The Miracles had been around since the 50's and made 2 decades worth of great music together before Smokey left for his solo career. One of their earliest released songs is 1959's "Bad Girl" a beautiful and rich doo-wop song. Their full debut album, 1961's Hi, We're The Miracles is a great, harmony-driven set of doo-wop style soul. Smokey Robinson handles a lot of the songwriting and of course, singing in his trademark falsetto. A sad slower paced love lost joint, "Who's Lovin' You" rings true for all who have messed up in a relationship and regret it. My main jam is the lyrically rich metaphor filled, upbeat, string laden "Way Over There." The complex string arrangement here is simply marvelous as is the cool vibe of the song and lyrics. A cool joint is "Won't You Take Me Back" is a nice, guitar ridden, slow rolling joint with a nice doo-wop style harmony. Another wonderful doo-wop song here is the "After All" lead by Smokey's wife Claudette, and she handles her own extremely well here! Of course, the most famous joint here is the fast paced "Shop Around," which is still heard today on retail store commercials. Of course, the song is not about literally shopping; it deals with keeping your options open in love before committing and settling down. Make sure you buy into a woman or a man who is true. "Money" is an upbeat pop-savvy cover song of Motown's own Barrett Strong. "Depend On Me" is a true jam. It is a slow jam that is self-explanatory. One thing about the song, listen to the emotion and vulnerability in Smokey's voice; vulnerability is what makes soul jams so worthwhile. He is a great purveyor of emotion, which he handles so delicately with his voice. The group harmony also complements his vocals making for a undisputable classic. To put it all in perspective, Hi We're... is a true doo-wop gem full of style, class, and emotion. This is the start of some great music by the group.

Every legend has a beginning .. for THE MIRACLES ... this was it ... the very FIRST ALBUM by MOTOWN'S VERY FIRST GROUP.THE GROUP THAT LAUNCHED A RECORDING EMPIRE.THE SPARK THAT CAUSED THE WORLDWIDE EXPLOSION KNOWN AS THE MOTOWN SOUND!! No matter what the label went on to do afterwards , or how many great artists it discovered ,without the MIRACLES, it simply wouldn't have happened .BILL "SMOKEY" ROBINSON,BOBBY ROGERS, his cousin (and SMOKEY'S THEN WIFE), CLAUDETTE ROGERS ROBINSON, WARREN "PETE" MOORE, RONNIE WHITE (Sadly, now deceased) , and MARVIN "MARV" TARPLIN, (who,by the way ,WAS INDEED AN ORIGINAL MEMBER of the group, and is mentioned on the back of this album, though not pictured on the front, and was on the cover of their next 3 ),were the BASIS AND BEDROCK upon which BERRY GORDY built his legendary label... and from the company's inception in 1959 to 1964, the ONLY GROUP on the MOTOWN LABEL THAT WAS CONSISTANTLY MAKING HIT RECORDS !! Oh, sure , the MARVELETTES HAD "PLEASE MR. POSTMAN" AND "PLAYBOY", and THE CONTOURS had "DO YOU LOVE ME"... But , when you're talking CONSISTANT HITS...THE MIRACULOUS ONES were THE ONLY GAME IN TOWN.... that is...MOTOWN. And,the only huge SOLO artist on MOTOWN at that time was MARY WELLS...and GUESS WHO WAS WRITING HER RECORDS ?...THAT'S RIGHT !! Just how important were the MIRACLES ? Well, look at it this way.By 1964, the year THE SUPREMES , FOUR TOPS , AND TEMPTATIONS had their VERY FIRST HITS.... the MIRACLES were releasing their 1st DOUBLE ALBUM of GREATEST HITS !!! During that time, when the TEMPTS and SUPREMES WERE RECORDING an entire series of FLOP SINGLES .... (7 and 10 respectively) JUST WHO DO YOU THINK WAS BRINGING IN THE MONEY TO KEEP THE COMPANY ALIVE ??! THIS 1st album is filled with LANDMARK performances and GREAT SONGS ... such as the MILLION DOLLAR SELLER " SHOP AROUND"... (THE COMPANY'S FIRST GOLD RECORD}..."WHO'S LOVING YOU"... A song so heartbraking and emotion packed ...it later became a major hit for THE JACKSON FIVE, EN VOGUE, AND TERRANCE TRENT-D'ARBY..."WAY OVER THERE" the FIRST NATIONAL HIT on the TAMLA (MOTOWN) LABEL... and the beautiful early hit..the magnificent "(YOU CAN)DEPEND ON ME". SMOKEY wrote,or had a part in writing,a full TEN out of the ELEVEN SONGS listed, MIRACLE RONNIE WHITE co wrote TWO, and BERRY GORDY (already renowned for his string of hits on JACKIE WILSON and MARV JOHNSON, "LONELY TEARDROPS" and " YOU'VE GOT WHAT IT TAKES" ,for example,) co-wrote SIX. But, in time , THE MIRACLES WOULDN'T NEED ANYBODY to write for them... as they went on to become virtually THE ONLY MOTOWN GROUP of the company's golden era to consistantly WRITE and PRODUCE their OWN MATERIAL!!... and that's ALL THE MEMBERS.... NOT JUST SMOKEY .This INCREDIBLE DOO WOP based 1st album is now OUT OF PRINT on CD... so if you can find a copy... GRAB IT !!! 5 STARS!!! P.S.- Don't forget to pick up a copy of SMOKEY and the MIRACLES' new " MOTOWN DEFINITIVE " DVD (Available elsewhere on this site}, and experience MUSICAL HISTORY IN THE MAKING !!!

It certainly helps that with the exception of a cover of

Barret Strong's classic hit "Money" (to which Smokey & company

give a heartfelt,bombastic rendition) that all of this material

comes from the pen of Smokey Robinson himself,an incredible feat

for an artist,namely a BLACK artit,in 1961.And The Miracles do

deliver in fine Ray Charles/Sam Cooke-inspired soul indicative

of this era of music.Of note are he classicas "Who's Lovin' You"

and the groups very first hit "Shop Around" that is so far beyond

classic I can't mention it.Even Smokey's then-wife Claudette gets

a chance to sing on this one.Early,dynamic Miracles before the

pressure went on to become formuliac.Vintage Motown at it's

very finest!

I BOUGHT THIS ALBUM FOR 1 REASON: TO GET A SONG ON IT BY CLAUDETTE ROBINSON CALLED "AFTER ALL" I'VE LOVED THIS SONG FOR DECADES, SINCE I FIRST HEARD IT ON THE 33RPM LP THAT I BOUGHT WHEN I LIVED IN N.Y.C. THE REST OF THESE SONGS I'VE TAPED FROM DIFFERENT SOURCES MANY TIMES. BUT I COULD NEVER HEAR "AFTER ALL"; NOT EVEN ON OLDIES RADIO STATIONS IN NEW YORK & IN MARYLAND, WHERE I NOW RESIDE, EVEN WHEN THEY ALLOWED YOU TO CALL IN REQUESTS. SO FINALLY, IN DESPERATION, I TURNED TO GOOGLE & CAME UP WITH IT ON THIS ALBUM. SUCCESS!! AND HAPPINESS.

Every legend has a beginning .. for THE MIRACLES ... this was it ... the very FIRST ALBUM by MOTOWN'S VERY FIRST GROUP.THE GROUP THAT LAUNCHED A RECORDING EMPIRE.THE SPARK THAT CAUSED THE WORLDWIDE EXPLOSION KNOWN AS THE MOTOWN SOUND!! No matter the label went on to do afterwards , or how many great artists it discovered ,without the MIRACLES, it simply wouldn't have happened .BILL "SMOKEY" ROBINSON,BOBBY ROGERS, his cousin (and SMOKEY'S THEN WIFE), CLAUDETTE ROGERS ROBINSON, WARREN "PETE" MOORE, RONNIE WHITE (Sadly, now deceased) , and MARVIN "MARV" TARPLIN, (who,by the way ,WAS INDEED AN ORIGINAL MEMBER of the group, and is mentioned , though not pictured on the back of this album, and was on the cover of their next 3 ),were the BASIS AND BEDROCK upon which BERRY GORDY built his legendary label... and from the company's inception in 1959 to 1964, the ONLY GROUP on the MOTOWN LABEL THAT WAS CONSISTANTLY MAKING HIT RECORDS !! Oh, sure , the MARVELETTES HAD "PLEASE MR. POSTMAN" AND "PLAYBOY", and THE CONTOURS had "DO YOU LOVE ME"... But , when you're talking CONSISTANT HITS...THE MIRACULOUS ONES were THE ONLY GAME IN TOWN.... that is...MOTOWN. And,the only huge SOLO artist on MOTOWN at that time was MARY WELLS...and GUESS WHO WAS WRITING HER RECORDS ?...THAT'S RIGHT !! Just how important were the MIRACLES ? Well, look at it this way.By 1964, the year THE SUPREMES , FOUR TOPS , AND TEMPTATIONS had their VERY FIRST HITS.... the MIRACLES were releasing their 1st DOUBLE ALBUM of GREATEST HITS !!! During that time, when the TEMPTS and SUPREMES WERE RECORDING an entire series of FLOP SINGLES .... (7 and 10 respectively) JUST WHO DO YOU THINK WAS BRINGING IN THE MONEY TO KEEP THE COMPANY ALIVE ??! THIS 1st album is filled with LANDMARK performances and GREAT SONGS ... such as the MILLION DOLLAR SELLER " SHOP AROUND"... (THE COMPANY'S FIRST GOLD RECORD}..."WHO'S LOVING YOU"... A song so heartbraking and emotion packed ...it later became a major hit for THE JACKSON FIVE, EN VOGUE, AND TERRANCE TRENT-D'ARBY..."WAY OVER THERE" the FIRST NATIONAL HIT on the TAMLA (MOTOWN) LABEL... and the beautiful early hit..the magnificent "(YOU CAN)DEPEND ON ME". SMOKEY wrote,or had a part in writing,a full TEN out of the ELEVEN SONGS listed, MIRACLE RONNIE WHITE co wrote TWO, and BERRY GORDY (already renowned for his string of hits on JACKIE WILSON and MARV JOHNSON, "LONELY TEARDROPS" and " YOU'VE GOT WHAT IT TAKES" ,for example,) co-wrote SIX. But, in time , THE MIRACLES WOULDN'T NEED ANYBODY to write for them... as they went on to become virtually THE ONLY MOTOWN GROUP of the company's golden era to consistantly WRITE and PRODUCE their OWN MATERIAL!!... and that's ALL THE MEMBERS.... NOT JUST SMOKEY .This INCREDIBLE DOO WOP based 1st album is now OUT OF PRINT on CD... so if you can find a copy... GRAB IT !!! 5 STARS!!! P.S.- Don't forget to pick up a copy of SMOKEY and the MIRACLES' new " MOTOWN DEFINITIVE " DVD (Available elsewhere on this site}, and experience MUSICAL HISTORY IN THE MAKING !!!