The Vinyl Word (Free subscription) | 10/26/2009
It seems to be Motown time yet again, with Smokey Robinson appearing on the BBC's Electric Proms concert last night and the Divas of Motown tour hitting London in a couple of weeks time. Smokey looks ridiculously young given that it's a good 50 years since his beautiful light voice was first heard on record. But his voice soounds as sweet as ever and his poetic lyrics still sound fresh and original....
Great Minds Think Like Me (Free subscription) | 10/23/2009
This is truly One of the best Motown songs. Did you know? "The Tracks of My Tears" is a 1965 hit single by The Miracles for the Tamla (Motown) label. It is considered among their best recordings,... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]
Althouse (Free subscription) | 10/23/2009
And now, Soupy's not here! Critics were unkind, calling ["The Soupy Sales Show"] "a mishmash of mediocrity" that was meant for "kids with low IQs." But viewers lapped it up, making it the No. 1 local show by 1962. A survey at the time revealed that more than a third of Sales' fans consisted of adults. Some of them were hosting pie-lobbing parties in their basements....
iCelebZ.com (Free subscription) | 10/21/2009
Motown Records is presenting television performances of their icons in a new DVD. Celebrating the 50th anniversary of their founding, "Motown 50 - The DVD" will feature 18 classic and rare TV show appearances of their greatest artists from 1965 through 1971. Some of the DVD's highlights include the Marvelettes on "Teen Town" with the record's first Pop #1 hit "Please Mr. Postman,"...
The Stu Reid Experiment (Free subscription) | 10/16/2009
I’m in the midst of reading Nick Hornby’s High Fidelity which features music centrally as it tells the tale of Rob, the thoughtful and confused record storeowner. There are references to songs, albums, and artists throughout, but one chapter in particular struck me as particularly loaded with great tracks. It’s chapter seven, in which he describes his past experience as a DJ: For...
M80s Soundtrack for an 80s Generation (Free subscription) | 10/05/2009
'I Second That Emotion' is a 1967 hit single released originally by Smokey Robinson & the Miracles for the Motown label. The song was the group's first Top 5 hit on the Billboard Pop Singles Chart. Less than two years later, the single was covered by Motown labelmates Diana Ross & the Supremes and The Temptations, reaching the top 20 in the UK. The single was released by the UK group Japan...
Eclecticity (Free subscription) | 09/30/2009
The Love I Saw In You Was A Mirage. A Top Ten R&B hit in 1967. I remember just loving this tune as a mere boy of 10. I thought it worth a replay. MP3 File
The Liberators of Hip Hop (Free subscription) | 09/17/2009
Artist: Smokey Robinson & The Miracles Song: Much Better Off Album: Special Occasion I know I have been on somewhat a hiatus for some time but I have been having lost in mail charger problems. But thanks to the good old journalism computer lab at FAMU I was able to get this information to you all. It took me a minute to figure out where the sample for this song came from but I knew once I got to...
Music2Nite (Free subscription) | 08/29/2009
Continuing the celebration of Motown's 50th Anniversary, UMe / Motown releases MOTOWN 50: FANTHOLOGY, a two-CD collection of favorite classic Motown hits, as voted by fans. Available everywhere on September 1, 2009. Motown 50: Fanthology available September 1 Amazon.com CD purchase page UMe / Motown TRACK LISTING: Disc 1 1. “My Girl” – The Temptations 2. “What’s Going...
Spinner.com (Free subscription) | 08/25/2009
Filed under: Spinner Interview Smokey Robinson has found a better way to describe his 50 years in show business than anyone else could with the title of his new CD, 'Time Flies When You're Having Fun.' The soulful, steamy album is all Robinson originals, except for his cover of the Norah Jones hit 'Don't Know Why' and one special bonus track. Guests on the album, which was recorded with the musicians...
Line Out (Free subscription) | 08/24/2009
Former record store owner/syndicated music columnist John James has chosen the 1,892 best cover versions over at Esquire.com. Take an hour out of your hectic life to peruse it here . Off the top of my head, I offer 10 of mine below, in no particular order and with the original artists in parentheses. As soon as I hit publish, many more will surely come to mind. (Btw, Harvey Danger 's rendition of...
Beattie's Book Blog (Free subscription) | 08/24/2009
THE ARTFUL ROGER Interesting story by prolific columnist Bill Ralston (right) about Roger Hall (left)in the NZ Listener this week (date Aug 29 Sept 4), It is a profile piece about "New Zealand's most prolific, most successful and arguably best playwright". Further into the magazine there is a four page piece on Billy Apple by Anthony Byrt, six book reviews, a poem by Brian Turner called Ghosts...
The Daily Swarm - Headlines (Free subscription) | 08/19/2009
Over the last couple of months, Motown has been conducting a survey on their Motown 50 site to determine the most popular records from their vast catalog to include on their new Motown 50 Fanthology. The album, due September 1, will contain the results of that poll, with the 45 top vote getters. The 2-CD package has the songs sequenced by order of popularity with the Temptations and Marvin Gaye owning...
SLANTblog (Free subscription) | 08/11/2009
When considering music films, for a favorites list, there are so many different kinds of musicals and movies about music that the category begs to be narrowed. For this list of five favorites, I’m looking only at rock ‘n’ roll movies, and then only those which present the music as concert footage -- they show the musicians, performing as themselves, on stage before a live audience....
Line Out (Free subscription) | 07/31/2009
Per John Moe 's McSweeney's article "Ways I've Failed Popular Musicians," here are mine. Add yours in the comments, and do it soon; by next Monday, this meme will be soooo done. Believed the hype, irritating Public Enemy no end. Failed to hide my love away, earning the Beatles' censure. Could not for the life of me see Kinks mainman Ray Davies' friends. Fought it and did not feel it, to...
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