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Music & Me
Studio album by Michael Jackson
Released	April 13, 1973
Recorded	March 1972 – January 1973
Genre	Pop R&B
Length	32:09
Label	Motown
Producer	Hal Davis
Michael Jackson chronology
Ben (1972) Music & Me (1973) Forever, Michael (1975)
Singles from Music & Me
"With a Child's Heart" Released: May 5, 1973 "Happy" Released: July 10, 1973 "Music and Me" Released: October 1973 "Doggin' Around" Released: 1974 (Netherlands) "Too Young" Released: 1974 (Mexico and Venezuela)
Alternative cover
Music & Me compilation cover

Music & Me is the third studio album by the American singer Michael Jackson. It was released on April 13, 1973 on the Motown label. It was arranged by Dave Blumberg, Freddie Perren, Gene Page and James Anthony Carmichael and remains Jackson's lowest selling album. In 2009, the album was reissued as part of the three-disc compilation Hello World: The Motown Solo Collection.

Background

The album was released during a difficult period for Jackson, who was 14 years old at the time, as he had been experiencing vocal changes and facing a changing music landscape. Having been influenced by fellow Motown label mates Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder, Jackson wanted to include his own compositions and play instruments on the album, but Motown refused to allow this. Jackson would later express his frustrations about this to his father, Joe Jackson, who would later work to terminate Michael's and his brothers' contract with Motown, and negotiate lucrative contracts for them with Epic Records.

Promotion

Since Jackson was on a world tour with his brothers as a member of The Jackson 5, promotion on this album was limited. The Stevie Wonder cover, "With a Child's Heart", was released as a single in the United States, where it reached number 14 on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart and number 50 on the Billboard Hot 100. Two additional songs, "Music and Me" and "Morning Glow," were released as singles in the United Kingdom, but failed to chart. Another track, "Too Young", was released as a single in Italy, while the track "Happy" was issued as a single in Australia and "Doggin' Around" received a limited-release single in the Netherlands. Ten years after this album's release, "Happy" was released as a single in the United Kingdom to promote Motown's 18 Greatest Hits compilation album. For the compact disc issues of the album, the text on the album was changed and the shade of green was darker.

CD rerelease

Music & Me received some changes when Motown Records released it on CD in the 1990s. The rerelease contained all tracks from the 1973 version (with the exception of "Doggin' Around"), with several more tracks from Jackson's other albums. The CD was not released in the US.

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
Entertainment Weekly	B
Village Voice	(B–)

The album received favourable reviews from music critics. Ron Wiynn of AllMusic wrote that the album's songs "were undistinguished" and that "Jackson sounded tentative and uninterested vocally". He also wrote that "the production and arrangements were routine at best, sometimes inferior." In his review of the album for The Village Voice, Robert Christgau wrote that "Michael isn't the black Donny Osmond" since he has "a sense of natural rhythm, but he's a singer, not a marionette" but he ended saying that "if a real interpreter" he doesn't "understand where the interpretations are coming from." Leah Greenblatt from Entertainment Weekly gave the album a B rating and noted: "On the cusp of a deepening, more adult voice, Jackson begins transitioning into grown-up material, including the contemplative title song, a grab bag of subdued show tunes, and a devastatingly fragile cover of Stevie Wonder's "With a Child's Heart"."

Track listing

Notes

• The order of tracks 7-9 was changed in later releases.

Charts

Sales

References

1. Chery, Carl: XXL: Michael Jackson Special Collecters Edition, page 100. American Press.
2. "Music & Me". AllMusic. Archived from the original on June 5, 2012. Retrieved April 27, 2009.
3. "Music & Me Was Released On This Day In 1973, it went onto sell over 2 million copies". Michael Jackson Official Site. Retrieved April 13, 2024.
4. Peel, Ian. "Music and Me (1973) and Forever Michael (1975) sold two million and one million copies respectively" - Classic Pop Presents Michael Jackson 2016. Anthem Publishing.
5. "Hello World - the Motown Solo Collection". Rolling Stone. August 5, 2009.
6. "Michael Jackson: A life of music". June 26, 2009.
7. François Allard; Richard Lecocq (October 4, 2018). Michael Jackson: All the Songs: The Story Behind Every Track. Octopus. pp. 105–. ISBN 978-1-78840-123-4.
8. "Michael Jackson's "Music & Me"". Los Angeles Times. April 28, 1973.
9. Halstead, Craig; Chris Cadman (2003). Michael Jackson: The Solo Years. Authors OnLine. ISBN 0-7552-0091-8.
10. François Allard; Richard Lecocq (October 4, 2018). Michael Jackson: All the Songs: The Story Behind Every Track. Octopus. pp. 106–. ISBN 978-1-78840-123-4.
11. ^ "Music & Me". AllMusic. Retrieved April 27, 2009.
12. ^ Greenblatt, Leah (July 3, 2009). "Michael Jackson's Albums". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on September 11, 2010. Retrieved April 6, 2010.
13. ^ Christgau, Robert (October 1973). "Michael Jackson: Music and Me". robertchristgau.com. The Village Voice.
14. "Lescharts.com – Michael Jackson – Music & Me". Hung Medien. Retrieved November 8, 2023.
15. "Michael Jackson Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved November 8, 2023.
16. "Michael Jackson Chart History (Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved November 8, 2023.
17. Michael Jackson the Solo Years. Authors On Line. 2003. ISBN 9780755200917.

External links

• Music & Me at Discogs (list of releases)

• 1973 albums
• Albums arranged by Gene Page
• Albums produced by Hal Davis
• Michael Jackson albums
• Motown albums