Ben (album)
| Ben | ||||
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| Michael Jackson studio album | ||||
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Publication |
4th August 1972 |
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admission |
November 1971 – February 1972 |
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| Label (s) | Motown Records | |||
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Format (s) |
CD, LP |
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Title (number) |
10 |
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running time |
31:15 |
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| occupation | ||||
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Studio (s) |
Motown Recording Studios in |
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Ben is the second solo album by the then 13-year-old American singer Michael Jackson and was released in August 1972, seven months after his debut album Got to Be There .
Track list
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Chart positions Explanation of the data |
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| number | title | Composer / s | length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Ben | Don Black , Walter Scharf | 2:44 |
| 2. | The Greatest Show on Earth | Mel Larson, Jerry Marcellino | 2:48 |
| 3. | People Make the World Go Round | Thom Bell , Linda Creed | 3:15 |
| 4th | We've Got a Good Thing Going | The Corporation | 2:59 |
| 5. | Everybody's Somebody's Fool | Ace Adams, Lionel Hampton | 2:59 |
| 6th | My girl | Smokey Robinson , Ronald White | 3:08 |
| 7th | What Goes Around Comes Around | Levinsky, Stokes, Meyers, Weatherspoon | 3:33 |
| 8th. | In Our Small Way | Beatrice Verdi, Christine Yarian | 3:39 |
| 9. | Shoo-Be-Doo-Be-Doo-Da-Day | Henry Cosby, Sylvia Moy, Stevie Wonder | 3:21 |
| 10. | You Can Cry on My Shoulder | Berry Gordy | 2:39 |
reception
Chart placements
The album reached number five in the pop charts and number four in the American black charts. It ranked 17th in the UK and was awarded a silver record.
Reviews
The album received generally good to mediocre reviews from contemporary music critics. Rolling Stone's Vince Aletti gave the album two out of five stars in 1972. For Aletti, who compares the album to the productions of the Jackson Five , the album is "much more original", but has "none of the fantastic 'Got to Be There' or 'I Wanna Be Where You Are'", although it does "Is a far stronger album than the first [by Michael Jackson]." According to him, Jackson put "a surprising amount of feeling" into his voice in the title song of the album.
Lindsay Planner from Allmusic gave Ben four out of five possible stars as a rating. Planner sees What Goes Around Comes Around as "one of Ben's better in-depth songs" and Shoo Be Doo Be Doo Da Day as a "winner," while she sees In Our Small Way as a "weaker contribution" on the album because of the song carry a "hopelessly old-fashioned 'message'". Planer notes that the album is "an interesting turnaround because Motown hit machine The Corporation is not involved".
Leah Greenblatt of Entertainment Weekly gave the album a "B" rating. Greenblatt noted that Ben's theme song is a "legacy of his talent" and added that the album "will always be determined" by this song.
Individual evidence
- ↑ release date
- ↑ Chart data album UK US
- ↑ Chart data for single UK, US
- ↑ Short review and list of composers at starpulse.com
- ↑ List of the chart positions of the albums at allmusic.com
- ↑ a b c Vince Aletti: Michael Jackson: Ben: Music Review: Rolling Stone . In: Rolling Stone . Wenner Media LLC. December 7, 1972. Archived from the original on June 18, 2008. Retrieved March 30, 2010.
- ↑ a b c Lindsay planner: allmusic ((Ben> Overview)) . In: Allmusic . Rovi Corporation. Retrieved March 30, 2010.
- ↑ a b Leah Greenblatt: Michael Jackson's Albums . In: Entertainment Weekly . July 3, 2009. Retrieved April 6, 2010.