The Jackson 5 - Get It Together on cassette: Does an official version exist?

[Diablo Griffin]

Hello. This is my first post here and I thought this would be a good place to ask about this. For whatever reason, GIT seems to be the only J5 album that I just can't find on cassette. There was once a bootleg version of it on eBay, but that's doesn't count. I've seen a promo store display that says the album was available on records and tapes, so it had me thinking that a non-bootleg cassette may exist. I know some of the individual tracks are featured on various comps, but I'm looking for the album itself. Has anyone here ever seen or owned an official copy at some point?

[marybrewster]

https://m.ebay.com/itm/Mega-Rare-Jac...anner=1&_rdt=1

[Diablo Griffin]

Thanks, but's the bootleg version I found. I tried looking up that label and couldn't find anything about them.

[TomatoTom123]

Hey Diablo and welcome... unfortunately I can't help with your quest, but I can add that "Get It Together" is an absolutely cracking tune, and the album too.

However, can I ask, why do you want it on cassette?

[marv2]

I always loved the song "Get It Together"

[Quinn]

I'm glad you desire this is cassette format because you coincidentally made a revelation emerge. I just recently did a little research on your behalf and found something interesting. 8 tracks and cassettes were manufactured for every J5 album except for "G.I.T" from the 70's into the 90's,even in other countries. Nothing like this would've occurred to me had you not wanted it as most than likely a collector's item. Cassettes are having a resurgence it seems,just not on the level of vinyl. The more I think of this as strange it makes sense more and more,here's why:

When this classic album was released J5 was not on the best terms with the company politically. They had an incredible run of hits from '69 to about '71, but sales had begun to slow by "Lookin Through The Windows". Their records seemed to sell less and less after that and Joe Jackson had begun to panic. Now remember, Berry Gordy was almost never around during this time and had given the day to day responsibilities to Ewart Abner. Abner was once president at Vee Jay records in Chicago and was employed by Motown in 1966 when the company closed. He was the reason the Tops left and why Jerry Butler joined in 1976 among other things.

After "Skywriter" was a commercial disappointment, Joe Jackson confronted Abner about his kids future. Despite the fact that the group had initial success, Ab felt that the kids had traveled the world, had their own merchandise as well as their own cartoon and didn't see the need for gobs of money to still be invested in the group. He also argued that their fans were getting older and the material was still immature. Joe then pestered Berry Gordy who was focused on the film division and couldn't be bothered. Hal Davis stepped in to update their sound and the single sold almost a million units, but the album didn't raise hell at all. So, maybe the disputes of Joe, Abner, and Gordy restricted it to vinyl. It was a known fact that B.G. was no record executive to mess with[[David Ruffin solo career) and probably didn't make cassettes to be vindictive. Afterward they were manufactured again...

[marv2]

I'm glad you desire this is cassette format because you coincidentally made a revelation emerge. I just recently did a little research on your behalf and found something interesting. 8 tracks and cassettes were manufactured for every J5 album except for "G.I.T" from the 70's into the 90's,even in other countries. Nothing like this would've occurred to me had you not wanted it as most than likely a collector's item. Cassettes are having a resurgence it seems,just not on the level of vinyl. The more I think of this as strange it makes sense more and more,here's why:

When this classic album was released J5 was not on the best terms with the company politically. They had an incredible run of hits from '69 to about '71, but sales had begun to slow by "Lookin Through The Windows". Their records seemed to sell less and less after that and Joe Jackson had begun to panic. Now remember, Berry Gordy was almost never around during this time and had given the day to day responsibilities to Ewart Abner. Abner was once president at Vee Jay records in Chicago and was employed by Motown in 1966 when the company closed. He was the reason the Tops left and why Jerry Butler joined in 1976 among other things.

After "Skywriter" was a commercial disappointment, Joe Jackson confronted Abner about his kids future. Despite the fact that the group had initial success, Ab felt that the kids had traveled the world, had their own merchandise as well as their own cartoon and didn't see the need for gobs of money to still be invested in the group. He also argued that their fans were getting older and the material was still immature. Joe then pestered Berry Gordy who was focused on the film division and couldn't be bothered. Hal Davis stepped in to update their sound and the single sold almost a million units, but the album didn't raise hell at all. So, maybe the disputes of Joe, Abner, and Gordy restricted it to vinyl. It was a known fact that B.G. was no record executive to mess with[[David Ruffin solo career) and probably didn't make cassettes to be vindictive. Afterward they were manufactured again...

hmmmm......sounds quite sinister LOL! Thank you Quinn!

[Diablo Griffin]

Hey Diablo and welcome... unfortunately I can't help with your quest, but I can add that "Get It Together" is an absolutely cracking tune, and the album too.

However, can I ask, why do you want it on cassette?

It's my favorite J5 album and I simply like collecting cassettes, especially the older ones manufactured by Ampex. At least some of the individual songs are available via comps, so it's not like they don't exist on cassette.

I'm glad you desire this is cassette format because you coincidentally made a revelation emerge. I just recently did a little research on your behalf and found something interesting. 8 tracks and cassettes were manufactured for every J5 album except for "G.I.T" from the 70's into the 90's,even in other countries. Nothing like this would've occurred to me had you not wanted it as most than likely a collector's item. Cassettes are having a resurgence it seems,just not on the level of vinyl. The more I think of this as strange it makes sense more and more,here's why:

When this classic album was released J5 was not on the best terms with the company politically. They had an incredible run of hits from '69 to about '71, but sales had begun to slow by "Lookin Through The Windows". Their records seemed to sell less and less after that and Joe Jackson had begun to panic. Now remember, Berry Gordy was almost never around during this time and had given the day to day responsibilities to Ewart Abner. Abner was once president at Vee Jay records in Chicago and was employed by Motown in 1966 when the company closed. He was the reason the Tops left and why Jerry Butler joined in 1976 among other things.

After "Skywriter" was a commercial disappointment, Joe Jackson confronted Abner about his kids future. Despite the fact that the group had initial success, Ab felt that the kids had traveled the world, had their own merchandise as well as their own cartoon and didn't see the need for gobs of money to still be invested in the group. He also argued that their fans were getting older and the material was still immature. Joe then pestered Berry Gordy who was focused on the film division and couldn't be bothered. Hal Davis stepped in to update their sound and the single sold almost a million units, but the album didn't raise hell at all. So, maybe the disputes of Joe, Abner, and Gordy restricted it to vinyl. It was a known fact that B.G. was no record executive to mess with[[David Ruffin solo career) and probably didn't make cassettes to be vindictive. Afterward they were manufactured again...

Interesting observation, but the only thing that makes this a bit perplexing is that G.I.T. actually was released on 8-track. There were at least two different versions from what I've seen; one had the brothers on the front and the other didn't.

[JohnnyB]

It's my favorite J5 album and I simply like collecting cassettes, especially the older ones manufactured by Ampex. At least some of the individual songs are available via comps, so it's not like they don't exist on cassette.


Interesting observation, but the only thing that makes this a bit perplexing is that G.I.T. actually was released on 8-track. There were at least two different versions from what I've seen; one had the brothers on the front and the other didn't.

The album was absolutely released on cassette. I received my first cassette recorder and that cassette for Christmas that year, 1973.

[mysterysinger]

If you still have it on cassette it could be worth a lot of money.

[JohnnyB]

If you still have it on cassette it could be worth a lot of money.

I wish I did! I eventually purchased the LP and threw the cassette away. I preferred vinyl to cassette back then...

[Thatkliqkid]

Proof that it existed anyway here

[Diablo Griffin]

Proof that it existed anyway here

Thanks for the link! The presence of a barcode indicates that this version a reissue. I'd love to find a vintage '70s version at some point, though I'm happy to see that an official release does exist. In the meantime, I'll add it to Discogs.

[soulster]

Hey Diablo, the sound of those old prerecorded tapes sound terrible! I know they do. I owned a few of them, and Ampex was a big duplicator of them back in the early 70s. And, Motown cassettes never sounded good.

But, cassettes are definately making a comeback, and TEAC is making brand new quality decks. I've gotten back into rolling my own tapes. I've had a good, working JVC deck sitting for many years. I opened up a couple of new TDK SA tape stock i've had sitting around for the last decade and decided to make new recordings of music played back from the computer. I'm listening to one tape now, and it sounds great!

I even decided to play a couple of 1983/84 vintage prerecorded tapes from the Capitol XDR series, and they sound exceptionally good!

In fact, I dug out two of my old high-end Sony decks, one with Dolby S. Unfortunately, the drive belts have melted, literally! So, I have to track down two new ones to get these machines running again.

[Diablo Griffin]

I'll agree that Ampex tapes generally don't sound all that great, but I do like their packaging. If I see a cheap one I'll usually pick it up.