This volume deals with the time period Robinson was slowly transitioning from being part of the highly successful group the Miracles to pursuing other interests, including starting out on a solo career.
Robinson was critical to the success of Motown Records in the 1960s. He wasn't just leader of a hit-making act for the company, or a songwriter for other acts. He also was such a key leader of the company that he became vice president in the mid-1960s, making him second in importance only behind Berry Gordy. Robinson was tired of constantly touring with the Miracles and wanted to focus more on helping to run Motown. He also had married Claudette Rogers Robinson back in 1959 (who was the only female member of the Miracles, since the band's inception), and wanted to focus on raising a family with her, when she had a child with him in 1968, after many years of trying and miscarriages.
However, these plans were delayed by the song "The Tears of a Clown," in which he wrote most of the lyrics while Stevie Wonder came up with the music. It had been a little known album track released by the Miracles in 1967. But in 1970, with no new Miracles music on the horizon due to Robinson stepping back from the group, the British division of Motown looked for a song from that 1967 album to release as a "new" single, and decided on that one. It quickly went to Number One in Britain in 1970, causing it to be released as a single in the U.S. and reaching Number One there too. He had already planned on leaving the Miracles, but due to the song being one of the biggest hits of the year around the world, he was persuaded to stay on a little longer. He finally left the band for good in 1972, after a farewell tour.
As with Volume One, this album focuses on Robinson as songwriter, so there are no tracks performed by Smokey Robinson and the Miracles here. Sometimes, I had to pick non-hit versions, just to avoid including Miracles versions. As for "The Tears of a Clown" mentioned above, I chose a later version which appears on Volume Three. A bunch of other songs that were originally hits during this time period also don't appear until later versions included on Volume Three.
Just roughly guessing, I think about half of these songs were first hits by him and the Miracles, while the other half largely were hits he wrote for other Motown acts. Only a few performances here are by non-Motown acts - "Since I Lost My Baby" by the Action, "You've Got to Earn It" by the Staple Singers, "I Don't Blame You at All" by Rosetta Hightower, and "First I Look at the Purse" by the J. Geils Band. But I believe all of those are cover versions of songs first done by Motown acts.
This album is 54 minutes long.
01 Mighty Good Lovin' (Chris Clark)
02 Take This Heart of Mine (Marvin Gaye)
03 My Heart (Tammi Terrell)
04 Since I Lost My Baby (Action)
05 The Day You Take One [You Have to Take the Other] (Gladys Knight & the Pips)
06 The Composer (Diana Ross & the Supremes)
07 Way Over There (Edwin Starr)
08 I'll Try Something New (Diana Ross & the Supremes & the Temptations)
09 Get Ready (Rare Earth)
10 Fan the Flame (Edwin Starr)
11 I Second That Emotion (Diana Ross & the Supremes & the Temptations)
12 The Love I Saw in You Was Just a Mirage (Uniques)
13 If You Can Want (Barbara McNair)
14 Still Water [Love] (Four Tops)
15 You've Got to Earn It (Staple Singers)
16 I Don't Blame You at All (Rosetta Hightower)
17 Automatically Sunshine (Supremes)
18 First I Look at the Purse (J. Geils Band)
https://www.upload.ee/files/17350538/COVRDSMOKYRBNSN1966-1972Vlum2_atse.zip.html
alternate:
https://pixeldrain.com/u/zYHwYRVM
I don't know when the cover photo was taken, but I would guess the mid to late 1960s.
Thanks
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