The Miracles
Band members Related acts
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line up x (1972-) - Bill Griffin -- vocals (replaced Smokey Robinson) - Pete Moore -- vocals - Bobby Rogers -- vocals - Ronnie White -- vocals
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- Bill Griffin (solo efforts) - The Last Dynasty (Bill Griffin) - Smokey Robinson (solo efforts)
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Genre: soul Rating: 3 stars *** Title: Do It Baby Company: Tamla Catalog: T
334 V1 Country/State: Detroit, Michigan Grade (cover/record): VG+/VG+ Comments: -- Available: 1 Catalog ID: 839 Price: $15.00
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Two years and two albums into the post Smokey Robinson-era and in retrospect, 1974's "Do It Baby" showed the group doing far better than anyone would have expected. Whereas Robinson still had his fingerprints on the previous album (serving as executive producer for 1973's "Renaissance"), without Robinson in the picture, The Miracles were truly at the mercy of their producers; in this case working separately with Hal David, Willie Hutch, Joe Porter, and Freddie Perren (the latter two furnished several songs for the album). Given the group's somewhat precarious position of not wanting to lose longstanding fans, while hoping to find a young audience, I'm guessing this was about as adventuresome as it was going to get. As such. musically the album offered up a mixture of conventional ballads ('Up Again', 'Where Are You Going To My Love' and 'A Foolish Thing To Say') and up-tempo dance tracks (''Do It Baby and 'What Is a Heart Good For'). Say what you will about the collection, but you certainly had to admire Bill Griffin. He'd done an admirable job stepping in for Robinson on the pervious album, but this time around he sounded completely comfortable as the head Miracle, injecting a certain degree of silky sexiness into material like 'Do It Baby' that Robinson would never had broached. All told, one of the best of the post-Robinson releases.
"Do It
Baby" track listing: 1.) Do It Baby (Freddie Perren - Christian Yarian) - 3:05 As mentioned earlier, if you couldn't have Smokey Robinson, with his silky smooth voice and photogenic good looks, Billy Griffin was a pretty impressive replacement. The album title track wasn't half bad either, mixing a bit of Norman Whitfield atmospherics with a funky, dance-ready rhythm track. It did make a nice change from the Robinson-era ballads and fans responded well when it was tapped as a single YouTube had a nice clip of the group lip syching the track on Soul Train: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZsu-Uv27tA rating: **** stars 2.) Up Again (Freddie Perren - Christian Yarian) - 3:15 The spoken word introduction was cheesy to the extreme which set the bar pretty low for the rest of the breezy ballad 'Up Again'. Nice enough and the chorus was catchy, but not one of their finest performances. rating: *** stars 3.) Where Are You Going To My Love (Billy Day - John Goodison - Tony Hiller - Mike Leslie) - 3:34 A lot of folks know the Tony Hiller/Brotherhood of Man original which is quite good (the female lead always reminded me of a Dusty Springfield) . I'd argue it was actually better than this over-orchestrated and under-sung cover - Griifin just didn't sound very comfortable in the song's high key.. I think Method Man and Raekwon sampled it at some point. rating: ** stars 4.) What Is a Heart Good For (Leon Ware - Arthur Ross) - 2:52 The decision to include 'What Is a Heart Good For' on the album was somewhat curious given it had already appeared on the previous "Rennaissance" LP. An up tempo, radio friendly dance track, Motown management originally released this as the first post-Robinson single (Tamla catalog number T 54240F), but for some obscure reason, quickly pulled it. Shame since it was one of the best tracks on either of the albums. Neither the sound, or video quality are very good, but YouTube has another YouTube clip of the group lip synching the song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjWRTheb_sIM5I rating: **** stars 5.) You Are Love (Freddie Perren - Christian Yarian) - 3:22 A bland and forgettable old-school ballad, the best thing 'You Are Love' had to offer were the group harmonies. Otherwise this was thoroughly forgettable. rating: ** stars
(side
2) The heavily orchestrated opening was a bit disconcerting, but once you got through that, 'Give Me Just Another Day' was actually one of the album's more memorable and enjoyable tracks. Griffin's falsetto was pretty impressive, if occasionally a bit shrill, but Ware's song had a nice, urgent edge to it and the call and response arrangement was first-class. Nice choice as a sophomore single. rating: **** stars 2.) We Feel the Same (Clifton Davis) - 3:00 Nice stomper with the group showing off some nice harmony vocals. rating: **** stars 3.) Calling Out Your Name (Leon Ware) - 2:57 'Calling Out Your Name' started out as an interesting, slightly jazzy ballad.... kind of a 5th Dimension vibe going on here. A touch too much orchestration for my taste, though the title refrain was killer. rating: *** stars 4.) A Foolish Thing To Say (Jim Grady) - 2:49 Another ballad that was simply too MOR for the group's own good. rating: ** stars 5.) Can't Get Ready for Losing You (Willie Hutch - Richard Hutch) - 3:08 'Can't Get Ready for Losing You' was a nice, rocking number though the funky Willie Hutch original was better. On the other hand, The Miracles' version certainly better The Jackson Five's chirpy, love-sick cover. rating: *** stars
Several singles were released off the LP:
- 1974's 'Do It Baby' b/w 'I Wanna Be with You' (Tamla catalog number T 54248F) #13 pop; 3 4 R&B - 1974's 'Give Me Just Another Day' b/w 'I Wanna Be with You' (Tamla catalog number T 54240F) # 111 pop; # 47 R&B
Maybe due to the fact British audiences were already familiar with the tunes via The Brotherhood of Man, a different single was released in the UK:
- 1974's 'Where Are You Going to My Love' b/w 'Up Again' (Tamla Motown catalog number TMG 940)
Propelled by the hit title track. the parent album sold quite well, hitting # 4 on the R&B charts and just missing the top-40 (# 41) on the pop charts.
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Genre: soul Rating: 2 stars ** Title: The Power of Music Company: Tamla Catalog: T6
344S1 Country/State: Detroit, Michigan Grade (cover/record): VG+/VG+ Comments: cut out notch left edge Available: 1 Catalog ID: 3191 Price: $10.00
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The album title may have been promising, but to my ears most of 1976's "The Power of Music" was a thorough disappointment. Featuring eight Billy Griffin and Warren Moore-penned originals (MOore also produced the set), the album found a group clearly looking for musical direction. The result was a hodgepodge mixture of genres that managed to dilute the group's considerable talents into a rather faceless mixture of power ballads, disco-tinged dance tunes, and Norman Whitfield-styled social commentary. To be honest, while I've always liked Billy Griifin's voice, there wasn't a single track that I considered to be really good. Yeah, the title track, the instrumental version of 'Let the Children', and 'Gossip' were listenable, but nothing here warranted repeated spins. Motown apparently felt the same way, not bothering to release a single. The album also marked the end of the group's long association with the label.
"The Power
of Music" track listing: 1.) Power of Music (Billy Griffin - Warren "Pete" Moore) - 5:39 rating: *** stars How hard would it be to guess this tune was written and recorded in the mid-'70s? Would the disco-tinge, or the mindlessly upbeat lyrics give it away? Okay, the title track clearly had a commercial edge and was dance-ready. Still, as a creature of the mid-'70s, I can do without it. 2.) Love To Make Love (Billy Griffin - Warren "Pete" Moore) - 4:59 rating: ** stars About the nicest thing I can say about 'Love To Make Love' was that it was mindless in every sense of the word. The kind of throwaway dance track that should make The Miracles blush in shame if they ever hear the tune again. 3.) Can I Pretend (Billy Griffin - Warren "Pete" Moore) - 5:26 rating: ** stars I'm normally a big fan of cheesy synthesizers and 'Can I Pretend' certainly started out with promise. I even liked the jazzy guitar, but then the song sank into patented, overblown big ballad. Sleep inducing sincerity ... 4.) Let the Children Play (Overture) (instrumental) (Billy Griffin - Warren "Pete" Moore) - 3:55 rating; *** stars My wife's always called this one "news porn music". It's been used as the theme by a number of television news stations (WSMV, Nashville, WTCG, Atlanta). Nice enough and the "porn" label is actually a pretty good description for this MOR-ish instrumental.
(side 2) 1.) Gossip (Billy Griffin - Warren "Pete" Moore) - 6:20 rating; *** stars Hum, 'Gossip' seemingly found The Miracles taking a page out of the Barrett Strong/Norman Whitfield catalog of social commentary ... 2.) Let the Children Play (Billy Griffin - Warren "Pete" Moore) - 4:13 rating: ** stars The vocal version of the side "A" track ... Sappy, barely in tune, and almost painful to listen to. 3.) The Street of Love (Billy Griffin - Warren "Pete" Moore) - 3:00 rating: * star Possibly the worst track The Miracles ever wrote and recorded ... Motown does Barry Manilow. 4.) You Need a Miracle (Billy Griffin - Warren "Pete" Moore) - 6:18 rating: ** stars Nice platform for showcasing Griffin's sweet voice, but the song itself was so overblown and flaccid ... MOR supper club stuff that might have struck a chord with your grandparents.
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