Smokey Robinson and the Miracles. CoD, S&D, POO, POX, etc.

I know it wouldn't likely be up Ned's alley, but a lot of the Smokey solo stuff is pretty great. I haven't heard any of the '90s stuff, but One Heartbeat (from '87) is only "dud" in comparison with the earlier stuff--on its own it's a perfectly respectable, albeit dated, '80s R&B record. Still, "Being with You" is probably the last great thing he did.

Ha, I've just remembered a conversation with an idiot former work colleague. He said that the only people in music who he thought had never done anything of any merit at all were Celine Dion and Smokey Robinson. I spluttered somewhat at that second choice, and knowing I was talking to an old rockist said "Bob Dylan called him the greatest love poet of the 20th Century" and this guy said "Bob Dylan, that's another one" and I gave up.

I don't know if the box set's in print anymore (it was in the Motown Masters series which was cancelled when the company was bought by the Universal conglomerate) but it's a doozy.

Was "Cruisin'" after "Being with You"? I don't like that one nearly as much, but it's still pretty good.

good lord this guy looks crepey now

http://www.generalentertainment.com/artists/Smokey%20Robinson.jpg
http://www.rochesterjazz.com/press_room/artist_photos/2009/SMOKEY_ROBINSON2.jpg
http://news.smoothjazznetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/smokey-robinson.jpg

kind of looks like wayne newton in that middle one.

too bad, he could've easily gone the dignified-and-old route. but instead he's trying to sell his new album to a young audience and has apparently taken the same attitude toward his face.

that's slightly depressing

on the other hand, i have been listening to a cheap best of the miracles non stop for the past week, so

I played Going to a Go-Go at a wedding saturday night. I've loved that song since I was a little kid. That and the Four Tops version of Working My Way Back To You are among the few songs that left incredible and intense imprints on my brain for some reason.

did the four tops do a version of WMWBTY? can only find four seasons & spinners

maybe i'm thinking of spinners. Always thought it was four tops.

kind of interested:

Smokey Robinson: A Quiet Storm [Tamla, 1975]
Only "Virgin Man," the most audacious and appropriate song he's written in years, kept Pure Smokey from drifting away. The title cut here announces Robinson's intention of distilling that drift into a style--rhythmically it seems to respond more to his internal state than to any merely physical criterion. Audacious in its way, and sexy, too, I guess, but he can't be my love man until he finds a beat. Which he does--not on the number-one soul hit "Baby That's Backatcha," but as the record is drawing to a close, on "Love Letters" and the coy "Coincidentally." B

The Miracles: City of Angels [Tamla, 1975]
Tom Smucker, explaining why this was included in his annual top ten: "Motown moves to L.A. and likes what it finds. It's very important that in an era when people don't like cities some people can still find them romantic. And that L.A. is the city. And that Motown are the people." This is sweet and true, but it ignores the point, which is that this record is a riot. In fact, its achievement is so complete, so true to itself, that the lurking possibility of a put-on can't be dismissed. Space makes it impossible to reprint Inspirational Verse (Q: If the first line is "Homosexuality" and the rhyming word is "society," what's the third line? A: "Well I guess they need more variety"), but print doesn't do it justice anyway. You have to hear the intonations, the falsettos, the backups, the orchestration, some of which can be credited to producer Freddie Perren. All this plus: the first soul song about an underground newspaper. B

Smokey Robinson: Touch the Sky [Tamla, 1983]
Since his turn-of-the-decade renaissance, Smokey's been slipping back among the marginalia, where qualitative distinctions (better than Yes It's You Lady but not Being With You) get fine if not strictly personal. This one's recommended especially to cheating-song fans--"Gimme What You Want" is defiant enough for Millie Jackson, "All My Life's a Lie" defeated enough for George Jones--though I'll admit that what pushed me over the line was the way the positivity of the title cut fades out on a pleading "touch it, touch it" that I'd swear aims lower than the sky. B+

Smokey Robinson: Essar [Tamla, 1984]
The one about how much he wants to get next to a young thing who's been almost family since she was a baby is as convincing as "Shop Around." But with Smokey convincing doesn't necessarily have anything to do with factual. Which is the only reason "And I Don't Love You" (who else would begin a song "The whippoorwill--whippoor won't"?), "Gone Forever," and the agonizing "I Can't Find" don't have me worried (much) about him and Claudette. Sure there's filler, some of it written by Essar himself--he would try and get away with "Close Encounters of the First Kind" in 1984. But one thing you can say about Smokey's filler that you can't say about anybody else's--Smokey's singing it. B+

does anyone have a particular attraction to any of the miracles live records?

whats in a cruisin vein? srsly i have been listening to a lot of "oldies" radio and the past was pretty good.

Marv Tarplin, RIP:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/oct/03/marv-tarplin?newsfeed=true

:-( Sad news!

This guy is one of the immortals yet I'd be surprised if ten people knew his name.

:(((

Did he work with anyone other than Smokey after the '60s? I do love his Miracles work.

He cowrote "Cruisin'."

He was one of the few guys who played on the road with the band as well in the studio on the records, another being Cornelius Grant of The Temptations. RIP, Marv.

So many great songs, but I just want to put a word in for The Love I Saw In You Was Just a Mirage, one of his finest lyrical moments

RIP. Only 70. Missed Tarplin's death till now. Impressive career. From the NY Time's obit:

Mr. Tarplin wrote much of the music for several other Miracles hits, including “My Girl Has Gone,” “Going to a Go-Go” and “The Love I Saw in You Was Just a Mirage.”

He also collaborated on several songs that Marvin Gaye recorded. Two of the songs he wrote for Mr. Gaye (with Mr. Robinson and others) reached No. 1 on the rhythm-and-blues charts in 1965: “I’ll Be Doggone” and “Ain’t That Peculiar.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmYiOPcJxhY

On a Smokey solo album marathon this Sunday afternoon. I'm noticing, outside of Quiet Storm and 'Cruisin', his 70's output is a really overlooked period.

YESSSSSSSSS

My favorite smokey period and damn near my favorite music.

What is good specifically? I only know Quiet Storm

The first two albums, Smokey (1973) and Pure Smokey (1974) are highly recommended. After that, the albums get a little more spotty, but the highlights are usually real winners.

Every solo studio album is overlooked. In April I spent a couple days listening to a couple of his (weird) mid eighties output.

Never ventured into the 80's stuff. You're a better man than myself, Alfred.

Check this out!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTy-U1dnBWo

Ha, super cheese. Good jam, though!

the first two solo smokey albums are fantastic! very ambitious, very eclectic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpHEj-Iow3Y

Nice -- this is a Dusty Springfield track basically.

I need to buy Pure Smokey; I've always loved "I Am I Am."

my favourite smokey https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ih4WdQzm9dU

^ which is followed by this making it one of my favorite back-to-backs in his catalogue.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcV8o0YkWYM

here's a great one from the late 70's

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsBFky8VC5E

I'm amazed this was a single:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sYdChWQXzA

Pete Moore has passed at 78. Rest in peace, Pete!

<3

I checked wiki and he apparently sorted out the harmonies on "Ooh Baby Baby", so fair lemon cakes, all things being said.

Anyone know if Moore did all the vocal arrangements for the group? I know he was involved with it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FO66w3pbcCA&feature=share

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNadSfuNpBM

I note he gets a writing credit for "Tracks of my Tears" too, so perhaps he was involved in that. It appears that he got writing credits on the basis of doing the harmonies, so it might be gleaned from that that he didn't arrange them on the ones where he didn't get a credit, but who knows.

He was good!

Glad you think so

Have seen him live twice in recent years and he still sounds good onstage too

Whoa.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGTo9I0P6hU

Why do artists consign songs of this magnitude to the b-side of a single? Why?

Including, with the Miracles, arguably the greatest B-side ever:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvpDtss8dC0

Why do artists consign songs of this magnitude to the b-side of a single? Why?

― OrificeMax (Old Lunch), Thursday, October 29, 2020 10:15 AM (forty-four minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

It may not have been up to Smokey. Motown had regular team meetings where songs were listened to and voted on, and the artists/composers/producers were super competitive about what the next big release would be.

Wasn't Motown, also, the definitive practitioner of the make-the-follow-up-as-close-to-the-hit-as-possible rule? Not a knock, many great follow-ups.

Musically, the only one I can think of off the top of my head is "The Same Old Song." Thematically, there was "My Girl," which bore no musical resemblance at all to "My Guy."

Was watching tv singing show The Voice, and a guy sang “Cruisin’”. Judge Blake Shelton said “I don’t know that song and I T first wasn’t sure what genre it was.” Fellow judge John Legend then explained to Blake who it was and the genre.

That’s a later period Smokey song , but just figured I would mention it here since this thread just popped up.

“Where Did Our Love Go” followed up by “Baby Love” is another famous example.

xps

saying that you don't know 'cruisin' is pretty much one of the most heinous offenses that anyone can admit to. i bet he also takes a dump and doesn't flush.

“I’d like the world to know that I don’t want anyone to mistake me for one of those cruisin’ kind of guys”

It's just sort of a general proposition, but I think Martha & the Vandellas were big on if-it-ain't-broke: "Heatwave" then "Quicksand," "Wild One" then "Nowhere to Run" (both brilliant).

Jr. Walker: "Shotgun" + "Do the Boomerang."

According to the Temptations Anthology (which is in chronological order), each of their big hits was followed up by at least one soundalike, but those subsequent singles weren't especially popular and aren't that well remembered.

Reach Out I'll Be There - Standing In The Shadows Of Love seems particularly obvious example of this

Two slow burners from solo Smokey

Baby come close
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlTf7F-gLpw

Asleep on my love
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7joyaaEqpp0

oh hell tf yes to those first two smokey solo lps. i tend to think of them as underrated. very romantically pleasant music. kind of the maxwell to marvin's d'angelo.

Got this for $2, perfect shape, at a street fair recently. Had almost all of it already, but, you know, $2.

https://www.discogs.com/release/6300394-Smokey-Robinson-The-Miracles-The-Best-Of-Smokey-Robinson-The-Miracles

How many different ways has this man written about love

As I played that comp in the car, though, I was reminded of how often the early stuff was hitched to dances: "Mickey's Monkey"--the whole Doin' Mickey's Monkey LP--"Show Me You Can Dance," "Come On Do the Jerk," "Going to a Go-Go." Other than with Johnny Boy, that side of the Miracles was eclipsed by the love songs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-PZaK8TnWw

I got that Miracles compilation from the library last year. As you can see from that Discogs entry, there's a track on there - "'Til You Were Gone" - that has nothing to do with Smokey Robinson at all! It was apparently a mistakenly identified tape from the Motown archives.

There was a song where I noticed someone else was doing the lead vocal--assume that's the one?

I believe Smokey's wife sings one on this compilation as well.

Great score clemenza, that's easily the best collection you can get unless you want to spring for the box set (which is probably a bit too much for most, but it does have some choice cuts from both Smokey's solo career and the Miracles without Smokey). The original mono 45 mixes too, the best way to hear Motown.

His new album is titled Gasms

from the press release:

Gasms is peak Smokey. It’s the culmination of his series of classic solo albums Pure Gasm, A Quiet Gasm, Smokey’s Family Gasm, Deep in My Gasm, Love Gasm, Gasmin’, Where There’s Gasm…, Warm Gasms, Gasmin’ with You, Yes It’s You Gasm, Touch the Gasm, Gasmer, Gasm Signals, One Hard Gasm, Gasm, Smokey, and
Double Gasm Everything, and features exciting new versions of hits like “The Agony and the Ecstasy”, “Just to Seed Her”, “(I Love It When We’re) Cruisin’ (Together), “Let Me Be The Cock”, and "There Will Come a Day (I'm Gonna Happen to You)". Pops, we love you!

And there’s more! We’re sure it will make you gush with delight to know that America’s greatest living Beat Poet is already frantically working on a follow-up set, The Second Coming, where he will give a whole new edge to such 60s Miracles classics as “Come On Do the Jerk”, "Mickey’s Monkey”, “Ooo Baby Baby”, “Gotta Dance to Keep from Crying”, and “The Tracks of My Tears".

We’re so proud of you, Smokey. Cream always rises to the top!

LMAO

Smokey want gasm
All ways and always