the band had left their longtime label motown in 1975 with the exception of brother jermaine jackson who had stayed with motown after he married berry gordy's daughter, hazel gordy. after a couple of years of being with philly international, the jacksons set their sights on one of columbia records' most popular labels, epic. after having their previous albums spearheaded by legendary producers kenny gamble and leon huff, epic allowed the jackson brothers to write and produce their own materialfor the first time in their career, something that motown did not permit. composing much of the album in their home-made recording studio in their gated hayvenhurst mansion, the group finished recording the album within two months.