Catalog Number: 6052-ML

Condition Details:

Vinyl plays with crackles and some clicks (play-graded). Cover looks good; a few creases near edges; some scuffing, tiny surface abrasions, and surface impressions (front/back). Inner-sleeve is generic white. Spine is mostly easy-to-read with wear. Shelf-wear along top/bottom-edge and corners. Opening is crisp with signs of light use and divots. (Not a cut-out.)


Tracks:


About The Record:

Somebody's Watching Me, is the debut studio album by singer-songwriter Rockwell. It features the title track (with Michael Jackson on vocals in the chorus), as well as the top 40 hit Obscene Phone Caller. However the next two singles, the power ballad Knife and a cover of The Beatles’ Taxman failed to reach the top 40. After being kicked out of the house by his father, Motown founder Berry Gordy, Kennedy Gordy moved in with Ray Singleton, Gordy's ex-wife. While living there, the younger Gordy began working on some music. Seeing the youngster's potential, Singleton successfully lobbied to get Kennedy a staff writing job at Jobete. One night, Singleton overheard Kennedy working on the track, Somebody's Watching Me and believed it was a song worthy of recording. When Motown staff producer Curtis Anthony Nolen took an interest in the song, he was hired as the producer on the project. While working on the song in the studio, Kennedy got the idea to get Michael Jackson to sing on the track. Without indicating his plans, Kennedy picked Jackson up and drove him into the studio. Once Jackson was in the studio, Kennedy asked him to record the chorus with him. Jackson agreed. Once the track was mixed, Singleton could not wait to play it for Berry Gordy, who thought one of the voices sounded familiar, but could not identify it. When Gordy found out it was Michael Jackson, he was elated. Not wanting the Gordy name to influence the outcome of the song (his half-brother Kerry Gordy, recorded under his own name five years earlier without success), Kennedy decided to use the name Rockwell on the record. The title cut was one of the biggest singles of 1984 and both the album and single were certified Gold. It was easily the most successful record by a Gordy as a recording artist. Rockwell now gained an exalted position among the Gordy offspring.