A Return Flight, with Love and Roses

WELCOME BACK TO THE MIRACLES’ FINAL ALBUMS

On January 20, 1972, as Smokey Robinson was preparing to bow out of the Miracles, Motown Records circulated a press release about his forthcoming farewell. In it, the star’s then-personal manager, Taylor Cox, asserted that the announcement was genuine and was “not a show business gimmick to build hysteria among Smokey’s rabid fans around the world.”

      As a footnote, it was noted that “Satisfaction” was the Miracles’ latest hit. “Essentially,” the PR puffery continued, “that is the story of Smokey Robinson at Motown. He came, he saw, he got a job, he conquered the show business world, and he bows out graciously – and satisfied.”

Four albums, two compact discs

      Six decades later, there’s more satisfaction in the air. Next Friday (19), the final four of Robinson and the Miracles’ studio albums for Motown (excluding The Season For Miracles, a Christmas offering) will be reissued in a 2CD set via a partnership of two independent catalogue labels, SoulMusic and The Second Disc.

      The albums are 1970’s What Love Has…Joined Together and A Pocket Full Of Miracles, 1971’s One Dozen Roses, and 1972’s Flying High Together. The 43 tracks include the group’s biggest worldwide hit, “The Tears Of A Clown”; two recordings, “Paper People” and “(You’ve Got Me) Looking Through The Eyes Of Love,” which were only previously available digitally; and (in addition to “Clown”) the Miracles’ last seven Tamla singles with Robinson, ranging from “Point It Out” to “I Can’t Stand To See You Cry.”

      Three of the original LPs have never been on compact disc, while the CD edition of What Love Has…Joined Together is long out of print. All four were added to digital streaming services in 2014, and are available there today. “The [licensing] request for the albums was made two years ago,” says SoulMusic founder David Nathan, “and finally approved in December 2023. I originally chose them because they were out of print for so long and never got the attention during the heyday of Motown CD reissues. That they represented the last four Tamla LPs by Smokey with the Miracles, I felt had some historical significance.”

      They have creative significance, too, not least because Robinson – then tiring of life perpetually on the road, wishing to spend more time at home with wife Claudette and their young offspring – drew in an assortment of writer and producer collaborators, in contrast to much of his earlier work, where he, the Miracles and guitarist Marv Tarplin did the bulk of the heavy lifting. Among those recruited to help create were Stevie Wonder, Nick Ashford and Valerie Simpson, George Gordy, Johnny Bristol, Jack Goga and Hank Cosby.

      Two further collaborators – Robinson protégés, even – were Terry Johnson and Al Cleveland. The latter co-wrote the Miracles’ “Yester Love,” “Special Occasion,” “Baby, Baby Don’t Cry” and “Doggone Right.” Johnson co-authored and co-produced the third one of those hits, as well as sharing production credits (with Robinson) on “I Don’t Blame You At All,” the above-cited “Satisfaction” and the Miracles’ remake of “The Hunter Gets Captured By The Game.”

Soul music historian David Nathan

Previously, Johnson was a member of the Flamingos (“I Only Have Eyes For You”) and joined Motown circa 1964 at Robinson’s invitation. “The major stuff was being in the studio,” he told trade publication Pollstar in 2013, “sharing my thoughts and getting inspiration and production ideas for Smokey.” He continued, “We were probably learning from each other. He was crazy about the music I was coming up with, and I loved his lyrics.”

      Similarly, Al Cleveland came from a vocal group, the Halos, whose brief chart moment was with 1961’s “Nag.” His career was covered in Fame Without Fortune, a biography written by his son, Daryl. The book tells of Cleveland’s introduction to Robinson, when Al shut down a rambunctious, post-concert party in the boarding house where the Halos and the Miracles were staying so that a pregnant Claudette Robinson could get some rest. “I won’t forget this act of kindness that you just showed me,” said Robinson. Evidently not: the Miracles’ leader offered his new friend a job opportunity at Motown – and Smokey and Claudette became Cleveland’s godparents.

      Claudette is among those reminiscing in the detailed, comprehensive liner notes for this Miracles edition, written by Second Disc Records founder Joe Marchese, who also co-produced the collection with David Nathan. “Claudette’s amazing support and participation – as well as that of Motown tape librarian Pat Cosby, widow of composer/producer Hank – made this project so very special,” says Marchese. “Both were so generous with their time and memories.” Quoted, too, is Sharon Davis, whose Motown Spotlight is a fixture on Nathan’s Soulmusic website, and there are also detailed annotations by Andy Skurow, respected for his Motown catalogue endeavours while at Universal Music Group (UMG).

A DYNAMIC, SUPERIOR REISSUE

      The 2CD set is The Second Disc’s first Motown title to be co-branded with SoulMusic Records, according to Marchese. In the past, his label has had a similar partnership with the Real Gone label in the U.S., making available Motown albums and collections by the Supremes, Bobby Darin, Blinky and Stoney & Meatloaf, among others.

      For his part, David Nathan says SoulMusic has reissued various original Motown albums since 2010, when it began marketing and distribution ties with Britain’s Cherry Red Records. “Our first releases included the two Dynamic Superiors albums produced by Ashford and Simpson on one CD,” he remembers. “It remains one of the top five reissues we’ve done during our almost-14 years as an independent label with Cherry Red.”

Second Disc Records founder Joe Marchese

      SoulMusic’s earlier Motown cache includes titles by Thelma Houston, G.C. Cameron, Syreeta, Jerry Butler, Willie Hutch, Valerie Simpson and, of particular note, a 2CD compilation of rare and unreleased recordings by Brenda Holloway. Nathan says his label usually has an initial pressing of 1,000 copies of each CD, “although in this case, it’s likely 1,500.” He adds, “That’s a call that Cherry Red makes!” The collection will be available on both sides of the Atlantic.

      Each of the two-man team who produced the Miracles reissue has his own preferences from within the 43 tracks, of course. Nathan identifies “The Tears Of A Clown” as an “all-time personal favourite since I was in the U.K. when it was a big hit,” and he also singles out “When Sundown Comes,” “I Don’t Blame You At All,” “We Had A Love So Strong” and “The Hunter Gets Captured By The Game.”

      Marchese mentions “This Guy’s In Love With You” (“a beautiful, languid take on one of Burt Bacharach and Hal David’s most moving songs”) and “Betcha By Golly Wow.” He adds, “I do love both of Stevie Wonder and Syreeta’s contributions to Flying High Together, ‘It Will Be Alright’ and ‘We Had A Love So Strong,’ while Janie Bradford and Jack Goga’s ‘The Reel Of Time’ from A Pocket Full Of Miracles is such a beguiling, underrated track.”

      Both acknowledge that the volume of classic Motown releases and reissues in physical form has dwindled in recent years. “We currently have one other Motown request in at UMG, the Teena Marie albums with bonus tracks as a box set,” notes Nathan. “We have a long list of titles we’d like to request and, as you know, it takes a long time.” Adds Marchese, “We both hope there’s much more to come!”

      But let’s give the last word to Claudette Robinson, as interviewed by Marchese. “I’m very proud of our history and extremely proud of our guys,” she declares. “They worked really, really hard. We went on the road by ourselves driving a car: six people, three in the front, three in the back, luggage on top. We went on the road with people like Eartha Kitt, Richard Pryor and Redd Foxx. I always felt Smokey was an amazing songwriter as well as a singer…and that wasn’t from being his girlfriend and then his wife. He was, and is, an extremely talented person with a God-given talent.”

      Flying high, indeed.

Mary Jane notes: one of the songs on this Miracles 2CD set is “That Girl” (not to be confused with Stevie Wonder’s hit of the same title), written by Hank Cosby, Joe Hinton and…Candice Ghant. That was recorded in 1970, a considerable amount of time before Ms. Ghant became better known as one of the Mary Jane Girls, the 1980s Motown act under Rick James’ wing (there, Candi was known as “the classy one”). And in between? Ghant belonged to another girl group, SofTouch, whose self-titled Fantasy album in 1978 was produced by Cosby. He also co-wrote several of the songs, while another track, “One Million Years,” was penned by Scherrie Payne. OK, OK, that’s all trivia. But still…