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The Miracles – Much Better Off (1968)
The so-called “B” side to “Yester Love” was “Much Better Off” composed by Miracles Smokey Robinson and Warren “Pete” Moore. To me it is a sing- along love ballad that I sang along to many, many, many times as a teen. Of course at the time I had only fantasies about love and romance (never the real thing), but that never stopped a teenage girl now — did it?
If you have never heard this tune you are in for a treat. If you are a fellow boomer than let it take you back to those good old days! Be sure to sing it loud and strong now.
Musically Yours,
Filed under: Co-ed Vocal Groups, Motown/Tamla, Much Better Off, Pop/R&B, R&B/Motown, Sixties, Smokey Robinson & William "Pete' Moore, The Miracles
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The Miracles – Yester Love (1968) Peaked #31 Billboard Hot 100 (stayed on chart 8 weeks Summer 1968), #66 Cash Box Top 100 of 1968
This song, composed by Smokey Robinson and Al Cleveland, is on one of the many, many 45 rpms I would purchase with my allowance every Tuesday as a pre-teen (called tween now eh?) and young teenager.
I was trying to decide what Miracles cut to post about and I guess I picked this one because I couldn’t find the disk after going through two boxes of vinyl and I really wanted to hear it. But I am gonna keep looking.
While going through the boxes I realized that I knew every song on every record — both A and B side. This was called the A side of this particular disk as I recall. But as far as I am concerned, every song on the “Special Occasion” Lp was A plus material. That was the genius of Motown in that what they considered B was always A in my book. Just as most of the great music in the vault was worthy of release!
As you probably know , The Classic Miracles were: Smokey Robinson on lead vocals; Ronnie White, Bobby Rogers, Warren “Pete” Moore and Claudette Robinson on background vocals; and Marv Tarplin on guitar. And yes the guitar is an integral part of every Miracles song: I mean come on and LISTEN to this man play! Pure genius! Genius! His licks are priceless. I had to listen to the song about ten times grooving on the guitar before I could finish up this post!
Please enjoy this great cut by this awesome group and tell a friend so that we can keep the music of Motown alive forever and ever! Amen.
Musically Yours,
Filed under: Co-ed Vocal Groups, Motown/Tamla, Pop/R&B, R&B/Motown, Sixties, Smokey Robinson & Al Cleveland, The Miracles, Yester Love
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The Miracles – Got A Job (1958)
“Got a Job” was the very first single by a group now called the Miracles. Composed by Tyran Carlo (Berry Gordy & Billy Davis) and Smokey Robinson, this song was the start of something that is still going strong today: both The Miracles with their second lead singer Bill Griffin and the solo act Smokey Robinson are still performing! That is over a half a century of real longevity and talent.
Joslyn Layne, writing for Allmusic.com, sums up how the group known as the The Miracles came to be at Motown as follows:
“Scoring over 40 hits on the R&B Top 40 charts, the Miracles started out as the Five Chimes in the mid-’50s while the members were still in high school. The Detroit vocal group consisted of William “Smokey” Robinson, Warren “Pete” Moore, Clarence “Humble” Dawson, Donald Wicker, and James “Rat” Grice. Not too long after the group formed, Wicker and Grice left and were replaced by cousins Emerson “Sonny” Rogers and Bobby Rogers, who both sang tenor, and baritonist Ronnie White was in Dawson’s place. The vocal quintet then changed its name to the Matadors and in 1956 Claudette Rogers joined the band after her brother Sonny was drafted. The Matadors auditioned for Jackie Wilson’s manager, Nat Tarnopol, in 1956. Although Tarnopol wasn’t interested, finding the group too similar to the Platters, one of Wilson’s songwriters, Berry Gordy, Jr., was and he soon began producing the band, who now went by the name the Miracles. Gordy produced their first single, “Got a Job,” (an answer to the Silhouettes’ “Get a Job”) which was issued by the New York label End Records in 1958.”
More on The Miracles to come soon so stay tuned.
Musically Yours,
Filed under: Co-ed Vocal Groups, Fifties, Got A Job, Motown/Tamla, Pop/R&B, R&B/Doo-Wop, R&B/Motown, The Miracles, Tyran Carlo (Berry Gordy & Billy Davis) & Smokey Robinson
