The Fabulous Miracles

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The Fabulous Miracles
Fabulousmiracles-lpcover-19.jpg
Studio album by
ReleasedFebruary 28, 1963
Recorded Hitsville USA, Detroit
Genre Soul
Label Tamla
Producer Smokey Robinson
Berry Gordy, Jr.
The Miracles chronology
I'll Try Something New
(1962)
The Fabulous Miracles
(1963)
The Miracles Recorded Live on Stage
(1963)
Singles from The Fabulous Miracles
  1. "Happy Landing" / "You've Really Got a Hold on Me"
    Released: November 9, 1962
  2. "A Love She Can Count On"
    Released: March 11, 1963
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The Fabulous Miracles is a 1963 album by The Miracles featuring the million-selling Grammy Hall of Fame hit, "You've Really Got a Hold on Me", one of the group's most popular singles. It also features the chart hits "A Love She Can Count On" and "I've Been Good To You", which The Beatles' John Lennon has identified as his favorite Miracles song. [2] Miracles lead singer Smokey Robinson was the principal writer on all tracks, while Miracles members Ronnie White and Bobby Rogers co-wrote with him on several of the album's songs. Although two of the album’s songs, "Won’t You Take Me Back" and "Your Love", were taken from their debut album Hi... We're the Miracles, all eight new songs were released as either singles or B-sides.

Contents

The album also features "I Can Take a Hint", which charted on the Billboard pop & R&B listings after being issued as the B-side of "A Love She Can Count On".

"Happy Landing", the flip side of "You Really Got a Hold On Me", while never charting nationally, did become a hit on several regional charts, and was performed by the group on their first live album, The Miracles Recorded Live on Stage . It was also the original A-side of “You've Really Got A Hold On Me”, but fell into obscurity as the nation's disc jockeys discovered and played the record's more successful flip side. [3] The Fabulous Miracles is only one of three Miracles albums to feature Miracles guitarist and original group member Marv Tarplin on its cover. The Miracles' bass singer Pete Moore is not featured on the album or the cover, as he was serving in the U.S. Armed Services and was stationed in Germany at the time this album was recorded (Moore is shown in a separate photograph on the back cover). [4] While Tarplin remained a member of the Miracles through 1973, he was not featured on any more of the group's classic album covers, except for 1961's Cookin' with The Miracles , 1962's I'll Try Something New , and this album. Tarplin does, however, appear on the cover of the group's 2009 Motown CD release, "The Miracles – Depend On Me: The Early Albums."

Release

The Fabulous Miracles and, in particular, the album version of "A Love She Can Count On," was released on CD as part of the 2009 Motown limited edition CD release " The Miracles – Depend On Me: The Early Albums." [5] [6]

Track listing

All songs written by Smokey Robinson, except where noted.

Side one:

  1. "You've Really Got a Hold on Me" – 2:58
  2. "I've Been Good to You" – 2:42
  3. "Such Is Love, Such Is Life" – 2:42
  4. "I Can Take a Hint" (Robinson, Janie Bradford, Stanley Ossman, Bobby Rogers) – 2:45
  5. "Won't You Take Me Back" – 2:39 (previously appeared on Hi... We're The Miracles )

Side two:

  1. "A Love She Can Count On" – 2:52 (different version than the single)
  2. "Whatever Makes You Happy" (Robinson, Ronald White) – 2:33
  3. "Heartbreak Road" (Robinson, White) – 2:46
  4. "Happy Landing" (Robinson, White) – 2:46
  5. "Your Love" – 2:50 (previously appeared on Hi... We're The Miracles)

Personnel

The Miracles

Other credits

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">You've Really Got a Hold on Me</span> 1962 Motown song by the Miracles

"You've Really Got a Hold on Me" is a song written by Smokey Robinson, which became a 1962 Top 10 hit single for the Miracles. One of the Miracles' most covered tunes, this million-selling song received a 1998 Grammy Hall of Fame Award. It has also been selected as one of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll. It was recorded by the Beatles for their second album, With the Beatles (1963). Many other musicians also recorded versions.

<i>The Miracles Recorded Live on Stage</i> 1963 live album by The Miracles

The Miracles Recorded Live on Stage is a 1963 live album by the Miracles, part of the early 1960s Motown "Live on Stage" series by various artists. The first of three live albums the group released during their career, it features R&B numbers led by Smokey Robinson along with Bobby Rogers, Ronnie White and Claudette Robinson recorded at either the Apollo Theater in New York or The Regal Theatre in Chicago, Illinois during their 1962 and 1963 tour. Miracles member Pete Moore was serving in the US Army at the time of this performance. The opener "Mighty Good Lovin'" was selected for various later compilations, while "I've Been Good To You" later appeared in a stereo mix on the 2002 compilation Ooo Baby Baby: The Anthology.

<i>Ill Try Something New</i> 1962 studio album by The Miracles

I'll Try Something New is the third album by The Miracles. It was released on the Tamla label, a subsidiary of Motown. The title track was an important early single for the group, featuring Smokey Robinson's lead voice, a chorus led by his wife Claudette and an orchestra of strings. Other hits like "What's So Good About Goodbye" and "I've Been Good To You" are included, plus three covers of easy listening standards: "I've Got You Under My Skin" written by Cole Porter, "On the Street Where You Live" from the Broadway musical My Fair Lady, and "Speak Low" by Ogden Nash and Kurt Weill, on which both Smokey and Claudette Robinson sing lead. I'll Try Something New also features a rare lead by Miracles baritone Ronnie White on "A Love That Can Never Be", and a lead by Claudette Robinson on "He Don't Care About Me".

<i>Hi... Were the Miracles</i> 1961 studio album by The Miracles

Hi... We're the Miracles is the first album by The Miracles, Motown's first group, released on Motown's Tamla subsidiary label in the summer of 1961. It was the first album released by the Motown Record Corporation. The album features several songs that played an important role in defining The Motown Sound and establishing songwriters Smokey Robinson and Berry Gordy.

<i>Greatest Hits: From the Beginning</i> (The Miracles album) 1965 greatest hits album by The Miracles

Greatest Hits from the Beginning is a compilation double LP by The Miracles released in 1965. This was the first double album ever released by the Motown Record Corporation. It covers most of the group's hits from their pre-1965 albums, such as "Shop Around", "Who's Lovin’ You", "You've Really Got A Hold On Me" and "Mickey's Monkey", as well as the non-album singles from 1964: "I Like It Like That" and "That's What Love Is Made Of". The album was a success, reaching #21 on the Billboard Pop Album Chart. It was also the first Miracles album to chart on the Billboard R&B Album chart, where it was an even bigger success, peaking at #2.

"What's So Good About Goodbye" was a 1961 hit single recorded by R&B group The Miracles for Motown Records' Tamla label, later included on their 1962 album I'll Try Something New. The single was the Miracles’ second Top 40 Pop hit, peaking at number 35 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States during the winter of 1962, and a Top 20 R&B hit as well, peaking at number 16 on Billboard's R&B singles chart.

"Mickey's Monkey" is a 1963 song recorded by the R&B group the Miracles on Motown Records' Tamla label. It was written and produced by Motown's main songwriting team of Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier, and Eddie Holland, who later went on to write two more Miracles hit singles, the Top 40 "I Gotta Dance to Keep From Crying", and the Top 20 "(Come 'Round Here) I'm The One You Need". This was an unusual writing situation for the Miracles, as most of their songs were composed by the group members themselves.

"I've Been Good to You" is a 1961 R&B song by The Miracles on Motown Records' Tamla label. It was released as the B-side of their Billboard Top 40 hit, "What's So Good About Goodbye", and was included on their album I'll Try Something New the following year. This sad, melancholy ballad charted #103 on the Billboard Pop chart. Despite its relatively modest chart placing, this song has been hugely influential, and is noted as Beatle John Lennon's favorite Miracles tune, and was the inspiration for The Beatles' songs "This Boy" and "Sexy Sadie". Written by Miracles lead singer Smokey Robinson, the song begins with the lyric, "Look what you've done...You've made a fool out of someone..." which Lennon later paraphrased in Sexy Sadie song as, "What have you done...You've made a fool of everyone."

"Way Over There" is a 1960 Motown soul song and single, written by William "Smokey" Robinson, produced by Berry Gordy, and first performed by The Miracles for the Tamla (Motown) label. It was one of The Miracles' earliest charting singles, reaching #94 on the Billboard Pop chart. Motown president Berry Gordy, Jr. had The Miracles record the song several times during its chart run. The first version had minimal orchestration. The second version added strings, and this is the version played by most oldies stations today. Claudette Robinson had several lead parts on this song, answering Smokey's leads with chants of "Come to me, Baby". The song's B-side, "(You Can) Depend on Me", while not charting nationally, did become a popular regional hit in many areas of the country, and Smokey still sings it in his live shows today. "Way Over There" has inspired cover versions by Edwin Starr, The Temptations, The Marvelettes, The Royal Counts, The Spitballs, and Eddie Adams Jr, while "(You Can) Depend on Me" has inspired cover versions by The Temptations, The Supremes, Mary Wells, and Brenda Holloway. The song was also used for the title of Hip-O Select's 2009 compilation: The Miracles – Depend on Me: The Early Albums, which collects the first five LP releases by the group.

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"Happy Landing" is a 1962 R&B recording by Motown Records singing group The Miracles, issued on that label's Tamla Records subsidiary label (T54073). It was recorded in November 1962, and appeared on their album The Fabulous Miracles. The group also recorded a live version of this song on their first live album, 1963's The Miracles Recorded Live on Stage.

References

  1. Allmusic review
  2. Pollock, Bruce (1 October 2011). If You Like the Beatles...: Here Are Over 200 Bands, Films, Records and Other Oddities That You Will Love. Backbeat Books. ISBN   9781617130700 . Retrieved 25 November 2016.
  3. Nixon, The (9 October 2010). "241. The Miracles: "Happy Landing" « Motown Junkies". Motownjunkies.wordpress.com. Retrieved 2012-01-10.
  4. http://ring.cdandlp.com/jetrecords/photo_grande/114681900-2.jpg [ bare URL image file ]
  5. "Miracles, Motown, And Memories". soul sides. 2009-07-24. Retrieved 2012-01-10.
  6. "HIPO". Hip-oselect.com. Retrieved 2012-01-10.