Farewell My Summer Love is a compilation album by American singer Michael Jackson, consisting of archived songs that were recorded from January to October 1973.[1] The album was released with updated musical production by Motown Records in the United States on May 8, 1984.
| Farewell My Summer Love | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Compilation album by | ||||
| Released | May 8, 1984 | |||
| Recorded | January – October 1973[1] 1984 (overdubs) | |||
| Studio | Motown Recording Studios (Los Angeles, California)[1] Sound Factory Studio (Hollywood, Los Angeles, California)[1] | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 31:00 | |||
| Label | Motown | |||
| Producer | ||||
| Michael Jackson chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Singles from Farewell My Summer Love | ||||
| ||||
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [2] |
Album information
editFarewell My Summer Love was released by Motown Records. However, at the time of the release of the album in 1984, Jackson was already signed to Epic Records. He and the rest of The Jacksons musical group (with the exception of Jermaine) had left Motown for Epic in 1975, and Michael also had a solo deal at Epic. Epic Records released Jackson's huge selling Off the Wall and the mega-selling Thriller albums in 1979 and 1982 respectively. Thriller, in fact, went on to become the world's best-selling album, making Jackson a global superstar. In an attempt to capitalize off the mega-success of their former artist, Motown released this compilation of songs during the Thriller era, along with 18 Greatest Hits which was released the previous year. The nine songs contained on Farewell My Summer Love were reportedly "lost" by Motown, but supposedly rediscovered in 1984, around the height of Jackson's career.[3] Although Farewell My Summer Love was released in 1984, it features a somewhat younger sounding Jackson as the songs had been recorded over a decade prior.
To give the album a more contemporary sound, Motown remixed the songs and added new musical overdubs. The task of playing the updated sound was given to musicians Tony Peluso, Michael Lovesmith, and Steve Barri. Together with drummer Mike Baird, they recorded new guitar, keyboard, and percussion drum parts for the songs. Upon its release, the album peaked at No. 46 on the US Billboard 200 and No. 9 on the UK Albums Chart and to date has sold approximately one million copies worldwide.[4] On July 9, 1984, the album was certified Gold by the BPI for selling at least 100,000 copies in the United Kingdom.[5]
The title song became a moderate hit, reaching No. 38 on the US Hot 100, and a top 10 hit in the UK, reaching No. 7. A follow-up single, "Touch the One You Love", was released in the US and backed by "Girl You're So Together", but it failed to chart on the US Hot 100.[citation needed] In the UK, "Girl You're So Together" was released as a single, with "Touch the One You Love" on the B-side, and became a moderate hit, reaching the UK top 40.[6]
For many years, Farewell My Summer Love had not seen a re-release and is considered to be one of Jackson's most obscure albums. The 1995 version of the compilation album Anthology features the song "Farewell My Summer Love" in its 1984 remix version, as well as "Melodie", "Don't Let It Get You Down", "Call on Me" and "To Make My Father Proud" in their original 1973 versions.[7] All nine undubbed versions, as well as the 1984 mixes, were finally released on Hello World: The Motown Solo Collection in June 2009. In 2018, Music on CD reissued the album with all nine tracks remastered.[8]
Track listing
edit| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Don't Let It Get You Down" |
| 3:01 |
| 2. | "You've Really Got a Hold on Me" | Smokey Robinson | 3:30 |
| 3. | "Melodie" |
| 3:21 |
| 4. | "Touch the One You Love" | 2:47 | |
| 5. | "Girl You're So Together" | Keni St. Lewis | 3:09 |
| 6. | "Farewell My Summer Love" | St. Lewis | 4:21 |
| 7. | "Call on Me" | 3:38 | |
| 8. | "Here I Am (Come and Take Me)" | 2:53 | |
| 9. | "To Make My Father Proud" | 4:04 |
Singles
edit- "Farewell My Summer Love" – No. 38 US Billboard Hot 100; No. 37 US R&B singles; No. 20 US Adult Contemporary;[9] No. 7 UK Singles Chart
- "Girl You're So Together" – No. 33 UK Singles Chart
Charts
edit| Chart (1984) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian Albums Chart | 90 |
| Canadian Albums Chart[10] | 94 |
| Dutch Albums Chart[11] | 47 |
| German Albums Chart | 40 |
| New Zealand Albums Chart[12] | 50 |
| UK Albums Chart[13] | 9 |
| US Billboard Top 200 Albums[14] | 46 |
Certifications
edit| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom (BPI)[15] | Gold | 100,000^ |
| United States | — | 106,000[16] |
|
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. | ||
References
edit- ^ a b c d Lecocq, Richard; Allard, François (2018). "Bad". Michael Jackson All the Songs: The Story Behind Every Track. London, England: Cassell. ISBN 9781788400572.
- ^ a b "Farewell My Summer Love". AllMusic. Retrieved 2015-11-07.
- ^ "Odds 'n' Ends". Evening Times. 1984-08-17. Retrieved 2010-11-12.
- ^ Chery, Carl: XXL: Michael Jackson Special Collecters Edition, page 100. American Press.
- ^ "Certified Awards". Archived from the original on 2013-09-21. Retrieved 2016-06-11.
- ^ Halstead, Craig; Chris Cadman (2003). Michael Jackson: The Solo Years. Authors OnLine. ISBN 0-7552-0091-8.
- ^ Anthology (CD booklet). Michael Jackson. Motown. 1995. pp. 15–16.
{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link) - ^ "Michael Jackson Farewell My Summer Love – Music on CD". musiconcd.eu. Retrieved 2018-11-27.
- ^ Whitburn, Joel. "Michael Jackson." Top Adult Contemporary 1961-2001. Record Research Inc., Menomonee Falls, WI. p. 124.
- ^ "RPM Volume 40 No. 18, July 07 1984 - RPM". Archived from the original on 2009-06-30.
- ^ "Dutch Charts - dutchcharts.nl". dutchcharts.nl.
- ^ "charts.org.nz - New Zealand charts portal". charts.nz.
- ^ "Michael Jackson | full Official Chart History". Official Charts Company.
- ^ "Michael Jackson". Billboard.
- ^ "British album certifications – Michael Jackson – Farewell My Summer Love". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 3 January 2021.
- ^ Michael Jackson the Solo Years. Authors On Line. 2003. ISBN 9780755200917.