Customer Reviews

Going to Go-Go / Away We Go-Go

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

With the passing of time, people tend to forget that in the years before The Temptations, the Supremes, & the Four Tops were even heard of, THE MIRACLES reigned as the number one MOTOWN group.Their hits actually BUILT THE LABEL, and their importance can not be overstated (although fans of some of the aforementioned groups try to UNDERSTATE IT from time to time). They also have the distinction of having had more two- sided hit singles than ANY OTHER MOTOWN GROUP. Too many people reviewing this , and other MIRACLES albums, tend to mistakenly and unfairly credit only SMOKEY for this group's success. They don't realize the tremendous TALENT posessed by ALL the members of the MIRACLES. ALL OF THEM WERE SONGWRITERS,AND HAD A SHARE IN WRITING THEIR MANY HITS.Look at the writing credits for the GOING TO A GO GO ALBUM. YOU'LL SEE ALL THEIR NAMES, NOT JUST SMOKEY'S. PETE MOORE , for example , was , FOR YEARS, the groups' uncredited vocal arrainger. In the early years , BOBBY ROGERS,RONNIE WHITE , AND EVEN CLAUDETTE were featured lead vocalists in the group just like Smokey. Miracle MARV TARPLIN'S fantastic guitar licks punctuated each hit, and he CO- WROTE many of them . AND ALL OF THE MIRACLES (except CLAUDETTE) have won the prestigious BMI award for songwriting . Can you say that about the Temptations, Supremes, or Four Tops ? THE ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME WAS DONE A GREAT DISSERVICE to this fantastic group by only inducting their lead singer , especially since other , more highly - praised MOTOWN groups who HAVE BEEN INDUCTED, never wrote A SINGLE LYRIC OF MUSIC !!! THERE WILL NEVER BE ANOTHER GROUP LIKE THE MIRACLES. THEIR MUSIC LAUNCHED THE ENTIRE MOTOWN PHENOMONON !! And , the GOING TO A GO GO ALBUM ( A BILLBOARD TOP 10 POP SMASH ), WAS ONE OF THEIR ALL- TIME BEST !!!!

For better or worse, when it appeared in the last days of 1965, The Miracles "Going to a Go-Go" LP raised expectations among Motown fans about the quality level we would anticipate from the company's album output from then on. And they succeeded at least as often as they failed. Tellingly, `Going to a Go-Go,' was the first Miracles LP to nudge it's way into the Top Ten album charts.

As it was, it was a mini-greatest hits in itself as it contained every one of their 1965 singles and their flip sides: "Ooo Baby Baby," "The Tracks of my Tears," "My Girl Has Gone," and the title song, along with (respectively) "All That's Good," "A Fork In The Road," "Since You Won My Heart," & "Choosey Beggar." "Beggar" and "Road" (especially) were so good they could have been `A' sides themselves. The LP tracks fit in very fine alongside these already familiar eight, particularly "In Case You Need Love" and "From Head to Toe." The hidden jewel was Frank Wilson's "My Baby Changes Like the Weather," which, from the title alone, echoes some of Smokey's own compositions that spoke directly to how wife Claudette's changeable Gemini personality could send him to clouds or devastate him with just a word or look. All the more reason why Smokey's delivery of the tune is so assured and evergreen even now. Yep, we played this album a lot - still do.

Maybe because the Miracles singles of '66 ("Whole Lot of Shaking..." & "I'm the One You Need") aren't quite as strong as `65s, "Away We A Go-Go" couldn't have been as strong as the preceding album either, and it wasn't. Still, hardcore Miracles fans weren't all disappointed because those singles ARE good, and the album contained great flips sides too: "Oh Be My Love," "Save Me," and "Swept For You Baby" which would eventually ride the B-side of "More Love." And we didn't have long to wait for another five-star Miracles album: "Make It Happen" would show up in August of '67. Investigate that one too after you buy this essential set.

I don't know about the other earlier reviewer from England, but he ought to have a 2nd listen. Away We A Go-Go is my 2nd favorite Smokey & The Miracles album, of original release. My 3rd all-time favorite Miracles' recording is the non-single, album track only "Can You Love A Poor Boy", written by one Stevie Wonder (!) to boot. "Swept For You Baby" also has A-side quality, and the whole album is very moving; and the covers are top-notch outstanding. They used to do "Walk On By" in their live shows way back when, too. "Save Me" is a greatest hit, sure enough. I love the arrangements, with more strings, but no sacrifice to the soul feel of its predecessor, "Going To A Go-Go", simply my favorite original soul album of all time. I respectfully and most strongly disagree with the Miracles fan from York; I say you cannot go wrong with this purchase. Buy it now, who knows if either of these two Smokey essentials will available again anytime soon. Not a bad track on either album. More than exquisite break-up song found here too: "Fork In The Road" on "Going..", and more great B-sides/should have been A-sides like "Since You've Won My Heart". Top-heavy, both, with musical riches.

Well, you get six hit records; you get some great B sides--so much part of the Motown legend; you get a rare live side; you get two songs--Baby Baby and Oh Be My Love--later retooled for the Supremes and in their original versions nearly unrecognizable (Motown was forever doing this; for example the Marvelettes' "Only Your Love Can Save Me" became Marvin and Tammi's "This Poor Heart of Mine); and you get the worst of Motown, four awful, terrible covers of dreck such as "You Don't Have To Say You Love Me," Berry's achilles heel. He just couldn't stay away from white mush--everytime I hear Diana trying to navigate "Ode to Billy Joe" I end up helplessly laughing. Through it all there is that Motown sound, just irreplaceable. The biggest shock in retrospect was how disjointedly all of this was put together. After opening with four consecutive hits, the C.D. moves into a tune which sounds recorded years before at the bottom of a washtub. It's amazing we accepted this stuff as real albums. The cover from Motown's basically one-man graphics arts department (mainly Curtis McNair) is terrific. Every year he had to come up with covers for albums which mostly weren't albums, just generic titles (the worst being the Miracles "Four in Blue" because Motown had a photo of the group dressed in blue suits--that same release include the Four Tops' "Soul Spin," the Vandellas "Natural Resources," the Marvelettes "In Full Bloom" and the Supremes' "Cream of the Crop," all random collections of tracks masquerading as albums). McNair's covers are quite remarkable given what he had to work with. Those were the days, my friend, we thought they'd never end. They did. The music remains, still glorious.

The package contains the two best albums in the history of Smokey Robinson and the Miracles. There are some obscure hits on this CD that are not included on other anthologies and greatest hits packages such as "Since You Won My Heart" and "More, More, More of Your Love"

To be able to own 2 of the group's better lp's from Motown's 'classic' period was a joy when it came in the mail. The single-disc cd also contains a few extra tracks thrown in as well.
Sound quality is excellent. Pictures of the group included were a welcome as well.
Both albums, when originally released were careful slices of pop music compiled to give the buyer the most for their money. 1965 was the year when Berry Gordy Jr. took the power of the album by any artist on his various labels seriously. Hardly any lp after 1965 contained any filler, despite the fact that many artists were singing the same songs, we, as Motown fans were given different interpetations by talented people we all came to love and appreciate.
From a passing 'casual' point of view, and from someone who likes Smokey's voice, this cd will not disappoint. No song here is filler by any means.
A must have to say the least, no fan should walk away thinking they are just buying the same songs over and over with this set. It IS worth it not just because of the extra tracks, but because of the low price to obtain it.

The first album here and by far the most successful of the two, Going to a go-go, was originally released in America in 1965, though it didn't appear in Britain until early 1966. Smokey co-wrote all the songs except My baby changes like the weather, a song co-written by Hal David though I don't remember hearing this song elsewhere. Four singles were released in Britain and America, these being Ooh baby baby, The tracks of my tears, My girl has gone and the title track. All of them charted in America, both in the R+B charts (where they all made the top five) and the pop charts (where they all made the top twenty but none made the top ten). None of them charted in Britain at the time, though a 1969 re-issue of The tracks of my tears made the British top ten.

The second half of this twofer comprises Away we a go-go, released in 1966 in America, but held until 1967 in Britain. Only two singles were released from it, these being Whole lot of shaking in my heart and Come round here I'm the one you need. Neither of them charted in Britain, nor did they make the top forty in the main American pop charts, though both made the top fifty and they did better in the R+B charts. Most of the other songs are originals, though there are covers of two songs made famous by Dusty Springfield (You don't have to say you love me, I just don't know what to do with myself), a cover of Beauty is only skin deep (Temptations) and a cover of Walk on by. Can you love a poor boy (co-written by Ivy Joe Hunter and Stevie Wonder) is probably also a cover.

If you enjoy the music of Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, and wish to explore what else the group has to offer besides the obvious hits, this is a great twofer to listen to.

In the early to mid sixties the 45 rpm single held sway. Most families had a big pile of crinkly-sleeved singles and maybe half a dozen albums by their very favourite artists. There was a perception, probably shared by record company bosses, that albums consisted of a recent hit single or two and a lot of filler. I don't know if Berry Gordy shared this view but if so he must have been very disappointed by the consistently high quality of all the tracks coming out on his artists' albums, not least those of Smokey Robinson and the Miracles.

If you happened to be at Hitsville Studios on 19 May 1965, hearty congratulations. You witnessed one of the most moving moments in sixties music when Smokey sang the sublime Tracks Of My Tears into the mike (check out The Motown Box for the phenomenal full-length mix), one of four dazzling A-sides included on Going To A Go-Go. As four more were B-sides, next best in the pecking order, one would expect the other four to be fairly dispensable. Instead we get the soulful blues of In Case You Need Love, the original and best version of From Head To Toe (as covered by Chris Clark and Elvis Costello), the snappy Frank Wilson production My Baby Changes Like The Weather (the only song not self-produced) and more classic Smokey on Let Me Have Some, these last two featuring classy saxophone solos from one of the legendary, sadly unnamed Funk Brothers. Any of these four could have been A-sides and it seems crazy that beautiful songs like Choosey Beggar and A Fork In The Road (both amazingly also recorded on 19 May) should have been consigned to flipsides.

Tragically, Going To A Go-Go seems to be the earliest full Miracles album to be in catalogue at the time of writing, though they had recorded over half a dozen albums by this time, but is by far the best first choice of their available original albums.

However, this CD contains another treat: the follow-up album Away We A Go-Go in full. Although its title is clearly inspired by the monster dance hit that lent its title to the first album, the scope of this album is far wider, if slightly less brilliant in part.

Although it kicks of with a dance-floor stomper in Whole Lot Of Shakin' In My Heart (in a longer version than the single) and ends with the equally upbeat More, More, More Of Love, it also has two Bacharach-David ballads including I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself, probably inspired by Dusty Springfield rather than Tommy Hunt's original, as the album also features You Don't Have To Say You Love Me, virtually her signature tune though its origins were as an Italian ballad by Pino Donaggio. Both of these, along with Walk On By, were recorded by Mickey Gentile in New York on 15 July 1966, another notable Motown date, though there were many. I'm not sure that the other voices on these three tracks are those of the Miracles.

The other A-side on this album is the Holland-Dozier-Holland song (Come Round Here) I'm The One You Need, a complex and beautifully sophisticated arrangement that nonetheless reached the national British Top Twenty, though the vocals were re-recorded for the stereo version of the album as included here (you can find the original mono version on The Ultimate Collection). Save Me, Oh Be My Love and Swept For You Baby were B-sides, all Smokey Robinson originals, leaving seven rarer tracks exclusive to this release, of which one more comes from Smokey's pen, all with his trademark panache and rhyme. Most of the record was recorded during 1966 for the album, but Beauty Is Only Skin Deep was produced by Norman Whitfield only a fortnight after the Temptations' original in April 1964 and presumably held over when theirs was chosen for single release.

These two albums on a single disc arguably represent a more rounded picture and better value for money than some retrospective compilations of the group.

I just noticed that the US version of this coupling (Going to Go-Go / Away We Go-Go) has three bonus tracks, including a live rendition of A Fork In The Road. Damn!

"Going To A Go-Go" is one of the best albums by this group. Not only did it spit out singles such as "Going To A Go-Go", "Choosey Begger", "The Tracks Of My Tears", "Ohh Baby Baby" and of course the fillers such as "Since You Won My Heart" & "Let Me Have Some". In my opinion, this is the best album by this group. It was a contemporary of the Temptations "Temptations Sing Smokey" & "Temptin' Temptations" in which both lp's spat out quite a few hit singles & B'sides themselves in which Smokey himself produced. Smokey is a genius. Even tho the CD has added tracks, it's just another album by Smokey Robinson & The Miracles in 1966 "Away We Go-Go". But the original "Going to a go go" is the best of all.

Enjoy

It's a pity Tamla chose to release Away We Go-Go as a separate album way back in 66, because it's really mostly fill-out, I'm afraid. Although some of the tracks are vintage Smokey classics, the mind boggles what the two albums that surrounded it, Going to A-Go-Go and Make it Happen, could have been like if some of the best songs had replaced the fillouts there. Oh well.

Going to A-Go-Go, in sharp contrast, is one of the most brilliant albums of Smokey's Career. The Tracks of My Tears must surely rate among the best singles ever written, and Ooo Baby, Baby is perhaps the most intensely emotional track ever written. The album is not as good as Make it Happen, but this package (like all three) is well worth a purchase.