ABC (The Jackson 5 album)


ABC is the second studio album by the Jackson 5, released on May 8, 1970 by Motown. It featured the No. 1 singles "ABC" and "The Love You Save", and has sold up to 6 million copies worldwide. Also present on the LP were several notable album tracks, including a cover of Funkadelic's "I'll Bet You", "I Found That Girl", and "The Young Folks", originally recorded by Diana Ross and the Supremes.
The album peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard Pop Albums Chart and at No. 1 on the Billboard Black Albums chart in the United States. It was ranked No. 98 on VH1's All-Time Albums Top 100 list. It remains one of the Jackson 5's most popular efforts. The title track was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals in 1971.

Re-release

In 2001, Motown remastered all Jackson 5 albums in a "Two Classic Albums/One CD" series. This album was paired up with Diana Ross Presents The Jackson 5. The bonus track was an outtake, "Oh, I've Been Blessed", a song also released on the rare 1979 outtakes album Boogie.
An alternate version of the title track appears on the CD I Want You Back! Unreleased Masters released in 2009.

Critical reception

ABC received widespread critical acclaim. AllMusic stated, "Not even six months after the Jackson 5 -- Jackie, Jermaine, Marlon, Michael, and Tito -- issued their debut long-player, Diana Ross Presents the Jackson 5, the vocal quintet returned with ABC, arguably the brothers' most solid effort of the early '70s. The Jacksons' collective talents, coupled with exemplary material and the finest behind the scenes crew Motown had to offer, were directly responsible for the enormous success that placed the LP at the crest of the R&B chart and into the Top Five of the pop survey, while the title track and the double-sided hit single "The Love You Save" b/w "I Found That Girl" all went directly to the number one position across the board".

Personnel

Musicians on the song's session were uncredited, in line with Motown policy. Motown did not list session musician credits on their releases until 1971. The musicians who performed on "ABC" are believed to be as follows: