Jackson 5 Collection Fills Up With Filler : JACKSON 5 “Soulsation!Q: The 25th Anniversary Collection”, <i> Motown</i> * 1/3

Back in the early ‘70s, before he became the King of Pop, Michael Jackson was the cute, squeaky-voiced, preteen lead singer of the Jackson 5. The charismatic, pint-sized soul man sang and danced his way into the hearts of America’s pop fans.

The problem, though, was that much of the music was pretty awful--bubble-gum soul that was irritating to anyone past puberty. After a few quality singles--like “I Want You Back,” “ABC,” “Stop the Love You Save” and “Never Can Say Goodbye”--there’s a dramatic drop in quality, down to such cloying pop as “Ben.”

In the early days, the albums by Jackson and his brothers were fleshed out with filler. Much of it, including such bad covers as Jackson Browne’s “Doctor My Eyes,” is featured in this thorough, well-organized, four-disc set. One disc, though, would have been plenty. The Jackson 5 was more of a pop-culture phenomenon than a serious musical entity. The music simply doesn’t stand the test of time.

On the disc featuring unreleased material, there aren’t any hidden gems--just a lot of songs that are either poorly written or routinely produced. Like most of these tracks, they should have remained buried in the vaults.