BURNING THE GROUND EXCLUSIVE 1984

“Torture” is the second single released off the album Victory by the band, The Jacksons. Written by Jackie Jackson and fellow Motown veteran Kathy Wakefield, the song is about someone ending a relationship, and the torture that a person can receive whilst trying to end it. Jackie was originally going to sing the song with his brother, Michael, but Jackie’s role instead went to Jermaine Jackson, whose availability for the album was in question until the last minute. The rest of the Jacksons sang the chorus along with Michael and Jermaine.

The song received a mixed reaction from critics. The music video was most well known for Michael not being available, in which case a dummy had to be put in his place throughout the video. Paula Abdul choreographed the video, in which various scenes of torture are displayed, with the Jacksons being on the receiving end of most of the torture. The song peaked at number 17 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, making it the second best selling single on the album, behind “State of Shock”. It also peaked at number 26 on the UK charts.

Reception for the song was mixed.The Philadelphia Inquirer said that the song was “a hard-rock dance tune with blaring synthesizers and buzzing guitars.” The reviewer however, didn’t like the song, summing up their distaste in one word, “Yawn.” The Sacramento Bee complimented Jackie Jackson for being the only person “besides Michael,” to “rise above the generic,” citing “Torture” as one of the two songs by Jackie that were more than exceptional on the album.

William Ruhlmann of Allmusic considered the song a “Track pick”, and mentioned that the song’s popularity probably had to do more with the fact that Michael Jackson was involved. “So, here one has the ludicrous situation of an album in which Marlon Jackson has as prominent a role as Michael Jackson. That’s how it sounded to listeners in 1984, anyway, and they weren’t fooled — “State of Shock”, on which Michael shared vocals with Mick Jagger, was a gold Top Ten hit, and “Torture”, which teamed Michael with Jermaine, made the Top 40, while the album went platinum. But the tracks by other group members went virtually ignored,” Ruhlmann said.

SIDE A:
Torture (12″ Dance Mix) 6:15

SIDE B:
Torture (Instrumental) 5:05

VINYL GRADE:
Vinyl: Near Mint
Cover: Near Mint

CHARTS:

RELEASE INFORMATION:
Label: Epic– 49 05075
Format: Vinyl, 12″
Country: US
Released: 1984
Genre: Electronic, Funk / Soul
Style: Funk
Credits: Mixed By – Bill Bottrell
Producer – Jackie Jackson

NOTES:
Also Available: the Epic lp “VICTORY” (QE 389946)

Find The 12″ On DISCOGS

EQUIPMENT USED:
Turntable: Pro-Ject Debut III
Cartridge: Ortofon Super
Stylus: Ortofon OM Stylus 30
Bellari VP130 Tube Phono Preamp
Soundcard: ESI Juli@
VPI HW 16.5 Record Cleaning Machine
Brother MFC-6490CW Professional Series Scanner

SOFTWARE USED:
Adobe Audition 3.0 (Recording)
Adobe Photoshop CS5
ClickRepair
dBpoweramp
Playlist Creator

RESTORATION NOTES:
All vinyl rips are recorded @ 32bit/float
Downsampled to 24bit/96kHz and16bit /44kHz using iZotope RX Advanced 2
FLAC (Level Eight)
MP3 (320kbps)
Artwork scanned at 600dpi