Reception

Released in 1976 for Epic Records

Epic Records

Epic Records is an American record label, owned by Sony Music Entertainment. Though it was originally conceived as a jazz imprint, it has since expanded to represent various genres. L.A...

 and Philadelphia International Records

Philadelphia International Records

Philadelphia International Records is a record label founded by writer-producers, Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff in 1971. It was famous for showcasing the sub-genre of Philadelphia soul music and released a string of worldwide hits during the decade.-History:...

 as a joint venture. The album was the band's first for CBS, following their seven-year tenure on Motown as "The Jackson 5". Jackson 5 member Jermaine Jackson

Jermaine Jackson

Jermaine La Jaune Jackson is an American singer, bassist, composer, a member of The Jackson 5, older brother of American pop stars Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson and occasional film director...

 stayed with Motown when his brothers broke their contracts and defected to CBS; he was replaced by youngest Jackson brother Randy.

Philadelphia International heads Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff produced and executive produced the album, including their first top ten hit in two years "Enjoy Yourself", but had a difficult time focusing on a sound for the now-grown-up boy band

Boy band

A boy band is loosely defined as a popular music act consisting of only male singers. The members are expected to dance as well as sing, usually giving highly choreographed performances. More often than not, boy band members do not play musical instruments, either in recording sessions or on...

. However, the group was able for the first time to write their own material, something that had been denied to them at Motown. The Jacksons composed "Style of Life" and "Blues Away" on their own. "Blues Away" was the first published song written by lead singer Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson

Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...

, who began to take a more percussive vocal approach beginning with this album. This album also spawned the second R&B single "Show You the Way to Go". The album itself placed #36 and #6 on the pop and R&B album charts respectively.

The album was the Jacksons' first gold

RIAA certification

In the United States, the Recording Industry Association of America awards certification based on the number of albums and singles sold through retail and other ancillary markets. Other countries have similar awards...

 album, despite their having sold more than 10 million albums while at Motown. (Motown's sales and financial records were never presented for auditing by the RIAA

Recording Industry Association of America

The Recording Industry Association of America is a trade organization that represents the recording industry distributors in the United States...

 until 1976).

Track listing

1. "Enjoy Yourself
   Enjoy Yourself (The Jacksons song)
   "Enjoy Yourself" is a song recorded by The Jacksons and released as a single in 1976 and peaking in early 1977. It was the first non-Motown single for the group since they departed from the label earlier that year. The song peaked at #6 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart on Feb. 19, 1977 and #2 on the...
   
   " (Kenny Gamble, Leon Huff) – 3:00
2. "Think Happy" (Kenny Gamble, Leon Huff) – 3:07
3. "Good Times" (Kenny Gamble, Leon Huff) – 4:57
4. "Keep on Dancing" (Dexter Wansel
   Dexter Wansel
   Dexter Gilman Wansel is an American keyboardist, raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He contributed to the development of the Philly Sound and worked with producers Gamble and Huff at Philadelphia International Records. Wansel led the musical group, Yellow Sunshine...
   
   ) – 4:31
5. "Blues Away" (Michael Jackson
   Michael Jackson
   Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...
   
   ) – 3:12
6. "Show You the Way to Go
   Show You the Way to Go
   "Show You the Way to Go" is a song written by Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff and released as a single in 1977 originally by The Jacksons on their CBS debut album, The Jacksons. It was the first number-one song for the group in Britain...
   
   " (Kenny Gamble, Leon Huff) – 5:30
7. "Living Together" (Dexter Wansel) – 4:26
8. "Strength of One Man" (Gene McFadden
   Gene McFadden
   Gene McFadden was an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known as one of the key members of the Philadelphia International record label, and was one-half of the successful team of McFadden & Whitehead with John Whitehead.-Biography:McFadden met John Whitehead as a teenager...
   
   , John Whitehead
   John Whitehead (singer)
   John Whitehead was an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. He was best known as one of the key members of the Philadelphia International record label, and was one-half of the successful team of McFadden & Whitehead with Gene McFadden.McFadden and Whitehead wrote many hits for...
   
   , Victor Carstarphen) – 3:56
9. "Dreamer" (Kenny Gamble, Leon Huff) – 3:05
10. "Style of Life" (Tito Jackson
    Tito Jackson
    Toriano Adaryll "Tito" Jackson is an American singer and lead guitarist and original member of The Jackson 5. He is the older brother of American pop stars Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson.-Early life and rise to stardom:...
    
    , Michael Jackson) – 3:19

Lead Vocals

Michael leads the tracks 4-6 and 9-10 on his own, while he and his brother, Jackie, leads the vocals on tracks 1-3 and 7. All the brothers (except Tito) sang together in the track 8.

Charts

Chart (1977)	Peak position
Billboard Pop Albums Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...	36
Billboard Top Soul Albums Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums is a chart published by Billboard magazine that ranks R&B and hip hop albums based on sales compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. The name of the chart was changed from Top R&B Albums in 1999...	6

Singles

Year	Single	Chart positions
		U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...	US R&B Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, is a chart released weekly by Billboard in the United States.The chart, initiated in 1942, is used to track the success of popular music songs in urban, or primarily African American, venues. Dominated over the years at various times by jazz, rhythm and blues, doo-wop, soul,...
1976	"Enjoy Yourself"	6	2
1977	"Show You The Way To Go"	28	6

External links

• The Jacksons-The Jacksons at Discogs