AMG Review of Love Songs

Al Campbell
All Music Guide

Universal's Love Songs highlights 12 tracks covering the laid-back romantic tunes the Jackson 5 recorded during their tenure on Motown, including the hits "I'll Be There" and "Never Can Say Goodbye." Released specifically with the Valentine's Day shopper in mind, this collection's romantic theme avoids any overt uptempo tunes that would still fall into that category. But why leave off mellow classics like "Lookin' Through the Windows," "Maybe Tomorrow," and "Got to Be There," Michael's "solo" hit from that era? With plenty of J5 material to choose from, this compilation fails to capture a majority of their first-rate romantic tracks, which would have easily fit on this CD as the disc's running time is only 38 minutes. Nevertheless, Love Songs is interesting in that it delves deeper into the Jackson 5's catalog than similar compilations, spotlighting decent album tracks from later releases Skywriter, Moving Violation, and Joyful Jukebox Music.