The Jackson 5 – Dancing Machine / Get It Together [1975; Motown]

Pulling both of its songs from the band’s 1973 album Get It Together, this single opens with that LP’s closing track, “Dancing Machine”, a finely-crafted piece of disco funk. Pumping along on a firm percussion line, augmented with horns and bass, the group’s vocals sweep and slide, though the single version is unfortunately about a minute shorter than the LP cut. The album’s opening title track is pushed to the B-side, but while it doesn’t hit the same highs of energy, it still turns out a solid groove, with the instruments upstaging the singers. Quite a nice slice from the era.

El DeBarge – Who’s Johnny? / Love Always [year unknown; Motown]

Pulling two songs from El DeBarge’s debut solo album, this single opens with the one used in the movie Short Circuit, a spangly electro/soul/pop piece about a man trying to dig into his lover’s infidelity, and the tell-tale signs giving her away. The vocals and instrumentation are well-matched, trading the lead power between the two sides while escalating the whole thing, and there are some neat twists put into the song’s arrangement. The B-side slows down to a sultry pace, with the soul aspects given more prominence, but with the toned-down electronics, it ends up feeling kind of bland, with the touches of cheesy ‘80s sax not doing much to alleviate that impression. Not a bad pair, but the A-side easily steals the thunder.

Rick James – Fire It Up [1979; Bellaphon, Gordy, Motown, Pathé Marconi EMI]

On Rick James’ third album (released the same year as his Bustin’ Out Of L Seven), all but two of the song names invoke love in one form or another, starting with the barely-concealed double entendre of “Love Gun”. The other main link is the songs’ ballsy brand of funk, placing James squarely at the center of focus, with the backing band feeling almost incidental despite their strong playing.

It makes James come off as more of a rock star than a James Brown-styled ringleader, and in spite of the cocaine habit which was already in firm swing, he tempers the swagger (and occasional out-right shouting) with softness, sweetness, and soulfulness, which has the side effect of making the heavy love focus not seem quite so out of place. And while the movement from song to song can seem a bit jarring, the full run through the album finds a weird but very effective balance to its energy and momentum, even with the lengthy spoken-word segment of “Stormy Love”. Distinctive and impressive, with very little dead weight despite its unconventional shaping.