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If there ever was a Smokey Robinson album to have in your collection.THIS IS IT. (#7) This was (And STILL IS) an All-Time Favorite Slow Jam. It's just good all the way through. Next up is "The Agony And The Ecstasy" Another Billboard Charted Hit Single. Smokey slows it down again with the Album Cut "Wedding Song", Yet another Slow Jam Favorite. I could go on but Back-In-The-Day we very seldom turned the GOOD albums over because we were either 'Gettin' busy' or too high to bother.With The Modern Age you here the EVERYTHING. The opening Track "Quiet Storm" A Billboard Charted Hit Single. Since that time a lot of Radio Shows and Compilations have been named after this song.
Then you have "Back That's Backatcha" A #1 Billboard Charted Hit Single. Of the remaining 3 (Three) Track only the Ballad "Happy" stands out. To most of us Connoisseurs of Soul Music from the 70's this album is like what Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On" album is to the Soul Music Purists. (#25) has been (And STILL IS) a Cha-Cha favoite among The Kings & Queens of Cha-Cha Dancers. A Favorite Uptempo Soul Track.
It became hugely popular. began setting aside airtime for long slow jams, calling the format, "Quiet Storm" and using the title cut as the intro. It is a song cycle, a concept album, that should be listened to from start-to-finish. This album's influence is heard today in the world of smooth jazz and adult-oriented RnB. When released black radio stations like WHUR (Howard U) in D.C. This should be in every black music collection.
I mean, mostly. But hey, don't overlook the rest of the album, because it's good.
Very mellow - good chillout album. You've got your melodic, faultless hit "Baby That's Backatcha" (with a flute part that just gets me every time), the title track, which for whatever reason reminds me of "The Rain Song" - couldn't tell you why, but that's the first tune that pops into my head when I hear it (not that the Smokester's ripping off Zep, that would just be weird.).; and the infidelity-themed "The Agony and the Ecstasy".
My top picks. And if those three float your metaphorical boat, you'd be glad to know that "Coincidentally" is in the same style.
Well I like classic soul as much as the next guy, and this is a hell of an album. Now, if "Happy" wasn't so goddamned long and boring, and if "Wedding Song" wasn't so randomly blah, we'd have 4.5 to five stars our hands, now wouldn't we.
All three were major hits, with the title song inspiring the love-it-or-hate-it radio format of the same name.
I was so happy I was able to purchase it on CD because I orginally have on LP. It arrived quickly and it sounded great.
The melodies and rhythms simply reflect what the 70s were about, using "non-native" instruments (latin percussions/rhythms), funkier beats and bass lines, and non-standard rhythms and times. This album simply reaffirms what many already know. "The Agony and the Ecstasy" is old-school Smokey and those from all the 'hoods and barrios include this in their Oldies mixes (how 'bout that opening line. Marvin & Stevie went their way; and "Quiet Storm" was Smokey's way.His way was smoother, more gentler, never one to ruffle feathers like Marvin or Stevie did with their songs. And the title track itself started a whole new sub-genre of R&B music.can you think of another song that has done that.
Now here he his, just like Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder, going beyond the pop success for a new sound, new direction, new motivations. You can imagine that if this were the mid 60s, these tracks would sound something like "Track of My Tears" or "Ooh Baby Baby". Smokey is a master songwriter, always keeping his ear to what's hip, and that what "Baby That's Back Atcha" is; hip, funky, and totally Smokey. Nothing more need be said.He will be considered in the future one of the 20th century's greatest American songwriters, up there with Cole Porter, Bob Dylan, Stevie Wonder, and Bruce Springsteen. .just like he did at the beginning of Motown.
That's why Smokey is the genius he is; he didn't try to do anyone else's style but his own.The album is quintessential Smokey.his same songwriting formula he has used for decades. Vintage Smokey hooking you into the song).
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