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Smokey Robinson

Smokey Robinson

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Smokey Robinson: Quiet Storm

Review by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 3 May 1975

HOW MUCH SUGAR do you take? ...

Audio interviews

Smokey Robinson (1977)

Interview by Cliff White, Rock's Backpages audio, November 1977

Smokey goes disco! The great singer-songwriter on producing and recording the soundtrack to the Big Time movie; giving the public what they want; his changing role at Motown; why he left the Miracles; his renewed love of performing; the uniform results of Motown's artist development department... and his current live show.

File format: mp3; file size: 36.2mb, interview length: 37' 45" sound quality: ****

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The Other Smokey Robinson — Songwriter

Interview by Loraine Alterman, Detroit Free Press, 14 October 1966

BACK IN 1957 Bill "Smokey" Robinson, then 17, bumped into Berry Gordy Jr. Smokey had a stack of about 100 songs he had written, and ...

Smokey Robinson

Profile and Interview by Michael Lydon, Rolling Stone, 28 September 1968

SMOKEY ROBINSON is the reigning genius of Top-40. Since the Beatles and the Beach Boys dropped out of the single-then-follow-up-album pattern aimed at the AM ...

Motown: The Gold In Their Bodies

Report and Interview by Philip Norman, The Sunday Times, 1970

CONSIDERED TOGETHER at a party in New York, Nina Simone, the highly political folk singer, and Diana Ross, principal exhibit of the Motown Record Corporation, ...

Smokey Robinson: "The old ideas are dying just like Vaudeville did"

Interview by Lon Goddard, Record Mirror, 14 February 1970

Smokey Robinson on the current pop scene. ...

The Miracle of Smokey Robinson

Profile and Interview by Charlie Gillett, Record Mirror, 25 September 1971

ABOUT twelve years ago, Berry Gordy told Smokey Robinson how to write songs: "Every song should have an idea, tell a story, mean something." Smokey ...

Smokey Robinson: The Way You Do The Things You Do

Essay by Richard Williams, Melody Maker, 1 January 1972

THERE’s a new Smokey Robinson album out in the States, called One Dozen Roses. The natural reaction is to ring E.M.I. and ask them when ...

An Open Letter to Smokey Robinson

Letter by Jaan Uhelszki, Creem, April 1972

Dear Smokey: ...

Smokey Robinson: The Way You Do The Things You Do

Profile by Charlie Gillett, Creem, April 1972

ABOUT TWELVE YEARS AGO, Berry Gordy told Smokey Robinson how to write songs. "Every song should have an idea, tell a story, mean something." Smokey ...

Motown Making Millions

Profile by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 1 May 1972

Author's update, 2019. "The Manchester Guardian? That's the best fuckin' newspaper in the world!" So David Crosby told me in early 1969. He had answered ...

Smokey Robinson: Motown And Mafia, And Why He's Quitting The Miracles

Interview by Danny Holloway, New Musical Express, 15 July 1972

SMOKEY ROBINSON is a hell of a lot more than just a giant of soul or Motown. For more than a decade, his original and ...

No stop for Old Smokey, all ready to go

Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 12 May 1973

LOS ANGELES: If we hadn't been formally introduced by a super cool hip slingin' secretary I very much doubt that I'd have recognised Smokey Robinson. ...

Smokey Robinson: Smokey (Tamla import)

Review by Richard Williams, Melody Maker, 28 July 1973

Smokey: a solo set to cherish ...

Smokey Robinson: Miracles And Meditation

Report and Interview by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 4 August 1973

IT'S JUST on a year since Smokey Robinson split from the Miracles to spend more time as an executive of the Motown Corporation. Now, he ...

Holy Smokey

Interview by Jacoba Atlas, Melody Maker, 15 September 1973

Ex-Miracles leader, brilliant songwriter, Motown boss — Smokey Robinson is that rare thing in music: a legend in his own lifetime. He talks to MM's ...

Smokey Robinson: Quiet Stormbringer

Interview by Judith Sims, Rolling Stone, 5 June 1975

LOS ANGELES — During the three years since Smokey Robinson retired from the Miracles and the road, he's released three solo albums — Smokey, Pure ...

Smokey Robinson: Smokey's Backatcha

Profile and Interview by Bob Fisher, New Musical Express, 15 June 1975

MOTOWN announced the retirement of William "Smokey" Robinson in January 1972. ...

Smokey Robinson: A Quiet Storm

Review by Pete Wingfield, Let It Rock, September 1975

COULD THIS BE Smokey's What's Going On – the album to elevate him, like Marvin Gaye, from a singles-orientated soul veteran to an across-the-board contemporary ...

Smokey Robinson: Building A Quiet Storm

Interview by John Abbey, Blues & Soul, 30 September 1975

WILLIAM 'SMOKEY' ROBINSON has been referred to as the "greatest poet of our decade" and when one listens to the unique lyric style that the ...

Smokey Robinson/Mighty Clouds of Joy/Sylvers/Fatback Band: Los Angeles

Live Review by John Swenson, Sounds, 27 March 1976

YOU WON'T find a better textbook example of what's gone wrong with R&B over the past few years. Ticket prices, scaled from $10.00 down, were ...

Smokey Robinson: Smokey's Family Robinson (Tamla Motown) *****

Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 24 April 1976

"A VOICE on the stereo singing softly, Describing what I feel about you, The singer seems to know all about it, Seems like the writer ...

Smokey Robinson: Felt Forum, New York NY

Live Review by Susin Shapiro, The Village Voice, 26 April 1976

On Top With Old Smokey ...

Smokey Hits The Big Time

Interview by John Abbey, Blues & Soul, 16 August 1977

Smokey Robinson talks about his movie projects, recording and tour plans....and of his intention to visit Britain soon! ...

Smokey Robinson (1977) [transcript]

Audio transcript of interview by Cliff White, Rock's Backpages transcripts, November 1977

This is a transcript of Cliff's interview with Smokey. Listen to the audio of this interview. ...

Smokey Robinson: Hammersmith Odeon, London

Live Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 12 November 1977

BILL-TOPPERS usually command a bigger stage area and more musicians than opening acts, but on this occasion the position was reversed for Viola Wills with ...

Smokey Robinson: Warm Thoughts (Tamla)

Review by Dave Marsh, Rolling Stone, 12 June 1980

FIRST LOVES die hard, if they ever do. So I'll always remember the first moment I heard Smokey Robinson's voice come over the radio, on ...

Smokey Robinson: Berklee Performance Center, Boston

Live Review by Jim Sullivan, The Boston Globe, 29 July 1980

CAROLE GARDINER first saw Smokey Robinson in 1965, when he and his group, the Miracles, went to London as part of a Motown Revue. Since ...

Smokey Robinson: Warm Thoughts

Review by Robot A. Hull, Creem, August 1980

"The fireside, the lamplight intimate and low, reverie with finger at the brow, and eyes that lose themselves in answering looks..."– Paul Verlaine, ‘La Bonne ...

Smokey — Once & Future

Profile and Interview by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, 23 November 1980

THE TEST OF time is one accepted yardstick for determining great songs and, by that standard, Smokey Robinson certainly ranks as one of the premier ...

Smokey Robinson: Warm Thoughts; Where There's Smoke (Motown)

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 10 January 1981

Waiting for a Miracle: NICK KENT reappraises the latest works of the doyen of '60s soul, SMOKEY ROBINSON ...

Smokey Robinson: Being With You (Tamla)/Marvin Gaye: In Our Lifetime (Tamla)

Review by Mitchell Cohen, Creem, June 1981

THESE ALBUMS are blueprints for romantic strategies. Hearing them together is like eavesdropping on both halves of a double date, comparing style of seduction. ...

Smokey Robinson: Painters Mill Star Theater, Baltimore

Live Review by J.D. Considine, Musician, November 1981

IT'S HARD TO imagine that a Smokey Robinson concert could hold much in the way of surprises. Celebrating his 25th year in the business, Robinson ...

Smokey Robinson: Painters Mill Star Theatre, Owings Mill MD

Live Review by Geoffrey Himes, Baltimore Sun, 3 July 1982

Robinson in fine sinuous form at Painters Mill ...

Smokey Robinson: Touch The Sky (Motown STML 12175)

Review by Paul Sexton, Record Mirror, 9 April 1983

IT'S ALWAYS struck me as unfortunate that one of the greatest black soul writers of the past 20 years has one of the weediest voices. ...

Smokey Robinson: Cruisin' with Smokey

Interview by Dave Marsh, Record, August 1983

In an exclusive interview, the master of the romantic vignette-in-song gets into some nuts-and-bolts talk about the creative process and gets down with some vintage ...

The Voice Squad

Overview by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 12 January 1985

From the raw to the pure, from the sublime to the meticulous — BARNEY HOSKYNS sings the praises of 24 of music's most glorious voices. ...

Records by Prince, The Judds et al

Review by Mary Harron, The Observer, 16 March 1986

Smokey Robinson: Smoke Signals (Tamla 6156TL); Prince: 'Kiss' (WEA W8751T 12 Inch); William Bell: Passion (WRC WIL-3001 US Import) ...

Smokey Robinson

Interview by Michael Goldberg, Rolling Stone, 5 November 1987

Motown's slogan was "The Sound of Young America" not "The Sound of Black America." ...

Berry Gordy: The Tracks of My Years

Interview by Michael Goldberg, New Musical Express, 18 August 1990

BERRY GORDY, the man who invented the "Sound of Young America", has seen the story of his monumentally influential Motown label told in a succession ...

Smokey Robinson

Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Q, May 1992

THERE ARE worse jobs than being Smokey Robinson. He's 52, with 2,000 songs down the pike, and still writing as easily as falling out of ...

Smokey Robinson & The Miracles: 35th Anniversary Collection

Review by Charles Shaar Murray, MOJO, July 1994

AS FAR AS I KNOW, Smokey Robinson and Frank Zappa never met. However, if they had, five'll getcha ten they'd have ended up talking ...

10 Questions for Smokey Robinson

Interview by Bill DeMain, MOJO, April 2002

Bill DeMain speaks to Motown's legendary songwriter and singer about Billy Eckstine, Marvin Gaye, school plays and positive rap. ...

Smokey Robinson: Time Flies When You're Having Fun

Review by Lloyd Bradley, bbc.co.uk, 2 November 2009

Smokey delivers exactly what you expect, but can still surprise. ...

Smokey Robinson: My Date With Smokey

Interview by Jon Wilde, Sabotage Times, 27 March 2011

On his 70th birthday, William "Smokey" Robinson grants exclusive access to Jon Wilde to talk cocaine, the roots of Motown and why the Stones still ...

Smokey Robinson and the Art of Pop

Retrospective by Mitchell Cohen, Music Aficionado, August 2019

"I DON'T LIKE you, but I love you." Those eight words, the ones that start off 'You've Really Got a Hold on Me', were the ...

see also Miracles, The

see also Smokey Robinson & The Miracles

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