Hi We're the Miracles

The Miracles had been around since the 50's and made 2 decades worth of great music together before Smokey left for his solo career. One of their earliest released songs is 1959's "Bad Girl" a beautiful and rich doo-wop song. Their full debut album, 1961's Hi, We're The Miracles is a great, harmony-driven set of doo-wop style soul. Smokey Robinson handles a lot of the songwriting and of course, singing in his trademark falsetto. A sad slower paced love lost joint, "Who's Lovin' You" rings true for all who have messed up in a relationship and regret it. My main jam is the lyrically rich metaphor filled, upbeat, string laden "Way Over There." The complex string arrangement here is simply marvelous as is the cool vibe of the song and lyrics. A cool joint is "Won't You Take Me Back" is a nice, guitar ridden, slow rolling joint with a nice doo-wop style harmony. Another wonderful doo-wop song here is the "After All" lead by Smokey's wife Claudette, and she handles her own extremely well here! Of course, the most famous joint here is the fast paced "Shop Around," which is still heard today on retail store commercials. Of course, the song is not about literally shopping; it deals with keeping your options open in love before committing and settling down. Make sure you buy into a woman or a man who is true. "Money" is an upbeat pop-savvy cover song of Motown's own Barrett Strong. "Depend On Me" is a true jam. It is a slow jam that is self-explanatory. One thing about the song, listen to the emotion and vulnerability in Smokey's voice; vulnerability is what makes soul jams so worthwhile. He is a great purveyor of emotion, which he handles so delicately with his voice. The group harmony also complements his vocals making for a undisputable classic. To put it all in perspective, Hi We're... is a true doo-wop gem full of style, class, and emotion. This is the start of some great music by the group.

I BOUGHT THIS ALBUM FOR 1 REASON: TO GET A SONG ON IT BY CLAUDETTE ROBINSON CALLED "AFTER ALL" I'VE LOVED THIS SONG FOR DECADES, SINCE I FIRST HEARD IT ON THE 33RPM LP THAT I BOUGHT WHEN I LIVED IN N.Y.C. THE REST OF THESE SONGS I'VE TAPED FROM DIFFERENT SOURCES MANY TIMES. BUT I COULD NEVER HEAR "AFTER ALL"; NOT EVEN ON OLDIES RADIO STATIONS IN NEW YORK & IN MARYLAND, WHERE I NOW RESIDE, EVEN WHEN THEY ALLOWED YOU TO CALL IN REQUESTS. SO FINALLY, IN DESPERATION, I TURNED TO GOOGLE & CAME UP WITH IT ON THIS ALBUM. SUCCESS!! AND HAPPINESS.

From my understanding up until the early 60's? The first few years of Motown were still thinking in terms of cutting 45 RPM singles. This was pretty much the way rhythm & blues,soul and pop music in general was being presented at the time. Three minute songs that could get on the radio. Yet in the meantime the long playing album medium allowed for these sides to be compiled into full length presentations that could potentially take on a conceptual life of their own one day. As the group that helped form this iconic label? This was the Miracles first full length album. And in retrospect says a lot more than perhaps it intended to. "Who's Lovin' You",a Smokey standard later made famous by the Jackson 5 and "Depend On Me" are both stripped down,bluesy scaling rhythm guitar based soul ballads while "Heart Like Mine" and "Way Over There" are melodic Calypso based soul-pop that present a variation on Sam Cooke's composition approach. "Shop Around" and "Don't Leave Me" both present that sound in a more soul/jazz instrumental context from the Funk Brothers-matched with the call and response lead/harmony vocals. "'Cause I Love You" and "Your Loove" both find Smokey in a down in the groove blues mode with some excellent piano from Earl Van Dyke. Ronnie White takes his smooth baritone croon as the lead on the mid tempo soul ballad "Won't You Take Me Back" while the heavy gospel wail of Claudette on "After All" finds a musically doo-wop mode. "Money",perhaps Motown's first standard is done up in somewhat more relaxed style than the original but still with the same uptempo stomp. The wonderful thing about this 1961 album is that it showcases the Motown sound in its rudimentary,trial and error stages. On the hit singles,the sound is already well well developed. Yet it also showcases the sounds roots in the doo-wop balladry of classic street corner group singing. The bluesy taking it back to church ethic of rootsy late 50's soul is also prominent. This might be one of the labels most important early albums,as it showcases the building blocks of the soon to be sound of young America.

aAnother Hallmark coup with this the first Miracles album from Motown's infancy and in all its mono glory complete with the occasional blip defining its vinyl origin. This is real archive gold.Setting out with "Who's Loving You" and Smokey Robinson's delicate falsetto with a gentle echo from Claudette Rogers later to be Mrs Smokey,the arrangement is so simple as to be classic and reflective of its origins from the previous decade's harmony groups.Here, too, you will find the big hits from the early Motown catalogue "Shop Around", Way Over There" and the ubiquitous "Money" that was recorded by just about every Motown act, here sung like a Ray Charles chant.If you are an archivist of the best of the best of 60s soul buy this little gem and you will be accessing the true beginnings of the Motown phenomenon

CD con temas muy bonitos. Disco de presentacion de The Miracles con Smokey Robinson .

This CD has pops and crackles all through - it's obviously been recorded from the vinyl LP. Waste of money.

内容は文句無く最高な作品ですが、英語レビューに書かれてる、リマスターは嘘！！！針落しの音が・・・即返品しました。