Michael Jackson - Off CDs • Vinyl Records • LPs • Music Albums

personality, and except for some so-so material, it's a complete success.

A slick, sophisticated R&B-pop showcase with a definite disco slant, Off the Wall presents Michael Jackson as the Stevie Wonder of the Eighties. This resemblance is strongest on "I Can't Help It" (cowritten by Wonder), in which Jackson's vocal syncopation is reminiscent of the master's breathless, dreamy stutter.

Throughout, Jackson's feathery-timbred tenor is extraordinarily beautiful. It slides smoothly into a startling falsetto that's used very daringly. The singer's ultradramatic phrasing, which takes huge emotional risks and wins every time, wrings the last drop of pathos from Tom Bahler's tear-jerker, "She's Out of My Life." "Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough" (written and coproduced by Jackson) is one of a handful of recent disco releases that works both as a dance track and as an aural extravaganza comparable to Earth, Wind and Fire's "Boogie Wonderland." The rest of the dance music touches several grooves, from jazzy South American to mainstream pop funk.

A triumph for producer Quincy Jones as well as for Michael Jackson, Off the Wall represents discofied post-Motown glamour at its classiest. (RS 303)

STEPHEN HOLDEN

Many favor this album for its warm, genuinely unpretentious feel. The stellar selection of songs precludes any notions of Jackson being the King of Pop, but surely they helped fan that flame. The gentle disco beat of "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough" and the heart-wrenching "She's Out of My Life" are just two of Off the Wall's many highlights.