter) and as a result, the Jacksons were accused of being greedy;

*Reports of violent arguments amongst the brothers;

*And finally, Michael announced onstage during the very last concert on that tour in Los Angeles that he was leaving the group, and later vowed he would never work with his brothers again. A couple of years afterward, Marlon exited as well, having tired of the many disagreements in the group.

When 2300 JACKSON STREET came along in 1989, it didn't sell very well, but not because it was terrible - it was listenable, but nothing on it really grabbed at you and made you say, "Hey, this is really hot." The solo careers of Michael and Janet were so phenomenal at the time, they simply overshadowed anything else the other family members were trying to do musically. This is not to discount the talents of the other brothers, because they ARE talented, but face it - they didn't have the spectacular appeal that Michael did. This CD featured the remaining Jacksons (Jackie, Tito, Randy and Jermaine) going into New Jack Swing territory. Except for the title song, which all the Jacksons (save for LaToya) sang on and New Jack Swing king Teddy Riley had a hand in, and "Nothin' That Compares 2 U" (an L.A. & Babyface offering), it's pretty much forgettable. To be totally honest, I have been a fan of these guys since they first came out in the late '60s and this is the only album of theirs that I can't even name any of the other songs, simply because they weren't worth remembering. In 1990, after 27 years as a group, the Jacksons officially disbanded.

On the subject of VICTORY (1984), it is probably the next-to-the-weakest album in the Jacksons catalog, but it still has some tracks worth hearing, so don't dismiss it altogether. Jermaine rejoins his brothers here for the first time since 1975, so there is some historic relevance to this album, plus the talents of the other brothers are finally showcased. Michael, by choice, had limited his involvement. Obviously he had other things on his mind (like the groundbreaking success of his THRILLER album and being on the fast track to becoming the biggest star in the world), so collaborating with his brothers again wasn't exactly what he wanted - and it shows.

The best cuts are "Torture", one of the three hit singles from VICTORY, written by Jackie and featuring Michael and Jermaine; "Wait", another uptempo song written by Jackie where he also has the lead; Randy's easy solo on the ballad "One More Chance", and Marlon out in front on the funky dance number, "Body", which is my favorite song on this album. Okay, so it does sound like "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'", but it's just as appealing. "State of Shock", the funk/rock duet between Mike and Rolling Stones' frontman Mick Jagger, is just alright, nothing groundbreaking but listenable. It doesn't sound like it even belongs on this album, nor on ANY Jacksons album at all! I agree with another reviewer - it was probably something Michael was working on independently with Jagger and as a "favor" to his brothers, he decided to let them have the song and call it a Jacksons release to help boost the album sales. That way he couldn't be accused of being selfish and not being down for the family cause. As for everything else on VICTORY, there are no gray areas - you either love it or hate it, pure and simple. If you love the Jacksons, odds are that you have all their other releases and this is one you'll want to add to your collection. But if you're a casual fan, you might want to pass this by and settle for THE ESSENTIAL JACKSONS instead.

Michael Jackson didn't want to have anything to do with this album. But does that mean it was because his brothers were less talented? No. And they aren't. People are being too hard on "Victory" because of the background story and it had the unfortunate release of 1984, when music was all synths and hair was all... bad. But if you look past that, you'd see the Jacksons weren't all smoke and mirrors. In the past, the Jacksons used to sing other peoples songs until 1978, when they wrote all of "Destiny." A great move. And after that, the other 4 brothers, excluding Mike and Jermaine (who torch every song they're on), proved that if they're not great singers, that they're competent at the very least. And they can hold their own with songwriting and instrument-playing. All of them can play at least one instrument (not sure about Jackie). Now with that said, "Victory" is disjointed, brief, and reeks with Michael's apathy and uninvolvement... but it is NOT bad. The album opens off with the sci-fi pop/rock hit "Torture" (which hearkens back to the timeless album cover of ALL 6 Jacksons brothers). "Torture" is such a good song that could've been GREAT if Mike stopped playing around and made the most out of the experience. The irony is that even though he was the biggest artist in the world at that time, it took him 5 years to come out with "Bad". So we know he had the time to immerse himself in the project. Other standouts include Mike and Jagger's "State Of Shock" (simple yet catchy), Randy's "One More Chance" (which Mike would've sounded at home on), Randy's "The Hurt" (Randy has a weird falsetto; so weird that I like it), and Marlon's "Body" (which is a doppleganger of "Wanna Be Startin' Something", yet the tightest song Mike NEVER wrote). And you can't leave out Jackie, who has a nice falsetto, and is such a good songwriter ("Torture," "Wait"), or Tito, who is a threat on guitar, and churns out his first and only solo vocal ever! So what if Mike phoned in his verse for "Torture", sang a 5-minute folk song, and ended the legend known as The Jackson 5/The Jacksons after the "Victory" tour. Uninterested Michael Jackson is better than no Michael Jackson at all. His half-hearted contributions, Jermaine's limited-time-only return, and the other brothers singing solo make the listener as uninterested as they were, yet STILL this album a must-get for die-hard MJ/The Jacksons fans (like me). Not bad at all.

I originally bought this LP about about 13 or so years ago, mainly because I heard the song "Torture" at my friends house and liked what I heard! It also had the added bonus of a duet song with Mick Jagger ("State Of Shock") so I thought I should check it out. When I first got it I wasn't too impressed to tell the truth, mainly because I found it hard to adjust to the vocal styles of the other Jacksons. However it didn't take long before all that changed.

"Wait" co-produced by Jeff Porcaro and David Paich (Of TOTO fame) is a typical 80's rock track with a catchy beat graced with ad-libs by Michael at the end. "One More Chance" is a beautiful ballad sung in an appropriately delicate vocal style by Randy. "State Of Shock" (feat. Mick Jagger) is a simple yet superb track which has the distinction of being the track on the album that you always manage to hear something new on! "The Hurt" Co-written by Michael and Randy is another strong track with a good instrumental arrangement, Randy's falsetto is excellent, steady and spine-tingling, as are the harmonies at the the end of the song, definitely one of the group highlights of the album. The closing track on the album is "Body" sung by Marlon. This song has a great guitar hook that belies Marlon's ordinary vocal style (shame about the video! )

The album does have its setbacks, "We Can Change The World" (Tito's Track) is, although very meaningful, highly forgettable. The same can be said for the awful "Be Not Always" (Michael's only solo composition on the album). The first verse of which seems like an exercise to see how many times the word "always" can be repeated without the listener going nuts!

I can't help but thinking that if these weak tracks were replaced by the electrifying Jermaine & Michael duet "Tell Me I'm Not Dreamin'", Jermaine's "Dynamite" and "Do What You Do" (which all appeared on Jermaine's eponymous Arista LP released that same year (1984)) Then this album would be 10 times better that it already is! However when all is said and done "VICTORY" is on the whole an unforgettable and solid effort by the worlds greatest ever R&B/Pop act...BUY IT!

Alot of Jacksons fans don't care for this album. I've been listening to it for about a year, and I actually love this album. I also own Destiny, Triumph, Goin' Places, and 2300 Jackson Street, so I know what there other albums sounded like. Most jacksons fans want to hear Michael and maybe Jermaine on leads and that's it. I love this album because It proves that the other members aren't dead weight. Everyone gets a song to lead execept Jermaine, but he co-leads torture, and ad-libs at the end of Wait with Michael(best part of the song.) What keeps this from being 5 stars is some of the backing being cheesy,(but not as bad as you think) and the brothers not playing their instruments more. Definetely recommended.

Victory was a highly anticipated album at the time of its release in 1984. Michael was the king of not only pop, but the world at the time as his Thriller album was shattering all kinds of records on its way to becoming the biggest selling album of all time. The band was being reformed and for the first time since 1975, Jermaine was returning to the group so that all six brothers would appear on an album for the first time. The brothers also were preparing to go out on the road for a major tour. Throw into the mix that they recorded a song with Mick Jagger and you set a bar so high that anything less than perfection would be a disappointment. Of course upon its release, Victory fell short of its high expectations, but if you remove it from its surrounding circumstances, you get a truly interesting and enjoyable listen. Victory is a true group effort as all the brothers have a lead vocal effort on the album. "Torture" opens up the album by going back to the Jackson Five days by having Michael and Jermaine duet. The song has an evil and dark beat with a thumping bass that drives the track. Jackie's "Wait" is an uptempo number with his unique falsetto. Randy shows signs of being a major player (though surprisingly he never pursued a solo career) by contributing two strong songs "One More Chance" and the stellar "The Hurt". Michael's "Be Not Always" is an all acoustic number that is a song in the vein of "We Are The World" and "Heal The World" as he calls for help to the less fortunate. Tito is competent at best as a lead vocalist on "We Can Change The World" but he lays down a stinging guitar solo. Marlon shows off some strong chops on the most infectious song on the album, the booty shaking "Body". "State Of Shock" is the duet between Michael & Mr. Jagger and it has a commanding, rock edge that is much different from the more pop oriented songs he did with Paul McCartney. "State Of Shock" was a big hit, peaking at number and the album became the biggest seller and highest charting album of their career, leveling out at number four.

There's something about the years Michael was KING. Remember Michael mania. Must buy this collector's album. One!

This is the end of the Jacksons as we know it,as well as they're biggest hit.Spurred on by their Motown 25 apperance with Jermaine's return to the camp(oh yeah,and that album called Thriller),the group announced a tour& a new album.We won't even go "there"about the Victory tour,& in an equally disasterous paralell,Victory the album hinted as the end of The Jacksons as a group.Most were (a) expecting a full group album with Michael & Jermaine singing lead(b)an album that continued the Destiny/Triumph success,and(c)to the "Thriller fans"Michael's follow-up.All three didnt happen.Victory was merely solo tracks by various brothers with Michael & Jermaine as reluctant participants.Though the other brothers lack distictive vocal chops,they perform admirably.Jackie wrote Torture for Michael & Jermaine to sing,while Randy contributed One More Chance(later covered by Janet for a B-side),and Marlon,known as the vocally weak Jackson,shines on Body,though repetitive,recall those glory days.The weakest cuts surprisingly all came from Michael.Be Not Always is his worst piece of writing(with Little Susie from HiStory),and State of Shock sounds like Michael and Mick Jagger having fun on a 4-track,then tossing it on the album to get his family off his back.In the end it sold but left many feeeling short-changed.It was also my first lesson in the emptiness of music business hype.

At the time that this album was released in 1984, Michael was the hottest thing since sliced bread! He had his own phenomenal solo career to attend to so you don't always hear him on this album. The songs where you really hear him present are "Torture", "Always" & the Mick Jagger duet "State of Shock". Despite this, the other brothers really contribute some great songs. My favorite is "Body", with it's catchy, infectious hooks that'll have you singing it all day. I also like Randy Jackson's "One More Chance" which is a sweet 80's ballad that's nice to listen to. All in all, I love this album & I always have!