A Pocket Full of Miracles
A Pocket Full of Miracles | ||||
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Studio album by Smokey Robinson & The Miracles | ||||
Released | September 30, 1970 | |||
Recorded | 1970 | |||
Genre | Soul | |||
Length | 42:28 | |||
Label | Tamla TS-306 | |||
Producer | Smokey Robinson Ashford & Simpson | |||
Smokey Robinson & The Miracles chronology | ||||
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Singles from A Pocket Full Of Miracles | ||||
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Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [1] |
A Pocket Full of Miracles (TS306) is a 1970 album by Motown Records R&B group The Miracles, (AKA "Smokey Robinson & 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 (one of eleven Miracles albums that reached the top ten of that chart). 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 (unusually serious lyric content for The Miracles). 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.
The album's name takes its title from the 1961 Frank Capra comedy film Pocketful of Miracles. However, that is where the similarities end. Its cover depicts four of The Miracles, Smokey Robinson, Bobby Rogers, Pete Moore, and Ronnie White, sitting inside a huge cartoon "pocket", (thus the name 'Pocket Full of Miracles'). Other original songs in the collection included "Flower Girl", the powerful potential hit "Backfire" (that was not released as a single), and the melancholy "The Reel of Time". Miracles members Marv Tarplin and Claudette Robinson are featured on the songs "You've Got the Love I Need" (a ballad with rock overtones) and "Don't Take It So Hard", respectively. However, they are not featured on the album's cover (apparently because the "pocket" would then have too many Miracles). Covers include versions of Simon and Garfunkel's "Bridge over Troubled Water", Chuck Jackson and Maxine Brown's "Something You Got", included in a medley with The Beatles' "Something", and Smokey's composition for The Temptations, "Get Ready", which features an arrangement borrowed from the Cream hit "Sunshine of Your Love". Motown staff songwriters contributing to this project included Ashford & Simpson, William "Mickey" Stevenson, Horgay Gordy, Robert Gordy, Robert Jones, and Miracles members Smokey Robinson, Pete Moore, and Marv Tarplin.
This album, like several of The Miracles' post-1969 albums, has never been released in the CD format. It was re-released in edited form a few years later, by the defunct independent label Pickwick International, under license from Motown, with a different cover, and the modified name Pocketful.
Track listing
Side one
- "Flower Girl" (Smokey Robinson, Pete Moore, Marv Tarplin)
- "Who's Gonna Take the Blame" (Nick Ashford, Valerie Simpson)
- "Darling Dear" (Horgay Gordy, Robert Gordy, Allen Story)
- "You've Got the Love I Need" (Robinson, Robert Jones)
- "Get Ready" (Robinson)
- "Bridge Over Troubled Water"* (Paul Simon)
Side two
- "Something/Something You Got"* (George Harrison / Chris Kenner)
- "Point It Out" (Robinson, Tarplin, Al Cleveland)
- "Don't Take It So Hard" (Terry Johnson, Charles Johnson, Willie Schofield)
- "Backfire" (Robinson, Cleveland, Johnny Bristol)
- "The Reel of Time"* (Janie Bradford, Jack Goga)
- "Wishful Thinking" (Marv Johnson)
- *(deleted from the Pickwick re-release).
Personnel
The Miracles
- Bill "Smokey" Robinson – lead vocals
- Claudette Rodgers Robinson – soprano vocals
- Robert "Bobby" Rodgers – tenor vocals
- Ronald "Ronnie" White – baritone vocals
- Warren "Pete" Moore – bass vocals
- Marvin "Marv" Tarplin – guitar
Other Credits
- The Funk Brothers – instrumentation
References
- ^ A Pocket Full of Miracles at AllMusic
External links
- A Pocket Full Of Miracles (Original Motown cover image)
- A review of Get Ready From The Miracles' album, A Pocketful Of Miracles
- From the "Rate Your Music" website
- Tamla-Motown European Cover Image
- Smokey Robinson & The Miracles - A Pocket Full of Miracles (1970) album review by Andrew Hamilton, credits & releases at AllMusic.com
- Smokey Robinson & The Miracles - A Pocket Full of Miracles (1970) album releases & credits at Discogs.com
- Smokey Robinson & The Miracles - A Pocket Full of Miracles (1970) album to be listened as stream on Spotify.com
- v
- t
- e
- Smokey Robinson
- Ronnie White
- Pete Moore
- Bobby Rogers
- Claudette Robinson
- Marv Tarplin
- Billy Griffin
- Donald Griffin
- Carl Cotton
- Mark Scott
- Dave Finley
- Sydney Justin
- Alphonse Franklin
- Tee Turner
- Hi... We're the Miracles (1961)
- Cookin' with the Miracles (1961)
- I'll Try Something New (1962)
- The Fabulous Miracles (1963)
- Christmas with The Miracles (1963)
- The Miracles Doin' Mickey's Monkey (1963)
- I Like It Like That (1964)
- Going to a Go-Go (1965)
- Away We a Go-Go (1966)
- Make It Happen (The Tears of a Clown) (1967)
- Special Occasion (1968)
- Time Out for Smokey Robinson & the Miracles (1969)
- Four in Blue (1969)
- What Love Has Joined Together (1970)
- A Pocket Full of Miracles (1970)
- The Season for Miracles (1970)
- One Dozen Roses (1971)
- Flying High Together (1972)
- Renaissance (1973)
- Do It Baby (1974)
- Don't Cha Love It (1975)
- City of Angels (1975)
- The Power of Music (1976)
- Love Crazy (1977)
- The Miracles (1978)
- The Miracles Recorded Live on Stage (1963)
- Smokey Robinson & the Miracles LIVE! (1969)
- Smokey Robinson & The Miracles: 1957–1972 (1972)
- Greatest Hits: From the Beginning (1965)
- Greatest Hits, Vol. 2 (1968)
- Anthology (1974)
- Anthology '86 (1986)
- Anthology: The Best of Smokey Robinson & The Miracles (1995)
- The Ultimate Collection (1998)
- Ooo Baby Baby: The Anthology (2002)
- Depend On Me: The Early Albums (2009)
- "Bad Girl"
- "Way Over There"
- "Shop Around"
- "Everybody's Gotta Pay Some Dues"
- "What's So Good About Goodbye"
- "I've Been Good to You"
- "I'll Try Something New"
- "You've Really Got a Hold on Me"/"Happy Landing"
- "A Love She Can Count On"
- "Mickey's Monkey"
- "I Gotta Dance to Keep From Crying"
- "(You Can't Let the Boy Overpower) The Man in You"
- "I Like It Like That"
- "That's What Love Is Made Of"
- "Come On Do the Jerk"
- "Ooo Baby Baby"
- "The Tracks of My Tears"
- "A Fork in the Road"
- "My Girl Has Gone"
- "Going to a Go-Go"
- "Choosey Beggar"
- "Whole Lot of Shakin' in My Heart (Since I Met You)"
- "(Come 'Round Here) I'm the One You Need"
- "The Love I Saw in You Was Just a Mirage"
- "More Love"
- "I Second That Emotion"
- "If You Can Want"
- "Yester Love"
- "Special Occasion"
- "Baby, Baby Don't Cry"
- "Here I Go Again"
- "Doggone Right"
- "Abraham, Martin and John"
- "Point It Out"
- "The Tears of a Clown"
- "I Don't Blame You at All"
- "We've Come Too Far to End It Now"
- "Give Me Just Another Day"
- "Do It Baby"
- "Love Machine"
- The Definitive Performances (1963–1987) (2006)