Search - Rebbie Jackson :: Centipede

Solid Debut

Mykel Marion | St. Louis, Mo | 12/23/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Rebbie Jackson's first album "centipede" is a decent album. It contains some good tracks like "Open Up My Love", "A Fork In The Road", "Ready For Love", And of course the title track. All of the other songs are just average. If rebbie would have hooked up w/ some good producers like younger sister Janet did, she might have had more of a hit album. But over all this album is decent."

A Stellar Debut From The Undiscovered Jackson!

Andre S. Grindle | Brewer Maine | 04/26/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Since Maureen "Rebbie" Jackson was the last of her superstar family to record there were probably very few expectations;after people had been exposed to the sweet but light,whispy singing of Janet and LaToya it seemed that the talent in this family laid mainly in the boys. But after listening to this it's clear Rebbie is the Jackson's best kept secret. Rebbie has one HELL of a voice if I may say so:she uses a lot of jazzy phrasing and inflections and obviously possess at least a 3 octave vocal range-dropping from her malismatic high alto down to a raspy Chaka Khan-ish growl in no time at all. Her alluring,sexy voice is married to some truly wonderful material here,most of it with a mildly exotic 80's funk-jazz bent. The best example is the title cut.Penned by brother Michael the tune has a strong electro funk pulse which Rebbie wraps her impressive voice around...well like a crawling centipede indeed. She also gets to mix it up in much the same way on the similarly part friendly groove of "Come Alive (It's Saturday Night)". "Hey Boy" finds her spreading her jazzy voice along to a very 70's style soul ballad that ups in tempo a little bit towards the end-her malismas and turns on this song are truly tasty. "Open Up To My Love" is one of the best songs on this overall wonderful album-nice midtempo soul with tasteful,80's friendly instrumentation and a really strong catchy hook. "Play Me (I'm A Jukebox)" showcases Rebbie in a very Minneapolis-type setting-she even adds some sassy rapping to the setting;for a woman who is a devout Jehovah's Witness this song is very openly erotic. She obviously has a strong affinity for Prince's sound because,as Chaka Khan and earlier The Pointer Sisters had done she covered his "I Feel For You";nobody can probably beat Chaka's famous reinvention of the same vintage but like the Pointers Rebbie retains the original's upbeat music (the instrumentation is even very similar) and the use of her higher voice and the rocking guitar solo in the middle really help that feel along. "A Fork In The Road" is beautiful with it's 60's soul ballad feel and Rebbie's yearning voice throughout. The album ends in a great way with the peppy,very 80's Jackson-sounding groove that will have you bobbing and singing right along! Rebbie's solo career turned out to be sadly shortlived;because of the Victory tour and Michael's huge success in 1984 "Centipede" became her only big hit-she only recorded two more albums in the 80's after this and her long awaited fourth album didn't come out until 1998. With the proper guidance Rebbie could've easily been the heiress to Michael's throne.Sadly that never happened but we can still listen to this and muse on this legend that should've been."