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"Yester Love" | ||||
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Single by Smokey Robinson & the Miracles | ||||
from the album Special Occasion | ||||
B-side | "Much Better Off" | |||
Released | May 13, 1968 | |||
Recorded | Hitsville USA (Studio A): December 18, 1967 | |||
Genre | Soul/pop | |||
Length | 2:16 | |||
Label | Tamla T 54167 | |||
Songwriter(s) | Smokey Robinson, Al Cleveland | |||
Producer(s) | Smokey Robinson | |||
Smokey Robinson & the Miracles singles chronology | ||||
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Music video | ||||
Listen to "Yester Love" on YouTube |
"Yester Love" (Tamla 54167) was a 1968 song by Motown Records R&B group The Miracles (aka "Smokey Robinson" and The Miracles) on its Tamla subsidiary label. It was recorded on December 18, 1967 (released on May 13, 1968), and was included on the group's album, Special Occasion .
Composed by Miracles lead singer Smokey Robinson, and Motown staff songwriter Al Cleveland and produced by Robinson, the song was a Billboard top 40 pop hit, peaking at No. 31, and a top 10 R&B hit as well, peaking at No. 9. It also reached No. 24 on the U.S. Cash Box Top 100. [1] In Canada, the song reached No. 28. [2]
A mid-tempo song, instead of the usual ballad, a trademark of The Miracles, this tune is a sad lament about a lost love, the theme of many Miracles' songs. The song's title, "Yester Love", is a shortened form of "Yesterday Love", or "Love of Yesterday", indicating the relationship has now ended. Smokey, as the song's narrator, portrays a heartbroken man, reminiscing about a once-happy relationship with his girl, with promise of a future, that ended in failure, with his wondering just how it got there:
During the song, Smokey, ever the master poet, also explains the meaning of his use of the term "Yester", in his usual fashion:
Miracle Marv Tarplin's outstanding guitar work is evident throughout, and is actually the last thing the listener hears as the song draws to a close. During the song, Miracles Claudette Robinson, cousin Bobby Rogers, Ronnie White, and Pete Moore, project sympathetic background vocals to Smokey's lead, with Claudette's voice clearly audible in the chorus.
Cash Box called the song a "gem," stating that it is a "percolating rhythmic workout" with "tender blues vocals." [3]
"Yester Love" was released during 1968, a period during which The Miracles, a normally guaranteed Top 20 and occasional Top 10 group, were undergoing an inexplicable chart decline, along with many of Motown's other top groups, including The Supremes. This trend was soon reversed by the Top 10 success of their hit "Baby, Baby Don't Cry" in spring 1969.
"Yester Love" has inspired a cover version by Gerald Wilson and his Orchestra, and has been included in several Miracles "Greatest Hits" anthologies. Taken from the same album, the song's "B" side, "Much Better Off", like many Miracles "B" sides, was also a popular regional hit, and inspired a cover version by late rapper J Dilla. [4]
Smokey Robinson & The Miracles: The 35th Anniversary Collection (The Miracles' Discography, p. 61)
Claudette Annette Rogers Robinson is an American singer-songwriter. She was a member of The Miracles from 1957 to 1972. Her brother Emerson "Sonny" Rogers was a founding member of the group, which before 1957 was named "The Matadors." Claudette replaced her brother in the group after he was drafted into the U.S. Army.
Greatest Hits, Vol. 2 is the second greatest hits album for The Miracles, released in 1968 on Motown Records' Tamla label. It contained the most popular singles from the successful Going to a Go-Go, Away We A Go-Go and Make It Happen albums of the 1965–1967 period. It also featured the 1964 non-album single "Come On Do The Jerk", and two B-sides, "Choosey Beggar" and "Save Me". The hit single "I Second That Emotion" was new to album. This album reached the Top 10 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, peaking at #7, and peaked at #2 on Billboard's R&B album chart. Ten of the albums' 12 songs were written by Miracles members Smokey Robinson, Pete Moore, Marv Tarplin, Bobby Rogers, and Ronnie White.
"More Love" is a 1967 hit single recorded by the American soul group The Miracles for Motown Records' Tamla label. The single, included on the group's 1967 album Make It Happen, later reissued in 1970 as The Tears of a Clown. Kim Carnes' husky 1980 cover of the song hit the Top 10 of Billboard's Adult Contemporary and Hot 100 charts.
One Dozen Roses is a 1971 album by Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, issued on Motown Records' Tamla label. The penultimate album before lead singer Smokey Robinson departed the group for a solo career, One Dozen Roses features the Top 20 Billboard Hot 100 hit single "I Don't Blame You at All". Also included is the group's number-one smash hit "The Tears of a Clown", which was also made available through the reissue of the 1967 Miracles LP Make It Happen as The Tears of a Clown. Both of these songs were also huge hits in England, reaching #11 and #1 respectively.
"Baby, Baby Don't Cry", released in December 1968, is a single recorded by The Miracles for Motown Records' Tamla label. The composition was written by Miracles lead singer Smokey Robinson, Motown staff writers Al Cleveland and Terry Johnson, a former member of The Flamingos. Robinson, Johnson, and Miracles member Warren "Pete" Moore were the song's producers.
"If You Can Want" is a 1968 single recorded by R&B group Smokey Robinson & the Miracles for Motown Records' Tamla label. Written and produced by Miracles lead singer Smokey Robinson, "If You Can Want" was the most successful of the three singles included on the group's 1968 album Special Occasion. This single just missed the U.S. Top 10, peaking at number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States, and was a Top 5 R&B hit, peaking at number three on Billboard's R&B singles chart, and was also a minor hit in England, peaking at number 50 on the United Kingdom singles chart.
"My Girl Has Gone" is a 1965 R&B single recorded by The Miracles for Motown's Tamla label. Included on their 1965 album Going to a Go-Go, "My Girl Has Gone" was the follow-up to the group's number 16 Billboard Hot 100 million-selling hit "The Tracks Of My Tears".
"I Like It Like That" was a 1964 hit song by Motown group The Miracles on its Tamla label subsidiary. This is not the Chris Kenner hit song of the same name but, rather, a Miracles original, written by Miracles members Smokey Robinson and Marv Tarplin, and is included on the group's first greatest hits album, Greatest Hits from the Beginning. It was also the title song from their long-since deleted 1964 album of the same name.
Renaissance was a 1973 album by R&B group The Miracles on Motown Records' Tamla label, noted as the first-ever album by the group not to feature original lead singer Smokey Robinson on lead vocals. Instead, his replacement, new lead singer, Billy Griffin, did the lead chores on this album.
I Like It Like That is an album by Motown group the Miracles, compiled for the UK market and released on the UK Tamla-Motown label (TML11003) as one of its initial group of six albums in March 1965. Known as the Miracles' "forgotten album", few people, outside of Motown insiders, hard-core Miracles fans, and collectors, remember that it had even existed. This album featured a combination of several new-for-1964 songs along with previously issued material from the group's album from the year before, The Miracles Doin' Mickey's Monkey. New for 1964 songs included "I Like It Like That", the Bobby Rogers-led flip side "You're So Fine and Sweet,"(this is the only original Miracles studio album that has that song), "That's What Love Is Made Of", another 1964 hit that the group performed on the American International Pictures release, the T.A.M.I. Show that year, and "Would I Love You", a song that became a popular regional hit tune for the group in Pennsylvania and The Midwest. The album also featured a Claudette Robinson-led cover version of the Orlons' #2 Pop smash, "The Wah-Watusi"., and the group's 1963 Top 40 Hit, "I Gotta Dance to Keep From Crying". Several of the group's other 1964 songs, including the chart hits "(You Can't Let the Boy Overpower) The Man in You", "Come On Do the Jerk", and its "B" side, "Baby Don't You Go", were not included. The new 1964 recordings "I Like It Like That", "Would I love You" and "That's What Love Is Made Of" were included on the only US Miracles 1964 album release "Miracles Greatest Hits From The Beginning" which was the first double album released by Motown Records.
"That's What Love Is Made Of" is a 1964 hit song by Motown's original vocal group, the Miracles, issued on the label's Tamla records subsidiary. It was taken from the group's album Greatest Hits from the Beginning, but originally appeared on their abortive 1964 album, I Like It Like That.
"Special Occasion" is a 1968 hit single recorded by Motown Records R&B group Smokey Robinson and The Miracles, issued by its Tamla Records subsidiary and taken from the album of the same name. It was written and composed by Miracles lead singer Smokey Robinson and Motown staff songwriter Al Cleveland, the authors of the group's Top 10 million-selling smash, "I Second That Emotion", the previous year.
Come On Do the Jerk was a 1964 song recorded by R&B group the Miracles on Motown Records' Tamla label subsidiary. The song was co-written by Miracles members Pete Moore, Bobby Rogers, Smokey Robinson, and Ronnie White. A single-only release, it did not appear on any original Miracles studio album, and was the group's last single release of 1964. Robinson and fellow Miracle Bobby Rogers were the song's producers. The song's flip side, "Baby Don't You Go", was also a popular regional hit but was not released on CD until The 35th Anniversary Collection in 1994. Both sides of this single received new stereo mixes for the 2002 compilation Ooo Baby Baby: The Anthology.
"Everybody's Gotta Pay Some Dues", was a 1961 R&B song by Motown Records group The Miracles released on the label's Tamla Records subsidiary. It was taken from Cookin' with The Miracles, the group's second album, and was written by Miracles members Smokey Robinson and Ronald White. It entered the Billboard Pop and R&B listings that year, and reached #52 and #11 respectively.
"Point It Out" is a 1969 recording by Motown Records R&B group The Miracles on that label's Tamla subsidiary. This mid-tempo song was a national Billboard Top 40 Pop hit, reaching #37 on the Hot 100, and was a Top 10 R&B hit was well, reaching #4. It was taken from their album "A Pocket Full Of Miracles", and was written by Miracles members William "Smokey" Robinson and Marv Tarplin, along with Motown staff songwriter Al Cleveland.
Four In Blue is a 1969 album by the Motown R&B group The Miracles, issued on the label's Tamla Records subsidiary in the U.S., and the Tamla-Motown label elsewhere in the world,, and was the final Miracles album of the 1960s. It reached #78 on the Billboard pop album chart, and reached the Top 10 of Billboard's R&B Album chart, peaking at #3, despite the fact that no singles were released from this album in the U.S. or the UK.
A Pocket Full of Miracles (TS306) is a 1970 album by Motown Records R&B group The Miracles, issued on its Tamla subsidiary label, one of three albums the group released that year. This album charted at #56 on the Billboard pop albums chart, and reached the top ten of the magazine's R&B albums chart, peaking at #10. It was released on September 30 of that year. Hit singles on the album included "Point It Out" and the topical Ashford & Simpson written-and-produced song "Who's Gonna Take the Blame", a sad, dark song about a girl that is turned out as a prostitute. Also included is the charting flip side "Darling Dear", B-side of "Point It Out", which reached #100 on the Billboard pop chart, and spawned a cover version by The Jackson Five.
Smokey Robinson & the Miracles LIVE! (TS289) is a 1969 album by R&B group The Miracles. Issued on Motown's Tamla label, it is the second of three live albums the Miracles recorded during their career. The album was recorded in 1968 at Detroit's famous Roostertail Restaurant, a popular venue where Motown artists appeared during the 1960s and 1970s. Released January 6, 1969, it charted at #71 on the Billboard Pop Album Chart and peaked at #7 on the Billboard R&B Album Chart.
"(You Can't Let the Boy Overpower) The Man in You" is a 1964 R&B song by the Miracles on Motown Records' Tamla subsidiary label. It was written by Miracles lead singer Bill "Smokey" Robinson, and was produced by Robinson and Motown president/founder Berry Gordy Jr.. One of several gospel-styled call and response tunes the group issued in 1964, this song reached number 59 on the Billboard Pop chart, and the top 20 of the Cash Box R&B chart, peaking at number 12. The song was recorded on August 17, 1963, and was the group's first single release of 1964.
We've Come Too Far to End It Now was a 1972 single by Motown Records R&B group The Miracles on its Tamla Label subsidiary (T54220F) and taken from their 1972 album, Flying High Together, the group's final studio album with original lead singer Smokey Robinson. This song charted at #46 on the Billboard Pop Chart, and reached the Top 10 of its R&B chart, peaking at #9.